Optional Skate
After a full team practice yesterday, the Mammoth held an optional morning skate. Here’s who participated (in no particular order):
Sebastian Cossa, Karel Vejmelka, Kevin Stenlund, Clayton Keller, Nick DeSimone, Liam O’Brien, MacKenzie Weegar, Kailer Yamamoto, Daniil But, Dmitri Simashev, Logan Cooley, Andrew Peeke, Jack McBain
Facing the Leafs
Head coach André Tourigny discussed tonight’s opponent and what Toronto brings:
“Toronto (has) played really good hockey lately. They’re a really heavy forecheck team. They’re one of the best teams in the league on their forecheck, and they do a pretty good job on their breakouts … where it will be a good test for our forecheck for us. We’ve been pretty efficient on our forechecks since the start of the season. That will be a good challenge for us, to keep being disciplined on our forecheck, and making good coverage, and good decisions on our forecheck to lead our tempo, momentum, where we like to create a lot of pace out of it.”
Top Talent
Utah will face some of the NHL’s top talent with Toronto’s Captain Auston Matthews and forward William Nylander. Taking away time and space is key to keep them from making any of the plays they’re known for.
“I think you just got to play hard on them,” defenseman Andrew Peeke said. “They have some pretty talented players, right? We just have to be on the right side of the puck. Kind of, that’s like what we did against Buffalo. That’s a high octane offense that can score a lot of goals. We played tough on them, and didn’t give them much space and it worked out for us well.”
“They’re top-5 players in this league for a reason,” center Logan Cooley explained. “I think it’s about maintaining and trying to limit their chances off the rush, in zone plays they like to run, stuff like that. Playing hard on them. They’re obviously really good players, so whoever’s out there with them, gotta be aware, because they can make a play from anywhere.”
Special Teams Battle
The second-best power play in the NHL will face the second-best penalty kill in tonight’s matchup. Utah has scored on 40% of its power play opportunities while Toronto’s penalty kill has shut down its opponents 95% of the time.
“The most important thing for us is to keep our mindset, our philosophy, and what works for us,” Tourigny explained. “What we like about our power play is we attack from a lot of different spots…we’ve scored a goal in about every spot possible. So, I like that look because it’s tougher to adjust and gives us tools, whatever the opponent throws at us. What’s important for us, and we saw it since the (start of the) season, when we have the right mindset, we’re successful.”
Back Again
It’s been almost two weeks since the Mammoth have played at the Delta Center, and Tuesday is the team’s second home game of the 2026-27 season. The team is ready to be back home and hear their fans.
"The home opener was obviously awesome,” Peeke shared. “Seeing the crowd and obviously being on this side of things for the first time and being able to experience what it's like here was unbelievable. For us, it was great to get on the road right away, gel with the group, spend some time grabbing dinners and whatnot. There's nothing like playing in front of your home crowd, and we're excited to see all the fans out there again."
