Utah Takes Down Toronto, 6-1

SALT LAKE CITY – The Utah Mammoth extended their points streak to five-straight games with a 6-1 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dylan Guenther scored twice while Michael Carcone, JJ Peterka, Jack McBain, and Daniil But also scored in the win. Karel Vejmelka earned his 21st win of the year with 19 saves on 20 shots. It was a strong team effort with multiple standout performances.

“Obviously, a really good game,” head coach André Tourigny said postgame. “We liked the pace of our game; the speed we had offensively and defensively. I think we attacked every shift with a lot of speed through the neutral zone and a lot of pace, a lot of pressure on their (defense). We knew (Toronto) was on the back-to-back; they played a big game yesterday. After the game against Columbus, I talked to you about the mindset. I said it’s not about focus; it’s not about execution. It’s the mindset we had in that game and the way we tried to play the game tonight. Obviously, we’ll take the result, but it’s more than that.”

The Mammoth changed their lines for this game and the adjustment paid off. Guenther joined Jack McBain and Michael Carcone, and the trio combined for eight points and 19 shots. After 40 minutes, the McBain line had 16 shots on goal, one more than Toronto’s total through the first two periods (15).

Carcone opened the scoring three and a half minutes into the game with his ninth of the season. Guenther scored twice in the second period, 1:18 apart for his team-leading, 22nd and 23rd goals. McBain scored his sixth of the season, and second in as many games, in the third period. All three members of this line recorded multi-point nights: Guenther (2G, 1A), McBain (1G, 2A), and Carcone (1G, 1A).

“Simplicity,” Guenther said of his line’s performance. “(McBain) is super predictable and I think that me and (Carcone) can just read off him that way.”

“There’s a lot,” Tourigny said of what the McBain line did well. “I think they played hard and fast. They were really fast in everything they did. They never slowed down. They were coming really fast. That’s three good skaters. I think it clicked. Sometimes, it’s tough to explain why; it just happens. I think (Guenther) and (Carcone) had success last year when they played together. Same thing with (Guenther) and (McBain), they had success when they played together last year. That was the rationale behind it. We were hoping (But) and (Peterka) and (Barrett Hayton) would click as well. It is what it is.”

The addition of But to the Hayton line also paid off as that line contributed five points (2G, 3A) in the win. Peterka scored his 16th of the season in the final five minutes of the second period and But had the primary assist. In the third period, But scored his third of the season and both of his linemates had assists on the goal. Before the game, Tourigny said he wanted to see But executing on a higher level and the rookie did just that.

“Really good,” Tourigny said of But’s performance. “He should have had a goal on the power play, in my opinion. That should have been a goal. Then he got a goal, and he got a great screen on (Peterka’s) goal as well. More than that, he took the right decision with the puck, he was good defensively, he had good pace, he was good on the forecheck, finished a few hits. I really liked his game.”

After Sunday’s overtime loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Mammoth wanted to improve their defensive details. Those improvements were evident as Utah held a high-powered Toronto offense to one goal and 20 shots.

“That’s a highly skilled team, so we want to take away time and space,” defenseman Ian Cole shared. “You want to make sure that those skill guys have a tough time getting shots off and making plays. I think we did a pretty good job of that. It's the right mindset, and it wasn't just our D (defensemen). It was our forwards too. We can keep good gaps, but if they don't track back, it's going to be odd-man rushes all night. So, they did a great job.”

“We played hard from the get-go and then didn’t let up,” Guenther said. “They had a pretty good push in the third for the first five or 10 minutes. That’s going to happen, but I thought we responded well.”

As Utah continues its homestand, the Mammoth have started this seven-game stretch with several strong performances and have collected valuable points in pursuit of the playoffs.

“Yeah, it's been a good stretch,” Guenther explained. “I think we've talked about this stretch for a little bit, and have been looking forward to getting a little bit of time at home. So, it's nice to be getting points, and we play a really good team next game, so just make sure that we're ready to go after a win like tonight.”

“It's great,” Cole said. “Accruing points is kind of the name of the game. We're disappointed in how we let some points slip away early in the year, but as of right now, it’s kind of do or die. If we wait to find our game or we wait to turn this corner, we're going to run out of time. There's only eighty-two games in the season. We need to play well and play well right now. I think we're making some great strides there.”

Additional Notes from Tonight

• Guenther’s two goals came over a span of just 1:18 during the second period, marking the fastest two goals by any skater in franchise history (previous: 1:50; Logan Cooley, 10/23/25 at STL) (per Mammoth PR).
• McBain has now found the scoresheet in back-to-back games (also 1/11 vs. CBJ: 1G) and registered five points over the last four contests (1/7-1/13; 2G, 3A) (per Mammoth PR).
• Vejmelka’s 21st win of the season leads the NHL. He now has allowed two or fewer goals in five of six games to open this calendar year, earning a 5-1-0 record, 1.99 goals-against average, and a .924 save percentage in 2026 (per Mammoth PR).

Upcoming Schedule

• Jan. 15: DAL vs UTA
• Jan. 17: SEA vs UTA
• Jan. 21: PHI vs UTA