The Utah Mammoth were one of the National Hockey League's best teams in the early going in 2025-26, but it's been a slow decline for Andre Tourigny's club ever since.
Despite leading 3-2 against the Nashville Predators in the third period of Monday's tilt at the Delta Center, the Mammoth allowed the Preds — and specifically, Steven Stamkos — to score two late goals in the 4-3 final.
“A tough, tough result. Frustrating,” Tourigny said afterwards, per NHL.com's Matt Komma. “We played really well for the long stretch of the game at 5-on-5, on our power play, even on our PK. … I think we did a really good job defensively, but we need to find a way in key situations and key moments, and when push comes to shove to be better.”
The Mammoth led 1-0 in the first period, 2-1 in the second and 3-2 in the third, but were unable to close out the Predators, who have won five of their last seven games.
Meanwhile, Utah has dropped two in a row and four of six as their struggles continue. As of Tuesday morning, they're out of a Western Conference playoff spot entirely.
Mammoth have fallen under .500 for second time since October
The Mammoth were 1-2-0 on October 13; that's the last time the team was under .500 for two full months after opening up a seven-game winning streak directly afterwards.
But it's been slowly downhill since for the squad, and after falling to 14-15-3 on December 10, Utah now sits at 18-19-3 after Monday's loss. Mikhail Sergachev, who scored in the contest, believes they were the better team despite the defeat.
“Obviously, I thought we played better for most of the game,” the Russian defenseman said, per Komma. “We were sloppy on the PK, and the last goal there cost us the game I think. We’ve got to be more focused in those crucial moments in the game.”
Things looked good midway through the final frame, but Stamkos scored once on the powerplay and again at even strength less than two minutes later — both assisted by Ryan O'Reilly.
“It was a gutsy win,” said Nashville coach Andrew Brunette. “I thought [Juuse] Saros was outstanding, and then Stamkos got a couple of huge goals for us in the third period. We've been on the wrong end of some of these this year. It was nice to be on the right end.”
Vitek Vanecek played well between the pipes for the Mammoth, but the team is counting down the days until starter Karel Vejmelka returns. He was placed on injured reserve on Monday and will miss at least a couple more games.
Following the regulation defeat, Utah will look to get back on track over a three-game Eastern Conference road trip that pits them against the New York Islanders on Thursday, New Jersey Devils on Saturday and New York Rangers next Monday.
