Coming off arguably their biggest win of the season, the Utah Mammoth travel to Las Vegas to take on the Vegas Golden Knights in the front end of a key back-to-back for their playoff hopes.
Utah (35-27-6, 76 points), fourth in the loaded Central Division, returns home afterward to host the Anaheim Ducks, who began Wednesday’s action holding a share of the Pacific Division lead with the Edmonton Oilers, on Friday.
The Mammoth, who occupy the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference, are coming off a 6-3 victory at Dallas on Monday. That snapped a four-game losing streak (0-2-2) for Utah. Perhaps even more impressive, it also brought an end to the Stars’ 15-game point streak (14-0-1), tied for the longest in franchise history.
Vitek Vanecek made 27 saves and six different Utah players scored, including Jack McBain, who scored a go-ahead short-handed goal early in the third period to give the Mammoth a 3-2 lead. Kailer Yamamoto scored what proved to be the game-winner a few minutes later as Utah scored four times in the third period to win going away.
“We hung in there and were able to capitalize on our chances,” McBain said. “I thought we had a really good third period.”
“Get a result like that against a team undefeated since the (Olympic) break, it’s a big game for us,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “They’re a really good team. So proud of the boys.”
The win gives the Mammoth some much-needed momentum heading into a key seven-game stretch which also includes two games with the Los Angeles Kings and one with the Seattle Kraken, who are both five points behind them in the wild-card race, as well as home dates with Edmonton and the Washington Capitals.
“This is what you want out of your group,” defenseman Nate Schmidt said. “You want to be comfortable in these situations against good teams. (Dallas) is a really good team in the league, and you have to be able to really settle into these types of high-pressure situations. I like the way our guys responded.”
Vegas (31-23-14, 76 points), in a three-way dogfight for first place in the Pacific Division with Anaheim and Edmonton, will be playing the final game of a four-game homestand. The Golden Knights opened with a 6-2 victory over Pittsburgh and followed that up with a 4-0 win over Chicago before being blanked by red-hot Buffalo, 2-0, on Tuesday.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves for his first shutout in over a year and Josh Doan and Josh Norris scored goals for the Sabres. Despite the loss, which dropped Vegas into third place one point behind the Ducks and Oilers, players weren’t hanging their heads afterward.
“I thought we played a good game,” said forward Mitch Marner, who had a shot go off the top of the crossbar that would have tied it with five minutes to go. “We had a lot of good looks. Kudos to their goalie. He made a lot of big saves. But I liked our game. We were playing physically, we played fast, we made plays.”
“You’re going to lose games,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “I’m not disappointed with the way we played. I’m not upset. There’s always things you can do better.”
This is the third of three regular-season meetings. The teams split the first two in November in Salt Lake City.
