The Utah Mammoth pulled off a dramatic 5-4 overtime win over the Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday night, and while Clayton Keller’s heroics lit up the scoreboard, it’s the moment just before his game-tying goal that’s got the hockey world talking.
Let’s set the stage. With just 90 seconds left in regulation and trailing 4-3, the Mammoth made the aggressive call to pull their goalie for the extra attacker. It’s a high-risk, high-reward move, and for a moment, it looked like the gamble was going to backfire.
Flyers forward Garnet Hathaway picked up the puck and had a clear path toward Utah’s empty net. It looked like the dagger was coming. But then, in a split second that flipped the entire game on its head, Nick Schmaltz made the kind of defensive play that doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet, but changes everything.
Schmaltz hustled back, timed his stick perfectly, and lifted Hathaway’s just as he was about to seal the win. The puck went the other way, and Utah made the most of the second life. Keller buried the equalizer with just 34 seconds left on the clock, then struck again in overtime to complete the comeback.
That sequence - from the stick lift to the OT winner - is the kind of moment that can define a season.
After the game, reports surfaced that Hathaway remained in full gear long after the final horn, sitting in the locker room and staring at the floor. That tells you everything you need to know about how much that missed opportunity stung.
Former NHL goalie Carter Hutton broke it down on Daily Faceoff LIVE, pointing out that Hathaway seemed to ease up as he crossed the blue line, maybe assuming he had time to walk the puck in. But in the NHL, you don’t get free moments - especially not with the game on the line and a guy like Schmaltz chasing you down.
And that’s the lesson here. It’s never over until it’s over.
The Mammoth didn’t quit, and they were rewarded for it. Keller gets the glory - and rightfully so - but Schmaltz’s defensive hustle was the spark that made it all possible.
For the Flyers, this one’s going to sting. They were 90 seconds away from a win, with the puck on the right stick and the net wide open. But in a league where momentum can flip in a heartbeat, one missed chance turned into a gut-wrenching loss.
Games like this remind us why we watch. The speed, the swings, the split-second decisions - and the players who rise or fall in those moments. Wednesday night in Utah had all of it.