The Utah Mammoth are about to get busy on the road, but first comes one more stop at home and a week that should tell a lot about where this team sits early in the season.
Utah enters the week at 8-4-0 and second in the Central Division, though it has a game in hand on the team in first. The Mammoth have been tough at the Delta Center with a 4-1-0 mark, and they’ve held their own away from home as well at 4-3-0.
After Tuesday’s home date with Minnesota, Utah begins a six-game road trip that will keep it away from the Delta Center until Nov. 12.
A big part of Utah’s early success has been special teams. The power play has scored in three straight games and sits atop the NHL at 38.1 percent.
Nick Schmaltz has been a major force there, with five power-play goals, second-most in the league. The Mammoth also own the fourth-best faceoff win percentage, and Vincent Trocheck’s 63.1 percent win rate ranks third in the NHL.
There’s also a milestone on the roster side: defenseman Artem Duda signed a two-year contract extension with the Mammoth last week. On the injury report, Utah is without forward Michael Carcone, who is dealing with an upper-body injury and is on IR, and defenseman John Marino, who is out with an upper-body injury and listed week-to-week.
One more note on the offensive depth: every one of Utah’s 19 skaters who have played at least five games this season has scored a goal.
The week starts with a Central Division matchup against Minnesota on Oct. 27 at 7:00 p.m. MT.
It’s the first of four meetings between the clubs this season, with the rest of the series set for Nov. 25, Jan. 25, and Mar.
- Minnesota arrives at 8-3-2 and first in the division with 18 points.
The Wild have been excellent at home at 4-0-0 and are 4-3-2 on the road.
Minnesota has also been stingy defensively, allowing the third-fewest goals in the league at 2.31 per game and the seventh-fewest shots on goal at 24.9. Kirill Kaprizov is driving the offense, leading the Wild with 13 goals and 21 points.
He has seven points, including four goals and three assists, over his last five games. His 13 goals lead the NHL, and his 21 points are tied for third.
Three days later, Utah hosts Pittsburgh on Oct. 29 at 5:00 p.m. MT in the second and final meeting between the teams this season.
The Mammoth took the first one, 5-4. Pittsburgh comes in at 5-6-1 and sixth in the Metropolitan Division, though the Penguins have won two in a row.
Their home record is 4-1-0, while they’ve struggled on the road at 1-5-1.
The Penguins have leaned on their penalty kill, which ranks eighth in the NHL at 83.9 percent. Declan Carlile leads Pittsburgh with 32:10 of shorthanded ice time.
Erik Karlsson has paced the offense with 11 assists and 12 points, and his lone goal was a power-play marker scored in Utah on Oct. 19.
His 11 assists are tied for eighth in the NHL.
Utah closes the week against Philadelphia on Nov. 1 at 2:00 p.m. MT.
That’s the first of two matchups with the Flyers this season, with the return game set for Mar. 13.
Philadelphia enters at 3-7-3 and seventh in the Metropolitan Division. The Flyers are 2-3-2 at home and 1-4-1 on the road.
The Flyers’ penalty kill ranks 11th in the league at 82.6 percent, and Travis Sanheim leads the team with 49:02 of shorthanded time on ice. Matvei Michkov leads Philadelphia with eight goals, a total that is tied for seventh in the NHL.
Before facing Utah, the Flyers will play a back-to-back at home against Columbus and then travel to Washington to meet the Capitals. After that, Philadelphia gets three days off before its Sunday afternoon game against the Mammoth.
In Other News...
Roadrunners Face An Early Pacific Division Test In Coachella Valley
A solid start to the road trip has put the Tucson Roadrunners in a good spot heading into Wednesdays visit to Coachella Valley at Acrisure Arena. Tucson has points in each of its last six games and is carrying a 4-2-1-0 record into the first real Pacific Division measuring stick of the season, with Cameron Hebig, Ben McCartney and rookie Tij Iginla giving the lineup a steady mix of production and youth.
Coachella Valley enters with a 3-3-2-1 mark and has dropped four of its last five, but division games tend to sharpen quickly, especially this early in the schedule. The Roadrunners have leaned on strong defensive play and a power play that has traveled well, and this game offers another chance to see how that formula holds up against a familiar opponent before the trip rolls on. [Read more 🡒]