After a split in Pennsylvania, the Utah Mammoth are left with a bigger issue than the result itself: what to do in goal after another rough night from Karel Vejmelka.
Utah came away with a thrilling overtime win in Pittsburgh, then followed it with a 6-3 loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday. The final score was bad enough.
The goaltending numbers made it harder to ignore. Vejmelka gave up five goals on 20 shots, and even though Philadelphia only finished with 21 shots, the Mammoth still walked out of the game with more questions than answers.
That’s been the theme around Utah’s crease for much of the season. The Mammoth are 9-6 and sitting among the Central Division’s top three teams, but the goaltending has lagged behind the rest of the roster.
HockeyStats.com has Utah dead last in goals saved above expected at -8.7, which means the team’s goalies have allowed 8.7 more goals than expected based on shot quality and volume. Before Sunday’s loss, Utah’s team save percentage was already third worst in the league at .867.
Vejmelka’s recent stretch has only intensified the concern. He has lost four of his last five starts and posted a .838 save percentage in that span, including .815 in losses. That’s not enough, plain and simple, for a team trying to stay in the fight every night.
Still, the blame doesn’t sit on him alone. Utah was outscored 20-9 across those four losses, and the skaters in front of him have not exactly made life easy. Mikhail Sergachev didn’t sugarcoat that part after the Flyers game.
“We were working and trying to win the game, but our execution wasn’t there,” Mikhail Sergachev said. “In the third period we kind of started cheating. Leaving the zone and exposed ourselves…that’s all on us.”
“I think we know what went wrong. It’s the same thing again.
We’re down a couple goals and we’re trying to cheat the game a little bit and it bites us. It’s the same thing that happened before.”
That’s the balance Utah has to sort through now. Yes, the team has left its goaltenders exposed.
But at some point, the goalie has to steal one when the rest of the group is off. That hasn’t happened enough.
For that reason, Sebastian Cossa deserves a look against Toronto on Tuesday. He hasn’t been lights-out overall either, carrying a .857 save percentage, but he is 3-1 in four starts, has won his last two appearances and just turned in a strong outing against Pittsburgh, stopping 31 of 34 shots for a .912 save percentage.
Give him the test. See if he can handle it against the Maple Leafs.
If he delivers, keep riding him. If he doesn’t, go back to Vejmelka the next night and make the job a real competition.
Right now, neither goalie has done enough to claim the crease outright. Utah has reached the point where the starter’s role should be earned, not assumed.
The Mammoth continue their six-game road trip Tuesday night against Toronto at 5 p.m. MT. The game will air on SEG+, and all Mammoth games will also be broadcast live on the KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM).
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