Two offensively challenged teams meet when the Utah Mammoth face the Calgary Flames on Wednesday night in Salt Lake City.
The Mammoth have only scored five goals in their opening three games, so it’s no surprise they lost two of those contests.
“I don’t think we’ve been nearly hard enough around the net. I think that’s a big thing,” Utah center Barrett Hayton said. “That’s another big piece of our team, being able to have two guys inside, compete around the net, be hard in there. We’ve just been too perimeter. When we’ve gotten around the net, we haven’t been hard enough. We’ve got to fight around there.”
The Mammoth dropped a 3-1 decision at Chicago on Monday night despite limiting the Blackhawks to 14 shots on goal.
“I think we played a good game defensively,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “… It was the first time of the year where we really had our forecheck going. We made it hard for them to break out clean. That has to be a staple of our game. Right now, we need more consistency.”
The Flames have lost three in a row after winning their season opener, and they have just nine goals through four games.
Making thing even more challenging, the visit to Utah will be the second of back-to-back games for Calgary, who took a 4-2 home loss against the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night.
The Flames got the game’s first goals, from Mikael Backlund and Blake Coleman, in the opening 13 minutes but couldn’t hold on.
“You had a 2-0 lead, you’ve got to push down harder on their throat, and we pulled back and gave them some life,” Coleman said. “Good teams with good players will make you pay, and there’s no reason for it.”
Calgary still held a 2-1 advantage after two periods before allowing the Golden Knights to score three times in the third.
The Flames have been outscored 9-1 in the third period during their losing streak.
“It’s a lesson that probably shouldn’t have to be learned with this group,” Coleman said. “We’ve got guys who know how to do it.”
Calgary goalie Dustin Wolf made 26 saves against Vegas in his fourth straight start to open the season. Backup Devin Cooley likely will get the start against the Mammoth. His only previous NHL experience was six games for the San Jose Sharks in 2023-24, when he went 2-3-1 with a 4.98 goals-against average and an .870 save percentage.
Backlund netted his first of the season and the 216th of his career, which moved him past Hall of Famer Lanny McDonald for sixth on the Flames’ all-time list. He also tied Gary Suter for the sixth-most points in franchise history with 564.
Utah’s J.J. Peterka, who was acquired in an offseason trade with the Buffalo Sabres, scored the Mammoth’s only goal on Monday. It was his first tally with his new team.
Hayton made his season debut against the Blackhawks. He missed the first two contests due to a lower-body injury.
Utah will be without defenseman Sean Durzi, who will miss about a month because of an upper-body injury he sustained on Saturday in a 3-2 overtime road win over the Nashville Predators.
Mammoth right winger Dylan Guenther has recorded at least one point in each of the team’s first three games.
