In the team’s first opportunity to clinch a Stanley Cup playoff berth, the Utah Mammoth left little doubt of their deservedness with a 4-1 win over the Nashville Predators on Thursday, extending their current win streak to five games.
Then the Anaheim Ducks did their part in a 6-1 win over the San Jose Sharks to secure Utah’s playoff spot and bring the postseason back to the Delta Center for the first time since the Utah Jazz qualified in 2022.
“It’s a step in the right direction,” Utah captain Clayton Keller said of clinching. “A lot of us haven’t played in the playoffs in a while and we want to taste that. You want to play against the best teams and see what it’s all about.”
Keller and most of the Mammoth players last tasted postseason hockey in 2020 with the Arizona Coyotes. The last time the old Arizona franchise made the playoffs before that was in 2012, four years before Keller was drafted.
Perhaps even more impressive is the streak that head coach Andre Tourigny continued on Thursday. The Quebec native has improved his team’s record for five consecutive years since being hired by Arizona in 2021, going from 57 to 70 to 77 to 89 and now 90 points with four games remaining.
Tourigny said the team started “from scratch” when he was brought on to begin the Coyotes’ rebuild, and jokingly said he plans to keep improving his teams for “the next 20 years.”
Playing for one another
(Trent Nelson | The Salt Lake Tribune) Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) says the team is " just scratching the surface" of its potential.
When associate captain Lawson Crouse was asked why the Mammoth are deserving of a playoff spot, he simply said, “Our sacrifice and work ethic.”
“All season we’ve had ups and downs and we’re just scratching the surface,” Crouse added.
The five-game win streak marks the third such instance this season for the Mammoth, with one in October and another in January, bookending the team’s second season in Utah with dominant stretches.
The team is peaking at the right time, and Keller said the team is feeling “very confident” and is “playing some great hockey lately.”
“We’re playing for one another,” Keller said. “It’s the most fun time of the year and it’s fun showing up to the rink every day.”
Tourigny described the team’s current state of play as “tuned in,” and specifically complimented his captain for being “rock solid.”
The clinching win
(Bethany Baker | The Salt Lake Tribune) Mammoth fans will get their first taste of playoff hockey in Utah.
Keller put up a hat trick of assists in the clinching win over Nashville, providing the primary assist on goals from Nick Schmaltz, Dylan Guenther and Crouse. Kailer Yamamoto scored the other goal for Utah on Thursday, opening the game with his 12th of the season.
Guenther pulled within one goal of 40 on the season with his strike against the Predators, and could become just the 11th player in the NHL this season to reach the mark with one more score over the final four games.
Karel Vejmelka was superb in goal, once again, putting up 29 saves and nearly getting his third shutout of the season if not for a stroke of bad luck on a power play late in the third period.
“He gave us a true chance to win right from the first puck drop,” Crouse said of Vejmelka.
Vejmelka moved back into a tie at the top of the goaltender win column with Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy at 37.
Utah currently sits in the first wild card spot in the Western Conference with four games remaining, including three at home. The 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs are scheduled to begin on Saturday, April 18, with full schedules and matchups to be announced at a later date.