Playing two games in a row against two of the top three teams in your division is no easy task, especially coming out of a three-week break. The Utah Mammoth needed to win at least one of their games this week to continue creating a gap between them and the other teams in the Western Conference looking for a wild card spot. After losing Wednesday’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, they turned their attention to the red-hot Minnesota Wild, who had beaten the Avalanche just 24 hours ago.
Fortunately, due to that game, the Wild weren’t at their strongest, and the Mammoth were looking for a bounce-back opportunity. It culminated in a fantastic outing against the team the Mammoth are chasing in the standings, resulting in a big two points for them. Here are some takeaways from the 5-2 win over the Wild.
United States Olympian, Mammoth MVP
Clayton Keller came back to Salt Lake City a champion. Fresh off winning gold with Team USA, Keller has even more hunger to win back at home. He showed that with his dominating performance on Friday night.
Keller was electric on the ice against the Wild. He made some brilliant spin passes, looked fast, and overall was the best player for the Mammoth during most of the game. Keller showed off his want for competing with the best and his ability to take control of a game.
“I liked the progression he had in his game,” head coach André Tourigny said. “I think the first period he was trying to force it a little bit, and he got much better in the second and third period. He has a desire to compete and a desire to stay on top of it and to do everything to win, not just using his skill, but using his work ethic and everything. He played a really solid game.”
Keller walks away from the game with three points. Funny enough, it wasn’t even his best performance against the Wild in the past year. In his past 10 games against the team, Keller has 16 points. That includes his five-point game against the Wild one year ago from this game.
Related: Olympic Omission Becoming Motivation for Mammoth’s Maksymilian Szuber and Julian Lutz
It hasn’t just been against the Wild where Keller has been dominating. It’s been all season long, too. He is now up to 58 points in 59 games with six points in his last three games. He has once again been one of the most important players for the Mammoth, and it seems there’s no stopping him right now.
“It seems like it doesn’t matter what team we’re playing, he’s picking up points,” Lawson Crouse said. “It’s a lot of fun to play with and a lot of credit to Schmaltzy (Nick Schmaltz). They play so well together. They read off of each other. It’s just a lot of fun to play with and a lot of fun to watch.”
🗣️Clayton, and we can not stress this enough, Keller!
2-0, Mammoth. pic.twitter.com/PRILG0ZCPV
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) February 28, 2026
The Mammoth are going to need Keller to keep rolling to keep pushing for the playoffs. That statement is pretty obvious. However, that’s just how good Keller is and how important he is to this team. You can have your Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley producing, but the captain is integral to this team, and his 58 points and overall presence would be a huge missing part if he weren’t here.
The Sheriff Takes on the Wild
At the end of last season, Crouse was extremely hard on himself for the most disappointing season of his career. His 12 goals and 18 points were the worst tallies in a full season of his career since his rookie season. Mentally, he wasn’t doing his best. It was a difficult season altogether for one of the most consistent players during his time in Arizona.
This season, it’s been a complete 180. Crouse has rebounded in a big way, scoring 16 goals and producing 31 points. He’s shown that he is still an important player on this Mammoth team offensively.
At the end of last season, Tourigny says Crouse pulled him aside and said the two didn’t have to do a end of the season meeting. Instead, he’ll do his talking in training camp. His play has done exactly that ever since that day.
“He’s speaking really loudly this year,” Tourigny said. “The respect I have for a guy who goes through adversity. Everybody stumbles in life. It’s how you react to adversity, and that’s why he’s one of our leaders, and we’re really proud.”
Crouse added two more goals to his season totals on Friday against the Wild. The first goal came from a Schmaltz drop pass to Keller, who threw it to Crouse in front of the net. The forward put the puck in on his backhand to score the Mammoth’s third goal of the game and the eventual game-winning goal.
Six sevennnnnn 👀
Crouser makes it 3-0, Mammoth! pic.twitter.com/7SStbtHOij
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) February 28, 2026
His second goal came thanks to Sean Durzi. Jack McBain passed the puck to the defenseman, and he shot it towards Crouse, and he tipped it into the net to make it 5-1 Mammoth.
Relentless.
Crouser tallies his second of the night. pic.twitter.com/numjE2pm5N
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) February 28, 2026
Crouse obviously has done a lot this season offensively. However, it’s the things he does off the ice and away from the cameras that his teammates really appreciate him for. Especially Keller, who has played with him ever since his early days in the NHL in Arizona.
“Even when he doesn’t have his best, he has a positive impact on this locker room, on our team,” Keller said. “All the little things he does day to day with younger guys, or whatever it may be, his leadership, and just everything he does that the media might not see. He’s a huge part of our team, and I’ll always have his back for sure.”
The way Crouse has handled himself in the past year is something that makes everyone who knows him proud. He didn’t back down to the controversies and criticism from last season. He owned up to it. He didn’t shy away from his disappointing season. Instead, he worked even harder during the offseason.
That is what makes Crouse such a likable figure in the Mammoth organization. His commitment to being his best self and to owning up to his own mistakes shows such a mature and responsible character. It’s why Tourigny can go on and on about how much he respects Crouse.
“He handled that (last season) like a man, like a character, like an elite individual when you have adversity,” Tourigny said. “When push comes to shove, and it’s really tough, and it’s really hard, and things are not going well, and you end up indulging yourself the way you did last year, he took ownership, took responsibility, stood in front of you, stood tall, head up, and owned it. That means a lot. That meant a lot for me, I’m sure it meant a lot for you, for our fans, for our players in that room, for our management.”
A Wild West Winner
Points are critical this time of year. Every point matters. However, getting two against a divisional opponent you’re chasing down is the best type of way to get them, and that’s what the Mammoth did on Friday.
“It’s huge (to get the two points),” Crouse said. “Especially coming down the stretch to finish the season. It’s tough when you lose two in a row. We came ready to play. They had a tough schedule on the back-to-back, and we jumped on them and took advantage.”
The Wild did play the Avalanche (the best team in the NHL) on Thursday. They were clearly tired. Instead of playing down to their opponent, the Mammoth simply played their best hockey and dominated, capitalizing on the Wild’s lack of energy.
“We made sure we were really aggressive, and we jumped on them,” Tourigny said. “That doesn’t guarantee you will win, but it guarantees you will bring them in deep water and see if they can swim.”
There was a lot that the Mammoth did well. The power play went one for three, but looked dangerous on every opportunity, which led to Barrett Hayton’s goal on the second opportunity. The penalty kill played just as well. Although they allowed the Wild to score once on the power play, the Mammoth scored a shorthanded goal on their first penalty kill, kicking off the game with their momentum.
Karel Vejmelka played excellently as well, putting his disappointing game on Wednesday behind him. He was a big reason why the Wild didn’t end up on the scoreboard in the first 10 minutes, and he made multiple big saves throughout the game, including stopping a Matt Boldy breakaway.
Boldy DENIED by Vejmelka! pic.twitter.com/M4BXgVu35P
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) February 28, 2026
Most importantly, the Mammoth kept their foot on the gas throughout all three periods. They didn’t stop pushing. They didn’t stop playing their game. They kept going. Something they haven’t done consistently throughout this season. Because of that, they never let the Wild into the game, outshooting them 37-23.
“There are times this year where we’ve let off in the second for whatever reason,” Keller said. “Tonight, we kept rolling it over shift after shift in the second. Just tried to play direct, simple, make them work for everything. I think we did a good job of that tonight.”
This is no slouch of a Wild team either. They came into Friday’s game on a six-game winning streak and coming off a big win over the best team in the league. Yes, they were tired, but the Mammoth didn’t let them have anything. When Kirill Kapirzov scored the first Wild goal in the second period, the Mammoth went back to work, scoring in the opening minutes of the third.
It’s a massive win for the Mammoth, and it’s because they stuck to their game. The team might’ve looked a little rusty against the Avalanche, but the rust has been polished off with this win. It’s a win to be proud of because of the way the Mammoth handled themselves against a top team like the Wild. It truly was an identity win and a big bounce-back performance.
“Just a great bounce back game,” Crouse said. “The game the other night was a little bit difficult. It’s difficult coming in after that much time off, but we felt that we were playing towards our identity. We talked a lot about that over the last couple of days. Just a great answer from our group to go out there and play the way that we did for a full 60 minutes.”
The Mammoth’s next game is against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday afternoon. The Blackhawks are 22-27-9 this season and are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Nashville Predators. They will play the Avalanche on Saturday afternoon, then fly to Utah. These two teams last met in October, where the Mammoth lost 3-1.
