3 Takeaways From Mammoth’s 5-3 Loss to Blues – The Hockey Writers – Utah Mammoth

For the second straight season, the Utah Mammoth and the St. Louis Blues met in Game 82 to finish off the regular season. Last year, it was the end of the season for Utah when they played in Missouri, as they failed to make the playoffs. The Blues, meanwhile, continued their season into the postseason.

This season, it’s an exact reversal. Game 82 was the final game for the Blues this season. However, the Mammoth’s season will continue as they are set to play their first-ever playoff series on Sunday. Despite the differences, there is one similarity. Both Game 82s were won by the Blues, this time by a score of 5-3. Here are some takeaways from Thursday’s game.

Game 82

Game 82 for the Mammoth won’t be remembered by most fans. Unlike Game 82 last season, where the Blues had to win to make the playoffs, the Mammoth already clinched a playoff spot a couple of weeks ago, and the Blues were already eliminated from playoff contention. With nothing at stake, Thursday’s game wasn’t the most important one.

That being said, there were some notable things. Michael Carcone got his 16th goal of the season thanks to a slick John Marino pass that was deflected by JJ Peterka. Carcone then sniped a shot behind Joel Hofer for the first Mammoth goal of the game.

Lawson Crouse tied his career high in goals with 24 after swiping a puck in on his backhand. After what was an abysmal 2024-25 season, producing only 18 points, Crouse has rebounded big time this season, finishing his season with 44 points, one back of his career high. 

Crouser buries the rebound!

2-1, Utah. pic.twitter.com/1LTk2TRoeQ

— x – Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) April 17, 2026

Clayton Keller got an assist on Crouse’s goal, which extends (and ends) his point streak at 10 games. He ends the season with 88 points in 82 games, the second best of his career, and only two points back of the 90 points he had last season.

“I think (I’m) just making good decisions with the puck, trying to attack more, and just trying to build my game every single game,” Keller said. “Lots of video, breaking it down, just doing everything I can to be better.”

Kailer Yamamoto scored the final Mammoth goal of the regular season off a wrist shot in the middle of the offensive zone. The goal was his 13th of the season, the second-best of his career. Yamamoto will be an underrated part of the Mammoth going into the postseason. He’s one of those guys who can score big goals at the right time. Especially after being one of the only productive players in the Tucson Roadrunners’ playoff series against the Abbotsford Canucks last season, don’t be surprised if he pots some goals in the postseason.

✨ Yamamojo ✨

Yams ties it, 3-3. pic.twitter.com/5XBY669PSn

— x – Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) April 17, 2026

Finally, the big story of the game was Robert Thomas’ hat trick, which he completed in overtime. That’s pretty ironic considering he was linked in trade rumors to the Mammoth all season long. With the three goals, Thomas finishes the season as a point-per-game player, 64 points in 64 games.

The 2025-26 Team Awards

Last season, the Mammoth introduced team awards to give out at the end of the season. This season, the team once again handed out those five awards to continue that new tradition.

The All-In Award is the one honor that fans vote on. It’s given to the player who leaves it all on the ice from the opening puck drop to the final horn. The fans voted Crouse to win the award. He was only one of six players in the whole league to score at least 20 goals and have at least 200 hits. Crouse’s relentlessness to win and devotion to being the best self he can be are big reasons why he’s improved his season totals from last season and was named the winner of the All-In Award.

“I just try and do my best each and every night out there,” Crouse said. “A lot of guys on our team do so, too. If you look around the room, there are a lot of guys that come out for that award, and I am obviously very grateful to get that recognition.”

The Community-Obsessed Award is given to the player who is most active in their community. The Mammoth selected Michael Carcone as the recipient. The forward played a big part in helping the Mammoth celebrate World Down Syndrome Day with his friend Welles. He was also one of four NHL players to team up with the league and For Bare Feet to create mismatched socks to honor the occasion.

Additionally, Carcone attended multiple community events, like the team’s hospital visit at Primary Children’s Hospital. Winning the Community-Obsessed Award was one Carcone took honor in. Helping out in the Utah community is a big priority for the forward, so getting recognized for his work is big for him.

“It’s exciting,” Carcone said. “Like I said from day one, this community has been special and done so much for my family and myself, so obviously getting recognized for this award is special to me.”

Dylan Guenther won the Three Stars Award for the second straight season. The award is given to the player who has the most postgame star honors. Guenther was named one of the three stars 21 times this season. Three of those came in the first seven games when the forward scored the game-winning goal in each of those contests.

Finally, both the Team MVP Award and the Leading Scorer Award went to Keller. For the second straight season, the Mammoth’s captain led his team in points, which also corresponded to his teammates selecting him for the Team MVP Award. As mentioned, Keller ended the season on a 10-game point streak, the longest one in franchise history.

“It (the Team MVP Award) means a lot,” Keller said. “There are lots of other guys in this room who could have received it. It’s very special, and it means a lot for sure.”

This is Keller’s fifth straight season where he’s led his team in points. He ended up tied for 15th in the NHL in points.

Onto Game 1

With Game 82 in the books, the regular season is over. In their second season of existence, the Mammoth finished with a 43-33-6 record and 92 points, a three-point improvement from last season.

The Mammoth now head into the playoffs to play the Vegas Golden Knights in the first round. It will be the team’s very first playoff series, a goal that the team set out to accomplish this season. Now, quite a few Mammoth players will play in the postseason for the first time in a long time, including Keller.

“It’s super exciting,” Keller said. “We’re so excited to be in the playoffs. This is where we wanted to go, and now the real fun starts. Regular season’s over. It doesn’t matter at all, really. It’s focus on Vegas.”

However, as the Mammoth players have established, this is just the beginning. Playoffs should be the standard every season. Making the postseason for the first time is awesome and all, but the Stanley Cup is the focus, and no celebrating will be done by the team until that’s in their possession.

The Mammoth are going into the playoffs on a rough stretch. They’ve lost three of their past four games. Yes, Thursday’s game against the Blues wasn’t an important one, but it was important for the Mammoth to be on a good stretch heading into the playoffs. Luckily, the Mammoth are a resilient team as we’ve seen all season long. That’s the reason why they’re even in the playoffs in the first place.

“The resilience of the guys, the way they fought during the season, through certain moments of adversity, showed a lot of growth in our ability to have urgency when it was important,” head coach André Tourigny said. “We stayed away from long periods of adversity. We were capable of having good consistency and strung a few winning streaks together that pushed us over the edge…I think they earned everything. They earned the right to play game 83. We talked about it all season long. Proud of the guys for that and excited to get going.” 

It’s been a great season for the Mammoth, and the most exciting hockey is yet to come. Everyone is looking forward to Sunday and Game 1 of the series against the Knights. It’s what all 82 games have culminated into. The series will feature the biggest and most important games the Mammoth have ever played and for a lot of the players on the team, the same label will apply. It’s playoff hockey. Nothing is more intense, physical, grinding, and rewarding.

The Mammoth will take on the Knights in Game 1 of the first round on Sunday night. The Mammoth won the regular season series 2-1 and also won the most recent game back in March by a score of 4-0.