Wednesday night brought us a matchup between two teams looking to get back on track, with the Utah Mammoth hosting the Buffalo Sabers at the Delta Center.
In their second game of a four-game road trip, the Sabers entered action last in the Eastern Conference, having lost six of their last seven games. The Mammoth opened a short two-game homestand after playing seven of their last eight games â a great opportunity to stabilize after losing five of their previous six games.
Summary of the game
To start the night, the Sabers came out and applied the pressure early, driving pucks toward the Mammoth net. This early pressure allowed them to open the scoring just over five minutes into the game when Jack Quinn found the skate of Isak Rosen, who guided the puck past Karel Vejmelka as he sat on the sidewalk.
This was the only goal of the first period, but the Sabers would extend their lead to two after Rosen’s second goal of the night as he capped off a beautiful give-and-go play with Noah Ostlund.
The Mammoth finally got on the board midway through the game after Nick DeSimone’s first goal of the season in his second game. The goal came when the Sabers broke up a Mammoth cross pass on the rush, the loose puck bounced toward the blue line and DeSimone ran in and ripped a slap shot past Colten Ellis.
After coming back within one coming out of the second intermission, the Mammoth tied the game after JJ Peterka’s first goal against his former team when he buried a wrist shot from the left circle after grabbing a loose puck off the wall in the offensive end, dancing around three Sabers players.
Four minutes into the final frame they took the 3-2 lead when Lawson Crouse went top and beat Ellis tightly after being set up by Peterka, who recorded his second point of the match.
With just under 10 minutes left in the game, the Mammoth got an insurance goal when Clayton Keller found Nick Schmaltz for his 10th goal of the season on a one-timer in the slot. The Mammoth then iced it with an empty net goal from Keller with less than 30 seconds to play, capping a 5-2 win and snapping a three-game losing streak.
This concludes a small season series for the Mammoth between these two interconference teams, who made one of the biggest trades of the offseason. The Mammoth return to action at home on Friday against the New York Islanders, while things don’t get any easier for the Sabers as they face the Colorado Avalanche tomorrow night.
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