WINNIPEG, Manitoba — The Utah Mammoth went international for the first time this season in Winnipeg and didn’t skip a beat, extending their win streak to seven games on Sunday.
The Jets scored first in a battle between the second and third-place teams in the Western Conference, but Utah fired back with two goals just one minute apart to take a 2-1 lead midway through the second period.
The first was a power-play distance strike by Mikhail Sergachev, and the second was a two-man rush between Kailer Yamamoto and Michael Carcone for Carcone’s second goal of the season.
The Jets responded with a power-play goal of their own four minutes later to tie the game at 2-2 heading into the third and final period. The goal by Mark Scheifele took the Winnipeg forward out of a tie with Utah’s Nick Schmaltz and Logan Cooley for the Western Conference lead in goals at eight.
The lone goal in the final period was scored by none other than Utah’s clutch winger, Dylan Guenther, finishing off a backward pass from Cooley for the 22-year-old’s fourth game-winner in eight Utah wins this season.
“I think it’s another stepping stone for us, playing one of the best teams in the league,” Guenther said. “We’re riding a hot streak, so I think just carry that momentum.”
Goaltender Vitek Vanecek got his second win in three starts this season, putting up 28 saves on a .933 save percentage. The 29-year-old Czechia native sits at No. 7 on the league-wide goalie rankings with an even 2.0 goals against average.
“Every single game is really important,” Vanecek said. “We need the points, and then we just need to keep going like that.”
Vanecek and starter Karel Vejmelka both sit in the top 20 league wide in goals against average and save percentage.
“They have both been unbelievable,” Guenther said of the goalies. “When your goalies are playing like that, you’ve got a chance to win every game.”
The Mammoth travel to Guenther’s hometown of Edmonton next to take on the Stanley Cup runner-up Oilers at a vulnerable time, with Edmonton currently sitting in fourth place in the Pacific Division with four wins, four losses and an overtime loss.
“We don’t want to level ourselves to our opponent,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “We want to be the best version of ourselves every night.”
That “best version” is one of the best teams in the NHL so far this season, sitting level with New Jersey at 14 points at the top of the league standings, despite the Devils besting the Mammoth’s win streak by one game at eight in a row. Utah leads Colorado in the Central Division standings by 2 points.
The puck drops against Edmonton on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. MDT on Mammoth+. A win would mean the longest win streak in Utah/Arizona combined club history since February 2011.
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