The Utah Mammoth recently defeated the Columbus Blue Jackets in overtime, 5-4. Logan Cooley scored the overtime winner for the Mammoth. The win gives Karel Vejmelka his 30th win of the year.
He is the first goaltender in the league to reach 30 wins this season. It puts Vejmelka among an elite group of goaltenders like Andrei Vasilevsky and Marc-Andre Fleury. The Czech goaltender has some solid numbers to back up his 30 wins on the year. He has a 2.64 GAA and a .900 SV% with one shutout.
Vejmelka has a solid team in front of him. The fact that the Mammoth added MacKenzie Weegar to their defense will only help the 29-year-old goaltender. The fact that Vejmelka got to 30 wins before Vasilevsky, Connor Hellebuyck, or Jeremy Swayman speaks to how well his season is going. He has helped his team into the first wildcard spot in the Western Conference.
Mammoth Need Vejmelka Now More Than Ever
The NHL regular season is almost over, and the Stanley Cup Playoffs are about a month away. With the playoffs in sight, Utah is thinking about how they must keep winning games and solidify their playoff spot in the Western Conference.
However, they have some tough competition coming up on their schedule. They have 19 games left, with nine of them against current playoff teams. The Mammoth will face four of those teams in a row (Pittsburgh Penguins, Dallas Stars, Vegas Golden Knights, and Anaheim Ducks) from mid to late March.
That’s a tough schedule for the Mammoth, and they will need their goaltender to help them now more than ever. Despite a good forward group and a solid defense, they still need Vejmelka to help them. So far, He’s been up to the task.
He is really going to have to continue to prove his worth. Making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history is riding on how well he and the Mammoth play during these final 19 games. Hopefully, he can help them get there. Then he’ll need to find another gear for the playoffs, as winning playoff games is a lot harder than winning regular-season games.
