The Utah Mammoth lost their season opener 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche. Although the final score appears close, the Mammoth played a sloppy game at times. They will need to clean up some things and work on their giveaways. Leading in shots and blocked shots are nice stats, but leading in giveaways (38) to Colorado’s 23 is not good.
One area that needs improvement is faceoffs. The Avalanche won 69.4% of the faceoffs. When a team wins the faceoff, it leads to more puck possession time. Good things happen when you control the puck more. For the Mammoth, they’re lucky the score was as close as it was. Hopefully, they will have better luck in the faceoff circle on Saturday against the Nashville Predators.
Mammoth Looked Good Despite Loss
A positive takeaway from this game is the 33 shots. Even the Avalanche’s head coach, Jared Bednar, said that if it hadn’t been for their goaltender Scott Wedgewood, they likely would have lost the game. As for the players, the player who stood out for me was Dylan Guenther. He looked to be in mid-season form already. Although he missed on a brief breakaway, Guenther would score on the power play to tie the game 1-1 late in the second period.
Another player who stood out was goaltender Karel Vejmelka. He looked impressive in his 25-save effort. Despite the loss, he looked sharp and poised. This game could have gone either way. Both goaltenders were outstanding and, at times, were the difference makers. The Mammoth defense needs to play better in front of Vejmelka. Too many times, during the game, the Avalanche had bodies in front of the net. Vejmelka will likely get the start again on Saturday.
The Mammoth are looking to be one of the top three teams in the Central Division this season. To do that, they will need to find ways to beat teams like the Avalanche. These two teams will meet three more times. The Mammoth will need to try to win at least two of those games.
