Utah Mammoth Leave Red Wings Blue In Lopsided Win

Dec 17, 2025 , 8:08 PM | Updated: Dec 18, 2025, 11:35 am

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BRIAN PREECE


Digital Sports Producer

DETROIT, Michigan – The Utah Mammoth finished their road trip with a winning record after outperforming the Detroit Red Wings in a 4-1 win.

The Mammoth (17-16-3, 37 points) traveled to the Wolverine State to face the Atlantic Division-leading Red Wings (19-13-3, 41 points) on Wednesday, December 17.

Utah began the day fourth in the Central Division, two points out of playoff positioning with 47 games to play. The Mammoth are 9-11-2 on the road and are 5-5 in their past ten games.

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Detroit has only three players with 10 or more goals. Lucas Raymond (10 goals, 27 assists), Dylan Larkin (17 goals, 16 assists), and points leader Alex DeBrincat (20 goals, 19 assists) are shouldering a heavy workload.

DeBrincat, Raymond, and Axel Sandin-Pelikka enter the night riding two-game point streaks.

Utah’s scoring punch is more evenly distributed amongst four active skaters and Logan Cooley, who remains out with a lower-body injury.

Nick Schmaltz leads the way with 30 points (12 goals, 18 assists), followed closely by Captain Clayton Keller’s 10 goals and 18 assists. Dylan Guenther is the team’s goals leader with 15 red lamps lit and 12 assists. First-year Mammoth skater JJ Peterka has 13 goals and 12 assists to round out the quartet.

Pregame

First Period

The first nine minutes were played almost even, with both teams attempting four shots. Utah proved to be the more physical club with six hits to begin the night.

Barrett Hayton earned the first penalty of the game when he was whistled for holding Ben Chiarot with 8:54 left in the period.

The Mammoth opened the night tied with Calgary for the fifth-best penalty kill unit in the NHL and had killed 19 of their past 20 penalties.

Utah’s best scoring chance came up empty when Michael Carcone ripped a shot off the crossbar.

Detroit outshot Utah 11-8, while both sides blocked four shots. The Mammoth held a 7-3 hits advantage after 20 minutes.

Second Period

Utah grabbed the game’s first lead 104 seconds into the second period when Clayton Keller whipped a wrist-shot rebound past Cam Talbot for a 1-0 lead.

Nick Schmaltz and JJ Peterka assisted Keller’s 11th goal of the season. It was also the 300th assist of Schmaltz’s career,

Penalties continued to bite the Mammoth when Hayton was sent to the box with Utah’s third penalty of the period, and gave Detroit its fourth power play of the night.

Detroit began finding some space on the PP, peppering Karel Vejmelka with shots, but it was Utah that found the back of the net.

Jack McBain gave his team a 2-0 lead on a shot that came 22 seconds after the power play expired. Carcone and Sean Durzi assisted McBain’s fourth goal. Three of his four goals have come on the power play.

Third Period

Follow the Utah Mammoth with KSL Sports

The Mammoth welcomes the New Jersey Devils into the Delta Center on Friday, December 19. The puck drops at 7 p.m. MT.

Follow the entire 2025-26 Utah Mammoth schedule here.

The Smith Entertainment Group’s (SEG) streaming platform will also continue to carry all Mammoth games on SEG+ in 2025-26.

Cole Bagley is the Utah Mammoth insider for KSL Sports. Follow him on X. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

All Mammoth games will be broadcast live on the KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM). Occasionally, KSL NewsRadio (102.7 FM / 1160 AM) also airs Jazz games.

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Brian Preece is a sports.ksl.com insider covering Locals in MLB and the Salt Lake Bees. Follow Brian’s Bees and Beehive baseball here. Find Brian on X, Instagram, and BlueSky at @bpreece24. 

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