Utah Mammoth left wing Daniil But (50), left, celebrates his goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period of a game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2026 (Erin Hooley, Deseret News).
(Erin Hooley, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Upon returning home from a lengthy eastern conference road trip, the Utah Mammoth remained red-hot as they outlasted the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Delta Center in thrilling fashion.
While Utah should’ve secured a much more comfortable victory as they entered the third period up by three, the Mammoth demonstrated resiliency to secure two points despite a fierce late push by Toronto.
That was pretty wild, eh?
Despite entering the third period with a comfortable 5-2 lead, the Mammoth took their foot off the gas which allowed a dangerous Maple Leafs team multiple opportunities to claw their way back into the game.
Tuck for Tucks 💙 https://t.co/AFJN3SzMQ6
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 14, 2026
GAVIN MCKENNA!!!!!! https://t.co/uIjK3Uvloj
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) October 14, 2026
Now, there’s two ways to look at this.
On one hand, Utah demonstrated some growth tonight as they held on to secure a big win over a formidable Toronto team.
In years past, there’s a good chance that the Mammoth would’ve completely blown their advantage and possibly a point or two.
Instead, Utah tightened things up when it mattered, played stingy defense, picked up a few clutch saves from Karel Vejmelka and outlasted the Leafs 5-4 to claim two big points.
That’s commendable and a sign of progress.
“After a long road trip like we had, it’s always tough to find your emotions and to find the second gear,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “And I think our guys did a really good job because we knew there was a challenge, but they made sure we showed up with that emotion, and that was not a problem,”
“We found the way to get a big two points again, against a really good team, so I’m proud of that. Obviously, still early in the season, we can be much better than we were tonight in different areas. I think the mindset of increasing our pace and playing hard down low against them was good, not consistent, but we did a lot of good stuff.”
On the flipside, and as Tourigny later explained, Utah can and should be a lot better in those scenarios.
“To be honest, we need to be better in that,” he said convincingly. “That’s an area we need; there was no reason for them to come back, and we started the first five minutes of the third period the way we should be. That was textbook; it was perfect. Get the puck deep, get on the body, put a lot of pressure. They didn’t have the time to execute.”
“We did what we had to do, and then for no reason, we turned the puck over at the blue (line), and gave them a chance to play in our zone. The next shift, we go. We have a good time in the O-Zone (Offensive Zone), and we take a penalty. Why? It’s 5-2. We have 200 feet above our net. Why? There’s no reason. Then they score, and now it’s 5-3. Whoops.”
This is the correct mindset for Utah to have at this point in their rebuild.
It’s no longer about occasionally surprising the best teams in the league or playing meaningful hockey down the stretch.
Rather, this team needs to win as many games as possible to continue building towards eventual contention.
When they have a bad game like they did in Boston, they have to immediately respond the next night.
Even when they outlast a third period push by a quality team, they can’t become complacent after surrendering what should’ve been a more comfortable victory.
“That was a very inconsistent performance by us,” Mikhail Sergachev explained. “We gave up some tough goals on the PK that we shouldn’t have given up, we got to clean that up. Our power play we just got to talk more, stay focused out there and just do what makes us great. Shoot the puck, recover, and today I don’t think we had a shot on goal, so we just got to do better.”
So, while those are the fun, heart-racing games that create lifelong memories and feel so rewarding to win as a fan, there was no reason for Utah to let Toronto back in the game.
The fact that they collectively pointed that out demonstrates their maturity and intent this season.
After earning a well-deserved spot on Utah’s opening night roster and finding the back of the net in game one, it’s been somewhat of a challenging start to the year for 21-year-old forward Daniil But.
Not that he’s been playing poorly by any means, but as head coach Andre Tourigny explained the other day after practice, But has been carrying an unnecessary weight as he tries to prove he belongs.
“It’s tough for a young player like But to not put pressure on himself,” Tourigny said. “We’re trying to talk to him, calm him down a little bit, give him some confidence, & let him know we like him. We believe in him.”
“You can see he’s nervous & he’s pressing…But is trusted. We trust him. We play him in any kind of a situation. We’re not hiding him…he has his minutes. He just needs to get a little bit more comfortable in his game.”
It’s understandable, right?
As a young player striving to prove himself and avoid ever going back to the American League, But is anxious to perform.
However, playing a fourth line role doesn’t always present a favorable situation as it’s often fewer minutes with some of the lesser talented skaters on the team.
Makes it a lot harder to score in that situation as opposed to playing with the likes Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz in the preseason.
But as Tourigny noted in his comments, they trust No. 50 and value him a great deal.
On Tuesday night, But illustrated why Utah has so much trust in him as he dangled his way to the net, sniped Anthony Stolarz top shelf and then hit a legendary celly.
“I haven’t played my best hockey the last few games,” But explained. “I think that goal can help me.”
The move. The snipe. The celly.
An absolute BeaUTy from 50. https://t.co/tQUubGYFep
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) October 14, 2026
Now, while the goal was a beauty, But also learned a valuable lesson against the Maple Leafs.
Amidst finishing a forecheck before making an eventual line change, No. 50 committed a poorly timed tripping penalty which led to a 6-on-5 goal for Gavin McKenna to bring Toronto within one late in the third.
“We took another penalty in the neutral zone when they were skating towards their net,” Tourigny explained. “We need to be much, much better than that.”
“He’s a young player, he’s just reaching. The three penalty we took in the third period was reaching with our stick…It cannot get worse. That’s the good news. It can only get better.”
Like Tourigny pointed out, those late penalties were unacceptable, especially while forechecking in the oppositions zone with no immediate threat.
Even though Utah ultimately outlasted the Leafs, those third period stick penalties need to be cleaned up ASAP.
The Utah Mammoth will face the Edmonton Oilers at Rogers Place on Thursday night at 7 p.m. MDT.
The game will be available on SEG+.
All Mammoth games will also be broadcast live on the KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM/1280 AM).
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.
