Utah Mammoth defenseman Dmitri Simashev (26) skates during an NHL game against the St. Louis Blues at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thursday, April 16, 2026 (Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News).
(Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY – Despite trailing by two goals in the second period, the Utah Mammoth pulled off an epic comeback on home ice to defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning in overtime.
Scoring the first two goals of his young career, 21-year-old defenseman Dmitri Simashev stole the show in thrilling fashion as he pushed his way to the front of the net to call game in OT.
It’s not every day a player scores their first career NHL goal.
It’s even rarer to follow it up with an overtime winner in the same game. But that’s exactly the dream night Dmitri Simashev is having, leading the Utah Mammoth to an epic 5-4 comeback victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
First @NHL goal for Sima!!! 👏
Simashev ties the game. https://t.co/1oHa5qhYFr
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 25, 2026
HAVE A NIGHT, SIMA! 🔥 https://t.co/ymqUa4IQGa
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 25, 2026
While it might’ve taken 40 games in the league to get his first and second goals, they couldn’t have come at a better time.
In an attempt to tie things up before heading into the third period, the young defenseman called for the puck, put himself in prime scoring position and then picked his spot to register his very first goal while earning a well-deserved facewash from teammate Vincent Trocheck during the celebration.
“I feel amazing,” Simashev said with a grin on his face. “I didn’t expect [to play] in overtime to be honest. Thanks, Footer, for trusting me.”
“I was just so happy when we scored the goal. That’s all my feelings right now.”
As Simashev noted, the young defenseman wasn’t expecting to see any ice time in OT until assistant coach Adam Foote encouraged head coach Andre Tourigny to give No. 26 a chance.
To this point, that might’ve been Foote’s best call behind the bench for the Mammoth as Simashev used his fresh legs to burst towards the net for an epic game-winner that sent the Delta Center into a frenzy.
“Scoring a goal is always great,” Tourigny explained. “Scoring a goal during a key moment like he did, that’s pretty cool.”
“It was Footer’s call. Footer came to me after the third period and he felt that Sima had legs and was fresh or more fresh than other guys. He asked me. I trust Footer’s feeling. We went with that. That was a pretty good call.”
Through the first 16 shots he faced against Tampa Bay, Karel Vejmelka was playing with fire as he struggled to get stops and allowed four deflating goals.
Upon trailing by two at that point, Tourigny had a decision to make.
Pull Vejmelka and obliterate his confidence or express trust that his starting goaltender would tighten things up and bounce back.
“There’s more than one way to address the situation, but when someone is totally dedicated at improving and fixing things and cares a ton, putting high pressure on the situation is probably not the right thing because he cares a ton and he wanted to make the difference,” Tourigny explained. “One big thing he was in his head about, ‘Oh, I need to change this. I need to change that. Maybe I will change this. Maybe I can do..’ Well, okay, no, no, no. Just relax. Just have focus and concentration on what you have to do, and confidence. Now you’re thinking, ‘And what if it doesn’t work? What can I change?’ and your focus is going in the wrong direction.
“Just trust yourself as much as we trust you, how much our fans trust you, and you can see the reaction of the fans when he came up big. I think it’s huge for him. I think our fans did a fantastic job to pour some love and make him feel how important he is for our team.”
As Tourigny pointed out, Vejmelka came up big down the stretch as he stopped Tampa’s remaining 16 shots, including a breakaway in OT that could’ve ended the game.
Now, that doesn’t excuse the way he started the night, or his current save percentage/goals against.
But tonight was big for Vejmelka’s confidence as he proved the coaching staff right and came up big for his team when they needed him most.
Credit to them for making the right call and giving him a chance to redeem himself.
However, as the team moves forward, he has to play with the confidence he had in the second half against Tampa in order to keep the net.
If not, difficult conversations will need to take place in order for the Mammoth to remain on the current trajectory.
The Utah Mammoth will host the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. MT.
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.
