The Hat Trick: Karel Vejmelka Remains Hot As Utah Mammoth Win Second-Straight

Dec 5, 2025 , 11:31 PM

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Karel Vejmelka, Utah Mammoth...

Karel Vejmelka #70 of the Utah Mammoth in net during the second period of their NHL game against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on December 5, 2025 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. (Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)

(Photo by Derek Cain/Getty Images)

COLE BAGLEY


Utah Mammoth Insider

SALT LAKE CITY – After suffering a four-game losing streak, the Utah Mammoth secured their second-straight victory against the Vancouver Canucks as Karel Vejmelka posted another dominant performance between the pipes.

Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s 4-1 win over Vancouver.

The Utah Mammoth power play strikes again

For the first time since October 25 and 26, The Utah Mammoth’s power play scored in back-to-back games as they lit the lamp against the Vancouver Canucks to build on their previous success from Wednesday in Anaheim.

What made the biggest difference?

Capitalizing off the rush and getting bodies in front of the net.

Going back to their goal against the Ducks, Utah found success because they were opportunistic off the rush, utilized their speed, moved the puck, and generated open space in an odd-man situation.

As for Vancouver, the Mammoth simply generated traffic in front, screened the goaltender and then fired one from deep that bounced off a body into the net.

While those strategies may seem simple and that’s generally all it takes to score on the man advantage, Utah drifted away from the basics in November as their power play became the worst in the league (approximately 13 percent).

Wildly unacceptable no matter how you look at it.

This team is simply too talented and skilled to be posting those kinds of numbers.

However, over the last two games, Utah has gotten back to the basics and scored twice on four total opportunities.

“The boys did a good job to, even with the low number of minutes, find a way to dig deep and get two big goals,” Head coach Andre Tourigny said.

Now, is that kind of production sustainable?

No.

But the effort and strategy are which will help them score more goals and should lift their percentage to an acceptable number moving forward.

Karel Vejmelka may have rediscovered his game and confidence

With 58 saves on the last 59 shots he’s faced since being pulled in San Jose on Monday night, Karel Vejmelka has simply been possessed between the pipes.

Following his shutout in Anaheim, Veggie was nearly as good in Vancouver as he made a handful of highlight saves, bailed his team out on multiple occasions and only allowed one goal on 32 shots (.968 save percentage).

Look, there’s no arguing that it’s been a fairly disappointing season for Vejmelka.

After taking the net by storm last year and posting a career-best save percentage (.904) that earned him a five-year contract extension, Veggie has taken a sizable step backwards through the first quarter of the 2025-26 season.

Before these last two performances and through 20 starts, Vejmelka had registered an abysmal .884 save percentage (415/469).

Eventually, head coach Andre Tourigny had seen enough as he decided to bench No. 70 against the Sharks after he allowed three goals on just nine shots.

However, to no surprise, that appears to have lit a fire in his belly as Vejmelka has simply been spectacular over the last two games.

Against Vancouver, Veggie replicated his performance from the previous outing as he locked in early with a few big saves, was quick to react and tracked the puck incredibly well by looking around screens.

“He made key saves,” Andre Tourigny said. “They put a lot of pucks with a lot of traffic [on net]. So, he was really good on his tracking, finding pucks. You never know if that puck will deflect or not.”

“He did a really good job with his tracking tonight.”

There appears to be two key factors that have helped Vejmelka rediscover his game this week.

First of all, he’s playing with confidence again which is absolutely critical for any goaltender.

After his performance in Anaheim and eventually facing an onslaught of Grade A scoring chances in the first period in Vancouver, Utah’s goaltender was beaming with confidence as he knew what he was capable of.

Second, the defense has been helping him out a lot more recently as they’ve blocked more shots and communicated effectively.

Sure, Vejmelka has still been forced to make a few unexpected saves over the last few games.

But that’s fine.

That’s what a goaltender is supposed to do.

But when you’re confident, not only in yourself but the team around you, it makes a huge difference in keeping the puck out of your own net as Vejmelka looks like his old self again.

If he can keep things rolling and hover around .900 through the majority of the season, the Mammoth will make the playoffs.

A simplified approach has helped the Utah Mammoth win back-to-back games

As I’ve mentioned previously, the difference between the Mammoth winning and losing this season has been determined by their willingness to play with sustained energy and effort.

When they play as a team for 60 minutes, they win hockey games.

When they don’t they lose.

But what does that have to do with playing simple hockey?

Well, everything.

When you boil it down, playing with energy is as simple as it gets because that translates to winning battles, making the right plays and capitalizing on Grade A scoring chances.

Over the last two games, that’s all Utah has done which has resulted in two wins by a collective margin of 11-1.

“We want to keep working the same way. When you work hard, you give yourself a chance to win the game. We did that tonight and we want to keep doing that,” Sergachev said.

No. 98 is right.

Any time a team works hard, they put themselves in a position to win the game.

That’s exactly how they’ve won the last two and that’s also why they had lost the previous four.

Energy was low in each of those losses which translated to losing battles, refusing to get bodies to the net, and very little production.

For Utah, they’ve now discovered the winning recipe.

They know what it takes for them to win hockey games, but it comes down to a collective choice.

If they can replicate these last two performances as much as possible through the remainder of the season, they’ll win a lot more than they’ll lose and the Stanley Cup Playoffs will make a trip to Salt Lake City in the spring.

But that comes down to whether or not the Mammoth proactively decided to make it happen.

What’s next for the Utah Mammoth?

The Utah Mammoth will conclude their six-game road trip against the Calgary Flames on Saturday night at 5 p.m. MT.

The game will be available on Mammoth+.

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. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.

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