Both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Utah Mammoth got to clear the bench to celebrate goals at the Delta Center Saturday night.
When the game ended, though, the Mammoth were the only happy team.
It was an evening to remember. Lightning superstar and reigning MVP Nikita Kucherov scored his 1,138th point to take sole possession of the franchise lead in points. That happened in the first period, so the Bolts got their bench clearing out of the way early.
The Mammoth surmounted a 4-2 deficit to force overtime, thanks in part to Dmitri Simashev’s first NHL goal, which tied the game. Utah’s bench clearing came at the hands of Simashev a little while later, when he scored the second goal of his career — and the overtime winner.
Final score: 5-4 Mammoth.
“It’s fun to see um a young player like Sima come in, play the way he has all year but then get rewarded tonight with a big one,” said Utah forward Anders Lee, who also scored in the game.
“Big night that I think he’ll remember for a long time.”
Coincidentally, Simashev’s first two KHL goals came in similar fashion to these first two in the NHL.
As was the case for him in the NHL, he went his entire first season without scoring a goal. His first one eventually came in the third period of a game, and his second came in overtime (albeit a few games later).
If the past can be taken as any indication of future events, Simashev might be due for another goal soon. In the KHL, he scored his third two games after his second.
Mammoth head coach André Tourigny mentioned that the game is finally starting to “slow down” for the big Russian defenseman. When coaches use that term, they mean the player feels less pressure and more confidence to make the right play. It’s a good thing.
It was somewhat unexpected to see No. 26 on the ice in overtime in the first place. He has been defensively sound since he got to the NHL, but OT requires an offensive edge and Simashev hadn’t owned an NHL first-goal puck for more than an hour by the time he jumped over the boards.
That’s without mentioning the fact that Utah has plenty of two-way defensemen who could have taken the assignment.
Tourigny said it was defensive coach Adam Foote’s call.
“Footer came to me after the the third period. You can say (we) overused some guys, and he felt Sima had legs and he was fresh, or more fresh than other guys, so he asked me, and I trust Footer’s feeling and his feel for the game, so went with that,” Tourigny said.
“It was pretty good. That was a pretty good call.”
Simashev thought the same thing.
“I didn’t expect I’m going in overtime, to be honest. Like, thanks Footer to trust in me, and, I mean, I was just so happy when we scored a goal. That’s all my feelings right now,” the 21-year-old said.
The Mammoth’s win maintains their lead in the Central Division. They’re also third in the Western Conference and have the fifth-best record in the NHL.
Their next opponent is the Minnesota Wild, who currently possess second place in the division — the Mammoth have them beat due to a tiebreaker.
They’ll meet in Salt Lake City Tuesday.
Utah Mammoth defenseman Dmitri Simashev (26) celebrates with his teammates after the Mammoth scored a goal during an NHL game against the Colorado Avalanche held at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025. | Isaac Hale, Deseret News