CHICAGO – Despite leading in multiple key areas offensively, the Utah Mammoth struggled to consistently find the back of the net in a loss to the Chicago Blackhawks. With an inability to effectively generate on the inside, Utah failed to put some greasy opportunities away which opened to door for Chicago to provide the upset.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s disappointing 3-1 loss in the Windy City.
Dmitri Simashev erased notable mistakes in Chicago with his active stick & a relentless recovery effort
For any rookie in the NHL, there’s inevitably going to be learning moments as they acclimate to the game and discover what it truly takes to play in the best league in the world on a nightly basis.
Despite a relatively strong start through his first three appearances, defenseman Dmitri Simashev was not exempt from the learning curve as he experienced a few notable mistakes in Chicago on Monday night.
Nothing overly impactful, but a few errors that presented the Blackhawks with some dangerous opportunities.
While he’ll certainly want to clean those up and prevent them from happening in the first place, Simashev more than made up for it with his active stick and an unquestionable effort to recover.
Simashev has a very active and effective stick.
If he’s beaten positionally, he utilizes his twig to make a great play.
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) October 14, 2025
Early in the first period, Simashev committed a brutal turnover and later made a poor read that resulted in several rushes for Chicago.
The first, a bad long pass attempt in his own zone that was picked off near center ice and allowed the Hawks to quickly attack.
Shortly after, the young D-man stepped towards a puck carrier near the blue line on Ian Cole’s side, neglecting the Chicago forward behind him and was then forced to commit a penalty.
Learning moments that undoubtedly need to be corrected.
However, rather than giving up or getting down on himself, Simashev hustled back and utilized his long reach to stop the attack and regain possession for his team.
That’s what you want to see.
Not the mistakes, but an effort to quickly deny them and reverse the damage.
That’s what will help separate him as a great defenseman in the league.
A high IQ, elite skating and a long reach with relentless second efforts to shut down attacks before they become deadly.
A defensive breakdown during a PK gave Chicago the golden opportunity they needed
For the most part, Utah was ultimately the better hockey team against Chicago, but morale victories simply do not count in the NHL.
Despite outshooting the Hawks, winning 55 percent of the draws and working the offensive zone with pace, Utah failed to capitalize on their chances and Chicago didn’t.
Midway through the third period and after losing Mikhail Sergachev to the penalty box after a hook, the Mammoth were caught sleeping and Andre Burakovsky made them pay.
score a goal in your 700th NHL game✅ pic.twitter.com/Jdg2JKLUUr
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 14, 2025
After failing to clear the zone and committing all four skaters to the boards in an effort to free the puck, Utah got caught watching as the frozen biscuit came free and Burakovsky buried the golden opportunity to give his team the lead.
Sometimes, that’s just how it goes.
There are no off nights in the National Hockey League, and the best team doesn’t always win.
Tonight, Chicago stole one from Utah.
CERTIFIED BLACKHAWKS WIN✅ pic.twitter.com/9PRP407iyg
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 14, 2025
No need to panic, but Utah needs to do more offensively to meet expectations
Look, we’re three games into the season so there’s no legitimate reason to panic at this point, but Utah simply needs to be more assertive in the offensive zone if they’re going to start scoring goals and winning hockey games.
Like I said, the Mammoth have only played three games, but thus far, they’ve dropped two and have only scored five goals.
To add some comparison, through three games a year ago, Utah had scored 16 goals and started a perfect 3-0.
Now, that explosion of offense isn’t necessarily the standard they should be held to, but there’s clearly some early issues going on up front.
“It’s frustrating right now,” Barrett Hayton said.
“It’s a decision. We need to grind, we need to be all in on that, we need to be a fast-forechecking team, and we’ll get offense from that.”
Despite outshooting their opponents collectively 79-63, Utah has only connected on roughly six percent of their chances.
Again, its early, but Utah shot roughly 10 percent as a team last year as they scored 240 of 2,339 attempts.
So, what’s the problem right now?
According to Head Coach Andre Tourigny, Utah isn’t generating enough inside or producing an acceptable number of greasy goals.
“In the NHL you need to score greasy goals. It’s not just a goal when you have time and space. It’s not just the rush, the two-on-ones, or the backdoor play,” Tourigny explained.
“We need to score those greasy goals if we want to have a chance to separate ourselves.”
To his credit, Utah has really only scored two greasy goals this season as they’ve struggled to capitalize on their chances.
Against the Blackhawks, Utah went 0/3 on the power play and despite outshooting Chicago, they never really threatened on the inside.
Additionally, Chicago also did a good job jumping in front of shots from a distance as they blocked 14 on the night.
Obviously, that’s not going to get the job done.
“In order to get over the hump and win those games, we need to be harder inside, we need to be harder at the net, we need to get those greasy goals,” Tourigny added.
“We need to bear down when we have those opportunities.”
Like he said, Utah simply needs to be better and more assertive close to the net.
They’re creating fine, generating chances and have played great defense.
But if that puck doesn’t cross the line more times than the other team, it doesn’t matter.
Clearly, they know what they to do but now it’s time to get it done.
What’s next for the Utah Mammoth?
The Utah Mammoth will host the Calgary Flames at Delta Center in their home opener on Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. MT.
The game will be available on Mammoth+.
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.
Take us with you, wherever you go.
