How many times has Utah Mammoth head coach André Tourigny talked recently about one-goal games?
He has a point. Of Utah’s 32 games this season, 20 have been decided by just one goal (empty-netters excluded). Unfortunately for Mammoth fans, though, they’ve been on the losing side of 14 of them.
The most recent was their 4-3 loss to the Florida Panthers Wednesday evening.
Here’s the story.
Quick catchupFlorida Panthers: 4Utah Mammoth: 3
When the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions have a two-goal lead on you, any form of a comeback should be seen as a success. The Mammoth managed to claw their way back from 3-1 to 3-3, but their celebration was dampened by Eetu Luostarinen’s last-minute game-winning goal.
“Obviously a tough pill to swallow, the way it happened,” Tourigny said. “… I think we showed a lot of character, being down by two goals and coming back in the game (to) give ourselves a chance. Like I said, (it’s) really frustrating to lose in that fashion.”
Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) eyes the puck as Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) shoots as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) tries to get at the puck with Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) on his back and Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) taking it as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) watches as the puck slips past Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) for a score as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth center Kevin Stenlund (82) reaches for the puck as Florida Panthers left wing A.J. Greer (10) takes it as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
A Florida Panthers fan taunts Utah Mammoth mascot Tusky after a Panther score with under a minute left in the game giving them the 4-3 win over the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) goes for a shot with Florida Panthers center Sam Reinhart (13) trailing behind as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) passes the puck past Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth fans celebrate after a score as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) tries to set up a shot as Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) tries to block as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) is defended by Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) as he maneuvers with the puck as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) and Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) battle for the puck as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) slides on the ice with the puck and Florida Panthers defenseman Uvis Balinskis (26) stands over him as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth fans celebrate after a score as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) puts the brakes on and spins away from Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) shoots and the puck is blocked by Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth center Kevin Stenlund (82) chases after the puck as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) controls the puck as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) deflects the puck as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) skates in to put a hit on Florida Panthers left wing Noah Gregor (18) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) and Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) battle for the puck as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wings Daniil But (19) and Michael Carcone (53) work to get the puck away from Florida Panthers right wing Mackie Samoskevich (11) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) skates in to put a hit on Florida Panthers left wing Noah Gregor (18) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth fans celebrate after a score as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) tries to move into position and Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett (9) cuts him off as Florida Panthers defenseman Gustav Forsling (42) takes the puck as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) skates in to put a hit on Florida Panthers left wing Noah Gregor (18) as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Brandon Tanev (13) yells at an official after being hit with a high stick as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
A Florida Panthers fan celebrates after taunting Utah Mammoth mascot Tusky after a Panther score with under a minute left in the game giving them the 4-3 win over the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth mascot Tuskey entertains fans as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panter play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025 | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth fans celebrate after a score as the Utah Mammoth and the Florida Panthers play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth center Barrett Hayton (27) tries to score as Florida Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky (72) deflects the puck as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) looks for a teammate with Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad (5) defending as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth left wing Lawson Crouse (67) tries to get his stick on the puck as Florida Panthers center Eetu Luostarinen (27) passes it as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News 
Utah Mammoth center Liam O’Brien (38) takes a shot with Florida Panthers defenseman Seth Jones (3) defending him as they play an NHL hockey game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2025. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News
Sam Bennett and Dylan Guenther both logged their first two-goal games of the season. Guenther’s goals were nearly identical: breakaways where he went five-hole. The only difference is that the first one was on the forehand and the second was on the backhand.
“I thought maybe he’d see that coming, so I just went to the backhand,” Guenther said. “It happens so fast, but (it’s about) just reps and the pre-scout, too.”
The Panthers’ win came on the 33rd anniversary of their announcement as an NHL franchise. They improve to 9-7-1 all-time on their birthday, and they’re 3-0-0 on that date in the last three seasons.
Tidbits and takeawaysSave of the year?
It’s not often that you hear the home crowd cheer after a visiting goaltender’s save. Of course, Mammoth Nation didn’t mean to cheer for him — they just assumed it had gone in because of how little of a chance the goalie stood.
After a few seconds, though, everyone realized the only mesh the puck had hit was that on the inside of Sergei Bobrovsky’s glove.
“That’s a good save,” said Mammoth forward Jack McBain after the game. “He’s a good goalie. Obviously, he’s been doing it for a long time, but it’s too bad it didn’t go in.”
Bobrovsky, of course, is on the fast track to the Hockey Hall of Fame. He’s got two Vezina Trophies, two Stanley Cup rings, he’s a two-time first-team all-star and he’s got one of each color of medal at the World Championship.
The goalie at the other end of the ice was solid, too. He made one particularly important save on Luostarinen to keep the game knotted — at least for a moment — late in the third.
As Utah’s broadcast team put it, “That’s (a) mini-sticks in your basement kind of save from Karel Vejmelka. Unbelievable.”
Luostarinen would, of course, still get the last laugh, scoring the aforementioned game-winner.
One improvement
Before Monday’s game against the Los Angeles Kings, one Mammoth veteran emphasized to the Deseret News that his team needed to get do a better job at getting to the inside of the ice. Particularly in Saturday’s game against the Calgary Flames, he said, they were just playing “too perimeter.”
In Tourigny’s postgame interview on Monday, he agreed that the problem had persisted for his team. But they solved that problem against the Panthers.
Natural Stat Trick’s shot chart shows that the Mammoth had more than five shots from the low slot, as well as a bunch more from the high slot and the face-off circles. By comparison, the LA and Calgary games each had about three shots from the inner slot area.
That afforded them more goals than they’d scored in those previous games — and they would have been enough to force overtime had regulation ended at 59 minutes instead of 60.
What’s the difference between a champion and a building team?
The game was tied nearly the entire third period, yet the Panthers outshot the Mammoth 19-4. Yes, they had four minutes of power play time, but even at 5-on-5, the shots were 8-5.
It was easy to see difference between a championship team and a building team. In the most important period of the game, the Panthers forced the Mammoth to play on their heels — and they walked away with the win for that reason.
Tourigny saw it as a teaching opportunity.
“Today, we had a lot of teaching moments for a lot of young and not-so-young players,” he said. “… When you play against Stanley Cup champions, or when you play in front of your fans after being on the road for a long time, those are key moments. You need to be able to (rise) to the occasion and play in those key situations.”
He didn’t automatically blame it on age, either. He mentioned 22-year-old Guenther as an example of someone who gets better in the big moments — as evidenced by the fact that he’s scored the game-winner in precisely 10% of his NHL games.
“It’s not just age. It’s a mindset to have,” Tourigny said. “Some have it early, some has to be built. … We need to be better as a team at being able to stay composed and being able to bounce back or regain the momentum.”
Goal of the gameDylan Guenther’s first goal
Utah has struggled in first periods recently, so Guenther opening the scoring was a breath of fresh air. And breakaway goals are always exciting.
Tie game between the Mammoth & Panthers after a highly competitive first period.
Utah wanted to have more of a net front presence tonight & so far they’ve done a great job by generating traffic and scoring opportunities.
40 to go.pic.twitter.com/3kKlyFuENS
— KSL Sports (@kslsports) December 11, 2025