It might’ve taken four periods for the Mammoth to figure out how to score again, but the top players broke through on Monday. It’s funny because, based on stats alone, the Mammoth are a top offensive team in the league.
The Mammoth are the only team in the NHL right now to have five or more players to score 10 goals. Keller’s 10th goal puts him alongside Logan Cooley, Peterka, Schmaltz, and Guenther for that achievement.
It might not have been the outcome the Mammoth faithful wanted, but no one will complain about getting to see Guenther and Keller score. Both goals kept the Kings on their toes. However, it wasn’t enough to get the win, and right now, that’s what everyone cares about most.
A Horrendous First Period
The recent play of the Mammoth has been interesting. The team has lost six of their past eight games, but most of the problems haven’t been the same issues that we saw in November.
A big problem recently has been the execution. A lot of the goals against have come via turnovers and breakaways, and that was no different on Monday. Joel Armia’s first goal came on a breakaway. The opening goal from Adrian Kempe came due to a defensive lapse.
The Mammoth have also switched up their lines numerous times, and the results have, at best, shown for a game or two. Passes aren’t connecting, and the chemistry just hasn’t been there.
“The elephant in the room is our execution,” head coach André Tourigny said. “We need to make more plays and better plays. We need to connect on our execution. There are too many fumbles and ideas, too many plays that should have connected at the NHL level, where we fumble the puck, so that got your momentum as well. That’s a matter of focus, and that’s something we can get much better at.”
Another huge problem is that the Mammoth haven’t done well at getting their players to dirty areas. You want people in front of the net to not just screen the goaltender but also tip in pucks or knock in rebounds. It also creates the opportunity to get the puck before your opponents do and keep the pressure going. When you don’t have that net front presence, you won’t score as much.
It’s something that was sorely missed in the game against the Calgary Flames on Saturday. It was once again missing on Monday against the Kings.
“In Calgary, we didn’t have as much traffic, and it made it easy on them,” Keller said. You need a guy in the slot and a guy at the net. That’s how you create offenses, those quick hits, those shots that break down coverage and open up the other plays once you do that. That’s something that we have to get better at and continue to watch the video and get better at it.”
All of those things culminated in a horrible first period for the Mammoth. The Kings outshot the Mammoth 12-7 and led 2-0. Just like in the game against the Flames, the Mammoth found themselves chasing the Kings for a good chunk of the game.
“We didn’t have the start we were hoping for, and we needed it against that kind of team that was tough to create offense against,” Tourigny said. “I like the way we play in the second and the third. I think we compete really hard, and the effort was there, and the focus was there. Unfortunately, when you have that kind of a start, where I often repeat in front of you, it’s a one-goal game all the time, so you cannot give any free opportunity to your opponent.”
The second period was much better for the Mammoth, as Tourigny mentioned. Despite getting outshot, the team looked engaged and had more zone time, which led to Guenther scoring the power-play goal.
Despite a solid third period, the Mammoth never caught up to the Kings, and Armia’s empty net goal sealed the team’s fate. A valuable two points slipped through the Mammoth’s fingers, and at the end of the day, the game was worthless for them.