SALT LAKE CITY – Despite outplaying their opponents for a majority of the hockey game, the Utah Mammoth were their own worst enemy as they let their guard down and suffered a late loss to the Nashville Predators.
Following a poor slashing penalty near the midway point of the third period, Utah relinquished all momentum and were unable to rally late despite several power play opportunities.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s 4-3 loss to the Predators.
Dylan Guenther has been on a different level since Logan Cooley got injured
Ever since 92 was placed on injured reserve, No. 11 has simply taken has game to a completely different level.
Nearly every night, 22-year-old forward Dylan Guenther has been an absolute menace in the offensive zone as he’s consistently found the back of the net, set up his teammates and scored a collection of clutch goals.
In the 11 games since Cooley got hurt, Guenther has registered 10 points in seven of those contests with two game-winners, an OT-winner and an assist on Clayton Keller’s OT-winner against Winnipeg.
Now, while Utah was unable to get the job done against Nashville, No. 11 remained red-hot as he registered a beautifully crafted assist in the first and then followed it up with an early goal in the third to give his team the lead.
Peterka on the power play! 🔥
1-0, Mammoth. pic.twitter.com/XZ4HC2DOeU
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 30, 2025
As clutch as they come 🔥
Gunner tallies his team-leading 17th of the season! pic.twitter.com/ZiO7qgFVUu
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) December 30, 2025
With a team-high 17 goals and counting this season, Guenther has seized the opportunity in front of him.
Rather than allowing some early season struggles to rattle his confidence, he’s recognized the void Cooley left behind and has stepped up more than anybody else on the roster.
That’s a big deal.
Not that he’s necessarily going to drag Utah into the playoffs this spring, but as a young player, this growth is invaluable.
He’s learning what it really takes to win, what’s required when a fellow star goes down and how to properly fill the void.
“I think he played a complete game,” Head coach Andre Tourigny explained. “He played a game the way we know he’s capable of. He played against the top line all night long and did a really good job five-on-five.”
“He scored big goal, made points. (I) think he’s playing really good hockey.”
Unfortunately, Guenther’s heroics weren’t quite enough to get the job done tonight.
But rest assured, the loss didn’t result because of a lack of effort from No. 11 as he’s often been the reason Utah has been competitive or won games over the last few weeks.
Nashville hung around just enough for Steven Stamkos to take over late
The Nashville Predators are a fairly predictable hockey team.
Given their size and approach, they play a gritty style of offense which allows them to hang around and occasionally catch teams by surprise.
With seven wins over their last 10 games, Utah was unfortunately the next victim to their scheme as the Predators battled long enough for Steven Stamkos to find his footing.
“He’s still one of the best players in the league,” Mikhail Sergachev said. “He shows it every game.”
“If you give him one extra second, he’s going to score. He’s a pure goal scorer and a pure winner.”
That was the difference in the game.
Instead of finding a way to finish the Predators off with a 3-2 lead early in the third, Utah let them hang around, gave Stamkos too much space and he punished them twice in short order.
A power play Stammer snipe! pic.twitter.com/t3V0akjKlS
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) December 30, 2025
BACK-TO-BACK GOALS FOR STAMMER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/Hk4VZ8zZMe
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) December 30, 2025
The Predators may not be a playoff team but they’re certainly opportunistic and have plenty of championship experience.
You let a squad like that hang around and get to their spots in a tight game; it’s going to end poorly just as it did for the Mammoth.
A poor penalty and special team’s struggles cost Utah the game late in the third
While the Predators certainly did enough to hang around, the Utah Mammoth didn’t do themselves any favors in the third as they took a costly penalty and then failed to convert on both the penalty kill and power play.
Beginning with the slashing penalty by Kevin Stenlund, there is absolutely no scenario where that can happen.
Not during a critical stretch near the midway point of the third period with a one goal lead.
To add insult to injury, it was also committed in the neutral zone near Nashville’s blue line in a completely non-threatening situation.
No reason whatsoever to take that penalty as it opened a door for the Predators to tie things up and they seized all the momentum.
“There’s a matter of getting opportunistic, scoring big goals in key moments,” Tourigny said.
“I think in the third, we gave them two chances at five-on-five, one or two. They were opportunistic, and they found a way to get the two points. We need to learn from them.”
Unfortunately, the Mammoth only continued to inflict self-harm as they were gifted a 5-on-3 and 5-on-4 power plays but could not score despite a plethora of opportunities.
Even once the power plays had expired, Utah generated solid O-zone possession during the 6-on-5 but yet again failed to get the puck across the line.
“A tough, tough result,” Tourigny explained. “Frustrating. We played really well for the long stretch of the game at five-on-five, on our power play, even on our PK. Our one mistake, a big mistake on the PK there, the broken stick was four-on-four.”
“We should have been more aggressive, and we gave an opportunity for them to have a clean look from the slot, so that’s unfortunate.”
These results are really tough.
To lose as many one-goal games as this team has (11) could end up being the difference in them making the playoffs or not.
Instead of exploiting a single mistake by the other team, they’ve consistently been punished for a single mistake.
At some point that needs to change.
Sure, a team should always be learning, especially when rebuilding.
But this is year five of a rebuild and the expectation from the top down is to make the playoffs.
“You’ve got to learn from your mistakes & not repeat them. That’s what we’ve got to do,” Sergachev explained.
“We know what the problem is. We’ve just got to work through it.”
Eventually, that learning needs to become action.
In the case of the Mammoth, that needs to happen rather quickly to ensure they stay in the race.
What’s next for the Utah Mammoth?
The Utah Mammoth will begin a three-game road trip against the New York Islanders on January 1 at 1 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.
Take us with you, wherever you go.
