{"id":432045,"date":"2026-01-28T07:06:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432045\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T07:06:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T07:06:14","slug":"utah-mammoth-beat-florida-panthers-4-3-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/432045\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Mammoth beat Florida Panthers 4-3 \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Previous to Tuesday, the last time Nate Schmidt and V\u00edtek Van\u011b\u010dek dressed for a game at Amerant Bank Arena, they hoisted the Stanley Cup<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Players always want to show up their former teams, despite good memories. The Mammoth came up just short when they played the Panthers in December<\/a>, so the importance of Tuesday\u2019s game increased.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what happened.<\/p>\n

Quick catchupUtah Mammoth: 4Florida Panthers: 3<\/p>\n

Winning the first period was key to the Mammoth\u2019s success<\/a> \u2014 and they did exactly that.<\/p>\n

Nick Schmaltz opened the scoring with a short-handed goal, thanks in large part to Kevin Stenlund pressuring Olympian-to-be Uvis Balinskis on an attempted zone entry.<\/p>\n

A Mammoth-sized turnover in Utah\u2019s zone in the second period permitted Sandis Vilmanis to score his first NHL goal, but Sean Durzi restored the Mammoth\u2019s lead 54 seconds later.<\/p>\n

Cole Schwindt capitalized on another Mammoth turnover to score his fourth-ever NHL goal, sending the teams into the second intermission with a 2-2 tie.<\/p>\n

Mikhail Sergachev broke the stalemate with a perfect deflection \u2014 something defensemen don\u2019t often do. A Barrett Hayton empty-netter provided insurance, which Utah ended up needing, as Carter Verhaeghe snuck in a late goal off the rush.<\/p>\n

Regardless, Utah managed a 4-3 win in a difficult situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe took the lead, they came back, they tied the game, we took the lead again. It did not faze us,\u201d said Mammoth head coach Andr\u00e9 Tourigny. \u201cIt was a big test, mentally, today, the schedule and everything, and I think our guys were phenomenal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tidbits and takeawaysV\u00edtek Van\u011b\u010dek\u2018s big night<\/p>\n

It was an especially important matchup for goaltender V\u00edtek Van\u011b\u010dek.<\/p>\n

Prior to this game, Van\u011b\u010dek hadn\u2019t won since Oct. 26. Karel Vejmelka, of course, plays about three quarters of the games, but it was still a 10-game winless streak for the backup.<\/p>\n

What better place to break a rough spell than your old stomping grounds?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels good, you know? Like, I didn\u2019t get a win (in a) long time, and right time in the right rink, get the win,\u201d Van\u011b\u010dek said after the game.<\/p>\n

Van\u011b\u010dek remains undefeated in regulation at Amerant Bank Arena, where the Panthers play their home games \u2014 and remember, he played for the Panthers.<\/p>\n

Both of his wins after being traded to Florida last season came in that building, and his only other game there was an overtime loss with the New Jersey Devils. Tuesday\u2019s win keeps that record alive.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy for him,\u201d Tourigny said of Van\u011b\u010dek. \u201cI think he had great games for us (lately). We could not find a way to win. We could not give him enough offense. Tonight, we gave him a little bit of offense. He got the two points on the back-to-back. Huge win for Vanny, huge win for us. That\u2019s great.\u201d<\/p>\n

Battling through adversity<\/p>\n

Before the season, if you would have told Mammoth fans that both Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther miss the game in Florida due to injury, on the second half of a traveling back-to-back, using a goalie on a 10-game losing streak, they wouldn\u2019t have given their team very good odds at escaping with a win.<\/p>\n

But they did it.<\/p>\n

In his pregame remarks<\/a>, Tourigny revealed a can-do mindset \u2014 one that accompanies good teams, not desperate ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like the challenge,\u201d he said, referencing that evening\u2019s matchup with the Panthers. \u201cI like when we have to play that way. I think it\u2019s where we\u2019re at our best, and that\u2019s the kind of team we want to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mammoth didn\u2019t win every puck battle, nor did they dominate on the shot clock or in the face-off circle. But they stuck to the things that they do well and they kept their heads up during adversity.<\/p>\n

\u201cTough environment: three games in four nights,\u201d Tourigny said after the game. \u201c… We stayed with it and we were strong mentally and made a lot of good plays. Really proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is the kind of game that can turn a hot stretch into a winning culture. For the sake of player development, it\u2019s just too bad the Mammoth\u2019s two most promising young stars weren\u2019t in the lineup.<\/p>\n

Pulling away<\/p>\n

With the number of remaining games quickly evaporating, Utah\u2019s chances at making the playoffs are looking better and better.<\/p>\n

Their win in Florida puts them at 60 points on the season, which is five more than any non-playoff team in the Western Conference. They have, of course, played more games than all of their competitors, but games in hand do not automatically equate to wins.<\/p>\n

If the Mammoth can\u2019t win the division (they won\u2019t), their next-best chance at first-round playoff success is to finish in the first wild card spot. That would likely match them up against the Vegas Golden Knights, rather than the Dallas Stars.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get it twisted: Those are both proven playoff teams, and they\u2019re anything but a guaranteed W. But with how dominant the Stars have been this season, nobody wants to see them in April.<\/p>\n

Goal of the gameNick Schmaltz\u2019s shorty<\/p>\n

Not only was this a beautiful goal \u2014 it was also an important one. Schmaltz is now just four goals short of his career high, and one shy of his total from last season.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s good timing for the UFA-to-be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Previous to Tuesday, the last time Nate Schmidt and V\u00edtek Van\u011b\u010dek dressed for a game at Amerant Bank…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":432046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5102],"tags":[62,57,5141,5,3157,4,63],"class_list":{"0":"post-432045","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-florida-panthers","8":"tag-florida","9":"tag-florida-panthers","10":"tag-floridapanthers","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-news-feed-local","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-panthers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115971462558828056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=432045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/432045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/432046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=432045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=432045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=432045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}