\u2014 Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) January 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Yams with his second of the night! \ud83e\udd2f<\/p>\n \ud83d\udea8 2-1, Utah. pic.twitter.com\/lFajA4bVF0<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) January 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Yamamoto is the kind of depth player that can juice a team when they\u2019re shorthanded.<\/p>\n As injuries inevitably take place over the course of an 82-game season, the Yamamoto\u2019s of the world can step in when a Logan Cooley or Dylan Guenther goes down.<\/p>\n Without Yamamoto\u2019s five points on this four-game road trip, Utah likely doesn\u2019t take care of business in Nashville, nor would they have had any chance of beating Carolina.<\/p>\n The Utah Mammoth became \u2018passive\u2019 which sparked an epic Carolina comeback<\/p>\n That one was a doozy, eh?<\/p>\n Leading 4-2 with roughly two minutes left in the game but then allowing three goals in 1:29 to end up losing 5-4 in regulation.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t say I\u2019ve witnessed many games end like that.<\/p>\n So, what happened?<\/p>\n After taking a double-minor penalty with 5:18 left in the contest, Utah let their guard down on the second minor and things quickly spiraled.<\/p>\n \u201cIt started with the PK and for sure when they put it in\u2026you want to be patient, but you don\u2019t want to be passive & we became passive,\u201d Head Coach Andre Tourigny explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWe paid for it.\u201d<\/p>\n THREE GOALS IN 1:29 FOR THE WIN \ud83d\udea8 pic.twitter.com\/XZoSifrOoQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) January 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n On the first, they got caught sleeping on the backdoor during the PK and Karel Vejmelka was left with zero help on a favorable Carolina bounce.<\/p>\n 32 seconds later, Utah was simply flatfooted and failed to clog passing lanes as Carolina circulated the puck to the point and generated traffic.<\/p>\n As for the third and despite calling a timeout, the Mammoth sat back on their heels, lost the battle in front of Vejmelka and the puck ended up in the back of the net.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat matters is we had the lead with five minutes to go by two goals & we lost the game,\u201d Tourigny said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cannot accept that.\u201d<\/p>\n Sometimes, hockey can be cruel.<\/p>\n A team can dominate for 95 percent of the contest and still somehow lose.<\/p>\n Tonight, Utah learned that the hard way.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a good team. We knew they were going to have a push\u2026it sucks to lose like that. It felt like we were in control most of the game,\u201d Keller explained.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on all of us & we\u2019ll have to take accountability for it. We\u2019ll learn from it. We\u2019ll be better.\u201d<\/p>\n Clayton Keller on the loss:<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re a good team. We knew they were going to have a push\u2026it sucks to lose like that. It felt like we were in control most of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s on all of us & we\u2019ll have to take accountability for it. We\u2019ll learn from it. We\u2019ll be better.\u201d pic.twitter.com\/3XkzhxhKyi<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) January 30, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Despite the loss, Utah still picked up four points & learned a valuable lesson<\/p>\n Look, that one stings.<\/p>\n As previously mentioned, there\u2019s no reason to lose a game 5-4 in regulation when leading 4-2 with two minutes left.<\/p>\n Can\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n However, in the grand scheme of things, that road trip was still a success as they picked up four out of eight points, won the swing game against Nashville and remained in the top western wild card spot.<\/p>\n Those details cannot be forgotten simply because of a bad loss.<\/p>\n This team is still playing really good hockey and managed to win two difficult games during a gauntlet eastern conference road trip without Logan Cooley or Dylan Guenther for the last two.<\/p>\n \u201cI know we\u2019ll bounce back from this,\u201d Yamamoto explained.<\/p>\n \u201cI know that\u2019s a fluke for us. I don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to be giving up three goals in the last four minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n So, while the team should not lose games like that, the trip should still be considered a success.<\/p>\n Do they need to make sure that never happens again?<\/p>\n Absolutely.<\/p>\n But they still managed to get two wins and nearly stole a third without two of their best players.<\/p>\n That speaks volumes to how well this team is playing as a collective unit and what their intentions are this season.<\/p>\n The most important thing is to quickly move on, get back on track over these next three home games and ride into the Olympic break in a wild card spot.<\/p>\n Simple as that.<\/p>\n What\u2019s next for the Utah Mammoth?<\/p>\n The Utah Mammoth will begin a three-game home stand against the Dallas Stars on Saturday night at 7 p.m. MT.<\/p>\n The game will be available on Mammoth+.<\/p>\n All Mammoth games will also be broadcast live on the KSL Sports Zone (97.5 FM\/1280 AM).<\/p>\n Cole Bagley is the Utah Mammoth insider for KSL Sports.\u00a0Keep up with him on X here<\/a>.\u00a0You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
\nTake us with you, wherever you go.<\/p>\n
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