trading him<\/a>.<\/p>\nEither way, he was exactly what his team needed \u2014 and what he personally needed, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt really good,\u201d Van\u011b\u010dek said after the game. \u201cI didn\u2019t play for a long, long time, you know? Little break, and then tried to be in my bubble and not thinking about anything. Just save the puck and then help the teammates because I know they\u2019re always going to score for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, shutouts are also indicative of how the team plays as a whole. Despite losing Mikhail Sergachev to a lower-body injury, the Mammoth allowed just 16 shots on net.<\/p>\n
But don\u2019t let that undermine your opinion of how Van\u011b\u010dek played. Most notably, on a sure goal in the first period, he came out of nowhere and robbed Bobby Brink on the doorstep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just tried to push (as) hard as possible and put my glove forward and then he hit it,\u201d Van\u011b\u010dek said of the save. \u201cReally happy for that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said his confidence is the same now as it was before. His job is to relieve Vejmelka when needed, so he has to stay ready. Head coach Andr\u00e9 Tourigny pointed out that between the Olympic break, the afternoon game on Sunday and the trip to the East Coast this week, it\u2019s impressive how ready Van\u011b\u010dek was.<\/p>\n
Said Van\u011b\u010dek: \u201cWhen I get the chance, I\u2019m going to play my best.\u201d<\/p>\n
Why are Utah\u2019s special teams suddenly working?<\/p>\n
The Mammoth haven\u2019t changed much in terms of personnel or structure when it comes to special teams, but Tourigny explained why both the penalty kill and the power play have had success.<\/p>\n
Penalty kill<\/p>\n
As mentioned, Utah\u2019s PK this season as a whole has been phenomenal \u2014 the Mammoth were nearly perfect in the entire month of November \u2014 but for some reason, it took a downturn just before the Olympic break.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were rock-solid for a long, long time. We got (into) that slump, like I said, 10 games or so, but I\u2019m happy today,\u201d Tourigny said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t tweak anything. We just got back and more assertive and playing well.\u201d<\/p>\n
It takes a committee to get it done.<\/p>\n
Kevin Stenlund is a defensive specialist, which he especially proved in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, consistently fending off the Edmonton Oilers\u2019 offensive weapons on the big stage. Schmaltz, Lawson Crouse, Jack McBain and Alexander Kerfoot also played significant minutes on the penalty kill in this game.<\/p>\n
That type of depth is crucial heading into what Utah hopes is a playoff run. Guys always get hurt, so having three or four players who can step up when needed is crucial.<\/p>\n
Power play<\/p>\n
\u201cWe didn\u2019t change anything structure-wise. I think it\u2019s more the mindset,\u201d Tourigny said. \u201cI think we\u2019re a little bit lower, we\u2019re a little bit more aggressive, we have more (shot volume), stuff like that. I think there\u2019s a mindset (that\u2019s) different, but it\u2019s not structure.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before this recent stretch, the power play guys seemed more contemplative rather than instinctive, and in the best league in the world, there\u2019s rarely time to sit and think about your next move.<\/p>\n
Take Utah\u2019s power play goal in Philadelphia, for example.<\/p>\n
Dylan Guenther retrieved the puck and brought it to the top of the face-off circles, where he contemplated shooting. That drew all four penalty killers toward him.<\/p>\n
The second he saw that everyone had taken their eyes off of Schmaltz, he passed it that way and before the Flyers knew it, they were fishing the puck out of their net.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the season, Guenther or any of the other power play guys might have surveyed the options before making the pass, which gives the opposition time to counter.<\/p>\n
What now?<\/p>\n
The most important thing the Mammoth can do at this point is to focus on the game in front of them. Despite a two-game win streak, recent success does not guarantee future success.<\/p>\n
They have a comfortable six-point lead over the best non-playoff team in the Western Conference, but they have also played more games than every team chasing them except the Nashville Predators. If they can keep winning two thirds of their games, though, their chances of playing spring hockey are high.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not where we want to be yet in the sense (that) consistency is not two games,\u201d Tourigny said. \u201cConsistency is two weeks, you know what I mean? So, we\u2019re still far away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Forget what you knew about the Utah Mammoth. In recent weeks, their penalty kill hasn\u2019t been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":488422,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5112],"tags":[1468,5,3157,4,1467,56,5205],"class_list":{"0":"post-488421","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia-flyers","8":"tag-flyers","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-news-feed-local","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-flyers","14":"tag-philadelphiaflyers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116180598475843009","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488421","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=488421"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488421\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}