{"id":509023,"date":"2026-03-18T04:47:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509023\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T04:47:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T04:47:20","slug":"how-likely-are-the-utah-mammoth-to-make-the-playoffs-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/509023\/","title":{"rendered":"How likely are the Utah Mammoth to make the playoffs? \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ahead of their sophomore season, the Utah Mammoth set a clear goal: Make the playoffs.<\/p>\n

With 14 games to go and a five-point lead over the closest competitors, things are certainly trending in that direction. MoneyPuck<\/a> has the Mammoth as the ninth-most likely team to make the playoffs with a likelihood of 89.1%, while Hockey Stats<\/a> has them at 11th with a likelihood of 86%.<\/p>\n

But as the St. Louis Blues proved last season, a late hot streak can be the difference between a playoff berth and another season of early golfing \u2014 regardless of what the odds say.<\/p>\n

As has been the case throughout most of the season, the Mammoth are tied with a few other teams for the most games played. Once everyone\u2019s schedules start to even out, that could cause them to sweat.<\/p>\n

For example, the San Jose Sharks currently sit two slots outside the playoffs and six points behind the Mammoth. But if they were to win all three of their games in hand, they\u2019d tie Utah in points. Yes, Utah would have the tiebreaker in that scenario, but there\u2019s no guarantee that they will still have it by season\u2019s end. <\/p>\n

Again, it\u2019s necessary to treat every game like a do-or-die at this point.<\/p>\n

Utah Mammoth rooting guide<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re a Mammoth fan, here\u2019s who you should root both for and against to give Utah the best playoff odds.<\/p>\n

For: Utah Mammoth. Obviously.<\/p>\n

Against: Seattle Kraken, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks. These are the teams closest to the Mammoth in the wild card race. While a handful of others could make a push and get in, it\u2019s more likely that one of these teams comes for the Mammoth\u2019s top wild card spot.<\/p>\n

For: Anaheim Ducks. Like the Mammoth, the Ducks are a young team looking to earn its first playoff berth of the decade. If you could pick your playoff opponent, you\u2019d absolutely take the one that hasn\u2019t been there before. And if things hold the way they currently are, that would be the matchup in the first round.<\/p>\n

There is a caveat: Joel Quenneville. \u201cCoach Q\u201d has his name on the Stanley Cup four times (three as a head coach and one as an assistant). He knows how to win in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Utah has yet to lose to Anaheim in regulation through two seasons, and they even pulled off a 7-0 win<\/a> at the Honda Center earlier this year. They know they can beat them.<\/p>\n

Against: Vegas Golden Knights, Edmonton Oilers. In order for the Ducks to stay in the first spot in the Pacific Division, they have to fend off the Golden Knights and the Oilers, who are both breathing down the Ducks\u2019 neck.<\/p>\n

The Golden Knights and the Oilers combine for every Western Conference title since 2022, so you don\u2019t want to face either one in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Yes, Mammoth fans, that means rooting against Connor Ingram, who is now officially<\/a> the Oilers\u2019 starting goalie.<\/p>\n

In case you missed it\"\"Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) skates past Seattle Kraken right wing Jordan Eberle (7) during the third period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ahead of their sophomore season, the Utah Mammoth set a clear goal: Make the playoffs. With 14 games…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":509024,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,3157,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-509023","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-news-feed-local","10":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116248369944493684","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509023","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=509023"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/509023\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/509024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=509023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=509023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=509023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}