{"id":514516,"date":"2026-03-21T05:55:46","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/514516\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T05:55:46","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:55:46","slug":"utah-mammoth-beat-vegas-golden-knights-4-0-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/514516\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Mammoth beat Vegas Golden Knights 4-0 \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

As determined as ESPN\u2019s play-by-play announcer seemed to be to get hit with the commentator\u2019s curse on Thursday, Utah Mammoth goalie Karel Vejmelka stayed strong to blank the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

The curse, of course, revolves around the word \u201cshutout\u201d \u2014 just like \u201cno-hitter\u201d in baseball. Hockey fans cringed as the commentator said it over and over again throughout the third period, but Vejmelka proved to be more impactful than a superstition, posting his second shutout of the season for a 4-0 Mammoth win.<\/p>\n

And don\u2019t buy into the theory that luck was the only reason for Vejmelka\u2019s big game. As Hall of Fame goalie Tom Barrasso once said<\/a>, \u201cDo you want me to stop the ones that are going wide, too?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI just trying to help the team get points as much as I can,\u201d Vejmelka said after the game. \u201cIt (was) a big team game tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

A number of Mammoth fans made the trip out to the desert for this game, unleashing the \u201cVeggie\u201d chants in Vejmelka\u2019s honor when he came up big.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s always nice,\u201d Vejmelka said with a smile. \u201cWe had so many fans here tonight, so they gave us a special energy. We\u2019re thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the other end of the ice, Akira Schmid also played a perfect game. The difference was that he came into the contest in relief of Adin Hill, who allowed goals on all three of the shots he faced. Ironically, Hill was honored as the cover athlete of the giveaway posters at T-Mobile Arena for this game.<\/p>\n

It was the Golden Knights\u2019 third game in a row involving a shutout. They beat the Chicago Blackhawks 4-0 on Saturday before losing 2-0 to the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday and 4-0 to the Mammoth on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Clayton Keller led the way offensively for Utah, scoring twice in the first 6:05 of the game. Jack McBain added another shortly thereafter, and Barrett Hayton fired one into the empty net to seal the deal in the final minute.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like that fact we played four lines all night,\u201d said Mammoth head coach Andr\u00e9 Tourigny after the game. \u201cWe got a big two points on the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201cGolden\u201d nugget<\/p>\n

I want to draw attention to a strategy the Golden Knights employed. In the nearly 200 NHL games I\u2019ve watched this season and the thousands over the previous 20-something years, I don\u2019t recall ever seeing this.<\/p>\n

With a three-goal deficit, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy didn\u2019t want to risk pulling the goalie too early. At the same time, though, playing it too safe could be just as dangerous.<\/p>\n

So, instead of replacing the goalie with an extra attacker, he started pulling defensemen in favor of forwards.<\/p>\n

Mitch Marner, who has received Selke Trophy votes (the award given to the best two-way forward) in seven consecutive seasons, got the bulk of the extra ice time, as he can score with the best of \u2018em while holding his own defensively.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s much less risky than pulling the goalie, because not every shot on net will turn automatically be a goal, but it\u2019s risky enough that you don\u2019t want to rely on this strategy unless you have to.<\/p>\n

In this instance, it didn\u2019t produce the result Cassidy wanted, but that doesn\u2019t mean it\u2019s an ineffective strategy. Pulling the goalie has a low success rate, too, but the one time it works makes up for the 10 times it doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Playoff-style hockey<\/p>\n

The playoffs are less than a month away. Barring a major fumble, the Mammoth\u2019s first-round opponent will be one of the teams they face this week.<\/p>\n

This is the second time this season the Mammoth have beaten the Golden Knights by four goals \u2014 Logan Cooley tallied four in a 5-1 outing<\/a> at the Delta Center in November \u2014 but that may not have much impact on a playoff series if that\u2019s who Utah ends up meeting.<\/p>\n

Vegas has seen a lot of playoff hockey in its eight previous seasons \u2014 including two Stanley Cup Final appearances, one of which ended with a championship \u2014 and the more experienced playoff team typically has the upper hand in postseason meetings. Additionally, the two most recent showdowns between these clubs will surely impress upon the Golden Knights that they can\u2019t take the Mammoth lightly.<\/p>\n

Next up are the Anaheim Ducks, whom the Mammoth host on Friday. If the playoffs were to begin today, those teams would meet in the first round.<\/p>\n

\u201cTomorrow is a huge game for us at home,\u201d Tourigny said of the matchup. \u201cReally good opponent, so we need to just keep the ball rolling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like the Golden Knights, the Ducks haven\u2019t had the easiest time getting around the Mammoth this season. In fact, Vejmelka\u2019s other shutout this season was a 7-0 blowout in Southern California.<\/p>\n

The Ducks as a whole don\u2019t have the playoff experience of the Golden Knights, but their coach does. Joel Quenneville is third all-time in Stanley Cup Playoff wins, and after sitting out the last four seasons after being banned by the league, he\u2019s surely hungry to prove that his team is more than sitting Ducks.<\/p>\n

Next Tuesday, the Mammoth host the Edmonton Oilers for the first of two remaining Delta Center matchups between these teams. The Oilers lost in the Stanley Cup Final in each of the last two years, and the likes of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl only get better in the postseason. <\/p>\n

Mammoth fans can rest a little easier knowing that Draisaitl is out for the remainder of the regular season, but he has played plenty of playoff games with significant injuries, and it has never stopped him from dominating.<\/p>\n

Needless to say, you don\u2019t want to visit Edmonton in April \u2014 and not just because of the weather.<\/p>\n

Vejmelka said the team needs to continue playing each game like it\u2019s \u201cGame 7.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are already in the playoff mode and we just need to keep going the same way,\u201d he said. \u201cPlay simple, play hard, be strong in front of the net and just (battle).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) celebrates after scoring against the Vegas Golden Knights during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday, March 19, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/John Locher) | AP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As determined as ESPN\u2019s play-by-play announcer seemed to be to get hit with the commentator\u2019s curse on Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":514517,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,3157,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-514516","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-golden-knights","9":"tag-goldenknights","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-news-feed-local","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-vegas","14":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","15":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116265624405406349","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514516","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=514516"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/514516\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/514517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=514516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=514516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=514516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}