{"id":518034,"date":"2026-03-23T06:30:40","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/518034\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T06:30:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T06:30:40","slug":"utah-mammoth-beat-los-angeles-kings-4-3-in-overtime-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/518034\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Mammoth beat Los Angeles Kings 4-3 in overtime \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

And then there were two.<\/p>\n

The Utah Mammoth\u2019s 4-3 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday means the league\u2019s newest team has beaten 30 of the 32 teams in the NHL. And their next opponent, the Edmonton Oilers, are one of the two remaining squads.<\/p>\n

Utah\u2019s top line made all the difference in this one. Lawson Crouse scored twice in the first 10 minutes, and Nick Schmaltz scored a beauty and the OT winner. The two of them alongside Clayton Keller has been the Mammoth\u2019s most consistent line this season.<\/p>\n

But what makes them so effective? Crouse deferred to the longstanding chemistry of his line mates.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve played together so long, they know each other like the back of their hands,\u201d he said. \u201cThat chemistry, it\u2019s great to just jump in there and play. (I) just try and play fast for them, but smart and heavy and try and win battles, get to the net, open the ice for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, they\u2019re elite playmakers and finishers, so there\u2019s a happy balance of getting to the net and trying to open up ice, but also being available for them to make quick plays to get shots on goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

This year has been a complete 180 for number 67. His goal total alone surpasses his point total from last season, and the Mammoth still have 11 games left.<\/p>\n

During training camp, I asked Crouse<\/a> what he was doing to get his game back on track. He invited me to sit down while he laid it out.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get in your own head, it\u2019s not great,\u201d he said. \u201cAs athletes, you need to do whatever you can to stay out of your head. When you let that affect your game, it affects the team\u2019s game. I got away from what makes me successful as a player, so it\u2019s just about getting back to that.<\/p>\n

\u201c… Ultimately, (I\u2019m) just trying to be the best version of myself, and hopefully that\u2019s contagious. Do the right things and lead by example.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andr\u00e9 Tourigny, who has had Crouse all five years of his NHL head coaching tenure, is not surprised to see him bounce back.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t always have your A year,\u201d he said. \u201cSometimes, you have years where you (make) decisions you should have not, or things (don\u2019t) go your way. That\u2019s just life. But I think Lawson Crouse, his leadership, his commitment to the team, his professionalism, his focus, it\u2019s always been something we\u2019re really excited to have in our locker room.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the increased offense and the policing he\u2019s done to keep his opponents in check, it\u2019s probably safe to say \u201cThe Sheriff\u201d has earned his badge back.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

For whatever it\u2019s worth, MoneyPuck<\/a> now gives the Mammoth a 94% chance at making the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Schmaltz has suffered through a lot of early golfing in his eight seasons since being traded to Arizona, and he\u2019s glad to finally be in a favorable position down the stretch.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d he said after the game. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s way more fun playing these games than (it is when you know) you\u2019re going to tee it up at the end of April or whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuper exciting to be in this position that we put ourselves in, and we\u2019ve got some work to do left.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mammoth\u2019s game against the Kings was akin to playoff hockey in the sense that there was plenty of physicality, but the referees didn\u2019t call any penalties unless they absolutely had to.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuys are fighting for their lives out there. It\u2019s a lot of fun,\u201d Schmaltz said. \u201cA lot of competitiveness, a lot of stuff after the whistles. It\u2019s a heck of a lot of fun out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Utah and Los Angeles will meet again on Saturday, this time in Southern California. As it stands at the time of writing, the Kings are two points out of a playoff spot, so it\u2019s bound to be just as hard-fought, if not more-so.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all know LA\u2019s fighting to catch (up to us),\u201d Tourigny said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really important game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"And then there were two. The Utah Mammoth\u2019s 4-3 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings on Sunday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":518035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5126],"tags":[5,186,1760,240,5303,793,145,5304,5302,3157,4],"class_list":{"0":"post-518034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-kings","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-kings","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-kings","12":"tag-lakings","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-kings","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangeleskings","17":"tag-news-feed-local","18":"tag-nhl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116277085718396589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518034","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=518034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/518034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/518035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=518034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=518034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=518034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}