The Utah Mammoth might’ve annoyed the Edmonton Oilers a little bit too much on Thursday. After a day off, the Oilers regrouped and unleashed everything they could on the Mammoth, this time at the Delta Center. The final score wound up being 6-2, a very similar score to the blowout loss to the Boston Bruins a week or two ago.
It took just 40 seconds for the Oilers to score. More specifically, it took 40 seconds for Connor McDavid to get on the board by warding off Mikhail Sergachev for the opening goal. That goal pretty much set the tone of the game. A lot of poor defense by the Mammoth.
“We knew it would be challenging,” head coach André Tourigny said. “They will be ready on the other side. I didn't like our compete at all in our battles. The kind of game it was in Edmonton, we knew it would be the same thing here tonight. I didn't like the way we were in our one-on-one battles. The way we were with the dirty pucks. Our physicality was not at the level.”
Three of the next five Oilers goals were scored on the breakaway caused by lapses in the Mammoth’s defense. Another goal was scored due to Kasperi Kapanen being left unguarded in front of the net after a rebound opportunity found his stick. The Bruins’ game was frustrating because the Mammoth’s penalty kill was abysmal. This game was frustrating in a different way in that it wasn’t just the penalty kill that was bad; their five-on-five defense was some of the laziest we’ve seen this season.
It got to the point where Karel Vejmelka was pulled for Sebastian Cossa. The loss can’t solely be pinned on the goaltender. He made some solid saves throughout the game, including three straight shots by Colton Dach point-blank and another breakaway chance by Matheiu Joseph. Both goaltenders ended up with a sub .750 save percentage.
It also didn’t help that the offense failed to really generate anything until the third period. The power play that failed to score on two opportunities looked helpless against an Oilers penalty kill that learned from its mistakes on Thursday.
It was a rough night for the defense. Every single player on the blueline ended up as a minus player except Sergachev and John Marino. The Sergachev and MacKenzie Weegar tandem had a rough game, nearly directly causing the first goal and then having some questionable defense that allowed some breakaway opportunities for the Oilers.
“It's 6-2 out there, and the effort wasn't good today,” Dmitri Simashev said. “We did make a couple of mistakes. Maybe sometimes we were unlucky, like the first three goals, but it doesn't matter. We have to fight on the ice.”
It was also Sergachev and Marino who helped spark some sort of life in the Mammoth. In the third period, a slapshot from Marino got the team on the board. Then, a weird bounce from Sergachev landed right behind Tristan Jarry and into the back of the net. It was a goal that even the defenseman couldn’t believe happened.
Sergy 🤯
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 18, 2026
Two goals for the Mammoth to lead off the third. pic.twitter.com/O8jNOiPfp2
However, by that time it was too late. The Oilers had a 5-0 lead before those two goals, and McDavid scored his second of the game shortly after Sergachev’s weird goal to essentially end it. While the third period was a much better 20 minutes than the prior 40 for the Mammoth, there was no coming back from the deep hole they had dug themselves.
“It feels a little bit similar to the Boston game where we fell behind and then opened the game up and did it to ourselves,” Lawson Crouse said. “We can talk about learning, but we need to take those strides. It’s a decision, and I think the third period proves that. It's a decision to go out there, play fast, play to our identity, and win battles. I love the response. Not giving up- it seems like we never do, but we need that from the drop of the puck.”
It’s disappointing that after such a great game in Edmonton, one where the Mammoth proved they can compete with the best that they decided to have a very bad loss. It sucks even more that it was in front of their own fans.
“In Edmonton, we played 10 out of 10 game for me,” Tourigny said. “That's as good as we have played maybe ever, and it was a tight game. That was really tight. So you need to be ready to do it again because you knew if they lost the first game, they're coming in the second game, they will be ready. So, back in front of our fans, that's too bad we could not work like we did in the third and compete at that level for 60.”
It has been a hectic schedule for the Mammoth as of late. After their five-game road trip on the eastern seaboard, they returned home for one game, flew to Edmonton to play a game, and then returned home. All within one or two days of rest of each other.
Luckily, they’ll have three of their next four games at home. That gives them some time to be goldfish.
What do I mean by goldfish? Well, it’s a good lesson to learn from a good show called Ted Lasso. In the show, Lasso tells one of his players that a goldfish is the happiest animal on Earth because it’s got a 10-second memory. It doesn’t dwell on its mistakes; rather, it moves on.
After the game against the Bruins, I stated the team needed to be goldfish. After Saturday’s game, they need to be goldfish again. It’s a bad game for sure. If they spend time thinking about it, though, how are they going to be better?
Move on. You can complain about as much as you want, but at the end of the day, it’s not going to affect the next game, positively in any way. However, there are more games to be played. There is time for rest, and not a lot of travel left until the final couple of days of the month. Time to move on and focus on being better in Monday’s game.
“It’s about having open conversation, realizing there's no finger-pointing,” Crouse said. “Everyone can be better, and that's the best part about this group. Everyone's hungry to get better.”
The Mammoth will take on the Pittsburgh Penguins next on Monday. The Penguins are 3-5-1 and are coming off a 6-2 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights.