Don’t worry — Utah isn’t letting the Boston game become the norm

For completely opposite reasons, the Utah Mammoth have caused a ruckus in two straight road arenas.

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In Boston on Thursday, they put up an absolute stinker of a game— a 6-1 loss — giving the locals the chance to cheer as loud as they ever have. In Buffalo on Saturday, the Mammoth got their opponents booed out of the building in a 4-1 win over the Sabres.

They needed a quick comeback.

NHL coaches frequently talk about not letting losses become streaks: If you lose a game or two, no big deal. If you lose five in a row, that’s a different story. The Mammoth did well to put Thursday behind them.

“Really complete game. … I’m really proud of the way the guys responded,” said Utah head coach André Tourigny after the contest, mentioning his team’s physicality, pace and the way players cut Buffalo’s time and space as key points.

A major part of the bounce back was the Mammoth’s willingness to switch things up.

Rather than sticking with the lines that they’d used in the first five games of the season, they moved Lawson Crouse to the first line, Vincent Trocheck to the second, Anders Lee to the third and Jack McBain to the fourth.

Kailer Yamamoto also entered the lineup in place of Michael Carcone, who is out week to week with an upper-body injury.

It worked.

Lee and Yamamoto each tallied a goal and an assist, with Yamamoto doing so in his first game of the season. Barrett Hayton, who needed a solid offensive game, registered a pair of assists.

“Super happy for Yammy,” Tourigny said. “He’s a great player. I’ve said it many times: He’s an everyday player and I think he deserves all the credit.”

This early Eastern Conference road trip will be Utah’s second-longest of the season, and it ended it with a favorable record of 4-2-0.

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The Mammoth now return home, where they’ll host 2026 No. 1 draft pick Gavin McKenna and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday. The Maple Leafs sit in third place in the Atlantic Division after topping the mighty Colorado Avalanche 6-3 on Saturday.

As relieving as that might be for the travel-worn Mammoth, Tourigny cautioned that it’s “always challenging” to return home after a long trip.

In the first home game following multi-game road trips last season, the Mammoth posted a 4-6-1 record.

The Utah Mammoth will not be pushed around

Per data on HockeyFights.com, the Mammoth are tied for second in the league in fighting majors this season with four. For context, the Stanley Cup-winning Carolina Hurricanes had eight all year in 2025-26.

Utah also ranks fourth in penalty minutes this season.

McBain has dropped the gloves twice already, standing up for former housemate Dylan Guenther in New York and putting a beating on Brendan Dillon in New Jersey.

MacKenzie Weegar, meanwhile, accrued his second fighting major of the season on Saturday when he chucked knuckles with Peyton Krebs.

The latter fight came in response to two incidents within the same period. First, Krebs took an extra liberty by digging under Karel Vejmelka’s glove for a loose puck. Vejmelka showed his disdain for the action by grabbing Krebs’ stick and tossing it, and the refs punished Vejmelka in the form of a 10-minute misconduct.

Second, and immediately precipitating the fight, Krebs caught Weegar with a hit in the numbers. On the danger spectrum of hits from behind, this one ranked extremely low, but neither guy is inclined to back down from a physical challenge.

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