Utah Mammoth clinch top wild card spot, await Pacific Division champ in first round

SALT LAKE CITY (KSL.com) – After defeating the Winnipeg Jets and Anaheim subsequently losing to Minnesota in regulation, the Utah Mammoth locked up the top wild card spot in the western conference on Tuesday night.

Upon clinching the top spot, Utah will now await the winner of the Pacific Division in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Mammoth take care of business, clinch top wild card spot with win over Winnipeg
While the end result was a bit closer than most would’ve preferred, the Mammoth made their intentions clear by outlasting the Jets 5-3 to claim the top wild card spot in the western conference.

In addition to outshooting the Jets 36-24, Utah suffocated Winnipeg for most of the night as they consistently won their offensive zone battles, reloaded efficiently, put pucks on net and involved the defensemen to apply additional pressure.

Notably, Utah’s power play also remained red hot as they converted two of their five opportunities by dissecting the defense with speed, tenacity and a double dose of Nick Schmaltz.

“We’re a better team when we move the puck quickly and use our speed and catch them off guard a little bit,” Schmaltz said. “When we try to drag it back, and teams get set, it’s hard to beat all five guys.”

“So, we need to move the puck up quick in transition and use our speed. We’re pretty difficult to play against.”

Despite dropping the previous two games, the Mammoth rose to the occasion yet again by handling business when it mattered most.

“There are two parts to it,” Head coach Andre Tourigny explained. “For one, we made it tougher than we should have. But when push came to shove and when it was tight, we played solid.

“No, we didn’t give much; we were stingy. Even when they had a shift around four minutes, they had the puck in our zone a lot, but nothing other than that. The guys were rock solid.”

It wasn’t the prettiest, nor the most ideal as they allowed Winnipeg back within one, but it was just enough to seal the deal, clinch the top spot and avoid the Colorado Avalanche in the first round.

Who will the Mammoth face in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs?
After clinching the top wild card spot, Utah will face the Pacific Division Champion in round one of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Who will that be?

As of right now, the only two teams that could win the Pacific are the Edmonton Oilers or Vegas Golden Knights.

With one game remaining for both teams, all Vegas needs to do in order to win the division is claim a point over Seattle on Wednesday.

However, if Vegas loses and Edmonton beats Vancouver on Thursday, the Oilers win would the division as they own the tiebreaker with more regulation victories.

If both teams lose, Vegas would then claim the top spot as they currently have more points.