'I Feel Like I'm Sleeping Right Now': Dmitri Simashev Scores First Two NHL Goals to Give Mammoth a 5-4 Overtime Win Over Lightning

Utah Mammoth fans might be feeling the same way Dmitri Simashev felt after scoring the overtime winner on Saturday. Feeling like they were sleeping.

A dramatic 5-4 overtime win over the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had recently crushed the Vegas Golden Knights and were reeling after a bad loss to the Colorado Avalanche, sent an electric Delta Center crowd home happy. However, don’t forget it didn’t look like it was going to end that way in the first period.

The very first goal went to Jake Guentzel, but he wasn’t the last player to touch the puck before it went into the back of the net. It was Nate Schmidt who put the puck in his own net. The Lightning scored two more goals going into the last couple of minutes of the first period to put the Mammoth in a hole.

The third goal by the Lightning, scored by Brayden Point, ended up being assisted on by Nikita Kucherov, giving him the point needed to pass Steven Stamkos to become the Lightning’s all-time leader in points.

Luckily, Dylan Guenther scored off his iconic one-timer on the power play right before the period ended, setting up a massive second period. The power play for the Mammoth keeps producing well, scoring on one of their three opportunities. The penalty kill did give up one goal on three opportunities, not an offensive number like in prior games.

Ironically, the Mikhail Sergachev trade played a big role in this game. The defenseman got his first-ever point against his former team, assisting on Guenther’s goal. On the flip side, Conor Geekie scored to start the second period, once again putting the Mammoth in a hole.

That’s where the tide started to turn. A shot from MacKenzie Weegar bounced off Anthony Cirelli and then off Anders Lee’s stick to get the Mammoth within one.

“When we scored that goal, we felt that we were alive. It's coming,” head coach André Tourigny said. “Obviously, the fourth goal was a tying goal, a big goal. But from there, I felt we got this. You will never be perfect, but we were a really good team at that point.” 

We have to talk about the third line of Lee, Barrett Hayton, and future NHL 2027 All-Star Kailer Yamamoto. Once again, this line was the best line of the game for the Mammoth. Every time they were on the ice, they had some sort of impact.

Each member of the line had a point on Saturday. Lee got his goal, and Hayton got an assist on the overtime winner. Meanwhile, Yamamoto retained his point-per-game pace by scoring the first goal on a great individual effort to race up the ice and put the puck into the back of the net. There is no debate at this point that Yamamoto should be in the lineup every game from this point on.

“We go to work,” Lee said. “We put the puck in, we're smart with it, and we got a little bite. I think we won a lot of battles tonight. Hayts and Yamo were great, up and down the ice and in the corners. We were able to create a lot from that, and that's kind of been our identity as a line, and I think we played to that very well tonight.”

Let’s talk about Karel Vejmelka. There’s been a lot of talk surrounding the Mammoth’s goaltending and how questionable it’s been. That talk has only picked up with the recent Connor Hellebuyck deal. Vejmelka’s stats have been awful, and his play wasn’t great on Thursday against the Seattle Kraken.

To start this one, that play wasn’t much better. He gave up some goals that he can’t give up, looking at the Pontus Holmberg one in particular. However, as the game continued, he settled in. Vejmelka made some good saves in the third period and a massive one in overtime as Sergachev gave up the puck in the middle of the ice. The goalie finished with a .906 save percentage. While improvements still need to be made, you saw the player who has been big for the Mammoth the past two seasons in the second half of this game.

“Veg had a tough stretch, and you start the game that way, and then they score three goals in the first period,” Tourigny said. “He showed a lot of character bouncing back and coming up big like he did at the end of the game and making big saves in overtime and in the third. Really proud of him, really proud for him. I think we all know how much he cares and how much the team means to him, so to see him bounce back and come up big in key moments and help us to get the two points was huge.”

However, the biggest story of Saturday night was Simashev. The defenseman has had a really strong start to the season and it continued against the Lightning as he scored his first goal of his NHL career off a shot from the top of the faceoff circle.

Simashev didn’t have to wait long for NHL career goal number two. He was deployed in overtime and on a two-on-one opportunity with Hayton; the defenseman put the puck home for the game-winner.

“I feel amazing,” Simashev said. “I scored in overtime in the KHL, and it was kind of the same thing. I scored my first goal the game before and then the second in overtime. But I mean, I didn’t expect to play in overtime, to be honest. I was just so happy when we scored the goal; that’s all my feelings right now.”

In both of those goals, you saw the Simashev who played with the Tucson Roadrunners last season. He was jumping forward towards the net to make offensive plays, something he hesitated to do at times in the NHL. If he has truly found that same game he had last season in the American Hockey League, the rest of the NHL needs to watch out.

Just like their game on Monday against the Pittsburgh Penguins, this wasn’t a pretty win. The first half of the game saw some bad play from a variety of players on the team. However, as time went on, the Mammoth, just like their goaltender, settled in and played like the team we saw earlier this season.

The defenseman who scored his first two NHL goals on Saturday has won a pro championship before. He knows sometimes good teams can play badly. However, it’s about the way that team can bounce back in intermissions and after games and leave the worst in the past.

“I think that starts from the locker room, from the energy you have before the game and between the periods,” Simashev said. “I think obviously the character in the third period and overtime. That’s the main thing. I played in the KHL and won the championship, and I just want to say character is the most important thing.”

There are still issues with the Mammoth. A 5-4 overtime win won’t fix that. However, this is a great way to start winning back the confidence of fans the team might’ve lost over the past couple of games, and it’s a great way to give the locker room motivation to finish out October with two more wins and continue those winning ways into November.

“We stuck to our plan and got to our game, and we really got to it in the third,” Lee said. “We put ourselves in a great position by clawing back before that. Just proud of the group that we settled in and didn't get away from what we needed to do tonight. At the end of the day, when you do that overtime, it gives you an opportunity to win a game.”

The Mammoth will play the Minnesota Wild next on Tuesday. The Wild are 7-3-2 this season and are coming off a 5-1 win over the Kraken. They’ll play the Vancouver Canucks on Sunday before heading to Salt Lake City.