How many more hat tricks Will Schmaltz get this season?
A big 6-2 blowout over Vancouver may not have been the most exciting game for the crowd at Delta Center, but the Mammoth couldn't have asked for a better win than the one it just had.
But then again, what's more exciting than getting to throw a hat on the ice in celebration of Nick Schmaltz's second hat trick of the season?
"I think there were a lot of great plays by some guys finding me. There was a fortunate bounce on one of them," said Schmaltz. "But I was super excited to get a hat trick and help the team win.”
When the Utah Mammoth needed to secure a win, it did so in a dominant fashion. After all, there isn't a much better recipe for course corrections than blowout wins and hat tricks.
Besides a 1-1 tie in the first period, Utah stayed in front of the Canucks for a majority of the game and never let the game get competitive .
Even more importantly, the Mammoth even scored the first goal of the day- something Utah Mammoth hasn't done in six of its last seven games. At no point in this game did Utah have to play from behind.
Overall, this was a game where the Mammoth showed control. And that needs to happen when the team you're playing has the worse goal differential in the league.
Utah entered its offensive zone at will tonight, leading to quality shots on goal. Compared to its last game against Dallas, the quantity of shots may not of rose much, only going up to 20 shots on goal after a season low 14, but it wasn't due to the Canucks pressing defense or timid offense from the Mammoth.
Instead, Utah was a team that spent lots of time getting set on offense this game. It sent the puck deep in its o-zone regularly rather than being forced into the quick, low percentage transition shots it blocked by the Stars regularly.
The Mammoth truly didn't have to rush and played the simplified game it strives to achieve night in and night out.
"Most of the game we played well. It's just we had little spots," said André Tourigny. "I think we were confident offensively, and like I said, we scored big goals at key moments. We didn't have a lot of volume, but we had quality chances."
Not only that, but Utah controlled the pace of the game too. Even when it was forced into another early first period penalty, Utah never allowed Vancouver to speed or slow the game.
This time, Utah was sharp on it special teams as it was a perfect 4-for-4 on the penalty kill and was even able to get a power play goal despite having the league's worst conversion rate (14.8%).
If not for a well-rounded performance in every facet of the game, Peterka would not have had such a wide open net on his goal in the second:
Considering the fashion Utah had lost to both Carolina and Dallas, it was important to take care of business with a strong performance that never allowed an exciting moment for the Canucks.
"The first one against Carolina, we obviously lost that game in the last three minutes. And then for Dallas, we didn't have a good start, and that's what left a bad taste," said Mikhail Sergachev. "But tonight we had a better start, and played better overall.”
It's obvious that the win was important for the point race in the standings, with the race for Wild Card spots appearing to be tight in the West, but it also showed that the Mammoth weren't going to linger on its previous losses.
Now all that remains before the Olympics is one more home game, a showdown with the Detroit Red Wings.
Though the focus will shift as players go play for their respective countries, Utah needs to be prepared when it plays top teams like Detroit and capitalize on its home advantage.