Taking a brutal 4-1 loss to the Golden Knights in its previous game, the Utah Mammoth was a team that knew it needed lots of change coming into its game against the New York Rangers. Not only did Utah look the part of a winning team again, looking much more focused and composed than it did against Vegas, it came away with a 3-2 win against the Rangers thanks to Nick DeSimone's second game-winning goal of his career. "Everyone bought in tonight," said DeSimone. "Every guy was playing out the game, and we just stuck with it for the whole night, and we got rewarded for it." And Utah's play before DeSimone even got to the puck was indicative of that, with the whole line taking turns crashing the net, sending shots at Jonathan Quick and battling for the puck along the boards. Even Karel Vejmelka was making high-effort plays just before DeSimone scored, kicking and stretching his body to make save after save before Utah even entered its offensive zone. All that effort certainly got rewarded when DeSimone was able to capitalize on a stray puck falling back to the blue line. Though it was an unassisted goal, DeSimone got plenty of help to get that goal. "Keeping it simple was the message for the game. It turned out to be good," said JJ Peterka. "Just a lot of pucks to the net and a lot of second efforts to the net. That won us the game." Considering it had been nearly a month since Utah had beaten a team that wasn’t the Buffalo Sabres — when it beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 on Oct. 26 — it was big for Utah to pull off a win against a Rangers team that has only managed to get its wins on the road (9-4-1) this season. But it wasn’t just the effort of a few players that made this win possible for Utah, but rather consistent effort plays from the whole team that got the Mammoth the win. KELLER'S GOAL EVENTUALLY COUNTS... Originally, no one in the stadium knew that Keller had scored. With both teams still playing on, everybody assumed the puck must have never fully gone into the net. Maybe it had gone off the crossbar, been sent over the net or gotten lost among the bodies after rolling off Kailer Yamamoto's stick. Most fans focused more on the hit Keller received right next to the net than on his incredibly quick rebound shot, especially since no goal horn sounded. So play continued for about 30 more seconds, with New York even making its own rush toward Utah's net, before the horn suddenly sounded to the excitement of the crowd. And it clearly was a goal too, even though the puck zipped out immediately. In fact, nothing about the goal was particularly smooth, with Yamamoto having to make an impromptu pass to Keller after losing possession in the first place. But it was fitting that Keller got the greasy goal. After all, it was his pressure that made Rangers defenseman Scott Marrow turn it over in the first place. PETERKA STAYS HOT ON THE THIRD LINE Over his last six games, including this game, Peterka has led the Mammoth in both goals and points, registering five goals and six points. And it's no coincidence either, because just around the time Peterka started racking up points, he joined Jack McBain and Lawson Crouse on the third line, even scoring a goal less than a minute after joining his new line in a 5-2 win against the Sabres. Once again, Peterka was the beneficiary of great play from the third line, scooping up the rebound from McBain and scoring. And even if Peterka didn't manage to put the puck in, Crouse was also in a perfect position to score the goal. In fact, if he had touched the puck a split second sooner, maybe each player would have recorded their first-ever "shared goal." Utah's third line has been a bright spot for this team amid its losing streak and arguably was the best line the Mammoth had across the stretch. The chemistry was instantaneous and hasn't faded since Tourigny made that lineup change. FIGHTING CANCER IN UTAH To make the night even more special, Utah decided to have a night dedicated to fighting cancer. Throughout the game, Utah found various ways to honor the people who have fought cancer, from its pregame puck drop to a standing ovation from the crowd. Even Tusky dyed his bright-blue mohawk purple to show support. Tonight showed that, on a large scale, the fight against cancer truly is something that affects everyone. It made for a special night to see Utah Mammoth highlighting the need to continue the fight against cancer.
