Franchise-breaking records, like the Utah Mammoth’s seven-game winning streak, are always fun and exciting. But when records eventually end — as they did for Utah in its 6-3 loss to the Edmonton Oilers — the question becomes: what went wrong? In this case, what went wrong was the dominant offensive performance the Oilers put on in the second period, scoring five goals in a single period — the highest mark by an NHL team this season. Though Edmonton’s offense was outstanding this game, it was uncanny for the Mammoth’s defense, which allowed just 2.40 goals per game (tied for second-best in the league heading into this matchup), to collapse the way it did in a single period. So what happened? Was Edmonton simply an offensive powerhouse led by two Connor McDavid goals? Did Utah's defense take a step back? Let’s take a closer look at the rare mistakes the Utah Mammoth made that led to its seven-game franchise winning streak coming to an end. FIRST MISTAKE: PUCK CHASING To answer the question, it certainly wasn’t just McDavid’s two goals that gave the Oilers the lead. Including McDavid, five different Oilers players scored in this game. Plus, one of McDavid’s goals was an empty-netter. Still, for McDavid to get two goals after coming into this game against Utah with just one on the season is a great sign for Edmonton, but it wasn’t the main reason for the win. Up 2-0 going into the second, Utah was off to another hot start — as expected for a team with the most first-period goals in the league, now at 13 after this game. Better yet, Logan Cooley added another goal to continue his own personal hot streak, scoring nine of his 12 points during this four-game road trip. Utah was playing its style of hockey and genuinely looked like it could extend its win streak. But even with Cooley and his linemates Dylan Guenther and JJ Peterka — who scored Utah’s other goal in the first — playing yet another impressive game, the Oilers would one-up Utah’s offense in the second period. To start their flurry of goals, Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm took advantage of poorly positioned Utah defense, scoring Edmonton’s goal just 22 seconds into the period. Seeing that Peterka was chasing the puck, Edmonton’s Vasily Podkolzin wisely engaged with Mikhail Sergachev in front of the net, forcing Sergachev to focus solely on guarding him. With the left side of the rink wide open thanks to the space Podkolzin created, Ekholm took advantage of the look and sent the puck to the back of the net. SECOND MISTAKE: HOCKEY STICK ENTANGLEMENT Gaining momentum fast, it didn’t take Edmonton long to tie the game, this time with Oilers forward Adam Henrique stealing the puck from John Marino behind the net and immediately passing it to an unguarded Isaac Howard. Suddenly, Utah’s two-goal lead was gone just like that, as it gave up two goals in just 3:13 of game time. At first glance, it’s easy to say the biggest mistake came from Marino losing the puck on the boards to Henrique in the first place. But let’s not diminish the great play by Henrique — not only to jar the puck loose, but to quickly pass it to the middle of the ice. Look instead at Nate Schmidt, wearing No. 88. Unfortunately, Schmidt’s stick actually got caught in Henrique’s jersey as he passed by on his way to steal the puck from Marino. Because Schmidt’s stick was out of the play, a passing lane between Henrique and Howard opened up. It wasn’t intentional on Schmidt’s part — just genuinely bad luck. But still, it’s always the lucky teams that end up winning games, and in this case, Edmonton was much more fortunate. THIRD MISTAKE: UNCONTESTED REBOUNDS At first, Utah looked to be back on track when it got its third goal after Edmonton made a mistake of its own, as goalie Stuart Skinner accidentally passed the puck to Nick Schmaltz behind the net instead of to one of his teammates. Luck and momentum appeared to be back on Utah’s side after Barrett Hayton’s goal put the Mammoth up 3-2. The bleeding looked to have stopped. However, the puck clearly had other plans in this game: Landing right on Leon Draisaitl’s stick — after Karel Vejmelka had stopped a Jake Walman shot — the puck wasn’t simply going back to Edmonton. It was in just about the most perfect position imaginable, especially for a star like Draisaitl. It would have taken inexplicable timing — or even a crystal ball — for Liam O’Brien, Utah’s closest player in the area, to stop this goal. But even if O’Brien could see the future, it still wouldn’t have been enough with how fast the puck flew off Vejmelka’s pads. It was the worst possible ricochet for Utah. But why list “uncontested rebounds” as Utah’s mistake if only one happened and it was nearly impossible to stop? Well, the reason for that is it didn’t just happen to the Mammoth once this period. No, it happened twice — in the exact same spot on the ice! Expecting Utah to get every rebound or for Vejmelka to glove every save is unreasonable and downright impossible. But in this game, the Oilers were able to win because of their ability to track down rebounds off distant shots. Having the puck bounce directly to opposing players is certainly unlucky for Utah, but the Mammoth should still look to see if there’s any way to improve its positioning. Because even though the plays were unlucky, those open lanes existed before the shots on goal were taken. Maybe Edmonton simply had more favorable puck bounces than Utah, but the Oilers did score two goals in similar ways. If Utah wants to bounce back defensively, it’ll need to find a way to prevent goals like that in the future — if it’s possible, of course. LAST MISTAKE: GIVING CONNOR MCDAVID A SECOND CHANCE Though Utah suddenly had its first deficit of the game, down 4-3, it still wasn’t out of reach. Despite the four goals allowed, Utah was still playing hard and had shown it knew how to take momentum back. But to put the cherry on top of an already incredible second-period performance, McDavid finally scored his second goal of the season. Without Oilers defenseman Jake Walman stopping the puck on a Peterka clear attempt, this play could have never happened. In fact, a fast-break opportunity likely would have ensued. Instead, Peterka found himself slightly too far ahead of McDavid — a bad position to be in with one of the fastest skaters ever to touch the ice. And just like that, McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins quickly took advantage of the 2-on-1 and scored the fifth and final goal of the period. None of Utah’s mistakes were too egregious in this game, but there are things the team will need to work on. Still, for Utah’s 11th game of the season to be the first it has lost due to underperforming on defense is a good sign. Even better, losing after a seven-game winning streak that included four consecutive wins against playoff teams is even more impressive. Utah may have lost to Edmonton, but this team has certainly been sharp for most of the season. There’s a reason it sits atop the Central Division. Now, the question isn’t how long this winning streak will last, but rather how the Utah Mammoth will respond. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/4221c4ce-10fd-40b7-98f8-ff71ac22b3c7.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. 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