The Utah Mammoth are five games away from a piece of NHL history that, until now, has proven nearly impossible. Through 77 games, Utah has not played a single contest that reached a shootout. If that holds through the full 82-game schedule, they would become the first team in the salary-cap era — since the rule was introduced in 2005 — to complete an entire season without one. CLOSEST COMPARISONS FALL SHORT No team in a full season has managed it. The 2018–19 Ottawa Senators came the closest, making it 67 games before finally going beyond overtime. Several teams have finished a season with just one shootout appearance, including three clubs last year, but none reached this stage without one. A technical exception exists with the 2020–21 Edmonton Oilers, who avoided the shootout entirely in a 56-game, pandemic-shortened season. Still, no team has done it across the standard 82-game format. Utah has now gone further than any of those teams, and they’ve done it without many close calls. Their games beyond regulation have rarely pushed the limits of overtime, avoiding the late, drawn-out sequences that often lead to shootouts. FIVE GAMES TO GO The Mammoth have gone to overtime 15 times this season, yet every one has been settled before the shootout. In many cases, they’ve ended quickly. Most recently, Clayton Keller scored just 33 seconds into overtime to defeat the Edmonton Oilers, continuing the trend. That decisiveness stands out in a season where shootouts are up across the league, with many teams already recording multiple appearances. Utah’s remaining schedule includes the Nashville Predators, Carolina Hurricanes, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets, and St. Louis Blues. Five games remain. If Utah can finish without a shootout, they won’t just complete a statistical anomaly — they’ll set a modern NHL benchmark by playing an entire season decided strictly by regulation or overtime. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/f7effce0-5a52-4da0-a4e3-417f9fd7452c.jpeg]
