First Period
Utah is an up and coming team in the West and they showed it in the first period. The CBJ committed two stick infractions in the first half of the period and, while I think the PK continues to look stronger than last year, the Mammoth power play was much more lethal than the Sabres on Thursday. Sergachev wired a shot behind Jet on the second man advantage to open the scoring.
Utah continued to be the better team the remainder of the period, frustrating the transition game of the Jackets continuously. Late in the period the Monahan line and Gudbranson pairing got trapped on a long defensive shift setting up a sharp angle shot that somehow got through Jet. It was a good play from the Mammoth, but usually Jet handles that one.
2-0 Utah at the end of the first. The Mammoth also led in shots 13-4(not good), and won the xG battle at 5v5 .77 to .29 per NST.
Second Period
Much better start to this one. Just over a minute in, Knies ended a battle for the puck high in the defensive zone with a feed off the wall to an open KJ. Kent carried the puck down the wing and beat an unsuspecting Cossa five hole for his first of the season. Really positive to see a connection like that in game two.
The rest of this period was much more even than the first, but to my eye, Utah still had the better of play. The CBJ may have created the better chances in the aggregate but Utah routinely created quick transition chances and attempted dangerous cross slot passes. They largely did not connect on them but each rush forced the CBJ back and prevented line changes. Z and Mateychuk got stuck on some long long shifts in this period.
Bowness flipped Voronkov and Garland’s line assignments to start this period and Christiansen drew some ice time after being benched halfway through the first. Mateychuk and Werenski both reached 20 minutes of ice time after two periods.
2-1 Utah after one, shots were even at 7 in the second period with the CBJ taking the 5v5 xG lead .9-.72 per NST
Third Period
More early period Knies magic when he challenged Sergachev at the blue line to create a partial break that ended with a holding infraction. The CBJ PP created a few looks but the most dangerous chance came for Utah when the puck jumped over KJ’s stick at the blue line and created a break for Schmaltz that Jet handled.
A Mateychuk high stick in the defensive zone gave Utah their third man advantage and the Mammoth struck quickly with a great pass and great finish from Guenther.
Olivier earned the CBJ another PP try after making a nice power move to the net to draw a penalty. Unfortunately the ensuing man advantage did not strike.
Another Utah PP opportunity after a long defensive shift led to a slash from Andrae, and another Utah PP goal. I don’t normally like to post the other team’s goals but these PP goals were great hockey.
This one ends as a loss for the home team, Utah wins 4-1. The Mammoth out shot the CBJ 11-7 in the third period and also won the xG battle 1.01-0.3 at 5v5 per NST.
Final Thoughts
Utah was the better team start to finish, no question. They are a talented young team with an exciting rush attack. The constantly frustrated the CBJ in the neutral zone turning lost pucks into quick transition offense. Ultimately the difference in the game was special teams as the Mammoth converted three of their four PP chances and the Jackets didn’t convert either of theirs.
I have to admit that I think a lot of these issues stem from the missing pieces on the back end and a CBJ team that needs more time together. Fantilli led the forwards in ice time but I think struggled to handle the puck at the level he finished last season with. Nuke hasn’t quite built up a rapport with his line mates but you can see the beginnings of it. Soucy and Andrae have honestly looked pretty good to my eye but they’ll end up making plays out of sync with the rest of the team and kill possession. These moments build up over the game and lead to penalties and a lack of time in the offensive zone. Players like Severson and Provorov will greatly help with getting the puck out of our zone and also reducing the massive burden on Mateychuk (28 TOI) and Z (31 TOI)
Gudbranson was miserable in this game. The one tendency of his that stood out to me in this game is his desire to invite contact from a forechecker on d zone retrievals. He isn’t confident enough in his ability to pick the puck up clean off the wall behind his net and move it, so he waits for the forechecker to hit him before trying to make the play. The problem is that he lost the ensuing puck battle each time I watched him attempt this.
Fortunately the team will have 5 days to practice before facing what looks like a sharp Pittsburgh team.