MONTREAL – After a close first period and a back and forth start to the second, the Montreal Canadiens took over and beat the Utah Mammoth, 6-2. Kailer Yamamoto and Lawson Crouse scored Utah’s two …
Utah made changes to its top two lines by switching centers. Logan Cooley centered Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz while Barrett Hayton joined JJ Peterka and Dylan Guenther’s line. Tourigny kept the third and fourth lines the same, and complimented their performances in recent games. Both of those lines contributed a goal tonight in the loss.
Kailer Yamamoto gave the Mammoth a 1-0 lead just 3:03 into the game when he scored off of a rebound from Ian Cole’s shot. The goal was Yamamoto’s second of the season and third point in the last five games (2G, 1A).
6:02 into the second period, Crouse’s third of the season gave the Mammoth a 2-1 lead. The goal capped off a great shift by Utah’s McBain line which includes Crouse, Jack McBain, and Michael Carcone. Throughout the game, that line brought energy, generated chances, and played at a high level. Utah’s Associate Captain scored in his 600th NHL game and has points in three of his last four contests.
“They’re playing really good,” Tourigny said of the McBain line. “They play both sides of the puck, they play with a lot of energy, physicality, speed, commitment. They bring good leadership to our team right now.
Despite outshooting the Canadiens 15-7 in the second period and registering 27 shots on goal, the Mammoth were unable to beat Montreal’s netminder, Sam Montembeault, more than twice and fell 6-2. The Mammoth will take lessons from the loss as they look to get back into the win column.
“Going into the third, I feel like as a team, we felt like we were in a good spot,” Crouse explained postgame. “Obviously down a goal but needing some momentum … got away from us too quickly. I think that’s a message for our group. It can go quick if you’re not on your details and at the end of the day we got to find a way to start coming out with some wins.”
“In the third, when we needed to push, we could not win draws, we had a tough time to generate possession,” Tourigny explained. “Then after we need to capitalize on our power play as well. That is an area where we need to improve. I thought we had good looks on our power play, we need to have that killer instinct, and score a big goal. I think it’s the same thing 5-on-5. I think (in the) first two periods, we generated really good chances, but we could not separate ourselves and we let a really good team hang around, and they found a way.”
The Mammoth have a quick turnaround as they face the Ottawa Senators tomorrow night for the final of four-straight on the road.
Source: Utah News