Utah Mammoth are just 5 games away from making modern NHL history

I want to write this post, but I’m not sure I should.

More specifically, I’m not sure I should hit “publish” after I’m done. As I’m writing it, I’m not sure that I will. But since you’re reading this, apparently I talked myself into it. That might have been a terrible mistake.

I want to write about this because I think it’s interesting, and finding interesting stuff in the hockey world and then sharing it with you is pretty much my entire job. But I feel like I shouldn’t, because I don’t want to jinx it. The psychological scars of my youth, spent watching way too many Dave Stieb near-miss no-hitters, still loom large.

Forget it, let’s do this.

The Utah Mammoth are five games away from becoming the first team in the history of the cap era to go a full season without having a single game end in a shootout.

That cap era, of course, coincides with the introduction of the shootout way back in 2005. Since that fateful rule change started settling games with individual breakaway contests, no team has managed to go a full 82-game season without sullying their record with at least one of these stupid things.

In fact, nobody’s really come all that close. Five teams have made it through a full season with only one shootout, including three last year — the Bruins, Oilers and Rangers. None made it as far as the Mammoth have. The previous record was held by the 2018-19 Ottawa Senators, an otherwise forgettable team that made it to their 67th game of the season, when Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s goal late in regulation sent the game to a fruitless overtime.

(That goal came when fresh-faced rookie Brady Tkachuk steamrolled the Islanders’ goaltender, leading to the goal being waved off, leading to a coach’s challenge, leading to a lengthy replay review, leading to the call being overturned by the situation room, leading to everyone complaining about how nobody understands goaltender interference. Does all of that add up to this being the single most annoying goal of all time? Many people are saying this.)

One team has managed to avoid the shootout completely, but it was the 2020-21 Oilers. That was the COVID season that was only 56 games long, and we’ve all agreed that everything that happened in that season was completely fake and doesn’t count. We’re looking for 82 games here. And nobody’s ever come as close as the Mammoth are right now.

In fact, Utah hasn’t even had any true near-misses. If we can stretch the no-hitter metaphor, they’ve yet to need any highlight-reel defensive plays. They’ve been past regulation 15 times so far this season, which isn’t an especially high number in a league where just about everyone seems to be playing for loser points every night. Not one of those games has made it to the final minute of overtime. Five have been settled before the one-minute mark, and two more ended just seconds after.

That list includes Tuesday night, when the Mammoth went to overtime with the Oilers, only to have Clayton Keller end it after just 33 seconds.

This team does not seem to want to take any chances. These days, most teams’ ideal overtime involves taking a few minutes just to win the faceoff, immediately changing lines, executing one 180-foot drop pass, changing lines again, and then “regrouping” in the neutral zone half a dozen times before finally thinking about maybe trying a shot on net. The Mammoth? They’ve already hit the postgame shower by then.

The closest Utah has come to losing its streak came a few weeks ago, when it hosted the Blackhawks. That night saw them get dangerously close to the final minute of the extra period, before Karel Vejmelka wisely whiffed on a shot that hit the post and then pretended not to know where the puck was despite it being on the stick of the Blackhawks’ best player. Game over. And far more importantly, for the Mammoth: Integrity maintained.

It’s important to note the context here. This is happening in a year where, according to Hockey-Reference, the NHL has already had more shootouts than in any other season of the three-on-three era. Every other team has had at least three. The Kings have had 14; the Flyers and Penguins each have 13. Those are already the highest totals of the three-on-three era, despite the season still having a week left to play. And that’s not surprising, given how transparently teams are playing for overtime this year. Shayna noted the rise of the three-point game back in December, and that was before the tight playoff races turned every tied third period into that soccer scene from “The Simpsons.”

Combine that with an emerging overtime strategy that has fans begging for a rule change, and it’s no surprise that we’re seeing more shootouts than ever. Just not in Utah. Bless them for it. No, literally. We already know that the hockey gods hate the loser point, so maybe they’ll reward the Mammoth for this.

(By the way, we should note that this is the first year that “the Mammoth” have even existed. Last year, when they had five shootouts, they were the Utah Hockey Club, and before that, they didn’t exist at all, at least according to the NHL’s official record book. That means that “and the Mammoth will go to a shootout” is one of those hockey phrases that has literally never been uttered by anyone, alongside “Gary Bettman admitted a mistake” and “look at this color photograph of a Leafs fan smiling.”)

The point is that the unlikelihood of it all makes the achievement even more impressive. And it’s all the more reason that we should celebrate it. You probably don’t have especially strong feelings about the Utah Mammoth, a team with virtually no history that’s barely had time to come up with a logo, let alone develop any rivalries. But maybe it’s time for that to change. Between their refusal to settle games with a shootout and that weird new Zamboni thing, maybe it’s time to start scouting out space on the bandwagon.

There’s time to figure that out. First, they need to finish the job. They’ve got five games to go, and they won’t be easy. Luckily, Utah doesn’t have to play those dastardly shootout merchants from Los Angeles, Pittsburgh or Philadelphia the rest of the way. But they’ve got the Predators tonight, and Nashville has been to seven shootouts. After that, it’s Carolina (which has eight), then Calgary (seven), Winnipeg (six) and St. Louis (five). It’s not over yet, but we’ve got two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Let’s hope it’s not Roberto Kelly warming up in the on-deck circle.

And yes, I’m well aware that if I end up pulling a Jacob Markström as I did almost a decade ago, nobody will ever forgive me. That’s why I wasn’t sure about writing this. We should all be pulling for the Mammoth to finish the job here. Some day, the NHL will follow Pierre’s advice and get rid of the shootout altogether. Until then, the least we can do is root for the one team that’s apparently already decided to go ahead and do it themselves.

Go Mammoth go. Or don’t, and lose a bunch of games in a blowout. Winning or losing, either is fine. Just make sure your next five games end with real hockey, or at least the three-on-three quasi-equivalent. You’ve got a chance to make hockey history here. Do it by sticking to actual hockey.