Guenther ties franchise record; Mammoth’s point streak extends to 4 games

· Yahoo Sports

Chicago Blackhawks center Ryan Donato (8) and Utah Hockey Club right wing Dylan Guenther (11) battle for the puck as they play Utah Hockey Club's inaugural game and season opener at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2024. | Scott G Winterton, Deseret News

The Chicago Blackhawks have second-worst record in the NHL, but in the three times they’ve faced the Utah Mammoth this season, they’re undefeated.

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That comes with their 3-2 overtime win over the Mammoth on Monday, which saw Frank Nazar redeem himself with the game-winning goal shortly after fumbling the puck on an extended breakaway.

Although the standings don’t reflect it, the Blackhawks have come leaps and bounds since last season. After a 5-2 loss in Utah’s inaugural game and a 2-1 loss in Salt Lake City in the final week of February, star defenseman Seth Jones publicly voiced his frustration at how little progress they’d made over the four and a half months between those games.

Five days later, the Blackhawks traded him to the Florida Panthers. It worked out for him, as he ended the year with the Stanley Cup in his hands — and it’s slowly, but surely working out for the Blackhawks.

This was the second of three meetings between these teams over a 12-day span. The Mammoth will have the chance to get one back at the Delta Center on Thursday.

“They can skate with us — there’s not a lot of teams who can skate with us," said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny when asked why the Blackhawks have had so much success against them this year. “That is where we need to dig deep and go deeper, and we didn’t do it.”

In less than 24 hours, the Mammoth face the Minnesota Wild, against whom they’ve had the opposite luck.

“They’re going to come with a good push,” said Dylan Guenther in anticipation of the matchup. “We’re on a back-to-back, so I think just how smart we are and how we handle the first five, 10 minutes will be important.”

30 for 11

Guenther scored his 30th goal of the season on Monday, tying Clayton Keller — who set him up for the goal — for the single-season franchise record. And with 18 games to go, he’s probably far from done.

Here’s the remarkable thing, though: Guenther is one of 25 active players to score 30 goals in his 22-year-old season. And, again, he still has plenty of time to climb further up that list. If he continues scoring at his current pace, he’ll end up with 39, which would tie him with Nathan MacKinnon for sixth-most at that age.

But his focus this season has been on diversifying his game.

“That’s kind of what’s gotten me into the league, is being able to score, and I think that I’ve rounded out my game and become a more complete player,” Guenther explained after the game. “But that’s still what I’m good at and it’s nice to contribute that way.”

And while his shot is among the best in the world, he has been finding different ways to score, too. Opponents can anticipate and therefore neutralize his power play one-timer, so scoring from other places is necessary.

Tourigny agrees.

“What I like about Gunner this year is he has more ways to do it,” he said. “It’s not just his shot — he has more than that. He’s playing good lately. Since the start of the trip, I’ve liked his game.”

A bit Nicked up

If there’s one guy who had reason to worry after the MacKenize Weegar trade, it’s Nick DeSimone. The addition of another right-shot defenseman means someone has to sit, and DeSimone is the natural choice.

But the trade happened just as Mikhail Sergachev went down with an unspecified lower-body injury, allowing DeSimone to stay in the lineup — and for the Mammoth’s sake, it’s good that he was there.

Despite being notified 15 minutes before puck drop that he was playing on Saturday, DeSimone went out and set Guenther up for a highly important goal. And he got his name on the score sheet for the second consecutive game on Monday, firing the shot that Barrett Hayton tipped for the game’s opening goal.

“Thanks, Sergy,” he joked in Columbus after being presented with the game hat, Utah’s internal player of the game award.

The life of an NHL seventh defenseman is, by nature, day-to-day. But whether DeSimone plays 10 games in a row or sits out for a month straight, his job is to be ready when his name is called. And he’s been exactly what the Mammoth have needed.

Does DeSimone make highlight-reel plays every game? No. But he’s positionally sound; He’s rarely at fault for goals against; He works hard every day and he never complains. Every team could use a few guys like him.

As for Sergachev, it doesn’t seem too serious, given how uncertain the team was at whether he’d be good to go.

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