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Fans are irate over missed calls, but Mammoth blame themselves for loss to Penguins

· Yahoo Sports

Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) is hit by Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Kris Letang (58) and Ryan Shea (5) as he skates between them during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Dan Muse told the Deseret News on Saturday that his team had to be wary of the Utah Mammoth’s rush.

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Five minutes into the game, the public saw why: Dylan Guenther scored on a shot off the rush, and just a minute and a half later, Guenther scored again, giving the Mammoth overwhelming odds of winning the game.

But that didn’t happen, as the Penguins came back to win 4-3.

Mammoth fans online blamed it on the officiating — six Utah penalties compared to Pittsburgh’s three, with several missed calls — but the team refused to do the same.

“The lack of maturity today in our game, in our management, cost us the game,” said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny. “We were in full control.”

Defenseman Ian Cole, the most experienced member of the team, sang the same song.

“I’m not going to critique or speculate on that,” he said of the officiating. “It’s something that we don’t have a ton of control over. We have control over what we do on the ice, for sure.

“In terms of the decision-making as to what is a penalty and what isn’t, we can’t control that, but we can do a much better job in terms of putting ourselves in positions to not take penalties that are, we’ll call it, unnecessary.”

Utah Mammoth left wing Michael Carcone (53) and Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (28) grab each other during a scrum during the first period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) celebrates after scoring his second goal during the first period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) shoots the puck during the first period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ilya Solovyov (7) pokes the puck away from Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) during the first period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) celebrates with center Nick Schmaltz (8) after scoring during the first period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) is checked into the boards by Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (28) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) is helped off the ice by trainer and right wing JJ Peterka (77) after colliding with the goal during the second period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) clears the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Egor Chinakhov (59) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) shoots the puck during the second period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Anthony Mantha (39) skates past the bench after scoring during the second period of an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins center Tommy Novak (18) skates past the bench after scoring during the second period of an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth defenseman Ian Cole (28) celebrates with defenseman Sean Durzi (50) after scoring during the third period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Egor Chinakhov (59) skates through multiple Utah Mammoth players during the third period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Bryan Rust (17) celebrates with right wings Rickard Rakell (67), Anthony Mantha (39) and Egor Chinakhov (59) after scoring during the third period of an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing Dylan Guenther (11) attempts to redirect the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) during the third period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins center Noel Acciari (55) celebrates with defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) after scoring during the third period of an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) shoots during the third period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) throws his helmet as he returns to the bench after catching an elbow to the face during a faceoff during the third period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins center Blake Lizotte (46) celebrates a 4-3 win over the Utah Mammoth with goaltender Stuart Skinner (74) as the final buzzer sounds during the third period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) watches the puck tumble out of reach after crashing into the boards during the first period of an NHL game against the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Kris Letang (58) skates during introductions before an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) skates with the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) during the first period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Jack McBain (22) skates with the puck against Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Ilya Solovyov (7) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Nick Schmaltz (8) skates past Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (28) passes around Utah Mammoth right wing JJ Peterka (77) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth right wing Clayton Keller (9) shoots the puck past Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon (28) during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Pittsburgh Penguins right wing Bryan Rust (17) falls to the ice after being tripped during the second period of an NHL game against the Utah Mammoth at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) is hit by Pittsburgh Penguins defensemen Kris Letang (58) and Ryan Shea (5) as he skates between them during the second period of an NHL game at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Saturday, March 14, 2026. | Rio Giancarlo, Deseret News

Sure, there could have been a couple extra calls in favor of the home team. Pittsburgh native Logan Cooley absorbed more abuse than a punching bag on Saturday, but with the Mammoth being 26th in the league on the power play and the Penguins having the second-best penalty kill, Utah would have been much better off to simply not let the game get to a point where there were tons of penalties.

Speaking of things that need to be avoided, Cooley nearly caused 16,000 heart attacks at the Delta Center as he crashed hard into the goalpost for the second time this season. The first, of course, caused him to miss 28 games with a lower-body injury.

On Saturday, Cooley stayed down for a long while after the collision, eventually being helped off the ice by JJ Peterka and head athletic trainer Dave Zenobi while refusing to put any weight on his left leg — the same one that was injured earlier in the season.

Mammoth nation collectively exhaled, though, when Cooley came back just minutes later. He finished out the game on a regular rotation with his line mates, showing no visible signs of discomfort.

“That’s huge,” Guenther said of Cooley’s return. “He’s built well and he drives the net hard, and we don’t want him to stop doing that.”

Tourigny agreed, using Connor McDavid, arguably the best hockey player in the world, as an example. In his rookie season, McDavid broke his collarbone as he drove to the net with a full head of speed and crashed into the end boards.

“He’s still going at the net pretty good. Still a pretty good player,” Tourigny said. “That’s hockey. Stuff will happen. He’s fine. Life goes on.”

What goes into stopping a skid?

After three straight wins to begin their recent eastern road trip, the Mammoth have now lost four consecutive games.

Two of them were in overtime, which helps them incrementally in the playoff race, but it’s not a sustainable way to keep their playoff spot.

Tourigny challenged his team after the game to do some soul searching.

“I want them to come back with some answers,” he said in his postgame interview. “I know what I think. I want to know what they think. ... They have to understand and own it.”

Guenther’s answer was to not dwell on the mistakes.

“I think you learn from stuff like this, but as much as you want to just break down everything, I don’t think you can beat yourself up too long.

“There’s 15 games left, so make sure we learn from it, but it doesn’t bleed into our other games.”

Cole boiled it down to a few words.

“Ultimately, we just have to do it,” he said. “There’s no better way to say it.”

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