If there's one thing that worries a Blues fan about this matchup, it's the Utah power play. The Mammoth were 23-for-60 with the man advantage through 17 games, and that led the league in both goals and percentage. Guenther's 5 power-play goals were 6th in the NHL. For St. Louis the plan is simple and hard to pull off: stay out of the box and play this at 5-on-5, where Utah's offense has been far less convincing.
That 5-on-5 gap is the real story in Utah. Nick Schmaltz has put up points but had only 2 goals at even strength as of this week, with most of his work coming on the power play. Guenther managed just 3 points after October 17. Clayton Keller is setting people up but has only 5 goals. Then there's the net. Karel Vejmelka is at a .870 save percentage, a career low and well below his .904 mark in 2025, and Utah went 4-4-1 after an October 17 loss to Edmonton. A team that's leaking soft goals and depending on its power play to score is a team a patient opponent can wear down.
Both blue lines are short. Utah is without Nate Schmidt, who has no timeline, plus John Marino and Maveric Lamoureux on IR, so younger defensemen and AHL call-ups are carrying more minutes than anyone planned. Kailer Yamamoto is also on IR up front. St. Louis has Torey Krug on long-term IR and Tyler Tucker out after knee surgery, but it got some help back when Logan Mailloux was activated from IR on November 9, with Calle Rosen recalled. Puck drop is 7:00 PM MT. The Blues have had a rest day. The Mammoth will be coming off a game in Vegas the night before.
