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Utah Mammoth at New York Rangers

Sun Oct 46:00 PM ETESPN+New York, NY
By JR·2 min read
Mammoth(1-0-0)
Rangers(2-1-0)
Sunday 10/046:00 PM

TLDR: Both of these clubs started the season by shutting someone out, and on Sunday, October 4 at Madison Square Garden one of them finally has to face a team that isn't missing its captain. Utah gets there the hard way, though: the Mammoth play in Columbus the night before.

SUN OCT 4, 6:00 PMESPN+
Mammoth
(1-0-0)
W
Rangers
(2-1-0)
WWL

The Utah Mammoth bring a 6-0 opening shutout of Chicago to Madison Square Garden. First they play at Columbus the night before, so they arrive on the second night of a back-to-back against a rested Rangers team. New York has opened by beating Tampa Bay 5-1 and Detroit 2-0, with Zibanejad, Dorofeyev and Fox driving the offense and only 1 goal allowed. Both clubs' early wins came against short-handed or overmatched opponents, so this is the first real measuring stick for either.

Utah Mammoth
  • Guenther scored twice in the 6-0 opener
  • Vejmelka's 15-save shutout, first home shutout in franchise history
  • Scoring spread across lines, Trocheck and Lee included
  • Second night of a back-to-back after Columbus
  • 6-0 came against Chicago without Bedard and Mangiapane
  • Lamoureux on IR thins the blue line
New York Rangers
  • Zibanejad, Dorofeyev each with goal and assist in both games
  • Fox has 4 assists through 2 games
  • Full day off before Utah, which arrives on a back-to-back
  • Only 2 goals against a Larkin-less Detroit
  • Offense heavily dependent on one trio so far

Utah's opener went about as well as an opener can go. The Mammoth beat Chicago 6-0 at the renovated Delta Center, with 2 goals in the 1st, 3 in the 2nd and 1 in the 3rd. Dylan Guenther scored twice and Karel Vejmelka needed only 15 saves for his 9th career shutout, which was also the first home shutout in franchise history. There's a fair objection, though. Chicago didn't have Connor Bedard or Andrew Mangiapane, so the 6-0 says more about Utah's depth than about how good the Mammoth are against a full lineup.

The Rangers have opened 2-for-2 on the scoresheet and in the standings. They beat Tampa Bay 5-1 at home, and Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves and then scored into the empty net, the first goalie goal in Rangers history. Then they spoiled Detroit's home opener 2-0. The same 3 names drove both games: Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Dorofeyev had a goal and an assist each time, and Adam Fox has 2 assists in both. Through 2 games, New York's top unit is doing the scoring and the defense has allowed 1 goal.

This is a preview written while one club still has a game to play first. Utah visits Columbus on Saturday to open a 5-game Eastern road trip, so the Mammoth will be playing the second half of a back-to-back at MSG. The Rangers last played at Detroit and will have had a full day off. The Columbus result settles whether Utah shows up in New York unbeaten. It also settles which goalie Utah has fresh for Sunday and how many minutes its top players have already logged that weekend. That's also why the board isn't open yet.

Utah Mammoth
(1-0-0)
10/02WvsBlackhawks6-0
New York Rangers
(2-1-0)
10/02W@Red Wings2-0
10/01WvsLightning5-1
09/30L@Bruins0-3

The matchup itself is Utah's depth against New York's top end. The Mammoth didn't rely on one line against Chicago. Our recap credited the established forward pairs plus Vincent Trocheck and Anders Lee with putting the game away before the 2nd intermission. The Rangers so far have been Zibanejad, Dorofeyev and Fox setting up nearly everything that matters, with Eeli Tolvanen and Gabe Perreault adding goals in the Tampa game. If Utah's lines can keep the play out of New York's end, it takes away the Rangers' main source of goals. If they can't, Fox will keep getting the puck at the point with time to make plays.

The injury report is short. Utah has Maveric Lamoureux on injured reserve, which takes a big body off the blue line for a road trip that starts with 2 games in 2 nights. Neither side has a scary absence like the ones Chicago and Detroit played through. That makes Sunday at 6:00 PM ET a better test for both teams than anything either has seen so far. Each has a shutout to its name, and both have been good enough early that it's worth finding out which start holds up.