Utah is coming home off the road. The Mammoth played their last 5 away from Salt Lake City, at Columbus, the Rangers, New Jersey, Boston and Buffalo, and came out 3-2. That includes a 6-1 beating in Boston, followed 2 nights later by a 4-1 win in Buffalo that ended the trip on the right note. They beat Buffalo by scoring the last 3 goals after a 1-1 1st period, which looks a lot like what Toronto did to Colorado.
Nick Schmaltz is the story in Utah so far. His goal in Buffalo was his 6th in 6 games, and 4 of those came on the power play. The Utah power play as a whole went into Tuesday leading the NHL at 10-for-25. Utah has been scoring from the dots more than anything else, so the Leafs need to stay out of the box. That's a real test for a team that gave up 4 to Nashville and blew a 3-goal lead to Vegas in the same week.
Utah does have one hole up front. Michael Carcone is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury, and Kailer Yamamoto made his season debut in his place in Buffalo and went 1 goal and 1 assist. Maveric Lamoureux is still on IR on the blue line. Karel Vejmelka made 23 saves in Buffalo, and John Marino, Anders Lee and Barrett Hayton all put up points as the Mammoth spread the scoring around.
Puck drop is 7:00 PM MT on Tuesday, October 13 at Delta Center. Both teams get 2 days off after Saturday's games, so neither has a schedule excuse. What makes this one interesting: Toronto's top-end skill against Utah's power play, and a Leafs team still finding out whether the Denver win was a turning point or a one-off.