The Utah Mammoth have yet to score a goal in Tampa, Florida.
Last season, they suffered their worst-ever loss, 8-0, in that building. This year, it wasn’t as dramatic: 2-0, with the game’s first goal not coming until the final three minutes of the second period.
Their loss ends a franchise-best nine-game point streak. It was never going to last forever, and the Mammoth can be proud of their effort in this one, despite the result.
“Obviously, disappointed that we lost, but overall, I think that we were happy with our intention and our desperation in that game,” said Mammoth defenseman Ian Cole after the game. “I think there’s a lot of things that we can take from that that were positive.”
Quick catchup
Tampa Bay Lightning:2
Utah Mammoth: 0
This was an evenly matched game. Per Natural Stat Trick’s data, shots, face-offs and scoring chances were almost exactly even between the two teams, though Utah had significantly more high-danger scoring chances.
The difference was the special teams.
Darren Raddysh opened the scoring with an absolute bomb from the point, and Brandon Hagel scored an insurance marker during the final minute of play. Both goals came on the power play, giving the Lightning a 50% success rate with the man-advantage in the game.
Darren Raddysh has his 14th goal of the season! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/J4XedrQY3N
— NHL (@NHL) January 27, 2026
“Unfortunately, too many timely penalties — not just (that) we got in the box — it’s the timing of when we got in the box, and I think that cost us the game," said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny.
The penalties that led to Raddysh’s goal created a perfect storm for the Lightning (see what I did there?).
Cole, a major contributor to Utah’s penalty kill, took an interference penalty, which his team killed off. At the same time, he took a five-minute fighting major, which kept him out of the game longer, even though it didn’t leave his team short-handed.
After the interference minor had expired but before the fighting major was over, John Marino — another big-time penalty-killing defenseman — took a tripping penalty. This forced several non-penalty killers to fill in, putting the Mammoth in danger against an above-average power play team.
The Mammoth pack up and head even further south for Tuesday’s game against the Florida Panthers, the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup champions. The Panthers are one of four teams the Mammoth have yet to beat in franchise history.
Tidbits and takeaways
Sean Durzi appears injured — again
Poor Sean Durzi. He just can’t catch a break.
Four games into last season, he suffered an upper-body injury that kept him out for 51 games. In the second game of this season, he suffered another UBI, this time missing 12 games. And that may not be the end of it.
In the waning minutes of Monday’s game, Durzi went into the corner with his head down and his back to his opponent. Zemgus Girgensons gave him a moderate, routine bump — one that wouldn’t have caused any damage in a normal situation — but because of Durzi’s compromised position, he went head-first into the boards.
Durzi headed to the locker room and did not return in the final 2:31 of the game. As of the time of writing, there has been no update on his status.
Earlier in the game, a clip of a furious Durzi made the rounds on social media as he screamed at Lightning defenseman Declan Carlile after an altercation. That fire is part of what makes him valuable to the team.
“He has that drive, that passion, that competitiveness,” Tourigny said. “You need that. When push comes to shove, you need that energy.”
A true test
There’s no such thing as an easy win in the NHL, so don’t discount the Mammoth’s nine-game point streak. But most of those games were against non-playoff teams.
This five-game stretch before the Olympics is where the Mammoth will really see what they’re made of. Among their opponents are the defending back-to-back champs, the top team in the Metropolitan Division and the second-best teams in both the Atlantic and Central Divisions (they also get one lighter game with the 32nd-placed Vancouver Canucks).
The gauntlet should serve as a measuring stick for management to determine its trade deadline plans — it’s only 10 Mammoth games away. If they can produce a winning record through this stretch, there’ll be no reason they can’t put up a good fight in the playoffs. If they lose more than they win, there’s less reason to go out and get a rental player.
Utah's point streak ends at 9 games.
— Brogan Houston (@houston_brogan) January 27, 2026
This is their 4th time being shut out this season, and all of them ended either 1-0 or 2-0.
It's during these games that we find out what this team is made of. They didn't give the Lightning much, but they just couldn't beat Andrei…
The sudden appearance of Darren Raddysh
The Lightning still have 31 games to go and Darren Raddysh has already bested his career high in both goals and points — by a lot.
It’s not exactly common for a 29-year-old defenseman to go from a depth role to leading the league’s blue liners in power play goals, but that’s exactly what Raddysh has done.
That’s largely due to major injuries to the Lightning’s back end. Victor Hedman and Ryan McDonagh are among the league’s most accomplished defensemen, but they’ve both spent the bulk of this season rehabbing injuries. Emil Lilleberg and Charle-Edouard D’Astous join them in the press box, having both been struck by the injury bug as well.
As a result, Raddysh’s ice time has increased by an average of five minutes per game from last year to now. Just like Utah’s Kailer Yamamoto, some guys just need the right opportunity. Once they get it, they take off.
Raddysh’s sudden stardom comes at the perfect time for him. He’s due for a new contract this summer, and he’s bound to make exponentially more than his current salary of $975,000.
