The New York Islanders sat at second in the Metropolitan Division after picking up speed towards the end of 2025. The team would look to build a win streak to start the year against the Utah Mammoth, who sat at fifth in the Central Division and were looking to fight their way back into a playoff spot.
David Rittich would once again earn the starting position in net for the Islanders with Ilya Sorokin still injured. Rittich has started the last five games, earning a .944 save percentage and a stunning 1.56 goals against average over those games.
After a slow start to the period, Ryan Pulock woke up the New Year’s Day crowd with a strong shot on Utah’s goaltender, Karel Vejmelka. The netminder kept the puck out, but the Islanders gained some momentum, earning quite a few shots and shot attempts through the first five minutes of play. After a flurry of shots from the Islanders, the Mammoth seemed to want to slow the game down, taking their time to rest in their zone before attempting to break out.
Utah struggled to get through the neutral zone and failed to register a shot on net until 14 minutes into the matchup. Before they could get a shot on Rittich though, Jack McBain was sent to the box for a two-minute interference penalty on Marshall Warren. The Islanders’ 28th ranked power play unit looked disjointed against the Mammoth’s 8th ranked penalty kill unit and failed to convert on the man-advantage. Shortly after, Adam Pelech earned a cross-checking penalty with 6:10 remaining.
The Utah power play didn’t look much better than the Islanders’ attempt. After the expiration of the penalty, a shot from Nate Schmidt hit Alex Kerfoot’s high stick, negating the Utah goal in real time. With the game still scoreless, the Islanders attempted to rush out of their zone, but a fumble in the neutral zone allowed Utah to regain control of play. The Mammoth kept their foot on the gas to end the period but just couldn’t get a strong enough set up to get the puck in the net.
The Islanders needed to hit the reset button in between the first and second. Unfortunately, the Mammoth were able to keep their momentum from the end of the first: Dylan Guenther forced his way through the Islanders’ zone and sniped the puck to the top corner behind Rittich.
The Utah bench obviously had some fire to start the second, continuing to pepper Rittich with shots. That was, until Max Shabanov gained possession of the puck in his own zone and skated up the length of the boards. Cal Ritchie found the puck off a pass from Shabanov and then found the back of the net to tie the game at one goal a piece.
Moments later, an offensive zone penalty against Utah gave the Islanders a six-on-five chance before the whistle blew. Clayton Keller got his stick in Matthew Schaefer’s skate, sending him to the ice. The Islanders once again failed to convert on the advantage.
The game slowed for a bit after the goals. In a weird play off the boards, a back pass from Lawson Crouse sent the puck directly to Guenther, who one-timed it over Rittich.
Schaefer took a two-minute tripping penalty on Michael Carcone, but the Mammoth couldn’t get their two-goal lead. Nick Schmaltz, however, grabbed the puck off an errant Islanders’ pass and skated up to Rittich, scoring the Mammoth’s third goal of the day.
Kerfoot got his stickup high on Ritchie in the neutral zone and ended up sitting for four minutes. The Islanders managed a few chances at the end of the second, but would start the third with just under 1:30 of power play time.
Bo Horvat won the draw to start the third with the man advantage. New York struggled on the power play, earning a chorus of boos from the crowd. And with nine seconds remaining in the power play, the crowd would boo some more when captain Anders Lee was sent off for hooking. Mikhail Sergachev found a shot from the point at the end of the advantage, giving Utah a three-goal lead.
At 5:02, Mat Barzal went to the box to serve the team’s two-minute too many men bench minor. A shot from Rittich’s right drew him out of the net, allowing Clayton Keller to push the puck into an empty net. After giving up five goals on 14 shots, Rittich went to the bench, with Marcus Hogberg taking his place in the crease.
Horvat left the ice in the middle of the third with what appeared to be a lower body injury. Patrick Roy stated that the forward would be assessed on Friday or Saturday.
Barzal looked for a nifty goal in front on a delayed power play. Shabanov’s shot went off the post, with Utah still neglecting to touch up. With 9:19 remaining, Ian Cole finally went to the box for interference. While confidently quarterbacking the power play unit, Schaefer snapped the puck straight to the back of the net, cutting the Mammoth’s lead to three with 8:12 remaining.
With 6:06 remaining, Guenther earned himself a hat trick, leaving the score 6-2. Schmaltz found a seventh goal for the Mammoth with 3:05 remaining. To make matters worse, Maxim Tsyplakov took a late penalty for tripping.
Roy claimed that the game was lost in the “details” on Thursday and that certain mistakes cost them the game. He also stated that Rittich was not to blame for the loss and credited Utah with having good shots and looks on net.
The New York Islanders will look to bounce back on Saturday, January 3 against the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7 p.m.
