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The Colorado Avalanche continue their Central Division stretch of games with a matchup at home against the Utah Mammoth. This will be their third time facing the newly named and relocated franchise; a single goal has decided both of the first two. This one was similar, Utah keeping the Avs within one for most of this game, but ultimately, the Avs finish this one on top and head into the Christmas break with a 1-0 win over the Mammoth.
Not just that… They also head into the break as the first team in the NHL to reach the 60-point benchmark, finishing tonight with 61 points on the season.
The first period yielded no goals, but the Avs made it a fairly exciting affair with a power play opportunity and a few shorthanded chances toward the end of the period.
The second period, though, Samuel Girard finally gets things going. He earns himself a takeaway just above Utah’s blue line and uses some nifty stick work to backhand it behind Vitek Vanacek to find Colorado‘s first goal of the night.
It almost looked like the Mammoth were going to begin their climb back late in the period, but Scott Wedgewood put up a save-of-the-night submission with a stretch save to keep Clayton Keller’s rebound out of the net. Avs end the period up 1-0.
The third period was also a quiet one. Both goaltenders were steady for the entire 60 minutes. Colorado doesn’t capitalize on Utah’s empty net with just a few minutes remaining, and this hockey game will end at 1-0.
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Scott Wedgewood earns his second shutout of the season.
Six points in six games for Sammy G
An assist against the Florida Panthers on 12/11.
Two assists against the Nashville Predators on 12/13.
A goal against the Seattle Kraken (his first of the season) on 12/16.
An assist against the Minnesota Wild on 12/21.
And now, he’s netted his second of the 2025/26 season against the Utah Mammoth here tonight.
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Girard missed about a month of time at the beginning of the season (upper-body injury), having played in the first two games of the season before going down. He returned on November 13th, and it took him over a month to finally get his first goal of the season.
Special teams check-in
This matchup is an interesting one, mainly because, as far as special teams go, these two teams were in very similar spots heading into tonight.
Power play
- Avs: 26th, 16.4%
- Mammoth: 28th, 15.5%
Penalty kill
- Avs: T-1st (Buffalo Sabres), 85.0%
- Mammoth: 7th, 82.6%
When talking with Brogan Houston of Deseret News this morning, he was quick to give credit to Utah’s power play, especially the second unit, as of late. They’ve been the better unit of the two, but neither was successful against the Avs’ top-of-the-league penalty kill.
Unfortunately for the Avs, Utah’s penalty kill also went a perfect 2/2 on the night.
Avs postgame pod
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