HOCKEY: Mammoth ascending, while rival Avs try to hold down top spot

The NHL season resumes with an exciting Central Division clash as the Colorado Avalanche visit the Utah Mammoth on Wednesday in Salt Lake City.

This will be the fourth and final regular-season meeting between the two teams. The Avalanche won both previous matchups in Colorado, while the Mammoth claimed a 4-3 victory at home the last time Nathan MacKinnon and company visited.

Players who participated in the 2026 Winter Olympics are expected to be active for Wednesday’s game. Avalanche forward Brock Nelson and Mammoth captain Clayton Keller, both members of Team USA’s gold medal-winning squad, are slated to play.

Utah hopes to regain the dominant form it showed before the Olympic break. The Mammoth entered the mid-February hiatus on a two-game winning streak, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 6-2 and the Detroit Red Wings 4-1. Keller tallied four points (one goal, three assists) over those games, while Nick Schmaltz recorded six points (four goals, two assists), including a hat trick against Vancouver.

The Mammoth were 8-1-1 over their last 10 home games following the win against Detroit, with goaltender Karel Vejmelka making 29 saves for his NHL-leading 27th win of the season.

“It was a huge win for us,” Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny said after the Red Wings game. “I think everybody contributed. Our fourth line was key. Every time they were on the ice, they got on the forecheck, got the puck deep, and gave us energy.”

Meanwhile, the Avalanche aim to maintain their lead atop the Western Conference. Colorado holds a five-point advantage but has gone 4-5-1 over their last 10 games.

The Avs did secure a win before the break, a 4-2 victory over the San Jose Sharks. San Jose rallied in the third period to tie the game, but Josh Manson scored the go-ahead goal with 7:16 remaining in regulation. MacKinnon contributed two assists, marking the 700th and 701st of his NHL career. He is now the 63rd player in league history to reach 700 assists and the second in Nordiques/Avalanche history.

At Tuesday’s practice, Avalanche head coach Jared Bednar said he will not “load-manage” any returning Olympians.

“The five in seven nights is probably the toughest part of this,” Bednar said of Colorado’s schedule. “But if we’re fighting for first place, they need to play. Our guys are going to have to play. Otherwise, we’ll be chasing first place instead of being in it.”

Colorado also made a trade Tuesday, sending defenseman Samuel Girard and a 2028 second-round draft pick to the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for defenseman Brett Kulak. Kulak has one goal and eight assists in 56 games this season, split between Edmonton and Pittsburgh.

-Field Level Media/Reuters