Utah lost 6-1 in Boston on Thursday, and the score says more about Boston's finishing than about how the game was played. The Mammoth had 37 shots on goal to the Bruins' 22, and 19 of them came from inside 25 feet against eight for Boston. Even strength was a 3-1 loss in a game Utah controlled by volume. The other three goals came on the power play, and those trace to three Utah minors in the first 28 minutes.
The even-strength game was Utah's
Boston did win five-on-five 3-1, so this wasn't only a special-teams result. But Utah had 60 attempts to 30 at five-on-five, and 14 shots on goal from inside 25 feet to eight. Score effects don't explain that. Through Mason Lohrei's goal at P1 15:51, which made it 3-0, Utah still led five-on-five attempts 20-10, and before the first goal at P1 10:06 all-strength attempts were 11-5. Tourigny said "we had a good start," and the feed backs him up. Boston's first goal came after Elias Lindholm forced a Utah turnover near the blue line, according to the Bruins' site.
Brogan Houston of Deseret News pointed to the shot gap, and he's right that it looks odd next to the score. We'd add one caution about the 80 attempts: 23 were blocked (Utah blocked six of Boston's) and 20 more missed the net. Only 37 reached Jeremy Swayman, and he stopped 36, including 17 in the first period. Swayman explained Boston's penalty kill this way: "the guys just did an excellent job of being a unit of four and outworking their five." The same blocking showed up at even strength, which makes Utah's volume worth less than it looks.
Then there's finishing. Boston scored on six of 22 shots (27.3 percent) and Utah on one of 37 (2.7 percent). By the NHL's coordinates, Boston's six goals came from roughly 26 to 41 feet, and its eight shots from inside 25 feet were all saved, four by Sebastian Cossa and four by Karel Vejmelka. That doesn't settle the goaltending argument. Distance doesn't show a cross-ice pass or a screen, and Tourigny pointed to both: "There's a tip, there's a screen, there's stuff happened." One fan on r/Utah_Hockey wrote, "The D left Veggie out to dry on the other 3." Deseret News described all three Vejmelka goals as one-timers from the left circle with nobody covering the open man. That fits Pastrnak's second goal, a one-timer off a Morgan Geekie cross-ice pass per NHL.com, but the same story has Matthew Poitras scoring on a 2-on-1 rush. The breakdowns came in more than one form.
Three penalties, three goals
Lawson Crouse took an interference penalty at P1 14:16, and David Pastrnak scored on the power play six seconds later, off an offensive-zone faceoff win. Vincent Trocheck's high-sticking at P2 3:29 led to Pastrnak's second at 4:40. Michael Carcone's hooking at P2 7:21 led to Geekie's goal at 7:57. Boston came in 0-for-10 on the power play and went 3-for-4, scoring on all three of its power-play shots on goal. Utah's penalty kill, ranked third coming in according to Deseret News, went 1-for-4.
The turning point lasted 95 seconds. Through P1 14:15 Utah led all-strength attempts 21-7 and shots on goal 11-4, a count that includes Casey Mittelstadt's goal. From Crouse's penalty to Lohrei's goal, Boston scored twice, and a 1-0 game with Utah pushing turned into a 3-0 game that ended Cossa's night.
Some fans in the game thread blamed the officials ("soooo many soft calls from the zebras tonight"). Boston took seven minors to Utah's four, so Utah had more power plays than it gave, and we won't hang this on the whistle. Interference, high-sticking, and hooking are what a team takes when it's a step late. Utah took three of them in a stretch when it was otherwise the better team.
The power play: bad luck after a quiet first chance
The Hockey Writers said the Mammoth "never had the pressure and passing they did on Tuesday." Half of that holds. On the first power play, at 0-0 in the first period, Utah had two shots on goal, which was the one chance that could have changed the game. The other six came with Utah already down four or more, and they produced 18 of Utah's 20 power-play attempts and nine of its 11 shots on goal. Swayman saved all 11, and a unit that came in 8-for-13 is now 8-for-20. We'd call that a quiet first chance and a very good goalie, not a power play that fell apart.
Tired legs, probably not
The team's own game story noted this was Utah's fifth game in eight nights. Tourigny didn't raise it, and the numbers don't call for it. Utah's attempts by period were 29, 25, and 26, with no fade, and it won 37 of 69 faceoffs. We can't see shift data, so tired legs behind the three penalties is possible, but we can't show it.
What it changes
Not much in the standings, where a five-goal loss counts the same as a one-goal loss and the Mammoth are 3-2. The thing to track is discipline: a penalty kill ranked third gave up three goals in four tries. Cossa's night is the other question. Tourigny called it "a team effort," and Keller said, "We hung Cossa out there to dry a little bit." The feed leans Keller's way, since Cossa stopped all four shots he saw from inside 25 feet and the three that beat him came from 26 feet or farther. A screen and a turnover are still things distance can't show.
Utah plays in Buffalo on Saturday, and the shot map says the process held up. Who goes to the box is the thing to watch.
Tusks up.
Sources: NHL.com game story (Utah Mammoth), NHL.com recap, Bruins.com (NHL.com) game story, NHL.com box score and play-by-play data (shot locations, periods, and strength splits are our analysis of the NHL's coordinates, so treat distances as approximate), Deseret News, The Hockey Writers, The Boston Globe, AP via Boston.com, r/Utah_Hockey postgame thread.