Dylan Guenther scored two power-play goals, and the Utah Mammoth capitalized on special teams to shut out the Chicago Blackhawks 6-0 at Delta Center on Thursday.
Utah grabbed control late in the first period with two goals in a 40-second span. Guenther opened the scoring on a power play at 16:41 with a snap shot set up by Logan Cooley and Clayton Keller. Michael Carcone followed quickly at 17:21, beating Chicago goaltender Arvid Soderblom with a wrist shot off a feed from Kevin Stenlund to stretch the margin to 2-0.
The Mammoth broke the game open with three additional goals in the second period. Nick Schmaltz registered his first goal of the season at 9:47 with a snap shot assisted by Vincent Trocheck and Mikhail Sergachev. Anders Lee then tipped in a pass from Andrew Peeke and Dmitri Simashev at 13:06. Guenther struck again on the man advantage at 15:28, deflecting a feed from Keller and Lawson Crouse to make it 5-0. Daniil But capped the scoring at 12:50 of the third period with a tip-in goal set up by Carcone and Nate Schmidt.
Karel Vejmelka stopped all 15 shots he faced to earn the shutout for Utah, while Soderblom made 26 saves on 32 shots in the loss. Utah converted 2 of 3 opportunities on the power play and killed off all three Chicago power-play chances. The Mammoth also held a heavy advantage in the faceoff circle, winning 39 of 54 draws (72.2 percent).
With the win, Utah started its regular season with a 1-0-0 record. The Blackhawks dropped to 0-2-0 and remain winless through their first two games of the season.
The Mammoth will host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Monday, October 19. Chicago returns to action on Friday, October 23, when they host the Montreal Canadiens.
