EDMONTON, Alberta — All 32 teams were in action Tuesday for the NHL’s “Frozen Frenzy” event, and the league’s two longest win streaks did not survive the night.
First, the New Jersey Devils’ NHL-best eight-game win streak came to an end with an 8-4 loss to the Colorado Avalanche, followed by the Utah Mammoth taking their first loss in over two weeks with a 6-3 loss in Edmonton to snap a Western Conference-leading seven-game win streak.
“We were not expecting to win the rest of the way and we know adversity will happen,” head coach Andre Tourigny said. “It’s part of the growth. I’m extremely confident in our group, in the maturity of our group and I like the fight in our game.”
The Avalanche’s win puts Colorado and Utah in a tie at the top of the Western Conference and Central Division with 16 points each.
Tuesday’s game against the Oilers seemed to be going in the same direction as the previous three on Utah’s road trip early on, with the forward line of Logan Cooley, JJ Peterka and Dylan Guenther combining for a 2-0 Mammoth lead after the first period.
Cooley’s goal to open the game was his eighth of the season — tied for the second-most in the NHL — and sixth of the Mammoth’s four-game road trip that ended in Edmonton, all of which came in the first period.
Last year’s Stanley Cup runner-up Oilers came back with a vengeance, though, outscoring Utah 5-1 in the second period with goals from five different players. It was the first time the Mammoth conceded five goals in a game this season and gave Edmonton superstar Connor McDavid his second goal of the season.
McDavid got the lone goal of the third period, as well, scoring an empty-netter in the final three minutes as Utah pulled its goaltender to try and mount a comeback.
Utah forward Barrett Hayton played in his 300th NHL game on Tuesday and scored the only Utah goal in the second period for his second of the season and Nick Schmaltz’s 10th assist of the season, now tied for the fourth-most in the NHL with Las Vegas’ Mitch Marner.
“I thought we did a great job in the first period, kind of sticking with our game plan and playing with a lot of pace,” Hayton said. “It’s just frustrating, kind of veering away from that in the second two periods.”
Hayton said he’s grateful to get a bit of a break now after playing every other day with one back-to-back over the last three weeks.
The Mammoth return to Utah for just one more game this week on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Lightning, before heading back on the road for a back-to-back in Buffalo and Toronto on Nov. 4 and 5.
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