- 1 Utah Mammoth vs Tampa Bay Lightning: the NHL’s best power play meets a team on no rest
- 2 Utah Mammoth: 15 power-play goals and a penalty kill ranked 29th
- 3 Tampa Bay Lightning: a 12.9% power play on the second night of a back-to-back
- 4 Free NHL Prediction: Utah Mammoth vs Tampa Bay Lightning
- 5 About our free predictions
- 6 No commitment from us
- 7 Information changes
- 8 Your responsibility
- 9 Responsible gambling
- 10 Legal age
- 11 About visuals
Utah Mammoth vs Tampa Bay Lightning: the NHL’s best power play meets a team on no rest 
Colorado beat Tampa Bay 6-3 at Ball Arena on Friday night, ending the Lightning’s three-game winning streak. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 18 of 23 shots, Jake Guentzel scored both of Tampa’s second-period goals, while Mackenzie Blackwood made 31 saves on 34 shots at the other end. Then the team boarded a flight to Salt Lake City for a second game in two nights.
That schedule shapes Saturday’s game at Delta Center. Utah lost 5-3 in Seattle on Thursday but had Friday off, so the Mammoth come in fresher, at home, and against an opponent whose starting goalie has just played 60 minutes at altitude.
Tampa Bay was 7-2 before Friday and had beaten Vegas 6-2 on the road earlier in the week. The Lightning’s defensive numbers going into Denver were among the league’s best: 2.56 goals allowed per game, sixth, and 24.2 shots allowed, fourth.
Utah is 7-4-0 and sits on top of the Central Division with 14 points. The Mammoth won four of the five games before Seattle, including 5-4 wins over Pittsburgh and Toronto and a 4-1 win over Buffalo, and they also won in Edmonton earlier this month.
Puck drop is 9pm ET on Saturday 24 October. The last meeting finished 2-0 to Tampa Bay on January 26, 2026, and the market has Utah at 1.77 with the Lightning at 2.10.
Utah Mammoth: 15 power-play goals and a penalty kill ranked 29th 
Utah’s power play converts 38.5% of its chances, the best rate in the NHL, and its 15 power-play goals also lead the league. Two more came in Seattle, from Vincent Trocheck in the first period and Logan Cooley early in the third.
Cooley scored twice in the opening eight minutes of that third period to tie the game 3-3, and Mikhail Sergachev added two assists. Utah outshot Seattle 36-23 and still lost, because the Kraken scored on two of their own power plays, one of them a five-on-three.
Utah’s penalty kill stops only 66.7% of opposition chances, tied for 29th in the league, and the Mammoth take 10.6 penalty minutes a game, 23rd. Every trip to the box costs them more than it costs most teams.
Away from special teams, Utah generates 30.6 shots per game, third in the NHL, allows only 22.6, also third, and wins 53.4% of its faceoffs. All of that adds up to 3.73 goals per game, seventh in the league. Head coach Andre Tourigny said after Thursday’s loss that his team forced plays and was at its best when it played with pace.
Karel Vejmelka is the weak link in the numbers, with a 3.04 goals-against average and an .872 save percentage, 46th in the league. He made 18 saves on 22 shots in Seattle, and Utah is monitoring John Marino while Michael Carcone and Maveric Lamoureux are out.
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Tampa Bay Lightning: a 12.9% power play on the second night of a back-to-back 
Tampa Bay’s power play went into Friday converting 12.9% of its chances, 28th in the NHL. Against a Utah penalty kill near the bottom of the league, that’s the matchup the Lightning most need to win, and it’s been their weakest area all season.
The rest of Tampa’s game has held up. The Lightning scored 3.44 goals per game before Denver, 10th in the league, on 29.8 shots a night, eighth. Guentzel’s two goals on Friday gave the attack something to build on, and Charle-Edouard D’Astous added the third late in the game.
Nikita Kucherov was held in check in Denver. He sits on 1,137 career points, level with Steven Stamkos and one short of the franchise record, and that milestone could fall in Salt Lake City.
Vasilevskiy played Friday, so Dennis Hildeby is the likelier starter on Saturday, and his numbers are good in a small sample: 2-0-0, a 2.02 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.
Yanni Gourde remains on injured reserve with a hip problem. Anthony Cirelli had been a doubt before Friday but played in Denver, where he had an early backhand chance stopped by Blackwood.
Probable lineup Utah Mammoth: Karel Vejmelka in goal (not confirmed); Cooley, Trocheck up front; Sergachev on defense. Carcone, Lamoureux out; Marino doubtful. Full lineup not announced at time of publication.
Probable lineup Tampa Bay Lightning: Dennis Hildeby in goal (not confirmed); Kucherov, Guentzel, Cirelli up front. Gourde out. Full lineup not announced at time of publication.
Free NHL Prediction: Utah Mammoth vs Tampa Bay Lightning
Our prediction: Utah Mammoth to win (1.77)
I’d back Utah on the moneyline. The Mammoth had Friday off, they’re 3-1-0 at home, and they lead the league on the power play against a Tampa team playing its second game in two nights, most likely with its backup in goal.
Utah’s penalty kill is a real liability, and on another night Tampa Bay would punish it. But the Lightning’s own power play ranks 28th, which takes away much of the advantage they’d normally have in this matchup, and Utah’s shot share of 30.6 for and 22.6 against points to a team that controls play at even strength.
Vejmelka’s .872 is the concern I can’t dismiss. Even so, Utah went 4-1 in the five games before Seattle, the schedule, the special teams and home ice all point the same way, and 1.77 is a fair price for the home team.
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