The Utah Mammoth have had a strong season so far. The Mammoth are still 6-3-0 and still lead the Central Division.
But Utah has also shown a major weakness in their losses so far this season:
The Mammoth have been dominated in the first period in losses
The Mammoth losses have been a 4-2 loss at the New York Rangers, a 6-1 loss at the Boston Bruins, and a 6-2 loss vs. the Edmonton Oilers.
In those losses, the Mammoth have been outscored 7-0 in the first period and 5-1 in the second period. In the last two losses, against the Bruins and Oilers, the Mammoth entered the first intermission down 3-0.
When the first period ends and you're down 3-0, it obviously feels like winning the game is out of reach. Utah has had strong games and weak ones, but it needs to find a way to avoid coming out this slow in the future.
A team would much rather lose by a goal in overtime than by four, five, or even six goals in regulation. The Mammoth face the Pittsburgh Penguins next at home on Monday night. Utah needs to show more capability of not getting pummeled quickly.
If Utah continues to get destroyed that quickly, then a lot of games will slip out of its hands.
Every team has weaknesses, but this one can be fixed by simply playing cleaner hockey in the first period. Penalties, lack of defensive effort, and other issues have hurt Utah at times. Cleaning this up will be huge going forward.
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