Last night's big overtime victory against the Colorado Avalanche brought the Utah Mammoth to 10 points on the season and a 4-game winning streak. It also marked the end of a perfect homestand at Delta Center before heading on the road to St. Louis. Unfortunately, center Jack McBain left the game in the second period with what appeared to be a head injury. Naturally, the NHL announced this as an upper body injury.
The injury list is starting to grow for Utah, and their depth will be tested earlier than expected. Every team goes through the injury bug, but the Mammoth are at the start of a busy week of games as they head on a road trip for the rest of October.
Jack McBain
Jack McBain had a neutral zone collision last night and went straight to the dressing room for evaluation in the second period. McBain did not return to the game and no official announcement has been released on his status.
The upper body injury appeared to be an injury to McBain's head, which will required protocols before returning to practice or heading on an airplane to St. Louis.
I would expect McBain to meet with the team in Minnesota on Saturday to face the Wild.
Sean Durzi
Sean Durzi has had a rough string of injuries the last two seasons in Salt Lake City. Last season, an upper-body injury limited the defender to just 30 games played after being a main part of the blue line for this team in Arizona with 41 points.
The Ontario native was injured on October 11th in Nashville during overtime after a collision that appeared to have injured his shoulder. The injury last year required surgery, but that seems to have been avoided this time.
Currently, Durzi is slated to miss up to 4 weeks, which is a hit to this Utah defensive core. The defense has struggled to cleanly move the puck out of the defensive zone. Too many offensive chances have developed for the opposition due to these errors.
Alexander Kerfoot
During training camp in September, Utah announced that Kerfoot is week-to-week with a lower-body injury. Although the injury was not specified, it must be serious in nature as the team does not expect him back any time soon.
The Tucson Roadrunners, the Mammoth's AHL affiliate, have started the season off with a 2-1-1 record. Bill Armstrong may have to look at that roster for assistance in the coming weeks.