The Mammoth snuff out the Canucks

Utah's defensemen light the way past Vancouver

Two rinks, one flame

Qualification night set the Utah Mammoth and the Vancouver Canucks on the same Western shelf but never on the same ice. Each team played its own game, and the one that scored more went through. The Canucks came in after finishing 32nd of 32 last season, and a year ago their flame went dark on qualification night against the Edmonton Oilers. Losing here meant another early cold start.

Utah's blue line fires

In Salt Lake City, the Mammoth hosted the Toronto Maple Leafs. Daniil But snapped in the opener at 14:55 of the first, and Vincent Trocheck wristed in another at 1:00 of the second. At 4:01, Mikhail Sergachev, a defenseman, made it three. Utah's goalie was off only because a penalty on Toronto was being signalled. Auston Matthews answered with a power-play backhand. Then Dylan Guenther snapped in a fourth off a Sergachev feed, and MacKenzie Weegar, another defenseman, added a fifth at 19:20. John Tavares and Gavin McKenna pulled Toronto within one in the third, but Karel Vejmelka made 22 saves and Utah held on.

Vancouver runs dry

In Elmont, the Canucks trailed the New York Islanders after Kyle Palmieri's tip-in and a Matias Maccelli goal 0:53 later. Max Sasson cut the lead in half, and Brock Boeser tied it on the power play at 18:55 of the second. Leevi Meriläinen made 35 saves. Two goals were never going to catch five, though. Palmieri's wrist shot at 5:38 of the third won the Islanders' game, and Vancouver's candle went cold. Twenty-two flames still burn, and Utah's is one of them.