Blood, Sweat, and a Whole Lot of Penalties: A Heated Rivalry Ignites as Wild Beat Mammoth

If there were a theme to Tuesday’s game, it would be a tweak on the old saying. Blood, sweat, and a whole lot of penalties. Between the Utah Mammoth and the Minnesota Wild, there were 17 penalties, three fights, and four goals. There were certainly quite a few fireworks shot off during the first matchup of the two best teams currently in the Central Division. If it’s a preview of what we could see in the next three games between these two this season, sign me up for a Mammoth-Wild playoff series.There was a feeling that this one would be physical. When head coach André Tourigny announced that Liam O’Brien would be coming into the lineup in place of Daniil But, you knew the Mammoth were expecting a fight or two to happen.That’s exactly what went down. O’Brien fought Michael McCarron in the first period, a tilt in which the forward got some pretty good punches in, knocking off McCarron’s helmet. However, O’Brien didn’t play much after that, only getting 7:08 of ice time. “He was put in an extremely tough situation,” Tourigny said. “At the beginning of the game, we needed a little bit of spark. We didn't have the momentum early. He had a good fight. He did what he had to do. But then, he was a victim of the circumstances. He didn't play for a full period. To my knowledge, I think it's the first time it happened to me behind the bench.”O'Brien and McCarron with a long scrap 🥊🥊🥊 pic.twitter.com/bR262KdB9w— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 28, 2026That was due to what O’Brien’s fight snowballed into. At that point, there were only four penalties in the game. Mikhail Sergachev helped contribute two more. He fought Matt Boldy for his first fight since February 2023.AND NOW SERGACHEV AND BOLDY DROP THEM 🤯🥊CHAOS IN UTAH 😳 pic.twitter.com/bhxHVswKrP— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 28, 2026The Mammoth weren’t done fighting after that either. Vincent Trocheck and Danila Yurov dropped the gloves late in the third period after Yurov made a slash to Trocheck’s skates that looked like it was sold a little bit too much. That was the forward’s first fight since December 2024.Three fights. One game. That’s something that doesn’t happen a lot anymore. Yet it was something Tourigny liked, especially in a game like this.“I like that a ton,” Tourigny said. “I think it showed our pride. Minny is a physical team where there's a level of physicality and frustration when you play against them. When I say frustration, I should say it's emotional. You're into it. You're competing hard. There's a little bit of bad blood at the time.”Between the Sergachev fight and the Trocheck fight, there were a combined eight penalties. It was a very physical game, and one that had its bad calls, but also some calls the Mammoth have to avoid.One of those calls that could’ve been avoided was made by the captain, Clayton Keller. After a soft tripping call, the forward yelled at the refs and gave them an earful. It resulted in an abuse of officials penalty, which resulted in a double minor. Kirill Kaprizov eventually scored on one of those penalties to keep his goal-per-game pace and put the Wild up 2-0.“I gotta lay off the refs,” Keller said. “It's a game, and you care about it, and it's high emotion. We'll learn from it. It's sometimes good to get your spirit up, get the competitiveness going. At least for me, I feel that way sometimes. Everyone's different. We'll learn from it.”Tourigny backed his captain postgame as well, while adding that he would like for the Mammoth to learn to control their emotions better.“Surely I want him to control his emotions, and I don't want that penalty,” Tourigny said. “If you look at all the circumstances, it led to that. We were all frustrated. I was standing up on the bench. There was a level of frustration.”If you look at the special teams for the Mammoth, it could’ve been better. The penalty kill went five-for-seven, which is solid. The power play, on the other hand, didn’t score on their four opportunities.While one of those opportunities wasn’t that long due to a conflicting penalty, it is something the Mammoth could’ve done better to make this game closer. “We had a lot of good looks,” Logan Cooley said. “The first power play was 15 seconds. It counts on the stat sheet, but it wasn't really a power play. I think Schmaltz put one through his arm and somehow went out the other way. I think the looks were there. Just sometimes you run into a hot goalie, and we were off a little bit on the entry with some speed stuff. Overall, we still had a few good looks there to bury.”Cooley did score a goal late in the third period with the goalie pulled, but it was too late. The Mammoth couldn’t get another one, and 3-1 ended up being the final score.Cooley gets it over the goal line. pic.twitter.com/mZ0lPVE5av— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 28, 2026Lost amidst everything was Olli Määttä’s first trip back to the Delta Center. He last played in Utah with the Mammoth in March before being traded to the Calgary Flames in the MacKenzie Weegar deal and then being traded again in the summer to the Wild. He’s received a very loud reaction from the Mammoth crowd and ended up playing the third most minutes for the team, only behind Quinn Hughes and Kaprizov.The Mammoth officially welcome back Olli Määttä. Pretty warm reception from the crowd. #TusksUppic.twitter.com/iVcSZva8AZ— Chase Beardsley (@ChaseBeardsley_) October 28, 2026If there’s one positive thing to take away from this one, the rivalry between the Mammoth and the Wild has grown since the inaugural season when the Mammoth were putting up six goals a game against them.This is exactly what you want to see if you’re a Mammoth or a Wild fan. Outside of the Vegas Golden Knights and a budding relationship with the Colorado Avalanche, the Mammoth don’t really have a rivalry with anyone. If they can continue the type of play with each other that happened on Tuesday, every game between these two will be must-watch TV.“If you look at the standings, we're right there, neck and neck,” Cooley said. “They’re in our division, a tough team to play against, always in the playoffs. For us, it's a good measuring stick to compare against them. They're always in the playoffs, got unbelievable players, always in the top of the league. Anytime we play them, we're definitely up for it.”Call it a heated rivalry or whatever you want. This is the reason why the NHL expanded to 84 games. To make sure these divisional matchups get four meetings instead of three. Continue getting games like this, and it could be the best NHL schedule change ever.YUROV AND TROCHECK DROPPED THE GLOVES AFTER A HIT AND THEN CROSSCHECK 🥊🥊🥊THIS GAME HAS HAD IT ALL 😱 pic.twitter.com/pU5oqFZy0Z— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 28, 2026Speaking of schedule, the Mammoth have a tough one upcoming. They fly back to the East Coast to play five games before having a three-day break and then playing what will be an emotional game in Vegas. Heading off on a sour note like this is tough. That is especially factoring in the Mammoth didn’t play awful and were generally kept in check by Jesper Wallstedt, who made 26 saves.However, while the road might seem like a daunting thing, Keller believes his team will bounce back from this game and really make a statement on the road, especially with the bonding experiences they’ll get to have.“We're a great team,” Keller said. “We're still really confident. We believe in one another. I think the road's going to be good. All the boys love the road trips. Lots of dinners with the guys, playing cards.”The Mammoth will certainly get the chance to prove what Keller stated. Their next home game is on Nov. 12 against the St. Louis Blues. In that span of two weeks, the Mammoth will play six games. Five of those are against teams that made the playoffs last season. Four of those are against teams that are currently in playoff spots.It’s a good test, and it could ultimately result in the Mammoth either keeping a spot at the top of the division right alongside the Wild or dropping. While there are still over 70 games left, every point matters. The Mammoth have been on the right and wrong side of that. A lot is at stake to end October and kick off November.The Mammoth will play the Pittsburgh Penguins next on Thursday. The Penguins are 5-6-1 and are coming off a 3-2 overtime win over the Nashville Predators. These two teams last met a week ago when the Mammoth won 5-4 at the Delta Center.