Wild stumble in second game back, lose at Mammoth, 5-2

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Feb 28, 2026

Published in Hockey

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The Wild weren’t rusty in their return from the three-week Olympic break … but they were in their second game back.

They lost their touch and fell, 5-2, to the Mammoth at Delta Center on Friday, and it cost the Wild their six-game win streak.

Former Minnesota Gopher Logan Cooley scored for Utah, and Team USA gold medalist Clayton Keller had a goal and two assists in front of a 21-save effort by goalie Karel Vejmelka.

Kirill Kaprizov capitalized on the power play after the Mammoth went up 3-0, the 218th of Kaprizov’s career to move him one back of Marian Gaborik for the Wild goals record, and Matt Boldy netted his sixth goal in his past three games.

Joel Eriksson Ek didn’t finish the game after getting high-sticked in the face, and Quinn Hughes’ assist and point streaks ended at 11.

Jesper Wallstedt had 32 stops in his first start since Jan. 31; Wallstedt did play the final minute of the 5-2 victory at first-place Colorado the previous night because Filip Gustavsson left early after getting sick and throwing up in the crease.

How it happened

The Wild were off from the get-go, getting outshot 15-6 in the first period by Utah.

Their biggest gaffe came on the power play when a giveaway by captain Jared Spurgeon spurred a Mammoth attack the other way, and Cooley pounced on a deflected puck 13 minutes, 23 seconds into the period for a short-handed goal.

The Wild got into more trouble in the second because of Utah’s speed and tenaciousness on pucks.

But their deficit doubled on another self-inflicted mistake: Hughes was pressured off the puck, and Nick Schmaltz set up Keller only 4:26 into the second.

Just 3:23 later, a dominating shift by the Mammoth led to Lawson Crouse lifting in a backhander.

Turning point

Later in the second, Utah had a fourth goal go in when Dylan Guenther buried a give-and-go, but the Wild erased the Mammoth goal after challenging for offside; they are 5 for 5 this season in coach’s challenges, all offside checks.

Then at 14:03, a wide-open Kaprizov redirected in a Boldy pass on the power play, but the Wild whiffed on their next power play despite Vejmelka scrambling.

To make matters worse for the Wild, Eriksson Ek, who took a high stick to the face to put the Wild on the power play, didn’t return for the third period.

Only 1:19 into the third, Barrett Hayton whacked the puck by Wallstedt on the power play after Wallstedt lost his stick. The Mammoth’s power play also finished 1 for 3.

Crouse tallied his second goal of the game with 7:12 to go, and only 1:17 later Boldy one-timed in a Vladimir Tarasenko pass for his team-leading 35th goal after he was denied by Vejmelka’s skate during a short-handed breakaway earlier in the period.

Key stat

This has been a tough matchup for the Wild, who are 1-5 against Utah since the former Arizona Coyotes moved to Salt Lake City.

What it means

Two games in two nights on the road after a long layoff is understandably challenging, but it was how the Wild struggled that was jarring.

They were blitzed by the Mammoth’s speed and quick transitions, and the Wild were getting in mismatches along the boards. That led to extended zone time for Utah, and the Mammoth took advantage.

Up next

The Wild are back home on Sunday, March 1, to take on another Central Division rival in the Blues.