Mammoth survive Maple Leafs' late rally: how Utah built a 5–4 win

The Utah Mammoth beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5–4 at Delta Center on 13 October 2026. Utah's four-goal second period turned a 1–0 lead into a 5–2 cushion. Toronto scored twice in the third and had a late two-man advantage, but the Mammoth protected the final one-goal margin. The NHL game summary confirms the scoring sequence, shots and special-teams numbers; the match page carries the final result.

The second period did the damage

Daniil But put Utah ahead late in the first period. Vincent Trocheck doubled the lead one minute into the second, and Mikhail Sergachev added a short-handed goal at 4:01. Toronto answered quickly through Auston Matthews on the power play, but the exchange did not stop the Mammoth from rebuilding their advantage. Dylan Guenther made it 4–1 at 14:17; Jack Roslovic replied for Toronto; then MacKenzie Weegar struck with 40 seconds left in the period. At the second intermission, the score was 5–2.

Utah scored four times from ten shots in that period, while Toronto scored twice from seven. The sequence matters because the Leafs were not simply unable to score: they had answers from Matthews and Roslovic. What they lacked was a stretch in which a Toronto goal was followed by defensive control. Each reply came before another Utah finish. Sergachev's short-handed goal was particularly costly for a side trying to recover, because it turned a Toronto power-play opportunity into a three-goal deficit.

Toronto's special teams could not repair its even-strength deficit

The special-teams figures make the result less obvious than the five-goal Utah total. Toronto went 2-for-5 on the power play, while the Mammoth went 0-for-4. Yet four Utah goals came at even strength and one while short-handed; Toronto had two even-strength and two power-play goals. The Leafs' power play gave them a path back, but it did not offset the earlier goals conceded at five-on-five and while a man up.

That is not a claim that Utah dominated every minute. The teams finished with 28 and 26 shots respectively, a narrow overall difference. The more useful explanation is the timing and type of chances that became goals. Utah made its second-period opportunities count and put Toronto in a position where a productive power play was still chasing a three-goal gap. As the NHL recap records, Sergachev and Guenther each finished with a goal and an assist.

A real rally, but not a complete escape

John Tavares cut the lead to 5–3 on a power play at 7:12 of the third. Gavin McKenna made it 5–4 at 11:01, extending his point streak to four games. Matthews and Tavares each had a goal and an assist, evidence that Toronto's leading scorers remained involved even in defeat. The Leafs then had another opening: Guenther was penalised for tripping late, and Anthony Stolarz was pulled to create a 6-on-4 advantage. Utah killed off the final 1:46.

The comeback deserves credit without being inflated into a story of total third-period control. The official summary lists 12 Utah shots and 11 Toronto shots in the last period. Toronto's final push was dangerous because it brought the game within one and created a late numerical edge, not because the Leafs overwhelmed Utah in every measure. For the Mammoth, the lesson is similarly mixed: a five-goal platform was enough, but conceding twice after the second intermission left the result exposed until the horn.

Utah took two points by turning an even-strength edge and a short-handed strike into a lead Toronto could not quite erase. The Leafs showed how quickly a three-goal deficit can become a one-goal game; their second-period defending and the missed final advantage explain why this one still ended in a loss. For another early-season NHL result, see our Edmonton–Los Angeles analysis; it is a separate game, not evidence about this matchup.

Image: archival/illustrative photo of Utah Hockey Club players Jack McBain, Karel Vejmelka and Mikhail Sergachev against Seattle on 30 December 2024, not the Toronto game. Jenn G / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. No image alteration by LiveSportInsights.