Utah's Vanecek records 100th win in shutout performance against Flyers

PHILADELPHIA — It was a night of milestones for the Mammoth; and for the second straight game, Utah was led by its top line as Utah picked up a 3-0 road win in Philadelphia over the Flyers.

With Karel Vejmelka getting the night off, Vitek Vanecek was in net for the Mammoth, and he played well in his first action since Jan. 27 against Florida. Vanecek won his 100th career NHL game and made 16 saves in what was his 11th career shutout.

Entering Thursday's game, both Vanecek and Vejmelka sat at 99 career wins, but it was the backup netminder who crossed the 100-win threshold first.

Both teams were slow out of the gate in what could be a result of some nerves before Friday's trade deadline. Vanecek helped keep the game scoreless after he robbed Bobby Brink with a glove save in what was the biggest play of the first period.

It was the first of many jaw-dropping saves for Vanecek throughout the game as he showed no rust. A low volume of shots by Philadelphia didn't hurt, either, as Utah took advantage of the shot opportunities to secure the shutout.

"We were pretty good all night," Nick Schmaltz said. "We stuck with it, we didn't give up much. (Vanecek) made some really good saves when he needed to for us and PK did a great job, power play stepped up so good all-around team effort."

On top of Vanecek's performance, Clayton Keller has shown he loves playing the Flyers.

After scoring two late goals to help Utah steal a win against Philadelphia in their previous matchup, Keller found the back of the net against the Flyers, once again. The Mammoth captain has now scored eight goals for 18 points against Philadelphia in his career.

Dylan Guenther also continued his hot streak and has now picked up 6 points since the NHL season resumed, including four in the past two games.

The Mammoth got its first power play early in the second period, and wasted no time using the man advantage to get on the board. It took eight seconds on the power play for Schmaltz to sink a goal on his one-timer after he received the pass from Guenther.

A day after Guenther set a career-high for goals in a season, Schmaltz did the same thing after he recorded his 24th of the season.

Keller made it a two-goal lead for Utah soon after, while Guenther picked up his second assist on Keller's score.

Vanecek made plenty of saves on great looks for the Flyers but it was the Mammoth defense that held strong. Michael Carcone put the finishing touches on a strong team performance with an empty-net goal late in the third period.

A day after making a trade to bolster their defense, Utah's thin defenseman group showed out against Philadelphia and prevented the Flyers from getting anything going offensively as they finished with just 16 shots on goal.

"That's when we're at our best when we're defending hard, we're playing with a lot of pace, not giving them time and space, frustrating them and making them force plays and then we turn it over and go the other way," Schmaltz said.

The Mammoth were down two of their usual defenseman Thursday night. With Olli Maatta being traded to Calgary as part of the MacKenzie Weegar trade, and Mikhail Sergachev missing the game due to a lower-body injury, Utah's blue line needed a group effort and they got just that.

The Mammoth also received a better outing from their penalty kill unit which was much more dialed in Thursday night. Special teams did their job by holding Philadelphia to 0-for-3 on the man advantage while also scoring on the power play for the second-consecutive game.

Utah's road trip continues Friday against the Columbus Blue Jackets, who have been on a tear since hiring Rick Bowness as their head coach, reaching a 13-2-1 record since making the coaching change.

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