Rangers Recap: Rangers Top Mammoth 4-2 for Third Straight Win

Back at it for the fourth game of the 2026-27 season, the New York Rangers were back on home ice to host the Utah Mammoth. This meant that it would be new Rangers defenseman Sean Durzi's first game against his former team and Vincent Trocheck's first against his.

Riding back-to-back wins, the Rangers looked to get a streak going and would do so with a change to the lineup. As we saw toward the end of Friday night's contest in Detroit, Tye Kartye appears to be receiving an extended trial on the second line with J.T. Miller and Pavel Dorofeyev, pushing Oliver Bjorkstrand down to the fourth line. Jaroslav Chmelar remained in the lineup, with Matt Rempe joining Matthew Robertson and Scott Morrow in the press box.

Igor Shesterkin made his third start of the season, his first since scoring his first NHL goal.

First Period

The Mammoth had a great scoring chance about three and a half minutes in as Andrew Peeke walked in from the point and came in all alone on Shesterkin. As that was happening, Marcus Pettersson took down Trocheck on the other side of the net, which earned him an interference call for the game's first infraction.

The Rangers did a great job killing off the advantage, and as Pettersson returned to the ice, he broke up a play to send Eeli Tolvanen on a breakaway. Karel Vejmelka was able to keep things scoreless.

Midway through the first, the Rangers had spent a good amount of time in the offensive zone and, as such, were off to a good start. Joe Veleno went down awkwardly along the boards, which resulted in him heading off the ice slowly and in some pain. It was reported later in the period that he had gone to the Rangers locker room and would not return to action this evening.

Shortly thereafter, the Rangers got their first power play of the game as Alexis Lafrenière made a nice move around MacKenzie Weegar, who ended up tripping him. The Mammoth had the best scoring chance of the two minutes when Miller had a bad giveaway that resulted in an odd-man rush for Utah. Adam Fox made a great defensive play to bail him out and send play back the other way, but the score remained locked at zero.

The Mammoth saw a burst of offense as the period neared its end, but with just under three minutes to go, the Rangers got on the board. A great interception from Fox left the puck for Vladislav Gavrikov to shoot from the point. The shot went through some traffic in front to make it a 1-0 game.

On the ensuing faceoff, there was a false start on the draw, but Barrett Hayton cross-checked Noah Laba. That drew an immediate reaction from all four other Rangers on the ice, which you love to see. This brought play to 4-on-4, but it wasn't long before the Rangers had the advantage. Nick Schmaltz was sent off for cross-checking, turning it into a 4-on-3 to close out the opening period.

The Rangers took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission, but it was nearly a 2-0 game as Lafrenière hit the crossbar on the 4-on-3. Shots after the opening 20 were just 6-5 in Utah's favor, but the pace of play from both sides was impeccable.

Second Period

After extended offensive-zone pressure from the Rangers, Utah took another penalty as Weegar was called for interference. The Rangers had some great looks, with Dorofeyev ripping a one-timer off the post amid a number of chances, but came away from the advantage with nothing to show for it. Utah continued to push as play returned to even strength, but Shesterkin kept coming up with key saves to preserve the lead.

The pace slowed down a ton in the back half of the period as the Rangers had a couple of shifts in a row that ended with them icing the puck. However, with about six minutes to go, Will Cuylle took Dylan Guenther down from behind along the boards, which prompted another full scrap from that third line.

The Rangers ended up shorthanded, which snapped their perfect penalty-killing streak. Shesterkin made a fantastic save on a Logan Cooley breakaway, but Schmaltz was able to capitalize on a rebound to tie the game, 1-1.

Another entertaining period was in the books as the Rangers and Mammoth went into the second intermission tied 1-1. Shots after two were now 15-13 in Utah's favor.

Third Period

Just 63 seconds into the period, Cuylle dropped the gloves with Jack McBain for the game's first official fight. After a spirited scrap, both forwards sat for the next five minutes.

About two minutes later, Lafrenière had another pair of quality scoring chances, and his line finally broke through on the second one. As Vejmelka robbed him once again after Mika Zibanejad fed him on a 2-on-0, Gabe Perreault was trailing behind and able to cash in on the rebound to regain the lead, 2-1.

For what it's worth, this game could have easily been 6-1 at this point. Vejmelka was having an incredible night in net for the Mammoth.

With just over seven minutes to go, the Rangers added to their lead as another shot from Gavrikov found the back of the net. This time, though, it took a redirect off the skate of Miller for his first goal of the season, making it a 3-1 game.

Utah wouldn't roll over and quit, as it took just over two minutes for the Mammoth to pull back within one. A failed breakout from the Rangers resulted in a shot from Peeke to make it 3-2.

From that point on, the Mammoth continued to push, and with under two minutes to go, they pulled Vejmelka for the extra attacker. The crowd was buzzing at the opportunity for Shesterkin to score again, but they would have to settle for an assist. A clear from Shesterkin found Cuylle, who chipped it ahead to Tolvanen for the empty-netter. Tolvanen now leads the team in goals with three on the season.

Shesterkin nearly had another goal on the following shift, but Mikhail Sergachev was back to intercept the shot.

That would do it for this one, as the Rangers played a complete game to extend their win streak to three. Final shots on goal were 28-22 in favor of Utah. The Rangers are back on home ice Tuesday night as they host their Long Island rivals, the New York Islanders, for the first time this season.