Early look The full preview opens on Thursday 18 March, three days before puck drop, with the expected goalies, the latest team news and game-day prices. Until then this page shows the matchup as it stands.
Early look · NHL 2026-27

Utah Mammoth at Minnesota Wild: game preview

Puck drop21 Mar · 2:00 PM ET
VenueGrand Casino Arena
All-time meetings7 completed
BasisLast 5 meetings + 2025-26
The thesis

Twelve points apart last season

Utah finished last season 15th in the league on 92 points. Minnesota finished 7th on 104, and the 2025-26 season series went UTA 2-1-0.

Game-day prices arrive with the afternoon snapshot, about 4:30 PM ET on the day of the game.

Head-to-head

Meeting number 8

Across 7 completed games, Utah lead the head-to-head 5-1-1.

All-time record5-1-1Utah's record in the series
Meetings played7This is number 8
2025-26 seriesUTA 2-1-0
Last 54-1Utah
DateResultShotsPower playWinner
10 Mar 2026UTA 0 – MIN 5——MIN
27 Feb 2026MIN 2 – UTA 5——UTA
25 Oct 2025UTA 6 – MIN 2——UTA
27 Feb 2025MIN 1 – UTA 6——UTA
23 Jan 2025UTA 4 – MIN 0——UTA
Head-to-head finder

The table on each 2025-26 meeting night

DateUtahMinnesota
25 Oct 20257-2-0 · 14 pts2nd3-5-1 · 7 pts29th
27 Feb 202627-21-4 · 58 pts16th29-14-10 · 68 pts5th
10 Mar 202634-26-5 · 73 pts15th38-16-11 · 87 pts4th

League rank after that night's games; a longer bar is a higher place. On 25 Oct 2025, Utah were 2nd in the league and Minnesota 29th. By 10 Mar 2026 it was 15th and 4th.


Where the shots come from · last 5 meetings

Utah out-attempted Minnesota 191 to 190

Every attempt from the last meetings, both teams shooting right.

Utah Mammoth

191 att · 103 on goal · 11 G · 10.7%
Crease15 att · 1 G
Slot81 att · 8 G
Wing62 att · 1 G
Point27 att · 0 G
Neutral zone6 att · 1 G

Minnesota Wild

190 att · 88 on goal · 9 G · 10.2%
Crease14 att · 2 G
Slot79 att · 4 G
Wing66 att · 3 G
Point26 att · 0 G
Neutral zone5 att · 0 G
GoalOn goalMissedBlocked

Expected goals

Utah and Minnesota are level on chances, last 10 games

Shot quality both ways: expected goals weigh every unblocked attempt by its chance of scoring. Finishing above zero means more goals than the chances.

UtahMinnesota
3.62xG for per game3.01
2.71xG against per game2.83
57.2%xG share51.5%
+2.5FinishingGoals minus expected goals−0.0
+2.8GoaltendingExpected goals against minus goals allowed+3.5

This season: 4 games for Utah, 3 for Minnesota. Small sample: early-season xG moves a lot from night to night.

Every team’s xG →


Special teams

Power play and penalty kill, season and series

This season's rates first, then 2025-26 and the last meetings between the two. Power-play chances are counted from the penalty log with coincidental minors cancelled; faceoffs are each club's wins over draws taken.

All bars share one scale · 0–100%SeasonLast meetings

Utah

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2761.5%
Power play · 2025-2620.0% · 18th
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-2792.9%
Penalty kill · 2025-2678.1% · 19th
Faceoffs · 2026-2753.0% · 124/234
Drawn · 2026-2713 (3.25/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-2714 (3.50/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Minnesota

Small sample
Power play · 2026-2736.4%
Power play · 2025-2625.2% · 3rd
Power play · last 5 meetings—
Penalty kill · 2026-27100.0%
Penalty kill · 2025-2679.8% · 16th
Faceoffs · 2026-2748.0% · 84/175
Drawn · 2026-2711 (3.67/gm)
Drawn · last meetings0 (0.00/gm)
Shorthanded · 2026-279 (3.00/gm)
PP goals · last meetings0

Skaters

Skaters to watch

Each club's top three forwards and defencemen by points this season, with 2025-26 one tap away.

PlayerGPGAPP/GP
8Nick Schmaltz45271.75
11Dylan Guenther43361.50
97Kirill Kaprizov33031.00
20Blake Coleman31120.67
Points leaders
PlayerGPGAPP/GP
20Andrew Peeke41120.50
43Quinn Hughes31341.33
46Jared Spurgeon31231.00
3Olli Maatta30110.33
Defencemen stats

Goaltending

Who has stopped this matchup

Save percentage in the last meetings by goalie. Starters are confirmed on game day.

Expected startersAn estimate until the teams confirmEvery game tonight →

Expected starter after their game on 19 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Expected starter after their game on 19 Mar: a back-to-back depends on who plays that night.

Utah crease

UTA · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 18 Mar

Karel Vejmelka.9133 GP · 2-1-0 · GSAx +1.7
Sebastian Cossa.9471 GP · 1-0-0 · GSAx +1.4

No appearances against Minnesota in the last meetings.

Minnesota crease

MIN · 2026-27 Starter estimate from 18 Mar

Jesper Wallstedt.9333 GP · 2-0-1 · GSAx +3.5

No appearances against Utah in the last meetings.


Totals

Scoring rates point to about 6.1 goals

No total is posted yet: it arrives with the game-day prices. Until then, the scoring rates and the recent meetings set the range.

Goals in the last 5 meetings

10 Mar 20265 · UTA 0–5 MIN
27 Feb 20267 · MIN 2–5 UTA
25 Oct 20258 · UTA 6–2 MIN
27 Feb 20257 · MIN 1–6 UTA
23 Jan 20254 · UTA 4–0 MIN

Bar length is total goals, coloured by the winner.

Scoring rates

Team26-27 GF26-27 GA25-26 GF25-26 GA
Utah4.252.003.272.93
Minnesota3.001.673.322.93

Goals for and against per game. The estimate averages each team’s scoring with the other’s goals allowed, and leans on 2025-26 until a team has played 20 games.

Scoring rates suggest6.1Goals in this game
Last 5 meetings6.2Goals per game
Line—No total posted yet
Books at the line—With the game-day prices

Team news

5 on the injury lists

Utah · injuries

Maveric LamoureuxShoulderIRReturn12 Feb
Mikhail SergachevUpper BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct

Minnesota · injuries

Brock FaberSkullIRReturn15 Oct
Filip GustavssonHipIRReturn1 Nov
Nick FolignoUpper BodyDay-to-dayReturn8 Oct
27 Sep · UTA

Placed LW Ben McCartney on waivers.

25 Sep · UTA

Assigned Fs Yegor Borikov, Caleb Desnoyers, Tij Iginla, Gabe Smith and G Michael Hrabal to Tucson (AHL). Waived for the purpose of assignment to Fs Brandon Tanev and Joshua Roy and D Zac Jones.

23 Jul 2026 · UTA

Signed D Max Psenicka to a three-year contract.

24 Sep · MIN

Waived for the purpose of assignment to Iowa (AHL) Ds Matt Kiersted, Carson Lambos, and Roman Schmidt and Fs Caedan Bankier, Dylan Gambrell, Justin Kirkland, Tyler Pitlick, and Mason Shaw. Assigned Ds Ben Dexheimer and Viking Gustafsson Nyberg and Fs Jagger Joshua, Hunter Haight, Riley Heidt, Rasmus Kumpulainen, and Rieger Lorenz to Iowa.

14 Jul 2026 · MIN

Signed G Filip Ruzicka to a three-year, entry-level contract.

13 Jul 2026 · MIN

Signed D Filip Ruzicka to a three-year contract.

Injury report
#17Ethan BelchetzRound 1 · WindsorLW
#96Adam ValentiniRound 3 · MichiganC
#115Carl AxelssonRound 4 · MuskegonG
#130Theodor KnightsRound 5 · Modo Jr.D
Full draft
#83Adam AnderssonRound 3 · Leksand Jr.C
#112Kayden LemireRound 4 · Prince GeorgeRW
#137Filip RuzickaRound 5 · BrandonG
Full draft

Updated after every final