Nate Schmidt breaks franchise scoring record, Mammoth win 3rd straight

The Utah Mammoth’s dream home stand continues.

With a 6-3 win over the Seattle Kraken on Saturday, they’re now on a three-game winning streak and a seven-game point streak, giving them their second-best stretch of the season thus far.

Here’s the story of Utah’s win on Saturday.

Quick catchup

Utah Mammoth: 6

Seattle Kraken: 3

When the Dallas Stars were in town on Thursday, it took 39 minutes and 53 seconds to open the scoring.

On Saturday, the game needed just a minute and nine seconds.

It was Kraken captain Jordan Eberle who struck on a rebound in front of Karel Vejmelka, but Utah responded less than two minutes later with a short-handed goal at the hands of Kevin Stenlund.

Momentum was the biggest factor in this one.

Ten minutes into the game, the shots were 11-2 in the Kraken’s favor. Around the halfway point of the first period, something flipped, and by the end of the frame, that stat was tied 12-12.

The second period began with two Mammoth goals and it ended with two Kraken goals. Then in the third, the deciding factor was Utah’s trio of goals in the final five and a half minutes.

“I like the way we were opportunistic and we found a way to score big goals at key moments,” said Mammoth head coach André Tourigny after the game.

Tidbits and takeaways

‘Matin-Nate’

Players with young children love to see their kids at games, but it’s common for those kids to go home early — nobody wants to deal with a toddler who stayed up until 11 p.m.

That’s the boat Nate Schmidt and his family are in, but Saturday’s game was the “Next Gen” event, with everything revolving around kids — including the 3 p.m. start time.

What better opportunity to have your best game in more than six years?

Schmidt scored two goals and added a pair of assists for his first four-point night since Nov. 17, 2019. It was also the first four-point game for a defenseman in franchise history.

“A ‘matin-Nate,’ if you will,” he joked after the game. “Throw all your dad jokes out there.”

Schmidt tallies his second of the game off a BEAUTIFUL feed from Keller! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/eViOz8wwmm

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) January 18, 2026

Schmidt has been exactly what this Mammoth team has needed: A solid veteran who knows what it takes to win, but one who also keeps the mood light. He’s one of those guys who seems to not even know what a bad day is.

“He’s a good pro. He’s in ever day, smiling every day, focusing every day, urgent every day,” Tourigny said. “When you talk about being a good pro, from the moment he steps in the building, everything he does, his therapy, his prep, or his training or his practice (is on point).

“Nothing goes unrewarded in life, and he’s a good example of it.”

Schmidt was on the ice for 57 seconds of the 2:11 that the Kraken played with an empty net Saturday. While everyone watching would have loved to see the 34-year-old score his first-ever NHL hat trick, the Mammoth also recognized that they had a game to win.

That shows the trust that both the coaches and Schmidt’s teammates have in him to be responsible defensively while also searching for a third goal.

“It was good. Johnny (Marino) looks at me and he goes, ‘I’m not shooting the puck out of the zone,’” Schmidt said. “Sure enough, what did he do later? Shot the puck out of the zone. Veggie actually played it to him. I yelled at him, ‘Don’t you dare.’”

Said Lawson Crouse of Schmidt: “He’s an incredible teammate, a wise veteran, brings a lot to our locker room and a very hard-working, team-first guy.

“Obviously very happy to see him get rewarded and we were all cheering for him to get that empty net at the end there.”

The Sheriff

The credit for Utah’s first goal of the game goes to Kevin Stenlund, but it doesn’t happen without Crouse’s slick move to get him the puck.

And that wasn’t Crouse’s only nice pass. He ended the game with a goal and two assists, but with a little more puck luck, he could have easily accrued five points or more.

The three points he did get should not be overlooked, though. It was his first three-point game since March 27, 2023 — and it was the only time he’s ever ended a game with precisely one goal and two assists.

Crouse also led Mammoth forwards in shots (4) and had twice as many hits as the next-highest player in the entire game (8).

He was too humble to accept praise, though.

“Throughout your career, you go through a lot of highs and lows,” he said. “(I’m) trying to use the confidence as best I can, but there’s a lot of work to do and the work is the main reason of why I’m being successful right now, and just got to keep that going.”

Tourigny agreed, explaining that Crouse does not cut corners, which leads to his success.

“Right now, he’s in the zone,” Tourigny said. “He does his job. He’s confident he will do his job, and when he makes a mistake, it doesn’t faze him because he’s focused on what he has to do.

“And confidence comes from a source. When you do what you’re supposed to do every day, the right way with the right prep, the right effort, with the right focus, it’s tough to not be confident.”

A happy new year

Since the calendar flipped to 2026, the Mammoth have just a single regulation loss, and they’ve secured 15 of a possible 18 points.

The first half of the season was filled with heavy travel for the Mammoth. They’re enjoying their seven-game home stand which has one game remaining, and they’re gradually creating space in the standings between them and the teams on their tail.

But the important thing is how they’re dealing with their success.

Every locker room conversation with players during this home stand, whether on the record or off, seems to have had an air of indifference. It’s not that the guys aren’t thrilled to win — it’s an understanding that what happened last game has no bearing on what happens next game.

Every game starts at 0-0.

That’s a sign of maturity as a group. That’s the organization’s entire goal at this stage in the build, meaning things are going as planned.

“There’s so much hockey to be played,” Tourigny said. “You know, it’s, ‘OK, we have a good stretch.’ In two weeks, that stretch will mean nothing if we don’t do what we have to do every day.

“So, it’s every day. We need to keep pegging and staying in the present, staying in the process and trying to get better.”

Goal of the game

Stenlund from Crouse

We already talked about this goal as well as the pass that preceded it. Here it is.

🚨 Stenny shorthanded goal! pic.twitter.com/i7e1R0ywcw

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) January 17, 2026