Mammoth out to bolster playoff position, dent Caps’ chances

The Utah Mammoth look to solidify their hold on a playoff spot when they host the Washington Capitals on Thursday night.

Utah (37-29-6, 80 points) leads the surging Nashville Predators by three points for the first wild-card spot into the Stanley Cup Playoffs in the Western Conference.

Washington (35-28-9, 79 points) trails the Ottawa Senators by six points for the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Capitals missed an opportunity to gain ground Tuesday when several teams ahead of them lost, but they were shut out 3-0 by the St. Louis Blues.

Utah dropped a 5-2 decision to the visiting Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night and is 3-4-2 in its past nine games.

Alex Kerfoot and Lawson Crouse scored for the Mammoth against the Oilers. Karel Vejmelka allowed four goals on 15 shots before he was replaced by Vitek Vanecek after two periods.

The teams were tied 2-2 before the Oilers pulled away in the second period.

"We did a lot of good stuff defensively, but I think we didn't have our usual aggression and our pace," Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. "We didn't have the puck enough, so we let them maneuver too much with the puck. I would have loved to be more aggressive."

Utah was held to just two goals and 18 shots on goal against an Edmonton team that allows an average of 3.38 goals per game.

"We obviously just didn't have enough of a pushback, in the third especially," Kerfoot said. "We're down two goals in a game, fighting for a playoff spot against a team who's also fighting, and we didn't even make them work for it, didn't make them earn it. Disappointing. It's on us."

Center Barrett Hayton suffered an upper-body injury on his first shift of the game and did not return.

Against the Blues, Logan Thompson made 24 saves for the Capitals, who had their five-game point streak (3-0-2) end and are running out of time to make a playoff push.

"It was tough for us to get things going offensively tonight," Capitals defenseman Matt Roy said. "We've just got to move past it."

The Capitals mustered only 21 shots on Hofer and have scored less than two goals in each of their past six road games.

"We just have to do a better job with the puck, we've got to do a better job creating opportunities, creating high danger looks, creating secondary (chances), getting to the net, attacking the net, getting shots through, connecting on passes," Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. "We just have to do a better job."

Washington goalies are seventh in the NHL, allowing 2.85 goals per game, but the offense ranks 17th, averaging 3.04 goals. Since the Olympic break, the Capitals have scored more than three goals only twice in 13 games.

One bright side for Washington was its penalty kill. The unit went 3-for-3 and has now killed 21 straight.

Washington's Pierre-Luc Dubois received a five-minute match penalty for "attempting to injure" Blues forward Robert Thomas when he threw him to the ice in the third period. Thomas did not return.

JJ Peterka, Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev scored for the Mammoth in a 3-2 win at Washington on March 3. Pierre-Luc Dubois and Ryan Leonard scored for Washington.