Red Wings aim to continue red-hot December vs. inconsistent Mammoth

Home or away, the Detroit Red Wings continue to play well.

Meanwhile, the Utah Mammoth are still struggling to string together some victories.

The Red Wings eye a third consecutive win when they host the Mammoth on Wednesday night.

Amid a 6-1-1 stretch, Detroit followed its impressive 4-1-1 road trip with a 3-2 home victory over the New York Islanders on Tuesday. The Red Wings trailed 1-0 after two periods before scoring three times in the third, highlighted by Alex DeBrincat’s tiebreaking 20th goal of the season, a power-play tally with 2:17 left in regulation.

Detroit, which last made the playoffs in 2015-16, has dropped just three points in eight December games. The Red Wings hold a one-point lead over the Boston Bruins atop the Atlantic Division.

“Foot on the gas,” Red Wings star Dylan Larkin said. “… You can play good and not win, but you have to win. You have to accumulate points in this league. … It’s about looking forward and continuing to try to win.”

With a second-straight two-goal contest on Tuesday, DeBrincat has recorded at least 20 goals in eight of his nine NHL seasons. He has posted eight goals and five assists in eight games this month.

Detroit’s John Gibson stopped 16 of the 18 shots he saw against the Islanders and improved to 6-0-0 with a 2.00 goals-against average and .935 save percentage in December. However, teammate Cam Talbot, amid an 0-3-2 rut with a 3.77 GAA, could get the start in the conclusion of a back-to-back set.

Utah is 8-14-3 since winning eight of its first 10 games of the season. The Mammoth haven’t won more than two straight during the recent stretch, again failing to win three in a row when they fell 4-1 at Boston on Tuesday.

Barrett Hayton opened the scoring early in the first period, but that was all the offense Utah could muster against the Bruins after scoring five goals in each of its previous two games.

“It’s something we’ve been struggling with all year. Just our consistency,” Mammoth defenseman John Marino told KSL Sports. “From period to period. Being able to play full 60-minute games. … We’ll have some (games) where we dominate and some where we get outplayed. We have to work on it.”

Perhaps even more concerning than the team’s overall consistency is the fact that Utah star Clayton Keller has failed to register a point in four consecutive games, and he has recorded just two of his 28 points over the past six. However, Keller has eight goals and eight assists in 13 career games against Detroit.

The Mammoth’s Dylan Guenther saw his four-game goal streak, which featured five tallies, end vs. Boston.

Utah’s Vitek Vanecek stopped 19 of 23 shots on Tuesday, and he has a 3.43 goals-against average while going 0-5-1 in his last six appearances. Karel Vejmelka, who is likely to be back in the Mammoth net for this contest at Detroit, has allowed 14 goals in his past four starts, but he has won two in a row.

Detroit’s Lucas Raymond recorded three assists on Tuesday, his 11th multipoint outing on the season.

–Field Level Media