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The Utah Mammoth are rolling early in the season, riding a five-game win streak into Saturday’s matchup against the struggling Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul. Despite their strong start, Utah’s players and coaches insist they haven’t hit their ceiling yet. After opening the year 6-2-0, Utah’s confidence is building, but forward Logan Cooley, who netted a hat trick in Thursday’s 7-4 win over the St. Louis Blues, said the team remains grounded. “It’s big, obviously, beating Colorado and St. Louis — divisional opponents,” Cooley said. “But you can’t get too high or too low in this league. Once we clean up a few things, we’ll be in an even better spot.” Utah’s current four-game road trip

Sidney Crosby continues to defy time and logic — and he’s doing it in vintage form. The Pittsburgh Penguins captain has tallied nine points (five goals, four assists) over a five-game point streak, leading his club into Saturday night’s home clash against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins are rolling with four straight wins and a 6-2-0 record overall, while Crosby is now just two points shy of 1,700 — a mark reached by only eight players in NHL history. If he gets there Saturday, he’ll join legends Mario Lemieux and Steve Yzerman as the only players to record that many points while spending their entire career with one team. “I don’t really think about that

After opening the season with three straight losses, the New York Islanders have flipped the script in a hurry. Riding a four-game winning streak, they’ll look to stay hot when they visit the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday afternoon at Xfinity Mobile Arena. New York’s resurgence has been driven by a reenergized offense. Over their last four games, the Islanders have outscored opponents 20–11 — capped by a commanding 7-2 victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday.Emil Heineman led the way with his first multi-goal game, while captain Anders Lee tallied three assists. “I’m just trying to play my best hockey,” Heineman said. “Bo (Horvat) is feeding me great passes. I just keep my stick on the ice and shoot.”

The Anaheim Ducks have turned their early-season road trip into a statement stretch. Under head coach Joel Quenneville, the Ducks are 2-0-1 through three games of a five-game journey that began in Chicago — marking Quenneville’s return to face his former team — and continues Saturday against another familiar foe: the Tampa Bay Lightning. Anaheim’s offensive firepower was on full display Thursday night in a wild 7-5 win over the Boston Bruins, fueled by Mikael Granlund’s five-point performance (two goals, three assists) and Nikita Nesterenko’s four helpers. The Ducks scored four goals in the final 15 minutes to seal their second straight win. “That was a good road win,” Granlund said. “We scored seven, which is great, but we’ve got