Utah enters the first half of a back-to-back with two-straight wins, including a victory on the first stop of the road trip. The Mammoth are 16-15-3 and 4-6-0 in their last 10 games.

Despite the Utah Mammoth having the second-worst point percentage in the NHL since Oct. 27, they find themselves just one point out of a Western Conference wild card playoff spot as we creep up on the halfway mark of the season.

Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley is expected to miss a minimum of eight weeks with what the team is calling a lower-body injury.

After years of being a bottom-feeder in the NHL, the Ducks are starting to fly once again. Led by a talented young core, featuring Cutter Gauthier, Leo Carlsson and goaltender Lukas Dostal, the team has been one of the best in the league over the first couple of months of the season.

The Utah Mammoth face off against the Anaheim Ducks Wednesday at 10 p.m. at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

The Vancouver Canucks return home on Friday looking for a much-needed reset. After a rough four-game road trip and a three-game losing streak, the team sits at the bottom of the Pacific Division with a 10-14-3 record and a .426 points percentage.

The NHL could use some new contenders, and not just because the Stanley Cup Final had the same participants for two straight seasons. Fresh faces and burgeoning stars are intriguing. Teams on the rise bring renewed enthusiasm to the playoff races.

Matt Rempe, who plays for the New York Rangers and stands at 6-foot-8, is known as “The Rempire State Building.” It’s perfect. Wayne Gretzky was known as “The Great One,” but his little brother, Brent, who played 13 games in the NHL, had the better nickname of the two: “The Other One.”

The Mammoth start a three-game road trip in Pittsburgh and will also travel to Boston and Detroit on this eastern swing. Pittsburgh is on the second half of a back-to-back for Sunday’s game. The Penguins are 14-8-8 and 4-2-4 in their last 10 games.