Peterka Gets First Shot at Former Club as Bruins Host Mammoth

Thursday night in Boston has a revenge-game feel to it. JJ Peterka will face the Utah Mammoth for the first time since the June trade that sent him to the Bruins, when Boston hosts his former club at TD Garden at 7 p.m. ET. Peterka spent the 2025-26 campaign with Utah, scoring 25 goals, and he has settled quickly into his new surroundings: two goals in four games, including his first career overtime winner on Friday against the Winnipeg Jets, after Elias Lindholm's late equalizer and a setup from David Pastrnak. The storyline arrives at an awkward moment for the Bruins. Boston has scored just two goals across its last two games, both defeats, and its big guns are quiet — Pastrnak and Morgan Geekie are scoreless after combining for 68 goals in 2025-26, while the power play is a grim 0-for-10 on the season. For Peterka, the assignment is simple: channel the emotion of facing his old teammates into ending the drought. The player who spent last season lighting it up for Utah gets his first chance to do the same thing against them.