There must be something in Utah Mammoth forward Logan Cooley’s water.
On Thursday against the St. Louis Blues, he scored a hat trick in the first period. Then against the Minnesota Wild on Saturday, he had two goals in the opening frame. His contributions helped the Mammoth to a 6-2 victory over the Wild, extending their winning streak to six games.
Cooley, along with Nick Schmaltz, who also scored twice in the game, is now tied with several others for second in the league in goals (though that could change by the end of the night with so many teams still playing).
By the time the Mammoth’s game had ended Saturday, Schmaltz was also tied with Nathan MacKinnon for second in the NHL in points and the Mammoth were second in league standings and first in the Western Conference.
Here’s the story from Saturday’s game.
Quick catchup
Utah Mammoth: 6
Minnesota Wild: 2
Cooley’s first goal came 56 seconds into the game. A minute and a half later he tucked in his second, and a minute and a half after that, Schmaltz tipped one past Filip Gustavsson to give Utah a 3-0 lead.
But no lead is safe with 55 minutes of hockey left to play.
Marcus Johansson put the Wild on the board before the first intermission, and he followed it up with another goal near the end of the second period.
It stayed 3-2 for 18 minutes, until JJ Peterka found a loose puck in the slot and fired it in. A Schmaltz breakaway extended Utah’s lead and a John Marino empty-netter put it away for good.
“To be able to close out wins and get that momentum, get that swagger and just that winning feeling again, it’s something we want to keep going forward,” Marino said after the game.
Takeaways
Two first lines
One story during training camp was which group of forwards would be the “first line.”
On paper, it’s the Keller-Hayton-Schmaltz line — and their play suggests that that’s an accurate designation — but Peterka, Cooley and Guenther are doing just as well.
That was evident when the Blues stacked their forwards to combat Keller’s line, only to have Cooley put up four points in the first period.
It was apparent again on Saturday when the two lines combined for five of the team’s six goals in Minnesota.
“Those guys have been unbelievable for us, obviously,” Marino said of those two lines. “They’ve been the backbones of the team. They’ve stepped up, too, when we needed them the most — especially in the last couple minutes of these last games."
Getting to the slot
Much of the Mammoth’s success this season has come from getting to the slot, but that alone is not enough to put goals on the board. It’s their relentless attitude once they get to the slot that has made them successful.
It’s like a switch flips once they get there, and the opposing defenders never seem to be ready for it (as evidenced by the back-to-back games with several immediate goals).
A leading factor in this is how Utah is practicing. While many NHL practices consist of long, convoluted drills, the Mammoth have spent most of their time doing battle drills, where everyone is fiercely competing for the puck in tight spaces.
Usually, their drills have a punishment component: The first team to get scored on a certain number of times has to skate lines, while the winners get to stand there and watch them.
When the games roll around, they’re still in battle mode, and it’s taking teams a few minutes to wake up and combat it.
Last season, one visiting team, whose coach is among the winningest in NHL history, expressed to the media that he was shocked to see Utah doing such tough drills in practice. It seems to be paying off now.
Steaming hot Veggies
Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka deserves some flowers in this one, too. He stopped 33 of 35 shots, including six at 6-on-4 while the Wild pulled their goalie during a power play.
He also had a few flashy saves, including one that would have ended up contributing to a Marcus Johansson hat trick.
Vejmelka now leads the league with six wins on the season.
Beating good teams
When Utah’s winning streak began, everyone took it with a grain of salt. The Mammoth had beaten the Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and San Jose Sharks, all of whom missed the playoffs last season.
Utah’s last three wins, however, have come against fellow Central Division teams that all made the playoffs last year while the Mammoth didn’t.
Things don’t get easier from here, though. Next, Utah visits the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the Winnipeg Jets. After that, they take on the back-to-back Stanley Cup runner-ups, the Edmonton Oilers.
Goal of the game
Logan Cooley’s baseball goal
Cooley is celebrating the World Series in style. His first goal on Saturday would give Shohei Ohtani a run for his money.
“It’s always a lot more fun when you’re scoring and obviously winning, too,” Cooley said after the game.