Blue Jackets comeback falls short against Mammoth

COLUMBUS -- Logan Cooley’s second goal of the game at 2:08 of overtime gave the Utah Mammoth a 5-4 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena on Saturday.

He one-timed a cross-ice pass from Clayton Keller from low in the right circle as the Mammoth recovered from giving up a two-goal lead in the third period, with the Blue Jackets getting goals 30 seconds apart from Adam Fantilli and Mason Marchment to tie it 4-4.

“They're heavy on puck. It was tough to make plays,” Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. “You need to win every inch in every battle. So, it was good for us to go through that, to go through that heavy game, to go through those emotions up and down and I think there's a lot of learning in that game.”

Michael Carcone and Alex Kerfoot each had a goal and an assist for the Mammoth (34-25-4), who have won three straight and four of their past five. Keller had two assists and Karel Vejmelka made 27 saves for his 100th NHL win (100-113-21).

“It wasn’t an easy game,” Vejmelka said. “We had a big push in the third period but I wish I could have made a couple more saves for the boys and kind of help them more. But we found a way and I'm really proud of us and it's obviously a big win.”

Fantilli, Marchment, Mathieu Olivier and Damon Severson each had a goal and an assist for the Blue Jackets (32-21-9), who had a three-game win streak snapped but extended their point streak to five games (3-0-2)

“We had them on the run. We had more than enough scoring opportunities to win that game tonight,” Blue Jackets coach Rick Bowness said. “We got four goals and four goals should be enough to win the game.

“That's the fastest team we've played in a while. So, give them credit. Like, they were really on top of their game tonight.”

Fantilli cut it to 4-3 at 13:38. He was behind the net when he reached back and slipped the puck between the pads of Vejmelka.

“We had a pretty brutal first period as a line, and to be able to respond the way we did was great,” Fantilli said. “To be honest, it shouldn't have been an overtime.”

Marchment scored on the rush, cutting across the slot and depositing a backhand to tie the game 4-4 at 14:08.

“We were in a little hole and I'm so proud of the boys for battling back, but not the ending we wanted,” he said.

Carcone gave Utah the 1-0 lead at 7:25 of the first period with a shot from the left circle that went to the upper right corner.

Severson tied it 1-1 at 19:25 with a 47-foot one-timer off a backhand pass from the right circle by Charlie Coyle.

A Blue Jackets goal by Kent Johnson at 7:55 of the second period to make it 2-1 was erased on a successful challenge that Sean Monahan was offside.

Dylan Guenther then made it 2-1 at 12:12 of the second period on a 2-on-0, scoring on a return pass from Keller after they broke loose with a long lead pass from Nick DeSimone.

Olivier tied it 2-2 at 16:03 when he was at the crease to pop in his own rebound. He has eight goals in the past 11 games.

Kerfoot gave Utah a 3-2 lead at 3:00 of the third period when his shot from the left circle went in off the skate of Columbus defenseman Denton Mateychuk in the crease.

Cooley scored on a breakaway at 4:54 to make it 4-2.

Defenseman MacKenzie Weegar made his debut for Utah after being acquired in a trade from the Calgary Flames on Wednesday. He played 23:21 and had three blocks, two hits and one shot on goal.

“I felt like that third period was a bit of a playoff taste there with the physicality and the crowd was into it, and that's what it's going to be like down the stretch with these games,” Weegar said.

Forward Conor Garland had one shot on goal and three hits for the Blue Jackets in his first game after being acquired in a trade from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

Defenseman Zach Werenski returned to the Blue Jackets lineup after missing three games due to illness. He played a game-high 26:53 with three blocks.

NOTES: Mammoth defenseman Mikhail Sergachev (lower body) skated in warm-ups but was scratched and missed a second consecutive game. DeSimone replaced him.