Kerfoot, Cooley each scores twice, Mammoth cruise past Kings to pad Western wild-card lead

LOS ANGELES -- Alex Kerfoot and Logan Cooley each scored twice, and the Utah Mammoth cruised to a 6-2 win against the Los Angeles Kings at Crypto.com Arena on Saturday.

Mikhail Sergachev had four assists, and Nick Schmaltz and Jack McBain scored for the Mammoth (38-30-6), who had lost their past two. Clayton Keller had two assists, and Karel Vejmelka made 29 saves.

“We’ve almost got, like, a youthful excitement to our team, where we haven’t had any scars,” Kerfoot said. “For the most part, we’re not scared of much, not scared of failing, and so we just got to kind of enjoy the moment, keep that as long as we can, realize that these are hard games to win, and the job is far from done, but we’re in a good spot.”

Utah is five points ahead of the Nashville Predators for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Western Conference.

Adrian Kempe had a goal and an assist, and Anze Kopitar scored for the Kings (29-26-18), who have lost five of six (1-2-3).

Darcy Kuemper allowed five goals on 16 shots before being replaced at the start of the third period by Anton Forsberg, who made 11 saves.

Los Angeles, which began a season-long seven-game homestand, remained one point behind the Predators for the second wild card into the playoffs.

“I can tell you this, people say it’s luck and there’s bounces. You make your own luck in this world,” Kings interim coach D.J. Smith said. “You do it right long enough, things happen. We didn’t come ready to play good enough today."

Kerfoot put the Mammoth up 1-0 at 2:31 of the first period, tapping in John Marino's centering pass from the right face-off circle after he split the defense and crashed the net.

“I think I can still get better,” said Kerfoot, who has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in 26 games after missing the first 36 games of the season because of core-muscle surgery, and 12 games in January and February because of an upper-body injury. “I want to give more to the team, just about going out there and doing it, and this is the time that everybody wants to be playing, so no better time than that.”

Cooley made it 2-0 at 16:33 off a set play by Sergachev, who dumped the puck off the end boards in the offensive zone and it bounced out in front for Cooley to score five-hole.

Kopitar cut the deficit to 2-1 just 1:18 later at 17:51, tipping a long-distance shot from Kempe through Vejmelka's pads from in front.

Cooley pushed the lead to 3-1 at 19:51 with a power-play goal. He stickhandled around Mikey Anderson at the right of the net and lifted a wrist shot to the far-side corner for his 20th of the season.

Shortly after a Kings power play ended, Kerfoot scored his second goal to make it 4-1 at 12:37 of the second period. Ian Cole chipped the puck out of the defensive zone and Kerfoot settled it down before skating down the length of the ice. He then patiently waited out Kuemper and roofed a wrist shot from the bottom of the right circle into the top left corner.

Schmaltz's power-play goal put Utah ahead 5-1 at 16:17. Keller fed a backhand pass to Schmaltz in the slot, where he went skate-to-stick and buried a snap shot to the blocker side.

“Everything started with a shot, and then it opened up, and our elite players made some elite plays and it paid off,” Sergachev said. “So simplicity is the key, I think.”

Kempe brought Los Angeles to within 5-2 at 4:34 of the third period with a wrist shot from above the right circle through traffic.

“We were not sharp in any facet of the game, maybe other than 10 minutes in the third period, you know, where we played a little bit like ourselves,” Smith said.

McBain scored an empty-net goal at 13:53 to secure the 6-2 final. Sergachev had the secondary assist for his fourth of the game, tying a franchise record set by Keller on Feb. 27, 2025.

“When he’s going, he can do everything,” Kerfoot said of Sergachev. “He can skate. He can make plays offensively. He can shut guys down defensively. He’s physical. He can do it all. … I mean, when he’s going, our team’s at our best, and he was great tonight, and he’s been great for the majority of the year.” 

NOTES: Cooley became the fourth active American player to score 20 goals in each of his first three NHL seasons, following Patrick Kane (13), Auston Matthews (10) and Jack Eichel (five). ... Kerfoot extended his point streak to four games (three goals, two assists). ... Sergachev became the first player with consecutive three-assist outings for Utah, and just the second player with two straight three-point games, following Cooley (two games in 2025-26 & 2024-25). ... Vejmelka tied Vitek Vanecek (33 in 2022-23) for the most wins in a season by a Czech goaltender since 2007-08. The last Czech goalie with more in a campaign was Dominik Hasek (38 in 2006-07). ... Sergachev became the fifth Mammoth player to record four points in a road game, tying a franchise record.