Cooley sets career highs with 4 goals, 5 points, Mammoth defeat Golden Knights

SALT LAKE CITY -- Logan Cooley set NHL-career highs with four goals and five points for the Utah Mammoth, who defeated the Vegas Golden Knights 5-1 at Delta Center on Monday.

Cooley became the first player in Mammoth history to score four goals in a game.

“It's awesome. Any time you do that, it’s special,” Cooley said. “Just to see how excited the guys were for me, too, you get a cool feeling when you get the support of your teammates. I just think in general we have such a tight group. Guys really care about each other and want everyone on the team to have success. So, it's awesome.”

Said Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny: “He didn't complicate his game. It was speed, simple, gets space behind and when he does that, it's special.”

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist, and Karel Vejmelka made 33 saves for the Mammoth (12-8-3), who have won two in a row and have earned a point in six of their past seven games (3-1-3).

“Obviously, in the second (period) they had a [heck] of a push. ... They're a good team,” Tourigny said. “They're a Stanley Cup contender for a reason. We knew they would have a say in what will happen out there, but the intensity and the urgency we have in those situations and the way we protected that front, even if we're not perfect and even if there's a number of things we would like to get better at, I think the mindset is always the most important thing.”

Ivan Barbashev scored, and Carl Lindbom made 19 saves for the Golden Knights (10-5-7), who had their six-game point streak end (3-0-3).

“I didn't think we were great in the [third period] at all, to be honest with you,” Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said. “Did we have some tough luck in the second? Yeah, I think (Pavel) Dorofeyev hit a bar early, (Cole) Reinhardt hit one, so there was some stuff around the net. We certainly could have come out with more than one goal, that's for sure, but not in the third. We didn't have enough of a push to get points tonight in the third.”

Guenther gave Utah a 1-0 lead at 14:54 of the first period, beating Lindbom blocker side off a pass from Cooley.

Cooley extended it to 2-0 at 16:11, scoring blocker side off a feed from Guenther.

Barbashev cut it to 2-1 at 5:24 of the second period, finding a loose puck at the top of the crease and sliding it past Vejmelka.

“I think we made our own mistakes later in the game and I think we still had some chances,” Barbashev said. “We had a few power plays to get back in the game and a couple good looks around the net. It's tough to lose that way but we've just got to regroup and move forward.”

The Golden Knights outshot the Mammoth 16-4 in the second period but could only score one goal, thanks to several key saves by Vejmelka.

“I think we are a really good team, and if we want to be successful, we need to find a way every night, and that's part of being one of the best teams in the NHL,” Vejmelka said. “So, we need to find a way every single night, no matter what, and we did it tonight. We showed up, and it feels really good.”

Cooley made it 3-1 with his second goal of the game at 4:19 of the third period, beating Lindbom on a breakaway.

Cooley completed the hat trick at 15:41 with an empty-net goal to push it to 4-1. He scored short-handed into an empty net again at 17:43 for his fourth goal and the 5-1 final.

“For us, it's about staying consistent with this process and not changing anything,” Cooley said. “There's still stuff to clean up, but overall I was really happy about our performance the past two nights.”

NOTES: Cooley, who also had a natural hat trick in a 7-4 win at the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 23, became the fourth player in NHL history to record multiple natural hat tricks in a single season at age 21 or younger. The others are Wayne Gretzky (four times in 1980-81), Patrik Laine (two times in 2018-19) and Filip Forsberg (two times in 2015-16). He also became the second Mammoth player to record a five-point game, joining Clayton Keller (one goal, four assists on Feb. 27, 2025).