Cooley completes hat trick with one second left, Mammoth top Penguins in OT

PITTSBURGH -- Logan Cooley completed a hat trick with one second remaining in the third period, allowing the Utah Mammoth to rally for a 4-3 overtime win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

Cooley, a Pittsburgh native who began playing in Sidney Crosby's Little Penguins Learn to Play Hockey program, tied it 3-3 on his seventh goal this season by batting a puck out of the air with his backhand just before the clock expired. 

"This city means so much to me," said Cooley, who hadn't scored in six previous games against the Penguins. "The Penguins, I've kind of grown up with them with (Pittsburgh Penguins) Elite and the Little Penguins program. To have a guy like Crosby here and what he's done for this city, it's cool to kind of lean on him as a young kid growing up here. They've been such an amazing team for so long, won (the Stanley Cup).  

"And I was fortunate to be in the city, to be able to watch them every night. And, like I said, those are guys that I looked up to. I'm super fortunate to be from here and to be able to grow up through the Penguins organization."

Ben Kindel gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead 24 seconds earlier, scoring with a backhand on a loose puck just outside the crease at 19:35. The 19-year-old forward returned after experiencing vasovagal syncope, a sudden drop in heart rate and blood pressure that reduces blood flow to the brain, shortly after the Penguins departed Salt Lake City International Airport on Oct. 20. 

“I wouldn’t say any emotion," Kindel said of his first game back. "It’s just nice to score a goal for the team and chip in when I can.” 

In overtime, Mikhail Sergachev won it with a wrist shot from the slot off the rebound of Barrett Hayton's shot at 3:27.

Sebastian Cossa made 31 saves for the Mammoth (9-5-0), who have alternated wins and losses in their past seven games (4-3-0). 

Kindel also had an assist, Erik Karlsson and Rickard Rakell scored, and Evgeni Malkin had two assists for the Penguins (5-6-2), who had won two straight after losing their previous four. Arturs Silovs made 30 saves. 

"I mean, practice tomorrow," Malkin said. "We'll see video. We fix mistakes. (It's the) only way, you know? ... It's like, under 20 seconds, and they score a goal. 

"We need to play, like, so much harder, whole five guys. ... Yeah, it's a little bit tough that we lost."

Cooley scored his first goal of the game to put Utah ahead 1-0 at 4:40 of the first period. After intercepting a pass from Karlsson, he skated through the high slot to the left face-off circle for a wrist shot. 

"He's one of our top players who's supposed to be doing that," Sergachev said. "But I'm happy for him. He had a bit of a slow start, but he's going to show everyone what kind of player he is. ... When he puts it all together, he's what he is tonight." 

Cooley then made it 2-0 at 14:11, splitting Karlsson and Pittsburgh defenseman Spencer Stastney, and racing to the net front for a wrist shot blocker side. 

"I think 'Cools' was alright," Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny said. "He was OK. OK, his goals, it's part of it. It's his work ethic, his mindset, his body language, his decisions with the puck. It's where he tries to play with the puck. He was really good." 

Karlsson cut it to 2-1 at 8:38 of the second period, stickhandling around Mammoth forward Nick Schmaltz for a wrist shot from the inner edge of the right circle. 

Rakell tied it 2-2 with a short-handed goal at 10:59 of the third period, collecting the puck in the neutral zone after it got past Cooley at the point and scoring his third goal in four games on a wrist shot from the right circle. 

"We battled hard to come back into it and get the lead," Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. "But I think, overall, the performance was not there.” 

NOTES: It was the 10th game in NHL history, in the regular season or the Stanley Cup Playoffs, where teams traded a go-ahead goal and game-tying goal in the final 30 seconds of regulation, and the first since the Philadelphia Flyers defeated the New York Islanders 5-4 on April 7, 2015. ... The hat trick was Cooley's fourth in the NHL and first since having four goals and one assist in a 5-1 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Nov. 24, 2025. ... Mammoth defenseman Artem Duda recorded four shots on goal and one block in 15:27 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Malkin, who is tied with forward Nicholas Robertson for the team lead with six goals, returned from missing a 3-2 overtime win against the Nashville Predators on Saturday because of an illness. ... Utah defenseman Andrew Peeke had one shot, one block and two hits in his 400th NHL game.