Cooley’s Hat Trick Leads Utah to Fifth-Straight Win

ST LOUIS – In a back-and-forth battle, the Utah Mammoth’s perseverance and timely goals secured a 7-4 win over the St. Louis Blues. Logan Cooley recorded the franchise’s first natural hat trick with three goals in a five minute span in the first period to help the Mammoth jump to a 4-0 lead. Captain Clayton Keller helped seal the win by scoring a late second period goal, his 100th point with Utah, to help thwart a Blues second period rally. Keller then clinched the win with an empty net goal, his 200th career NHL goal, to help the Mammoth improve their win streak to five games for the first time in franchise history.

“They all feel the same,” Cooley smiled when discussing which goal was his favorite. “Awesome scoring in this league and it was a great game … A little bit of (feedback) from the guys (after the game) but obviously, (they’re) super supportive. We got a lot of great guys in that room and it’s nice to contribute.”

Cooley’s hat trick is a testament to his talent. It only took the forward four minutes and 48 seconds to complete his second career hat trick. Even more impressive? Cooley had a total of six seconds of o-zone possession time to achieve this feat. In addition to his three goals, Cooley assisted on Cole’s first period goal. It was a four-point night for the forward and his first multi-point game of the season. The Blues were physical against Cooley, and he had to use his strength and win his battles to be successful.

“He’s really strong physically,” Head coach André Tourigny said post-game. “He’s really strong in his battle, his balance is really, really good. His competitiveness I think helps him a lot in that sense.”

Cooley and Guenther are firing on all cylinders, and their chemistry continues to impress. Guenther had the primary assist on all three of Cooley’s goals tonight. After the game, Cooley gave credit to another facet of Guenther’s game.

“Everyone talks about his shooting, but I think his playmaking is really underrated,” Cooley explained. “I think we’re really starting to figure out where each other likes to be and I think it’s going to continue to get better.”

“They’re unbelievable players,” Keller said of Cooley and Guenther post-game. “(Cooley’s) one of my favorites. Just the way he plays, his speed, skill, he can really do it all and I believe in him so much. It’s great to see him get rewarded and that’s a heck of a period.”

When playing his hometown team, Keller continues to find success. The Captain scored his 14th and 15th career goals against the Blues in tonight’s game. He now has 37 career points through 33 games played. Keller’s first goal helped swing momentum back Utah’s way in the final minute of the second period. This was a timely tally after the Blues pushed back with a pair of goals in the middle frame and had momentum. As he did in the second period, Keller’s empty net goal in the final two minutes of regulation swung momentum Utah’s way once again and secured the win.

“He’s an unbelievable player,” Cooley said of Keller. “Great leader for us. With his play, he’s super competitive and gets us going. That was a big goal. Empty netter was obviously huge to seal the deal, but the fifth goal, that was a big one and gave us a lot of momentum going into the next period.”

This win did not come easy. As they did in the second period, St. Louis pushed back at the start of the third period. A pair of goals three and a half minutes apart brought the game within one. Just before the halfway mark in the third, Nick Schmaltz deflected Mikhail Sergachev’s shot to score on the power play. The goal increased Utah’s lead to 6-4 and gave the visitors some breathing room.

“(Keller’s) goal in the second and the power play goal in the third, I think every time they tried to come back, we answered,” Tourigny said of the team scoring timely goals. “Really happy about the character of the guys.”

“For the most part we stuck with it,” Keller reflected. “Sometimes it is tough. We score, there’s TV timeouts, you’re out of rotations a little bit, just trying to mentally stay locked in for the entire 60 minutes. We had ups and downs, but I’m happy with how the guys fought. Our mentality on the bench, the way we’ve picked each other up, it’s been a positive group on the bench, and I think that helps out with that too when things kind of get crazy. We’ve got to continue to do that.”

The Mammoth were able to hold on and beat their Central Division opponent for the team’s fifth-straight win. Utah continues to push back and find ways to win and fight through adversity. Even though the team is on a substantial win streak, the Mammoth are focused on improving and building. Utah continues to stay levelheaded and hungry to keep winning.

“It’s big, obviously beating Colorado, St. Louis, divisional opponents,” Cooley said postgame. “It’s obviously big but you can’t get too high, too low in this league because it’ll come back to haunt you. So got to stay levelheaded, keep doing what we’re doing. There’s stuff to clean up a little bit, but I think once we do that, it’s going to continue to be good.”

Ian Cole had his first goal of the season and Nick Schmaltz scored his fifth of the year in the win. The Mammoth improve to 6-2-0 and are second in the Central Division with 12 points, one point back from the Colorado Avalanche (13).

Additional Notes from Tonight

• Keller’s first goal was his 100^th point with Utah and 199^th career goal. His second tally was his 200th career goal. He’s the first player in franchise history to reach the 100-point mark. He has 12 points (4G, 7A) through eight games (per Mammoth PR).
• Logan Cooley became the 21^st player in NHL history to score a hat trick in the opening 10:55 of any game. He is the first player to achieve this since Rocco Grimaldi (NSH, 3/25/21: 8:08) (per NHL PR).
• With two assists, JJ Peterka recorded his first multi-point game with the Mammoth.
• Utah’s defenseman have contributed goals in back-to-back games with Cole’s goal tonight, and Mikhail Sergachev’s goal on Oct. 21 against Colorado. Tourigny discussed this area of the game following the win:
  • “I think on the breakouts, especially the way they move the puck, talk about the first period, the way they apply the puck movement and support the offense, and they were in the right spot. So really happy about the progression right now.”

Upcoming Schedule

• 25: UTA at MIN
• 26: UTA at WPG
• 28: UTA at EDM