Utah’s power play continued its success as both units recorded a goal. In the first period, off a great feed from Washington native Kailer Yamamoto, Trocheck scored his third of the season. Twenty-seven seconds into the third period, while the Mammoth were down 3-1, Cooley tipped in Mikhail Sergachev’s shot to get the Mammoth’s second power play goal of the game.
“It’s a positive, the power play’s rolling right now,” Cooley explained. “Second unit, they did a really good job. Was an unbelievable play by (Yamamoto) there to find (Trocheck) there. Start of the third, it was a big goal for us to get, especially quickly into the third. Those are obviously positives to take into the next games, and hopefully we can keep building off that because it’s important.”
“Power play has been good for us,” Tourigny shared. “I like when the well is spread like that. I think (the goals) came at big key moments as well. It’s not just scoring, it’s scoring when it matters, and they had big goals when it mattered.”
In addition to his power play goal 27 seconds into the third period, Cooley’s second of the night tied the game, 3-3. His shot from the point soared past Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer 7:42 into the final frame.
Utah changed its top two lines during the game. Vincent Trocheck joined Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther on one line while Logan Cooley, Nick Schmaltz, and Lawson Crouse made up another. Although it was a limited sample size, the changes did have a positive impact.
“I think the (Trocheck) line had a little spark in the second, and they brought some good energy, so I liked that,” Tourigny said. “(Cooley’s) line scored in the third period. We’ll see what we do in the next game.”
“We got on the forecheck,” Cooley said on his new line. “We were supporting each other. I think that’s kind of how we scored on the second one there. I thought we did a good job of supporting each other, getting in on the forecheck, using our speed, chipping into a spot where we could recover it. They’re a team that doesn’t allow you to find the middle of the ice, so you (have) to work it in and kind of grind them down a little.”
With the loss, Utah is 7-4-0. However, the Mammoth will have an opportunity to get right back to work when they host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night.
Additional Notes from Tonight
- Defenseman Nick DeSimone played his 100th career NHL game tonight in Seattle. Sixty-two of his 100 career games have been with Utah, including 40 last season. DeSimone is now one of 26 active undrafted defensemen to skate in triple-digit NHL games (per Mammoth PR).
- Utah outshot Seattle, 36-23. The Mammoth had 14 shots in both the second and third periods, and held their opponent to nine or fewer shots in the middle and final frames. Seattle recorded only four shots in the third period.
Final Stats
Score: 5-3 SEA
Shots: UTA 36, SEA 23
Power Play: UTA 2/3, SEA 2/4
Hits: UTA 30, SEA 14
Blocked Shots: SEA 18, UTA 12
Face-Off %: UTA 56.3%, SEA 43.7%
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