Goaltender Sebastian Cossa also had a strong performance in his second straight start. The rookie made timely saves and stood strong against the Canadiens, especially when they were pushing or on the power play. Cossa ended the night with 30 saves on 35 shots, and he stopped eight of the nine shots he faced while his team was shorthanded.
“He was good,” head coach André Tourigny shared. “Especially in the second period, made a few big saves, allowed us to be in the game. Big reason why we got the point.”
“He was really good in a lot of those big moments,” Cooley shared. “I thought they got a few good looks in the slot, and he was right there making big saves.”
It was a busy special teams night as Utah went 3-for-5 on the power play and 3-for-4 on the penalty kill. Two of Cooley’s tallies, and Schmaltz’s goal, were on the man-advantage, and it was the first time Cooley has scored multiple power play goals in one game. The team had three penalties in the second half of the middle frame, including one in the final minute of the second period. Utah has killed off five of their last six penalties, and are making an impact.
“I think they take a lot of pride,” Tourigny shared. “We need our PK to come (up) big like they have, the last couple games we had big kill at key moments, so that’s important.”
Although Utah was looking to get another win, it is significant that the team pushed the game to overtime and earned a point. The standings are tight, and these points can be a difference maker later in the season.
“It’s huge,” Cooley said of the point earned. “Obviously, the game they had before us, we knew they were going to come out humming in their building. It’s a tough building to play (in) … getting a point is huge and we’ll take that, move on, and be better.”
Utah will look to take tonight’s lessons and learn from them moving forward. One area they’ll address is giving up too many odd man rushes.
“I wasn’t really happy about the odd man rushes we gave, and the way we approached,” Tourigny said. “I think Montréal played a really good game. They had a solid performance from their (defensemen). They (skated) the puck well, they break out the puck well. I didn’t like the fact we didn’t get above them more than that.”
“I think as we got the lead, and throughout (the middle of the game), we just weren’t reloading,” Cooley explained. “We were giving them too many odd man rushes. Obviously, they’re a skilled group. There’s a lot of good players and you give them time and space, and room through the neutral zone, they’re going to end up scoring. So, we got to clean that up and make sure we’re taking care of that right away.”
Additional Notes from Tonight
- Defenseman Nate Schmidt suffered an upper-body injury in tonight’s game and did not return for the second period. He only played 3:59, and the Mammoth played the majority of the game with five defensemen.
- With an assist on Cooley’s third goal, captain Clayton Keller became the ninth-fastest active player to record 200 points with a franchise. He achieved this feat in his 700th career NHL game (per NHL Stats).
- Alternate captain Mikhail Sergachev set a new career-long points streak tonight as the defensemen has points in nine-straight (3G, 8A). Sergachev assisted on Cooley’s second goal of the night.
- Schmaltz posted his second three-point game of the season, extending his points streak to three games (2G, 4A) (per Utah Mammoth PR).
Final Stats
Score: 5-4 OT, MTL
Shots: MTL 35, UTA 20
Power Play: UTA 3/5, MTL 1/4
Hits: UTA 30, MTL 17
Blocked Shots: UTA 15, MTL 14
Face-Off %: MTL 57.1%, UTA 42.9%
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