^{Logan Cooley provides the 2nd hat trick performance in 3 games}

In my 3 key points to victory this morning, I wrote that Utah needed to pressure Hofer, keep Buchnevich off the board, and keep the game at least close through the 1st because St.Louis was bad in the second.

The game started out exactly as planned. Utah opened the game with several shots on Hofer – and of 6 of them, 3 hit twine. Buchnevich was shut down and did nothing the first period. The game, however, was not close after the first and Utah took control early.

St. Louis coach Jim Montgomery made it a point that his team needed to focus on the Keller-Hayton-Schmaltz line. This makes a lot of sense for a few reasons – Keller has been phenomenal against his hometown team and Schmaltz is scoring between 2 and 124 goals a game. However, Utah’s team is a little deeper than that first line and they made the Blues pay for that strategy.

The first period was the Logan Cooley show. In his second shift, Cooley took a chip pass from Cole up center, and laid out a nice pass for JJ Peterka. Peterka, by the way, was on his back behind the goal right before this happened; a testament to his speed and playmaking ability. JJ made a drop pass right past the blue – a pass that he may have intended for Dylan Guenther, but it ended up on Ian Cole’s stick instead. Cole pulled the puck from his off-side, took a few strides up the middle and, while being tackled, slid the puck five-hole on Hofer. First shot of the game by Utah, 1-0.

Following that shift, the Keller line came out and the Blues kept to the idea of shutting down his line. The 1st line pushed, but were kept from any real scoring chances. The Blues were sticking to what they planned, and were honestly executing that plan well. Utah had a push after, but Marino sailed a puck high. St. Louis tried to counter, but could not get momentum. The Mammoth had another strong push, nearly doubling the lead from a shot by Peterka. That shot only dented the iron, but Utah recovered the puck with great pressure from a pinching Marino. A drop pass in the slot from Guenther to Cooley let the young center rip a one-timer past Hofer for a 2-0 lead. Hofer had faced 4 official shots, letting in two, and was saved from a third by a half inch of goalpost.

The Blues failed to have much offensive pressure at all, as Utah continued to pressure them. In Cooley’s next shift, just a minute and a half after his first goal, he would strike again. Maatta redirected a clear from the Blues at the red line, and Guenther used his speed to pull the puck away from Pius Suter and slide it over to Cooley. Logan was slightly ahead of the pass – and the Blues defensemen – but redirected the puck between his legs to get it on his forehand to slide it past a shell-shocked Hofer. 3 – 0 for the Mammoth, on 6 first period shots.

Mercifully for Hofer, after a .500 save percentage and a normalized 22.64 GA/60 game stat, he was pulled in favor of their typical starter, Jordan Binnington.

Binnington entered right into the fire, as St. Louis took an immediate penalty after the change. With a Utah power play that has started to see a little improvement lately, Utah had periods of a little bit of pressure, registering one shot and a pair of attempts over the two minutes. Unfortunately, the Mammoth were unable to capitalize, but a frustrated Blues team took another penalty within 30 seconds of their kill.

On this second attempt, Cooley won the faceoff to keep the puck in the Blues zone. Following a Schmaltz shot that went wide, a wrister by Mikhail Sergachev was tipped in front by Guenther. The puck sat in front of a wide open net, and Cooley wasted no time in getting his first ever hat trick. Natural hat trick by Logan Cooley, who scored all three goals in 4:48 of game time, notching his fourth point in the process in the first 10:55 of the game.

St. Louis continued to struggle to mount pressure, notching their second shot of the period at the 12 minute mark, as Vejmelka snagged the harmless wrister. Utah pulled off the gas for the rest of the period, though the Blues remained chippy through the period. After they got their third, and final, shot of the period, a scrum broke out in front of Vejmelka. The frustration was very clear all the way through to the horn.

With a four goal lead, the game appeared to be well in hand. However Utah, as usual, struggled in the middle frame, while St. Louis, notoriously bad in the second period this year flipped the script.

St. Louis finally reached their 4th shot early in the period – matching the goal total the Mammoth had in the previous one. Their opening few minutes were much more energized, and the teams seemed evenly matched early on. However, a tenacious forecheck about 5 minutes in pinned Utah in their zone. Pius Suter found the rebound from a pair of shots from defenseman Colton Parayko, lifting the puck over the pad of a stretched out Vejmelka.

The goal horn had barely sounded when another big scrum occurred behind Utah’s net. This mess resulted in a total of 5 penalties with Utah taking the extra 2 minutes for a Sergachev cross-check. Utah went to the first penalty kill of the night.

The penalty kill had some difficulty trying to adjust to the proper units, with Ian Cole being caught out on a long shift. These broken lines led to some scoring chances by St. Louis with a goal off a confusing play. A Blues shot hit Vejmelka in the mask, knocking it loose and exposing his face. While he raised his hand to signal play stoppage, St. Louis took advantage of a helmetless Veggie, shooting where his glove hand normally is.

Stoppages occur to protect goalies in these situations, but NHL rules state that the continuation of play overrules player safety in these situations. Despite a pass, which would not be the continuation of the play, the refs indicated the goal would stand. So, 4-2. All of a sudden, that first period started to feel a long way away.

Through 27 minutes of the game, only 20 shots were taken – 11 by Utah, 9 by St. Louis – with 6 lighting the lamp. Goaltending through the first half of the game seemed optional.

Close to the halfway point in the period, Utah got another power play opportunity, as Nate Schmidt drew another tripping penalty. However, the power play had another poor showing. Binnington was forced to make two good saves, however Utah gave up a horrible shorthanded chance by Philip Broberg. To try and keep him in check, Keller ended up hooking Broberg, ending the power play early and resulting in being shorthanded again. Utah’s PK team did their job, keeping the Blues from registering a single shot.

Things got exciting for Utah close to the 6 minute mark, as things started to pick up for them offensively. A non-concussed and injury free Jack McBain hit a streaking Lawson Crouse in stride for a breakaway. Crouse, however, was too slow – and a back checking Broberg disrupted the Sherriff from taking a shot. Shortly after, a steal at the blue line by Guenther was fed to Cooley, who rifled a shot that Binnington got a piece of. The rebound dropped right in front of JJ Peterka, but he was unable to get a shot off, and the score remained 4-2.

A late penalty by Nick Schmaltz caused some concern for Utah. Shorthanded again with less than 4 minutes to go in the period, Utah could ill afford to have just a 1 goal lead heading into the break. However, Crouse and Cole had important blocks, and the killers were able to intercept or disrupt Blues passes for much of the kill. Vejmelka was tested a couple of times, but stood tall when needed.

Right before the end of the period, Missouri native and Blues destroyer, Clayton Keller streaking down the left side, took a pass from Schmaltz in stride, and with a semi-breakaway he rifled a shot past Binnington. With 30 seconds to go, Utah took a massive positive away from an otherwise bad period. The Mammoth entered the locker room with a 5-2 lead heading into the final frame.

A desperate Blues team came out hard to start the third period. Several pushes did not result in a shot, and Michael Carcone had the first chance of the period stopped by Binnington. St. Louis continued to push and, while a Mammoth player was being held behind the play, the Blues had a late change that allowed
Oskar Sundqvist to get in deep, undefended. In the scramble, Utah’s defense left Nathan Walker alone with a wide open cage, and the Blues were able to bring the deficit back to 2 with about 18 minutes to play.

An energized Blues team was able to control an offensive zone faceoff, and a good opportunity by Justin Faulk was turned aside by Vejmelka. Ultimately, the Blues pressure resulted in a holding penalty by Guenther, giving St. Louis another dose of hope in the period. While the penalty kill did its job, the Mammoth never really controlled the puck, and a rush by Broberg was aggressively challenged by Vejmelka. Broberg held the puck, tucking in a wraparound that an out of position Veggie couldn’t save. All of a sudden, a 4-0 score was a distant memory.

Seconds later, the Blues almost tied the game with a pair of Nathan Walker shots, the second of which got under Vejmelka but didn’t squeak by. Another gathering between the clubs in front broke out, and it was clear that St, Louis had all the momentum from a stunned Utah team.

Utah defended that push, and a tough forecheck forced the Blues to ice the puck. On the ensuing faceoff, Suter was whistled for a hand pass off the face-off. This put Utah back on the power play with a chance to pad a lead with half a period to go.

Several zone possessions led to some good pressure, until finally a few good keeps and good puck movement ended with a wrister from Sergachev. Stepping up from the line, the shot hit Schmaltz in front of the net, and the puck slowly rolled past everyone, past the red line, and restoring Utah’s 2 goal lead.

Another save by Vejmelka saw the Blues take a couple late whacks. Another scrum behind the net erupted, but no penalties came from this. The Blues continued to be chippy, with a number of hits through the rest of the period, but a relentless forecheck by Utah helped force errors in the neutral zone, and good sticks and anticipation in the defensive zone led to a lot of broken passes, take aways, and clears.

Maatta helped defuse the one potential threat with about three minutes to go, disrupting a developing 2 on 1, allowing Crouse to come back and make a play to break up any scoring chance. Carcone was stuffed on a chance, and Binnington was pulled from the resulting rush back up. With the net empty, Utah was able to win a draw, which came to Keller. Fighting off a hook, and likely a hold as well, Keller sealed the deal with an empty netter. Final score, 7-4 Utah in a wild game.

---

3 GOALS (THE GOOD):

Logan Cooley just raised his asking price. His natural hat trick, the first natural hat trick in team history, and first hat trick since March 28, 2024. Add on the Ian Cole assist, and Cooley was responsible for the entire Mammoth offense in the first period. 3 goals on 4 shots, with an assist, coupled with an above 50% faceoff win rate, and back checking when he could, Cools was a massive net positive all over the ice. Can you believe that this team that struggled to score the first few games now has a Schmaltz and Cooley hat trick in the last three games?

Clayton Keller is not on the board of directors, but he still owns the Blues organization. Tonight, the captain scored his 200th NHL goal and his 100th point with Utah with his 2 goals including the game winner. Tonight was Keller’s 33rd game in his hometown, and he now has 15 goals and 23 assists – a total of 38 points against the Blues. He certainly feels at home there.

Team resilience was on full display today. I’ll get to the bad in a minute, but Utah was tested several times in a game they should have had in the bag early. Each time, when things were looking bad, the defense stepped up on a penalty kill, the offense bailed them out giving another 2 goal lead, or Vejmelka made a timely save (and… more below on him too). However, this game is a game Utah gives up on last year. A big push by a desperate team at 4-0 would have caused the team to turtle up and not take chances. Perhaps Bear has them believing in their defensive ability. Perhaps they trust that with the forwards waking up and scoring goals, they can play a little looser. Perhaps there’s a year of maturity there they needed. Regardless, this team is not the team we saw early on last year. That can only lead to good things down the road.

3 CHIRPS (THE BAD):

Goaltending tonight was almost non-existent. Vejmelka, a stalwart for Utah in net, was caught out of position twice, and the defense failed to bail him out of tough situations. He ended the game with 4 goals against, and an .800 save percentage. While not the lowest save percentage in his career, he really struggled against a team that should have been put away after that first period.

Thankfully, St. Louis had an even worse night. Hofer was a sieve, and pulled after 6 shots. His .500 save percentage and 22.64 GA/60 tonight was the single worst goalie performance of the year to date. He’s failed to complete a full game in his past two starts, being pulled twice, and logging 54 minutes in two games. Buffalo claimed Colten Ellis after St. Louis waived him, and they’re kicking themselves.

All across the league, scoring was way up. In 12 games, 10 teams hit 5+ goals. Maybe there’s something going on with the moon phases today.

The second and third periods almost completely unraveled this team again. A 4-0 first period lead with most teams are safe, however the Mammoth can’t ever do things the easy way. After just 3 shots given up in the first, Utah let up on their defense and gave up 17 shots the rest of the way. Karel Vejmelka did them no favors as I mentioned, but 4 goals on 17 shots is bad for a team that lets up the lowest number of goals per game in the league. If it weren’t for the 4 goal outburst in the 1st period, this game could have gone very, very different for Utah.

John Marino went from one of the better defensemen last year in a limited season to somehow forgetting to play the past few games. Out of position and not marking his man on the Walker goal, continuing to fumble the puck in the defensive end, and just hesitating to make plays – and then rushing when pressured – are not losing the Mammoth games… yet. It’s not just the eye test either; Hockey Stat cards had him listed as the worst defenseman playing tonight. That includes against a team that let up 7 goals.

Marino needs to tighten up his game. The great defense the team is providing with blocked shots, disrupted passes, and good forechecking can hide warts and misplays for a while, but without cleaning up his game, it will eventually come back to bite the team.

---

Next up:

Another divisional matchup, as the Mammoth head north to brave the Wilds in Minnesota. Game starts Saturday at 4PM local.