Mammoth score 3 early goals, top Wild to win 6th straight

Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz scored two goals apiece and the Utah Mammoth pulled away for a 6-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday evening in St. Paul, Minn. JJ Peterka and John Marino also scored for Utah, which won its sixth game in a row. Cooley (two goals, one assist) and Marino (one goal, two assists) each finished with three points. Marcus Johansson scored both goals for Minnesota, which has one win in its past six games. Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka stopped 33 of 34 shots to earn the victory. Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson allowed five goals on 40 shots. Utah grabbed a 1-0 lead 56 seconds into the first period. Cooley tracked a puck that was fluttering beneath his shoulders before whacking it out of the air and into the net. Cooley scored again less than three minutes later to make it 2-0. His second goal came on the power play as he parked near the front of the crease and punched in a loose puck. The Mammoth increased their lead to 3-0 at the 4:58 mark of the first period. Schmaltz scored on a deflection from the left circle to extend his goal- scoring streak to three games. The fast start marked a franchise record for the Mammoth, who never had scored three goals in the opening five minutes of a game until Saturday evening. Minnesota got on the scoreboard with 4:21 remaining in the first period. Johansson blasted a one-timer from the right circle into the net off a perfect pass from Zeev Buium. Johansson cut the Wild's deficit to 3-2 when he scored his second goal of the game and his third of the season with 4:17 to go in the second period. He capitalized on a power-play opportunity with another one-timer, this time off a feed from Vinnie Hinostroza. The Mammoth increased their advantage to 4-2 with 6:23 left in the third period. Peterka charged into the offensive zone and scored from the slot. Schmaltz notched his second goal of the game to boost Utah's lead to 5-2 with 4:46 to go. Marino finished the scoring with an empty-net goal in the final seconds. –Field Level Media

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