Utah Mammoth fall to Kraken 5-3 despite third-period surge

The Story

The Utah Mammoth dropped a 5-3 decision to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday night, despite pushing hard late in the game. Cooley scored twice for Utah, and Vincent Trocheck added the Mammoth’s other goal in the loss.

Karel Vejmelka made 18 saves on 22 shots for Utah. Afterward, head coach André Tourigny said the team generated enough offence but struggled with how the play developed.

“Obviously a frustrating night,” Tourigny said. “We did a lot of good stuff offensively, but we forced the play too much, and it’s disappointing. We know the way the Kraken play, they take pride in the way they play defensively, clog the middle a little bit, and when we played with pace offensively, and we had a lot of speed, we had success. But when we slowed down and tried to make plays through them, that’s how they counterattacked, and that’s how they had success.”

Cooley said there were areas to clean up, including puck management and protecting against Seattle’s transitions. “I think there’s a lot of areas we need to clean up. Managing the puck the right way, something we talked about. Obviously they’re a team that kind of holds the middle and doesn’t allow you to get a lot of plays, especially on delays when you’re trying to find a late guy. I thought we got the puck picked off a bunch of times and allowed them to transition. That’s how they got their looks and ended up scoring.”

Utah’s power play found success again, with both of its man-advantage goals coming in the first and third periods. Trocheck scored in the first period for his third of the season, and 27 seconds into the third, Cooley tipped in Mikhail Sergachev’s shot to cut the deficit. Cooley then tied the game at 3-3 when his point shot beat Seattle goaltender Philipp Grubauer 7:42 into the final frame.

Cooley’s second goal marked the late surge Utah needed, but the Mammoth couldn’t complete the comeback. Utah finished with 36 shots to Seattle’s 23, went 2-for-3 on the power play, and was credited with 30 hits to Seattle’s 14. Defensively, Utah blocked 12 shots, while Seattle blocked 18, and the face-off results favoured Utah at 56.3% to 43.7%.

Utah also made line changes during the game, with Trocheck joining Clayton Keller and Dylan Guenther on one line and Cooley, Nick Schmaltz and Lawson Crouse on another. Tourigny said the adjustment helped create energy and that Cooley’s line made an impact in the third. “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.”

Beyond the scoring, defenceman Nick DeSimone played his 100th career NHL game in Seattle, with 62 of those games coming with Utah, including 40 last season. With the loss, Utah’s record is 7-4-0, and the Mammoth will host the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday night, Oct. 24.