It’s poetic, isn’t it? Utah not only avenges its recent, emotional 4–1 loss to Vegas with a dominant 5–1 win, but it also sees one of its brightest young stars, Logan Cooley, make Mammoth history by scoring a career-best four goals. "It's awesome. Any time you do that, it’s special," said Cooley. "Just to see how excited the guys were for me too, you get a cool feeling when you get the support of your teammates. I just think in general, we have such a tight group. Guys really care about each other and want everyone on the team to have success. So it's awesome." To make the feat even more impressive, Cooley is the first NHL player to record a four-goal game this season. He previously posted a natural hat trick against St. Louis earlier in the year, giving him two hat tricks on the season. Before this season, Cooley had recorded only one hat trick in his career. The only other players in the NHL with multiple hat tricks this season are fellow young stars Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini. That’s certainly excellent company for Cooley to be a part of. And to think he’s already recorded two just a quarter of the way through the season, Cooley is becoming a star in real time. To top it off, Cooley’s final goal of the night came while the Mammoth were shorthanded, giving Utah its first shorthanded goal in franchise history. "I think the big thing is consistency, and that's something that for me, personally, I'm always trying to work on," said Cooley. "It’s a grind of a season, mentally, physically, but I think just leaning on guys that have experience, family, little things like that, get you out of it. And, I was fortunate to have kind of a big game tonight." Even when Cooley wasn’t scoring — which was rare on a night like this — he was setting up linemate Dylan Guenther for a perfectly placed goal of his own. It wasn’t just that Cooley left his imprint on every Mammoth goal, he also made a string of high-effort plays that set Utah up for incredible scoring chances. On Gunther's goal, for example, Cooley not only created a shooting lane for Guenther by weaving his way around the Golden Knights, but he also kept the play onside. If Cooley had entered the offensive zone even a second too early, the goal would have been wiped out with Kailer Yamamoto offside. Instead, Cooley’s patience proved to be a difference-maker and Utah grabbed an early lead. And Cooley wasn’t done. He had a hand in every Utah goal. On the Mammoth’s second goal, he won the faceoff and was rewarded for driving to the net when Guenther found him for the finish. Then, when Utah went up 3–1, Cooley not only scored the goal unassisted — unless you count banking a rebound off yourself as an assist — but also capitalized on a Jack Eichel giveaway. Taking advantage of Eichel’s mistake had to be all the more satisfying, considering he posted a three-point game the last time the Mammoth faced Vegas. And, of course, the two empty-netters Cooley added showed the trust the coaching staff has in him to defend against Vegas’ extra attacker. But even then, it’s rare for the same player to score back-to-back empty-net goals. "He didn't complicate his game," said André Tourigny. "He didn’t try to get the play of the week. He will be on the play of the week because he scored four, but it was speed and space behind, and when he does that it’s special." Simply put, Cooley put in a lot of work tonight. While Cooley’s personal performance was certainly notable — and downright impressive — the win was the result of a lot of things going right for Utah as a team. Karel Vejmelka was outstanding for the Mammoth, anchoring the victory with an immaculate performance. His 33 saves matched his season high. Utah’s penalty kill came through again, stopping all three of Vegas’ power-play opportunities. Whenever Vejmelka needed help, the Mammoth were there, whether they were shorthanded or at even strength. "I think we did a really good job before the game," said Vejmelka. "Our coaching staff did a really good job, and it's really helpful for everybody. If you already know what they have a tendency to do, then it's easier for us to figure it out, and we played against those guys a couple days ago, so we did a good job, and we played simple." Utah also did a far better job playing its game and not letting emotions get the best of them. While there was some lingering chippiness from the teams’ previous meeting, Utah avoided unnecessary penalties and stayed composed. Overall, it was a better game from Utah in every facet — a fitting night for Logan Cooley to make history.
