Mammoth bounce back with 5-2 win over Wild behind Keller, Crouse goals

SALT LAKE CITY — Sometimes it takes a game to get back into the swing of things after a three-week break.

After dropping its first game back from the Olympics break, the Mammoth came out with more energy and aggressiveness to power the team to a 5-2 win over the Minnesota Wild Friday night.

Clayton Keller was a force for Utah in the win, where he totaled 3 points on a goal and two assists. Lawson Crouse also netted two goals, while Nick Schmaltz and Mikhail Sergachev each picked up two assists as part of a strong offensive showing for the Mammoth.

"Really proud of the boys," Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny said. "I think there's a ton of players I can talk about today who I'm proud of, who brought up their effort. There's a lot of guys who played really well up front. We had everybody tune in from every line, so proud of our team."

The Wild, who were playing on the second night of a back-to-back, looked tired, and Utah took advantage.

"The last couple teams we played on the back-to-back, we made sure we were really aggressive and we jumped at them," Tourigny said. "That doesn't guarantee you will win, but it guarantees you will bring them in deep water and see if they can swim."

The Mammoth set the tone early, outshooting Minnesota with 15 shots on goal compared to the Wild's six in the opening frame. Karel Vejmelka cleaned up Minnesota's two best looks in the period on two straight shots.

Vejmelka shut the door on multiple chances at the net for the Wild, including a short handed opportunity for Matt Boldy, which was reminiscent of his breakaway goal in the gold medal match for the USA; but this time he was unsuccessful.

Minnesota misplayed many chances around the net throughout the game thanks, in part, to the play of Vejmelka and the defense closing gaps quickly.

Utah drew the game's first penalty but wasn't able to convert on the man advantage. They did, however, score a short-handed goal on the Wild's first power play.

A Mikhail Sergachev shot was deflected off Minnesota goaltender Jesper Wallstedt's pad and right to Logan Cooley, who cleaned it up by netting his first goal since Nov. 28 after his shot went underneath the legs of Wallstedt.

The momentum the Mammoth built up in the first period then carried over into the second, where Utah scored two goals to take a three-goal lead over the Wild. Keller's line helped push the pace and score two goals in just over a three-minute span.

"We're a fast team and can make a lot of plays, but I think the biggest thing for us is sticking to our identity as much as we can," Keller said. "It's hard to do, and I think we've gotten better as the year's gone on. The good teams are the most consistent."

Schmaltz and Keller demonstrated their chemistry as long-time linemates when Schmaltz hit Keller on a pass before Utah's captain sank his 18th goal of the season. Minutes later, Crouse was on the receiving end of a pass from Keller and he got his shot past Wallstedt for the score.

"It seems like it doesn't matter what team we're playing, he's picking up points," Crouse said of Keller. "A lot of credit goes to (Schmaltz), they play so well together, they read off each other. It's just a lot of fun to play with and a lot of fun to watch."

The Wild picked up a power-play goal from Kirill Kaprizov, who sank a point-blank goal after a nice set-up pass from Boldy, who also added a late goal to give him a 2-point night after he finally got one of his seven shots past Vejmelka.

After getting the second penalty kill of the night, the Mammoth drew its second man advantage of the game. Another deflection off a shot from Sergachev found its way to Barrett Hayton, who scored a goal from in front of the net.

To put the finishing touches on a great bounce-back performance was Crouse, who scored his second goal of the night on passes from Jack McBain and Sean Durzi to set up the shot attempt.

It took nearly 45 minutes of game action for Minnesota to match the shots on goal Utah had in the first period. The Mammoth outshot the Wild 37-23 in the game, showcasing its aggression on offense and poise on defense.

"I think just consistent pressure all over the ice, not giving them time and space," Keller said when asked about the team's performance.

"They're an unbelievable team. They have so many great players that are hard to defend; they hold on to pucks. So I think just try to have as much pace as possible in the D zone and all over the ice and offensively, just moving the puck quick."

Keller's Team USA teammate, Minnesota's Brock Faber, did not want to make any excuses regarding the team's play on the second night of a back-to-back, though.

"Tonight we didn't have our best, and you can talk about the back-to-back all you want, but we just weren't good enough," Faber said. "A skilled team like that, you've got to put pucks behind them and make them defend, because it seems like when we make that team defend, that's when we get our opportunities and wear them down. We just didn't do that tonight."

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