Nick Schmaltz hat trick lifts Mammoths to 6-3 win over Sharks – Hockey Writer – Utah Mammoths
The Utah Mammoths take on the winless San Jose Sharks on Friday night in their first game of the season at the newly renovated Delta Center.
Coming into this game, the Mammoths’ offense struggled, ranking 30th in goals per game, while the Sharks struggled to keep the puck away, conceding the highest number of goals per game in the league.
game review
The Mammoths came out early and established dominance. They were under tremendous pressure on offense, which led to several scoring chances early, and on a five-on-three power play, the Mammoths opened the scoring via a tic-tac-toe game between Clayton Keller, Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz, who scored his first goal of the season.
Four minutes later, Schmaltz put another puck into the Sharks’ net when Barrett Hayton recovered a puck on the front door and found Keller, who again put Schmaltz in the net.
The Mammoths entered the first intermission with a two-goal lead. However, the Sharks pulled one back with a power-play goal just over five minutes into the second period, with Tyler Toffoli scoring a one-timer after a rebound from a spot-up shot that Karel Vermelka initially saved.
The Sharks used that spark to go on the offensive, tying the game less than two minutes later with a goal from Jeff Skinner. It was a strange play, with Skinner trying to force the ball to the net. It bounced off a Mammoth defender and ended up in the back of the Mammoth net.
At this point, the game was tied at halftime. With less than four minutes left in the second, Jaroslav Askarov mishandled the puck behind the net and Liam O’Brien stuffed the puck into the Sharks’ net, giving the Mammoths a 3-2 lead heading into the final period when the Mammoths regained the lead.
In the third game, the Mammoths started pouring. Schmalz completed his hat trick early in the game, leaving him alone on the court for just the third time that night. Less than three minutes later, Michael Carcone scored his first goal of the season, then Keller did the same to give Utah a four-goal lead with less than 10 minutes left.
Macklin Celebrini finally brought the Sharks within three goals for the first time late in the season, but the Mammoths sealed the victory 6-3, which was as close as the Sharks could get.
The Sharks host the Pittsburgh Penguins tomorrow night, while the Mammoths have an off night before hosting the Boston Bruins on Monday.
