ST. LOUIS (ABC4 Sports) - Logan Cooley scored a natural hat trick in the first period, and the Utah Mammoth won their fifth straight, 7-4 against the St. Louis Blues at Enterprise Center on Thursday.
Cooley’s second NHL hat trick was scored in 4:48, the second, third and fourth goals of a four-goal first period that staked the Mammoth to a 4-0 lead; he also had an assist in the first period.
Clayton Keller had two goals and an assist, Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists, and JJ Peterka had three assists for the Mammoth (6-2-0). Karel Vejmelka made 16 saves.
The five-game winning streak is the longest since the team relocated to Utah last season.
Joel Hofer was pulled for the second straight start for the Blues (3-3-1) after allowing three goals on six shots in the first 7:57. Jordan Binnington made 15 saves in relief.
Ian Cole scored from the slot through Hofer off a drop pass from Peterka that made it 1-0 at 3:18 of the first.
Cooley made it 2-0 at 6:07 on a one-timer from the high slot. He made it 3-0 at 7:57 on a backhand break-in that sent Hofer out of the game. Cooley’s power-play goal at 10:55, a tap-in at the side of the net, made it 4-0.
Cooley is the second Mammoth player to record a hat trick this season, joining Nick Schmaltz, who scored three goals against San Jose.
Pius Suter finished a rebound in front at 5:58 of the second period to make it 4-1, and Pavel Buchnevich's first goal of the season, a rebound goal on the power play, made it 4-2 at 7:13.
Keller put Utah up 5-2 at 19:24, racing in alone and whipping a shot from the left circle past Binnington.
Nathan Walker made it 5-3 at 2:19 of the third period, finishing from the bottom of the right circle off an Oskar Sundqvist pass, a backhand across the slot.
Philip Broberg's wraparound at 5:43 cut the Utah lead to 5-4.
Schmaltz tipped a Mikhail Sergachev shot from the slot past Binnington on the power play at 9:51 to make it 6-4.
Keller's empty-net goal at 18:20 made it a 7-4 final.
The Mammoth next play at Minnesota Saturday at 4:00 p.m.