Schmaltz's hat trick helps Mammoth cruise to 6-2 win over Canucks

SALT LAKE CITY — The best way to get out of a little funk in hockey: score the puck as much as possible.

Nick Schmaltz and the Mammoth did exactly that in a 6-2 victory over the Vancouver Canucks Monday night. Schmaltz recorded his third career hat trick and second of the season in the win.

"I think over the last month or so, we've been playing some good hockey and slipped a couple games in a row there," Schmaltz said. We wanted to get back on track tonight. We knew this was a big game for us. Standings are super tight, so it was a huge win for us on home ice."

Schmaltz helped Utah get the scoring started quickly, with two scored goals in the first period before capping off a 4-point night by completing the hat trick with his third goal in the final period.

Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny raved about Schmaltz but added "we will be here for a while," when asked how he could describe his importance to the team.

"He's a great leader in our team," Tourigny said. "He has a special chemistry with our captain. I often say he's the brain of the operation. If you want to know what's going on in our team, talk to Schmaltzy. He knows what's going on in the team. He has a really good feel of everything."

Utah badly needed a win after dropping its last two games and the sting of the late collapse against Carolina seemingly hanging over the team's head in a loss to Dallas on Saturday. Special teams had been a struggle of late, but the Mammoth cleaned it up Monday.

"We need to put more pressure on the guys," Mikhail Sergachev said. "(With) Carolina and Dallas, we're giving them way too much time to think about what they had to do and set up in their place, and it didn't work out for us. Tonight, we kind of put more pressure and it felt better."

Utah held Vancouver scoreless on the man advantage by killing off four penalties and also picked up a much-needed power-play goal of its own thanks to Schmaltz's rocket slap shot from Mikhail Sergachev.

The power-play goal from Sergachev gave Utah its first power-play goal in the team's last 11 chances.

"Big night for our special teams, and (I) liked our PK a lot — obviously our power play as well," Tourigny said.

The Mammoth entered Monday's contest sitting outside of the playoffs but with a chance to pick up some points against the last place Canucks.

It looked like it would be another eerie start for Utah with Vancouver picking up a power play in the first two minutes of the game; but it didn't phase the Mammoth this time, and the team came out of the penalty kill with the game's opening goal.

Two first period goals for Schmaltz set the tone for Utah, and they carried the momentum over into the second period by scoring three more goals.

Schmaltz scored his first goal after the Mammoth successfully killed Vancouver's opening penalty. Schmaltz and John Marino connected on a couple passes before Marino whipped it across the ice to Schmaltz, who lit the lamp for the game's first goal.

The Canucks tied the game minutes later when Liam Ohgren got behind Utah's defense and got his shot past Karel Vejmelka.

But Schmaltz quickly got the goal back for the Mammoth with his second goal of the game when he received the puck from Durzi and buried the goal with a snap shot.

The three-goal second period began with Utah exercising some demons as the team put an end to its power-play goal drought with Sergachev's goal.

Marino picked up 2 more points as part of his 3-point night by connecting with Lawson Crouse and J.J. Peterka on goals. Crouse scored his goal after getting a deflection on Marino's shot near the net.

"He's a great player," Schmaltz said of Marino. "I think he's very underrated. He's got a lot of plays with the puck. He waits off defenders and makes a lot of good plays in the middle of the ice."

With the 3 points, Marino has now posted the most points in a season for his career with 28 points and counting. It eclipsed his previous career-high of 26 during his rookie season in Pittsburgh.

The Canucks got on the board once more before Schmaltz capped off his strong effort with his final goal in the third period.

Utah continued to pick up good performances from different players on Monday, showing the Mammoth have plenty of depth and players capable of making plays when others are struggling.

"That's a good sign of a good team," Schmaltz said. "Guys are going to step up on different nights. You've got to do that in this league — 82 games is a lot of games, and you're not gonna have your best every night, so you've gotta have a deep team that can step up and guys can make plays when it matters."

The win is a step back in the right direction for the Mammoth, but the team still has much to improve on if it wants to secure a playoff spot this season. Getting more consistency out of its special teams may be the biggest factor.

"Sergey hit a great shot, and it's huge for power play," Schmaltz said. "We've got to be better if we want to go anywhere here."

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