Cooley scores late as Mammoth get 1st playoff win, even series vs. Vegas

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Logan Cooley scored off a rebound with six minutes left to give the Mammoth a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, and they will head back to Utah with a split of the first two games in their first-round playoffs series.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Salt Lake City.

Cooley, a 21-year-old from Pittsburgh, is the youngest U.S.-born player to score a goal in each of his first two playoff games.

It's the first playoff victory for the Mammoth since the organization relocated from Arizona two years ago.

This was the Golden Knights' first regulation defeat under coach John Tortorella (8-1-1).

Dylan Guenther had a goal and an assist for the Mammoth, MacKenzie Weegar scored, and Kailer Yamamoto finished with two assists. Karel Vejmelka recorded 19 saves.

Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev scored for the Golden Knights, with Jack Eichel picking up the primary assist on each. Carter Hart, who stopped 26 shots, suffered his first loss under Tortorella in Vegas after winning his first seven starts.

With the score tied at 2 in the waning minutes of regulation, Guenther took a shot off the rush, got his own rebound, and then hit the puck off the post. Cooley was waiting there, knocking in the puck to pull the Mammoth even.

The teams traded goals in each of the first two periods.

After Stone scored in the first period on a shot that went off Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev's skate, the Golden Knights, for the second game in a row, had an unforced error in which the puck ended up in their net. Weegar was credited with the goal after the puck went off two Vegas defensemen — Noah Hanifin's stick and Rasmus Andersson's shin — into the open net.

Guenther delivered a shot from the left point in the second period for the Mammoth, before Barbashev answered 1:02 later by weaving through the slot to put in a backhand.

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