SALT LAKE CITY – Despite somewhat of a closer contest than the final score portrayed, the Utah Mammoth remained red hot as they won their sixth-straight game over the Minnesota Wild on Saturday night.
With even more goals from Logan Cooley and Nick Schmaltz, the Mammoth find themselves at the top of the Central Division and Western Conference amidst the longest winning streak in franchise history.
Here are the key takeaways from Utah’s 6-2 victory over the Wild.
Logan Cooley is making a strong case for a massive pay day
After a 65-point performance for the Mammoth last season, it quickly became undeniable that Logan Cooley is a budding young star in the NHL.
However, after these last few games, we may be witnessing the birth of a true superstar as 92 has simply been scorching hot in the offensive zone.
Following his first natural hat-trick in a Mammoth sweater and the first in franchise history, Cooley scored twice against the Wild to keep things rolling.
Similar to his hatty the game before, 92 remained incredibly efficient with both goals coming in only two seconds of offensive possession time.
Ridiculous.
But perhaps even more impressive was the manner in which he scored.
“I feel like everything we pass to him goes in. That’s really good to have,” JJ Peterka said.
“We’re building from game to game. Chemistry wise it’s getting better and better.”
Beginning with the first, that goal was unquestionably a 10/10 in terms of difficulty as he perfectly batted an airborne, flipping puck underneath the armpit of Filip Gustavsson.
10/10 difficulty here to backhand a flipping puck out of the air and somehow find an open seam into the back of the net.
Are you kidding 92!?pic.twitter.com/FOSRqy6xiL
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) October 25, 2025
As for the second, Cooley then battled relentlessly in front of the net, eventually falling to his knees in an effort to jam one in.
Despite originally being called no goal by the official, upon further review, 92 had registered his second of the night.
Logan Cooley with another 🤯
🚨 2-0, Utah. pic.twitter.com/USVBg0nlq3
— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 25, 2025
In addition to being an outright menace offensively, Cooley is a complete 200-foot-player which is what makes him so special.
He’s aware in all three zones, contributes defensively, wins battles, creates, helps on special teams, and of course, consistently lights the lamp.
Amidst a huge contract year, Cooley is making a strong argument for a massive payday.
After reportedly turning down an 8-year, $77M extension, he may have made the right bet as he’s been on fire as of late.
With 10 points on the year and five goals over the last two games, 92 just might be worth close to $11M AAV given the increasing cap.
While I’ve been hesitant to agree that he should get more than what he was supposedly offered, Cooley is playing completely out of his mind and just might deserve that kind of a bag.
Time will certainly tell, but he’s making a strong case for it.
Karel Vejmelka stood on his head between the pipes against the Minnesota Wild
Making 32 stops on 35 shots (91 percent) against the Minnesota Wild, goaltender Karel Vejmelka was simply superb between the pipes for the Utah Mammoth.
Registering the majority of his saves in the third period (20), Veggie stepped up in key moments in the final frame to keep his team firmly in control.
“He’s been dynamite for us all year too. He was great. In the six on four too, making all those saves even when you can say they didn’t really matter,” Defenseman John Marino explained.
“He was still playing lights out & I think that speaks to the person that he is.”
Insane https://t.co/VxYWD60tXg pic.twitter.com/Wc9as7VHx7
— Cap’n Cook 🦣 (@JazzePinkman) October 25, 2025
Like Marino pointed out, Vejmelka refused to let down, even once the game was essentially out of reach late in the third period.
Shot after shot, Vejmelka was nearly an impenetrable wall as he tracked pucks, had sound position and stuffed nearly every Grade A scoring opportunity the Wild threw at him.
Impressively, Veggie even shut out Minnesota on three-straight power plays in the third despite a relentless effort and a handful of dangerous chances.
Every time there was a threatening puck, Vejmelka answered with a pad or glove.
Minnesota outshot Utah 20-15 in the third period.
Utah outscored them 3-0.
The Vejmelka effect 🥦
— Cole Bagley (@BagleyKSLsports) October 26, 2025
Those are the types of goaltender performances that will fuel Utah into the playoffs.
Not a perfect night, but a stellar one nonetheless as he never wavered and gave his team an opportunity to win.
We may need to start questioning the true potential of the Utah Mammoth this season
Nine games into the NHL season, the Utah Mammoth currently own the best record in both the Central Division and Western Conference (7-2), just like we all anticipated, right?
Wrong, and let’s not kid ourselves.
But all things considered, the Mammoth are playing far above expectations as they’ve won six in a row (second-longest streak in the league) while outscoring their opponents 29-15 during that stretch.
Notably, Utah has also scored the most goals in the NHL (34) thus far and are tied for the best differential (+12).
So, let’s ask ourselves, how good is this team?
To preface, we can’t start talking about the Stanley Cup right now.
It’s far too early so let’s just collectively put that one out of our minds…at least for the time being.
However, what we can likely determine is that Utah should undoubtedly be a playoff team and they just might have the ability to flirt with the second round.
Why?
Well, a lot is going right for them.
Nick Schmaltz and Clayton Keller are off to the best starts of their careers, Dylan Guenther and Cooley have taken the next step in their games, JJ Peterka is as advertised, the defensive core runs deep, and the goaltending has been remarkably good.
But inevitably, they will cool off at some point.
That’s just the way it is.
However, with that in mind, they still look destined to make the playoffs based on how they’ve played so far and the biggest difference just might be the maturity they’ve demonstrated.
“The last couple of wins here, you lose momentum throughout a game. It’s just going to happen,” Marino explained.
“It’s how you respond & what you do after that. So far, we’ve been able to do it the right way.”
Like Marino said, Utah has done it right.
They’ve won the games this season that they likely would’ve lost a year ago and because of that, I expect the Mammoth to be a playoff team.
Can they surpass that?
We’ll see.
But as of right now, I believe Utah is destined to be a playoff team.
What’s next for the Utah Mammoth?
The Utah Mammoth will continue their four-game road trip against the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday at 4 p.m. MT
The game will be available on Mammoth+.
Cole Bagley is the Utah Mammoth insider for KSL Sports. Keep up with him on X here. You can hear Cole break down the team on KSL Sports Zone and KSL 5 TV.
Take us with you, wherever you go.
