Logan Cooley enjoys return to Minnesota, Wild not so much as Mammoth roll to 6-2 victory

Sarah McLellan, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Oct 25, 2025

Published in Hockey

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ST. PAUL, Minn. — Logan Cooley was a one-season wonder with the Minnesota Gophers, the forward having a short-but-sweet college career before graduating to the NHL.

But Cooley enjoyed being back in the Twin Cities, and he played like it, too.

His sizzling start continued Saturday when his pair of goals and assist helped the Mammoth run away, 6-2, at Grand Casino Arena for their sixth consecutive victory that ruined the Wild’s return home from a miserable road trip.

Cooley scored twice in 2 minutes, 33 seconds during a three-goal blitz for Utah early in the first period that sunk the Wild into a hole they’d stay in for the rest of the night.

He also set up a key insurance goal for JJ Peterka in the third period that thwarted the Wild’s comeback.

With only one victory in their past six games, the Wild are 3-5-1.

How it happened

A nifty display of Cooley’s hand-eye coordination kicked off the parade of goals.

Only 56 seconds after the opening faceoff and with his back to the net, Cooley batted the puck out of midair past Wild goaltender Filip Gustavsson.

Then at 3:29, Cooley kept whacking at the puck in front during the Mammoth’s only power play until a shot finally bounced behind Gustavsson. Although the Wild’s Marcus Foligno swiped the puck away, video review confirmed it crossed the goal line before the clear.

This gave Cooley — who was with the Gophers for their 2022-23 run to the Frozen Four where they lost the championship game in overtime to Quinnipiac — five goals in two games after netting a hat trick Thursday at St. Louis, and his two goals in the first 3:29 were the fastest pair to open a game in team history.

Utah, which added Mammoth as its nickname before its second season in the league since relocating from Arizona, kept testing the Wild, and secured its third goal on six shots when Nick Schmaltz tipped in a wind-up from another former Gopher in Nate Schmidt.

Turning point

The Wild’s rally stalled after two goals by Marcus Johansson.

With 4:21 to go in the first, Johansson polished off a tic-tac-toe passing play through Utah’s zone: Kirill Kaprizov dropped for Zeev Buium, who forwarded the puck to Johansson for a one-timer.

A similar shot worked again for Johansson on the power play, with the veteran winger who’s coming up on 1,000 NHL games wiring in a Vinnie Hinostroza backhand pass at 15:43 of the second period; the goal snapped a 0-for-11 drought for the power play during the Wild’s 1-3-1 road trip.

Johansson also drew the penalty that led to the power play when he was hooked on a deke that was denied by the pad of a sprawled Karel Vejmelka in the Mammoth’s net.

But the Wild never got any closer to Utah despite improving.

They had two more power plays in the third period but couldn’t capitalize, finishing 1 for 4.

Cue the Mammoth.

Peterka accepted a Cooley pass and snapped a shot by Gustavsson at 13:37 before Schmaltz nabbed his second of the game off a breakaway just 1:37 later. John Marino drained a 142-foot empty-netter with 6 seconds remaining.

Vejmelka totaled 32 saves, and Gustavsson had 34 in another effort that kept the Wild competitive.

Key stat

Utah’s three goals in the first period were the fastest three tallied by a road team since Edmonton’s 3:55 tear Dec. 30, 2022, at Seattle.

What it means

The Wild’s inconsistency hurt them again.

Yes, they were better after falling behind 3-0, but that still didn’t make up for their early lapses. Before their comeback attempt, the Wild were out of sorts: They had blatant giveaways, put themselves off-side, and their passing was off.

They reset to put the pressure on the Mammoth, and they had enough momentum to complete the comeback.

That they didn’t, though, shows that their execution isn’t strong enough to be in control for only stretches of the game and come away successful.

Up next

No rest for the reeling: The Wild’s six-game homestand continues Sunday at home against San Jose, which won its first game of the season Thursday against the New York Rangers.