Dylan Guenther’s goal with 9:23 left in the third period propelled the Utah Mammoth to a 3-2 win over the visiting Boston Bruins on Sunday night in Salt Lake City.
Clayton Keller had a goal and an assist, Logan Cooley also scored and Nick Schmaltz dished out two assists for Utah, which has won three straight games and now sits 3-0-0 at home this season.
Vitek Vanecek backstopped the Mammoth with 24 saves, including 12 in the second period alone.
Guenther buried a one-timer from the left circle for the game-winner, giving Utah its first lead since 1-0. JJ Peterka made a steal from Boston’s Marat Khusnutdinov on the opposite side of the ice and dished a cross-ice pass to set up the play.
David Pastrnak scored both Boston goals, tying him with Ray Bourque for sixth on the franchise’s all-time goals list (395).
Joonas Korpisalo made 24 stops for the Bruins.
Less than a minute after Guenther’s winner, Korpisalo made a huge save on Michael Carcone to keep the Boston deficit at one. Defenseman Andrew Peeke had broken his stick, allowing Utah to make an undefended rush up ice.
Boston also had a third-period power play go by the boards and could not score with an extra attacker late.
The Bruins recorded 26 shots on net, the Mammoth 27.
Utah evened the score at 2-2 with 4:03 left in the second, as Schmaltz connected with Keller after both had four-point games in a Friday win over the San Jose Sharks. Ian Cole set up the tying goal by starting a give-and-go with Schmaltz, who drove down the right wing and fired a cross-ice pass which Keller finished at the bottom of the left wing.
The teams traded power-play goals in the first, with Utah opening the scoring on only its second shot at the 4:20 mark. Schmaltz’s one-timer from the slot bounced off Cooley’s back up in the air and past Korpisalo for the opening tally.
Pastrnak evened the score at 14:38. After Charlie McAvoy ripped a shot from the high slot, Pavel Zacha redirected the puck to Pastrnak, who was stationed at the top of the left crease and got Boston on the scoreboard by sneaking a shot through Vanecek on the short side.
A 2-on-1 finish by Pastrnak gave the visitors their first lead of the night 5:46 into the middle frame. Khusnutdinov traded perfect touch passes coming down ice with the star Boston winger, who sent home a wrist shot five-hole from the right side.
A highlight for the Utah netminder was stopping Fraser Minten’s short-handed break-in and a Tanner Jeannot follow-up attempt after the halfway mark of the second.
–Field Level Media
