Nick Schmaltz scored twice to lead the visiting Utah Mammoth to a 4-1 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday night.
Dylan Guenther had a goal and two assists and defenseman Mikhail Sergachev a goal and an assist for the Mammoth, who scored three times on the power play.
Clayton Keller and Logan Cooley had two assists each and Sebastian Cossa, in his first NHL start, made 17 saves.
Utah has outscored opponents 10-1 in its first two games of the season.
Kent Johnson got the goal for the Blue Jackets and Jet Greaves stopped 27 shots.
The Mammoth took a 2-0 lead in the first period.
Sergachev’s power-play goal opened the scoring with 8:05 left in the opening period. He fired in a one-time slap shot from the right point area. Schmaltz’s first goal made it 2-0 with 3:29 remaining in the period on a snap shot from a relatively sharp angle at the bottom of the left circle.
Utah had a 13-4 edge in shots over the opening period.
Johnson put the Blue Jackets on the board 1:30 into the second period when he cut in off the left wing and slid a shot through Cossa’s pads from the bottom portion of the left circle. It was set up by Matthew Knies, which gives him four points (two goals, two assists) in his first two games with his new team after being obtained from the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The goal came seconds after Greaves denied Keller from the crease after a walkout from behind the net.
Guenther’s power-play goal 5:59 into the third restored the two-goal lead at 3-1. He rifled a one-timer past Greaves from the left faceoff dot. All three of Guenther’s goals this season have come on the power play and he has five goals in six career games against Columbus.
Schmaltz’s second goal, another power-play effort, came with 5:47 left. He converted a cross-slot pass from Cooley, with Guenther picking up the secondary assist.
–Field Level Media
