Dylan Guenther scored the tiebreaking goal on the power play at 12:55 of the third period as the Utah Mammoth defeated the visiting Seattle Kraken 5-3 Friday night in Salt Lake City.
Nick Schmaltz had a goal and two assists, Kailer Yamamoto scored against his former team and JJ Peterka and Lawson Crouse added empty-netters as the Mammoth snapped a three-game losing streak. Goaltender Karel Vejmelka made 32 saves.
Mason Marchment tallied twice and Ben Meyers also scored for Seattle, which lost for the seventh time in its past eight games (1-6-1). Goalie Philipp Grubauer stopped 26 of 29 shots.
With Kraken defenseman Ryan Lindgren in the box for tripping, the Mammoth took advantage of Seattle’s league-worst penalty kill to take the lead. Mikhail Sergachev kept the puck in the offensive zone at the right point and sent the puck ahead to Schmaltz, who found Guenther with a cross-ice pass. Guenther, who played junior hockey in Seattle, scored on a one-timer from just inside the left faceoff dot.
It was Guenther’s 14th goal of the season, tying for the team lead and producing his fourth tally in a three-game goal streak.
Peterka and Crouse scored into an empty net at 17:49 and 18:58, respectively, to make it 5-2 before Meyers tallied for the Kraken at 19:17.
The Kraken opened the scoring at 3:35 of the second period. Chandler Stephenson got the puck out of Seattle’s own zone and found Freddy Gaudreau along the right-wing boards at center ice. Gaudreau fed Marchment, who split two Utah defenders at the blue line and skated in alone on Vejmelka. Marchment lifted a backhander over the goalie’s blocker and into the upper right corner of the net.
The Mammoth tied it at 8:09 as Schmaltz stole the puck from Marchment just inside Seattle’s offensive zone and raced the length of the ice, beating Grubauer with a forehand shot over the catching glove and into the upper right corner.
Yamamoto gave Utah a 2-1 lead at 13:24 after an odd-man rush. Liam O’ Brien’s shot went wide left of the net, but Yamamoto tracked down the rebound at the bottom of the right faceoff circle, spun and fired the puck into the net before Grubauer could get from post to post. Officials originally disallowed the score because of goalie interference, but Mammoth coach Andre Tourigny challenged the call and a video review determined Grubauer wasn’t obstructed.
The Kraken tied it at 7:50 of the third, seconds after Utah had killed off a 5-on-3 disadvantage. Lindgren sent a cross-ice pass to Marchment for a one-timer from the top of the right faceoff circle that beat Vejmelka just inside the near post.
–Field Level Media
