ST. LOUIS — Logan Cooley had a natural hat trick in a 4:48 span of the first period and also had an assist in the opening period to help the Utah Mammoth beat the St. Louis Blues 7-4 on Thursday night.
Cooley assisted on Ian Cole’s opening goal, then scored three straight — all off feeds from Dylan Guenther — to match his career high with four points.
“Everyone talks about his shooting, but I think his playmaking is really underrated,” Cooley said about Guenther. “I think we’re really starting to figure out where each other likes to be. And I think it’s going to continue to get better.”
Cooley started his goal surge with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Guenther at the 6:07 mark. He struck again at 7:57, sliding a backhander between goalie Joel Hofer’s pads, with Jordan Binnington taking over in goal.
“He’s really strong physically,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “He’s really strong in his battle. His balance is really, really good. And, like I said, his competitiveness, I think, helped him a lot in that sense.”
Cooley finished the spree with a power-play goal with 9:05 to go. He had his second NHL hat trick, with the first with Arizona against Nashville in March 2024.
“It’s obviously awesome scoring this league and it was a great game,” Cooley said. “I thought we kind of let off a little bit in the second, but overall, it was a great team win.”
The former University of Minnesota star was drafted third overall in 2022.
“Cools is, you know, one of my favorites,” Utah forward Clayton Keller said. “And just the way he plays, his speed, skill, he can really do it all, and I believe in him so much, so it’s great to see him get rewarded. And that’s a heck of a period – three and one … that’s tough to beat.”
Utah won its fifth straight game.
“It’s nice to get off on the right foot,” Cooley said. “It was a great first period. You know, the way we finished the game was obviously really good too. So, there’s a lot of key takeaways that we could take moving forward.”
