The up-and-down Ottawa Senators will face the tall task of shutting down the red-hot Logan Cooley when the Utah Mammoth head to Canada’s capital city on Saturday.
Cooley stole the show with his fifth career hat trick in the Mammoth’s most recent matchup, but the Montreal Canadiens got the last laugh as Cole Caufield buried the overtime winner to earn the 5-4 home victory on Thursday.
“I’m trying to play with some confidence right now,” Cooley said. “And I think when you’re feeling good, you have confidence — that’s when you feel like plays start to open up and they start to go in. That’s a positive, but we’ve got to see what we can do better, learn from that and make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
The 22-year-old also collected a hat trick just three games prior in a 4-3 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Oct. 29 and has totaled 10 goals over his past seven games.
Cooley scored two of his three goals on the power play as he became the fastest active skater to tally five three-goal performances (228 games), while Nick Schmaltz also notched a power-play marker in the loss.
The Mammoth have been lethal on the man advantage so far this season, leading the league with a 38.3 power-play percentage.
Despite its surging offense, Utah has struggled to find overall consistency, posting a 5-4-1 record over its past 10 outings and failing to record back-to-back victories over that stretch.
Saturday’s clash will be the fifth of a season-long six-game road swing for Utah, before the Mammoth close it out against the Vegas Golden Knights on Wednesday.
The Senators are seeking that same consistency, as they have now gone 11 games without back-to-back victories amid a slew of injuries to key contributors.
Ottawa will have the chance to rid itself of that narrative vs. Utah after concluding a five-game road trip with a 2-1 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.
Michael Amadio, who scored the game-winning goal in the third period, reflected on the team’s recent road trip after the win.
“It was a long trip for us, but thought we played some good hockey on it. Got some things to learn from, but I think overall it was a pretty good road trip. Excited to get back home,” Amadio said.
Shane Pinto also found the back of the net on Wednesday, and Samuel Ersson made 24 saves in place of the injured Linus Ullmark, who has returned to skating with the team as he works his way back from a lower-body injury.
“It was a great game. I thought we played a real complete 60-minute game,” Ottawa coach Travis Green said. “Talked to our group (Wednesday) about playing our type of hockey where we check well and we play fast. I thought we did that to a T.”
Forward Ridly Greig (lower body) was absent from the lineup on Wednesday and is considered day-to-day and doubtful to play on Saturday, while Ullmark indicated when speaking to the media on Friday that he is unlikely to man the crease.
The former Vezina Trophy winner was a brick wall for the Senators to start the season, going 7-1-0 and leading the NHL with a 1.33 goals-against average and a .945 save percentage before being on the shelf for Ottawa’s past seven games.