Mammoth Survive Late Defensive Collapse, Beat Jets 4-3 in OT

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Sunday night ended up being a massive win for the Utah Mammoth as they took down the Winnipeg Jets 4-3 in overtime, winning their final game at home before the Christmas break.

Related: Hockey Is Taking Off in Idaho — and the Utah Mammoth Are Helping Drive the Momentum

While the Jets have struggled this season, the Mammoth put in a strong performance, dominating for most of the game. It was also a big win and two points for the Mammoth as they now (temporarily) jump ahead of the San Jose Sharks for control of the second wild card spot in the Western Conference.

Game Recap

Just like their game on Friday against the New Jersey Devils, it was the Mammoth who scored first on Sunday. Lawson Crouse found a puck that was loose after a Dylan Guenther shot and put it behind Connor Hellebuyck from in the faceoff circle to make the score 1-0 in favor of the Mammoth.

It only took around five minutes for the Mammoth to strike again. Clayton Keller slid a pass to JJ Peterka, who was in front of the net. Peterka tapped in the puck on the doorstep to put the Mammoth up by two.

That would do it for the first period. However, early in the second period, great passing by Mikhail Sergachev and Sean Durzi gave Alex Kerfoot the puck with a wide-open net opportunity. Kerfoot one-timed it into the back of the net, scoring his first goal of the season in only his second game back from injury.

The Jets finally got on the scoreboard around the halfway point of the second period thanks to a Kyle Connor power play goal. It was his 300th NHL goal, which makes him the second-fastest American-born player to reach that mark.

In the third period, it took until more than halfway through the final 20 minutes, but the Jets struck again off a beautiful shot from Connor for his second goal of the game. Just a couple of minutes later, Morgan Barron scored thanks to poor positioning from John Marino to tie the game at three.

Despite the late defensive collapse, the Mammoth held on to send the game into overtime. Just 13 seconds into the extra period, Guenther and Keller managed to escape on a two-on-one in which Keller roofed the puck into the back of the net to score the overtime winning goal.

With the win, the Mammoth improve to 18-17-3 while the Jets fall to 15-17-3. The Mammoth will play one more game before the Christmas break as they head to Denver to play their Rocky Mountain rivals, the Colorado Avalanche, on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the Jets will head into their break early. They’ll play the Minnesota Wild next at home on Saturday.

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