A five-game road trip starts today. First stop: Columbus, led by Werenski. Their forward group now includes Knies, Cooley’s old college teammate, and they’re riding the momentum of a 6-3 win over a strong Buffalo side on opening night.
The Mammoth overwhelmed Chicago 6-0 at home, in the result and in the performance. But the road is where you find out what a team actually is.
Tonight also brings the first NHL start for Sebastian Cossa, who came over from Detroit this season. Congratulations! You were seriously good in the preseason, so I’m expecting big things!
The Mammoth carried the opening-night momentum straight into this one and led 2-0 after the first. The first goal came on the power play, a Sergachev slap shot — and I think Cooley’s presence at the net front had plenty to do with it. The power play and net-front presence, the two keywords of this season, delivered right there! The second goal was something. Everybody moving, passing, pulling the gaps open, and finally Marino to Kells to a Schmaltz one-timer from a bad angle. A beautiful shot from a place with almost no net to shoot at.
In the second, Columbus pushed back. A turnover in their own end turned into a breakaway, and Johnson’s shot went through Cossa five-hole to put them on the board. The pressure kept coming after that, with plenty of dangerous moments, but Cossa was outstanding and nothing else got past him. How is he this calm in his first start? Hanging in there under pressure, staying disciplined, taking no penalties, and conceding nothing more — that was excellent.
In the third, the power play decided it. Both sides drew two penalties. The Mammoth killed both of theirs perfectly, and turned their two chances into two goals off some gorgeous passing. One hundred percent on the kill, one hundred percent on the power play. The power play goals in particular were a joy. On the third goal, Cools threw what you’d call a long cross-court pass in basketball terms, and Gunner hammered it home on a one-timer. The pass and the shot were both superb, and neither was easy. The fourth was the ideal goal: Keller to Sergachev to Guenther to Schmaltz to Cooley — genuine tic-tac-toe — and then the feed back out for Schmaltz to bury. A gorgeous goal.
So through two games the power play is 5-for-7. Seventy-one percent. After the way we struggled on the man advantage last season, I can hardly believe it. Faceoffs dropped off from opening night, as you’d expect — 44% as a team. Trocheck and Cooley both fell into the thirties, but Hayton held the line at 54%. Hayton’s third line was sent out for the opening faceoff of every period, which tells you something about how much the head coach trusts them.
5/7 in two games
Plenty to celebrate today. On top of Cossa’s first start, Keller hit 600 career points and Schmaltz hit 500. Quite the party. That puts the team at ten goals and one goal against through two games, with a 100% penalty kill and a 71.4% power play. Those are ridiculous numbers. Individually: Guenther with three goals and two assists for five points, Keller with four assists, Schmaltz with three goals, Cooley with three assists, Sergachev with a goal and two assists. Hmm. Wonderful.
Only 47 more for Guenther to get to 50!
Tomorrow is the back end of a back-to-back, against the Rangers. The legs are going to hurt, boys — go get it anyway! And tomorrow the Jazz play the Nuggets in the preseason.
Maybe I’ll call in sick.
Comments
Even a single line about what you felt reading this would mean a lot.