Mammoth vs. Maple Leafs: Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev Power a Four-Goal Second in 5-4 Win

Utah scored four times in one period, built three-goal leads on three separate occasions and still needed Karel Vejmelka to survive a 6-on-4 in the final 1:46. That is the Mammoth experience in a nutshell right now: plenty of firepower, a few heart-rate spikes and, at the end, two more points.

Dylan Guenther and Mikhail Sergachev each had a goal and an assist in that second-period barrage, and the Utah Mammoth held off the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-4 on Tuesday night at Delta Center. Daniil But, Vincent Trocheck and MacKenzie Weegar also scored, and Vejmelka made 22 saves in Utah's first home game after a five-game road trip.

Every Toronto Punch Got a Counterpunch

But got Utah going at 14:55 of the first, stepping around Morgan Rielly at the blue line and beating Anthony Stolarz short side from below the right dot. Then the second period turned into a track meet.

Trocheck made it 2-0 just 60 seconds in. He dropped a no-look backhand to Logan Cooley, Cooley sent it right back, and Trocheck tapped it in at the top of the crease. At 4:01, Sergachev made it 3-0 while short-handed, pouncing on a loose puck at the side of the net after Barrett Hayton's shot was blocked. Per NHL.com, Sergachev is now the franchise's first defenseman with multiple short-handed goals.

Toronto answered quickly. At 5:16, all four Utah penalty killers drifted to the same side, John Tavares found Auston Matthews alone in front, and Matthews deked to his backhand to make it 3-1. Guenther responded at 14:17 with a snap shot from the top of the right circle that beat Stolarz's blocker. Jack Roslovic cut it to 4-2 at 16:29 after Matthews fed Kirill Marchenko from behind the net and Marchenko spun a blind backhand pass across to Roslovic, whose shot hit the post and went in.

Weegar had the last word in the period. With 40 seconds left, he took a drop pass from Clayton Keller and fired from the left dot between Stolarz's blocker and body. 5-2 after 40 minutes.

Then the Leafs got loud. Trocheck went off for hooking, and at 7:12 of the third, Tavares took a long lead pass from Stolarz, of all people, skated into the zone and beat Vejmelka over the glove from the left dot on the power play. At 11:01, with Stolarz pulled on a delayed penalty, Gavin McKenna took William Nylander's pass and snapped it past a sprawling Vejmelka. Suddenly it was 5-4.

The Turning Point

Weegar's goal with 40 seconds left in the second ended up as the winner, and it was the difference between a three-goal lead and a two-goal lead heading into a period Utah did not control. Take it away, and Toronto's two third-period goals force overtime.

The final test came at 18:14, when Guenther went to the box for tripping Matthews, his third minor of the night. Toronto pulled Stolarz for a 6-on-4 and spent the last 1:46 hammering away, but Vejmelka made the key saves to get Utah to the horn.

"The power play I thought was pretty good," Toronto coach Jim Hiller said. "We scored different types of goals but the big one at the end, the 6-on-4, was the one we really needed to bury."

Guenther, Sergachev and a Leaky Night for Stolarz

Guenther's night was a full movie: a goal, an assist and six penalty minutes, including the trip that put the win in jeopardy. He has four goals on the season. Sergachev finished plus-3 in 23:39 and was honest about the third period. "We were resilient out there, but obviously we didn't play the way we wanted to play in the third period," he said. "That was a very inconsistent performance by us."

Hayton's assist on Sergachev's goal stretched his point streak to four games, per NHL.com, and Vejmelka finished with 22 saves on 26 shots.

For Toronto, Matthews had a goal and an assist, extending his point streak to five games with five goals and seven assists in that span. Tavares also had a goal and an assist. McKenna's goal stretched his point streak to four games, and NHL.com noted he is the fourth Maple Leafs player in the expansion era to record a point in each of his first three career road games.

Stolarz, who made 23 saves on 28 shots, took the blame. "I put us in a tough situation," he said. "I probably want two or three of those goals back."

Stats That Matter

• 4: Utah goals in the second period. Toronto scored twice in the frame and still lost it by two.
• 2-for-5: Toronto's power play. Utah went 0-for-4 but scored short-handed.
• 6: Guenther's penalty minutes, on three separate minors.
• 28-26: Utah's slim edge in shots on goal.

What It Means

Utah improves to 5-2-0 with 10 points and is 2-0-0 at home, and NHL.com noted the Mammoth are 3-1-0 in their past four. Coach Andre Tourigny was happy to bank the result. "After a long road trip like we had, it's always tough to find your emotions and your second gear, but I thought our guys did a really good job," he said. Trocheck agreed. "I thought we came out hot and then we rode the waves and stayed even-keeled," he said.

Toronto drops to 3-3-1 with seven points and 1-1-1 on the road, wrapping up a trip in which it went 1-1-1. The Leafs had been 2-0-1 in their previous three games. Hiller's frustration was with the middle period. "The second period, no good. So that's three second periods on this trip that were no good," he said. Rielly zeroed in on the specifics. "If you look at their goals, they're off the rush, so there is something going on there that we have to fix," he said.

The Maple Leafs host Buffalo on Thursday. The Mammoth visit Edmonton on Thursday.

Closing Take

Utah's second period looked like a team flexing. The third looked like a team checking its phone during the final act of a thriller, and the Leafs nearly stole the ending. The Mammoth will take the points and file the lesson away. A five-goal team should not need its goalie to bail it out in the last 1:46, but that is what goalies are for.

Stats from the official box score via ESPN. Game details from the Associated Press; postgame quotes and notes as reported by NHL.com.