Marcus Johansson scored both goals for Minnesota (3-5-1), which has lost five of its past six (1-4-1) and two straight. Filip Gustavsson made 35 saves for the Wild.
“Sometimes it comes down to execution,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “I don’t think our execution has been as sharp as it can be in some of those situations. But even like the other night in New Jersey, we had three odd-man rushes, 3-on-1s and stuff like that, and we didn’t get a shot. So, some of it just comes down to execution when you’re getting those opportunities. Tonight you see the difference when you get an opportunity like that, you execute on it, it winds up in the back of the net.”
The Mammoth jumped out to a 3-0 lead within the first five minutes of the game.
Cooley made it 1-0, 56 seconds into the first period with a bat-in off a high pass from John Marino.
“I didn’t even see the puck really,” Cooley said. “It kind of just popped up and turned quick and I just tried to whack it and get it on net. I didn’t know exactly where it was going but I was lucky it went in.”
Cooley extended the lead 2-0 on the power play when he slipped the puck just over the goal line and between Gustavsson’s pads at 3:29. The initial call on the ice was no goal but video review determined the puck completely crossed the line.
Schmaltz put Utah on top 3-0 with a wrist shot from just inside the blue line that beat Gustavsson glove side at 4:58.
Johansson cut the deficit 3-1 at 15:39 with a snap shot moving through the right circle.
