Mammoth rally from 3 down in 3rd, recover for OT win against Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Dylan Guenther scored 42 seconds into overtime for the Utah Mammoth, who rallied from three goals down in the third period before recovering for a 5-4 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Guenther won it on a wrist shot from the high slot for his 15th goal of the season. It was also Guenther’s third overtime goal of the season, which is tied for the NHL lead. He has six overtime goals over the past two seasons, which trails only Leon Draisaitl of the Edmonton Oilers (seven) for the most in that span.

“Just keep going the same way,” Guenther said of the comeback. “It’s tough, sometimes you want to change things, but I think when you don’t see the outcome, I mean, just bear down and make sure you finish your chances. So, I mean, we did that in the third.”

Michael Carcone had two goals, Nate Schmidt and Sean Durzi also scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 12 saves for the Mammoth (16-15-3), who have won two straight after losing their previous three.

“Just like we drew it (up),” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “But no, seriously, what I did like was the guys in the room and on the bench. They said the right things all night long, didn’t panic.”

Justin Brazeau tied it late in the third period with his second goal of the game, Ben Kindel had a goal and two assists, and Sergei Murashov made 32 saves for the Penguins (14-8-9), who have blown a lead in the third period in four of their past five games (0-1-4), including a four-goal lead in a 6-5 overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday.

"First of all, not in a million years did I think we'd be back here 24 hours later having the exact same conversation,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. "Probably sound like a broken record."

Utah, trailing 3-0, scored four times in the first 7:06 of the third period, with Schmidt and Carcone scoring the first two goals 15 seconds apart.

Schmidt cut it to 3-1 at 1:07 with a wrist shot off a rebound from Nick Schmaltz.

Carcone then cut it to 3-2 at 1:22. He followed his own rebound with a shot off the side of the net that bounced in off the back of Murashov.

Durzi tied it 3-3 at 5:35 with his first goal this season, a wrist shot through traffic from the right circle that was upheld after the Penguins challenged for goalie interference.

“I thought we did a lot of good things throughout,” Durzi said. “A few plays we probably want back, but we knew we had our game going and, you know, we knew we just had to get a few more pucks to the net. Thought we did a good job of that in the third.”

On the ensuing power play after the Penguins were penalized for delay of game, Carcone scored with a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Barrett Hayton to put the Mammoth ahead 4-3 at 7:06.

Brazeau was able to tie it 4-4 by deflecting a shot from Karlsson at 14:06, but the Penguins weren't able to complete their own comeback.

“You would have thought after yesterday that it would change a little bit,” Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “But it didn’t.”

Brazeau gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead 48 seconds into the first period. He attempted a spinning backhand pass above the crease to Rutger McGroarty, but the puck instead went in off Schmaltz.

Bryan Rust made it 2-0 at 15:21, chipping in a loose puck in front after a pass from Carcone hit off Mammoth forward Kevin Stenlund.

Kindel extended the lead to 3-0 at 5:40 of the second period, scoring with a wrist shot on a breakaway.

The Penguins were then outshot 17-6 in the third.

“I don't think overall we had our best today,” Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby said. “But we still had enough to get a win, and unfortunately we didn't do that.”

NOTES: Guenther has five goals during a four-game point streak. Since the start of last season, he leads the NHL in game-winning goals (14). ... The Mammoth’s four goals in 5:59 were the fastest in franchise history. ... Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner and defenseman Brett Kulak were unavailable due to immigration issues for the second straight game after being acquired in a trade with the Edmonton Oilers for goalie Tristan Jarry and forward Samuel Poulin on Friday. Each was granted nonroster status on Saturday, leading to Murashov being emergency recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.