Mammoth take down Predators for 5th straight win

Dylan Guenther and Nick Schmaltz each had a goal and an assist and Clayton Keller had three primary assists as the Utah Mammoth inched closer to a Stanley Cup playoff berth with a 4-1 victory over the Nashville Predators on Thursday night in Salt Lake City.

Kailer Yamamoto and Lawson Crouse also scored goals and Logan Cooley added two assists for Utah (42-30-6, 90 points), which won its fifth straight game. The Mammoth could clinch a playoff berth later Thursday night with an Anaheim win over San Jose in any fashion.

Karel Vejmelka finished with 29 saves for Utah, which extended its lead over the Predators (37-32-10, 84 points) to six points in the race for the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Erik Haula scored a goal and Juuse Saros made 23 saves for Nashville, which had a four-game point streak (3-0-1) snapped.

Utah took a 1-0 lead at the 14:26 mark of the first period when Yamamoto, in front of the blue paint, jammed in a Guenther crossing pass through Saros' pads at the end of an odd-man rush.

The Mammoth increased the lead to 2-0 early in the second period on a power-play goal by Schmaltz, who tucked in a Keller pass inside the left post. It marked the seventh straight game that Utah scored a power-play goal.

Utah broke the game open with two goals in the first 6:05 of the third period to make it 4-0. Crouse got the first goal, snapping a shot in from the middle of the right circle. Guenther followed with his team-leading 39th goal, finishing a 2-on-1 with Keller with a one-timer from the left circle past Saros' blocker side.

Haula put the Predators on the board with a power-play goal with 9:38 remaining, backhanding in a rebound of a Zachary L'Heureux shot.

Nashville captain Roman Josi was a late scratch after taking part in warm-ups with an upper-body injury and is listed as day-to-day.