Logan Cooley scores late as the Mammoth beat the Golden Knights 3-2 to even playoffs series

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Logan Cooley scored off a rebound with six minutes left to give the Mammoth a 3-2 victory over the Vegas Golden Knights on Tuesday night, and they will head back to Utah with a split of the first two games in their first-round playoffs series.

Game 3 of the best-of-seven series is Friday night in Salt Lake City.

Cooley, a 21-year-old from Pittsburgh, is the youngest U.S.-born player to scored a goal in each of his first two playoff games.

“It's so exciting playing in these games,” Cooley said. “You're playing for the (Stanley) Cup. That's what you dream about since you're a little kid. You just want to leave everything out there. The games are so intense, physical, fast and I think that kind of fits my game.”

Cooley, who missed 28 games because of a lower-body injury, scored 24 goals and 43 points in 54 games in the regular season. He finished strong with seven goals and 13 points in his final 10 games before the playoffs.

"I don’t know if it’s impressive when you see him every day," Mammoth coach André Tourigny said. “We know how competitive, how good he is. So for us, it’s to stay in the moment. I think Cools has been really good for us since he’s with us for three years now. Right now, his head is at the right place. He’s in the moment. I think everybody in our room right now is. Their focus is in the right place and we need to keep it that way.”

It's the first playoff victory for the Mammoth since the organization relocated from Arizona two years ago.

This was the Golden Knights' first regulation defeat under coach John Tortorella (8-1-1).

“I thought our first period was one of our better first periods in a while,” Tortorella said. “We just lost any type of flow in the second period. I thought we had a good start to the third period and had some opportunities. We couldn’t score. They find a way because of their speed. We’ve got a couple of things we need to fix. That’s why it’s a series.”

Dylan Guenther had a goal and assist for the Mammoth, MacKenzie Weegar scored and Kailer Yamamoto finished with two assists. Karel Vejmelka recorded 19 saves.

Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev scored for the Golden Knights, with Jack Eichel picking up the primary assist on each. Carter Hart, who stopped 26 shots, suffered his first loss under Tortorella in Vegas after winning his first seven starts.

With the score tied at 2 in the waning minutes of regulation, Guenther took a shot off the rush, got his own rebound and then hit the puck off the post. Cooley was waiting there, knocking in the puck to pull the Mammoth even.

The teams traded goals in each of the first two periods.

After Stone scored in the first period on a shot that went off Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev's skate, the Golden Knights, for the second game in a row, had an unforced error in which the puck ended up in their net. Weegar was credited with the goal after the puck went off two Vegas defensemen — Noah Hanifin's stick and Rasmus Andersson's shin — into the open net.

Guenther delivered a shot from the left point in the second period for the Mammoth, before Barbashev answered 1:02 later by weaving through the slot to put in a backhand.