Matthew Knies’ second game with the Blue Jackets went fine for him, but not for the team in an ugly 4-1 loss to the Utah Mammoth on Oct. 3 at Nationwide Arena.
Blue Jackets fans among the 17,176 in attendance didn’t have much to cheer while the Mammoth dominated from nearly start-to-finish. Kent Johnson scored the lone goal for the Blue Jackets (1-1-0) and Knies assisted it, but that was one of few Columbus highlights.
Jet Greaves made a couple impressive saves in net, but took the loss while allowing four goals on 31 shots, including three on power plays. Nick Schmaltz scored two goals, Mikhail Sergachev and Dylan Guenther each scored a goal, and Sebastian Cossa made 17 saves for the Mammoth (2-0-0).
Utah finished with a commanding 31-18 edge in shots and went 3 for 4 on power plays.
A sleepy start, combined with some questionable officiating, cost the Blue Jackets dearly in the first period. They allowed the game’s first two goals to trail 2-0 after the first 20 minutes, getting outshot 13-4 and out-skated from start-to-finish.
Sergachev scored Utah’s first goal on a power play 11:55 into the game, which penalized the Jackets for a tripping minor called on Dmitri Voronkov on a play in which he pushed Mammoth forward Jack McBain to the ice without any kind of a trip.
Almost five minutes later, capping a long shift spent inside the Blue Jackets’ blue line, Schmaltz made it 2-0 with a wrist shot that beat Greaves off the inside post with 3:29 left in the period. Greaves then made a couple key saves to keep it a two-goal deficit at the first intermission.
The Blue Jackets came back out for the second with a little more steam in the engine, cutting it to 2-1 just 1:30 into it on Johnson’s first goal of the season. Getting an exit pass off the boards from Knies, Johnson gave himself a look off a partial breakaway and slid the puck through Coss’s pads for the goal, giving Knies the assist for his fourth point (two goals, two assists) in two games.
Dispatch Blue Jackets/Crew reporter Brian Hedger can be reached at bhedger@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Utah Mammoth cruise past listless Columbus Blue Jackets 4-1
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