Clayton Keller Launches Stick Into Crowd, Heroically Scores Game-Winner in Utah Mammoth Comeback Win Over Flyers

If anybody asks why Clayton Keller will be representing Team USA in this upcoming Olympics, immediately show them the game-winning overtime goal Keller just had in the Mammoth’s 5-4 overtime win against the Flyers.

Thanks to Dylan Guenther capturing the attention of two Flyers, Keller was simply left too much space to work with as he quietly readied himself for the upcoming pass from Guenther.

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Cutting to the middle with ease, Keller launched the puck over the head of Samuel Ersson and scored the game-winning goal.

Naturally, he did the same with his hockey stick too:

“A lot of it is belief, and the mental talk that I’m saying to myself in my head,” said Keller. “I’ve always trusted my training. I know I’ve done everything possible to leave myself in a good position and let the rest take care of itself… I work on those touches and all those things.”

Any game-winning goal is sure to be a feat anyone can appreciate, especially when it comes in overtime.

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But not only did Keller score the game-winning goal, but he also singlehandedly- no seriously, it was an unassisted goal- got the game-tying goal and became the first player in franchise history to score an extra attacker goal.

“Just ‘nice play, nice shot.’ To get a 6-on-5 goal –we haven’t had one this year– it was a really nice individual effort by him,” said Dylan Guenther. “Nice route by him, too. Kind of a 2-on-2, caught his guys sleeping with nice shots, so he had a good game tonight.”

It doesn’t stop there. On way to scoring his unassisted goal, Keller also stole the puck from the Flyers’ Olympic-bound defenseman Travis Sanheim, who will be playing for Team Canada.

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Subsequently, Keller collected the puck, found the angle to drive past Sanheim, froze Ersson in the net before finally scoring the game-tying goal.

And just to add a little style to the goal, Keller finished the goal off with a leap over Philadelphia’s Cam York before his big, loud celebration.

No, there was no hockey stick thrown into the crowd on this one… that would be a dire penalty.

Considering the Mammoth were also down 3-0 earlier in the game, Keller was also able to lead just the second ever three-goal comeback in franchise history. The first came against the Pittsburgh Penguins earlier this season

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It didn’t matter that Utah played a sloppy game or faced several multi-goal deficits, Keller was not going to let this team lose.

But even in a night where Keller had two of the most important moments of the game, there was one play that could have derailed all the hard work the Mammoth did to mount this comeback.

With an extra attacker in net and no Karel Vejmelka to make saves for the team, the game looked to be all but over when Garnet Hathaway collected the puck near center ice.

There was no one blocking Hathaway’s shot on the goal. All he had to do deliver the final blow was take the shot and give the Flyers a 5-3 win on the road.

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But there was just one hangup: Nick Schmaltz was not going to allow Hathaway to take the shot.

Instead of securing the win for Philadelphia, Hathaway’s slight hesitation gave Schmaltz just enough time to strip the puck from behind to prevent a shot on goal from happening.

“We talked about it in the room after, none of this happens if Nick Schmaltz doesn’t backcheck and give everything he’s got to strip them before they score on the empty net,” said Keller. “And that’s the difference sometimes.”

Without his high effort play, Utah would never get back on defense to prevent the Flyers from extending the lead and Keller never would have tied the game.

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Without Schmaltz, this game was over.

“You know what I’m happy about–I’m happy that everybody (saw) that. Because that’s what we see from (Schmaltz),” said André Tourigny. “Not everybody will see that and you need to pay attention. And when there’s a highlight play like that; I liked his performance and how he impacts our team. I’m glad for him and for everybody–who were here at the Delta Center or at home watching our game–who sees that. It can highlight what Nick Schmaltz means for our team.”

But even if Schmaltz had the most important save of the game, Vejmelka put in work against the Flyers too. Namely, on this save here, when he snatched the puck midair and stole a goal from the Flyers:

Making 25 saves on route to his win over Philadelphia Vejmelka now has won seven straight starts for the first time in his career. His previous high was six.

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On top of that, Vejmelka also has won seven home games in a row too. He is proving to be worth every penny for the Utah Mammoth.

There was a lot of key contributions from Mammoth players throughout the game whether it was Schmaltz heroics or when Utah scored two goals in just 36 seconds to cut the lead 3-2 in the second.

But thanks to the very clutch fight Jack McBain had with Philly’s Noah Juulsen, which drew an additional roughing minor on Juulsen, Utah was able to get a power play opportunity and score to cut the lead to 4-3.

“No. I love Jules, but take a punch in the mouth. You’ve got to win the game. I don’t even know what happened,” said Philadelphia Flyers’ Rick Tocchet. “You can’t take a penalty there, and then the PK has to come out and block the shot, play aggressive and we sunk. We let Guenther, one of the best shooters in the league, go and shoot the puck. We unraveled, and we got to put the pieces back.”

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McBain was able to both deliver a great fight for the fans and give his team a much needed boost in the third.

Fighting matters kids!