Mammoth hold off Jets, secure West's No. 1 wild card

Nick Schmaltz scored twice as the Utah Mammoth held on late to defeat the visiting Winnipeg Jets 5-3 on Tuesday night.

Logan Cooley had a goal and an assist, Nate Schmidt had two assists, Alex Kerfoot scored a goal and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves for the Mammoth (43-32-6, 92 points), who snapped a two-game skid.

With the win, Utah secured the first wild-card spot in the Western Conference with one game remaining in the regular season before the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Mammoth also swept the three-game season series with the Jets.

Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor each had a goal and an assist, Isak Rosen added a goal and Gabe Vilardi had two assists for the Jets (35-33-12, 82 points), who were eliminated on Monday and finished their season on a three-game losing streak. Eric Comrie made 31 saves.

Cooley put Utah ahead 1-0 at 8:05 of the first period. Schmidt set Cooley up with a stretch pass, and the young forward caught a break before scoring on a backhanded shot.

Schmaltz increased the lead to 2-0 at 4:54 of the second period. Comrie stopped a shot by Mikhail Sergachev on a Utah power play, and Schmaltz scored on the rebound attempt with a wrist shot.

Connor cut the deficit to 2-1 at 17:10 when Vilardi set him up for a wrist shot on a Winnipeg power play.

Schmaltz made it 3-1 Mammoth at 7:16 of the third period when Cooley set him up for a wrist shot on a Utah power play. JJ Peterka added to the tally with a wrist shot on the next shift at 7:42.

Scheifele got the Jets back in the game with a snap shot set up by Connor to make the score 4-2 at 12:36. On the following Jets power play, Rosen found the back of the net on a snap shot to cut the deficit to 4-3 at 14:23.

Kerfoot scored into an empty net with 23 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the win.