West Mifflin native Logan Cooley was asked what got into him after his hat trick to help fuel the Utah Mammoth’s 4-3 overtime win Thursday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“It’s that Pittsburgh air,” Cooley replied during a postgame interview.

Hmmm. Pittsburgh’s air quality didn’t exactly get glowing reviews earlier this year. But, hey, our bodies are used to whatever they are used to, I guess.

One thing is for sure, whatever air was in PPG Paints Arena on Thursday night, Cooley sucked it out with less than one second left on the clock.

COOLEY TIES IT AT THE BUZZER TO COMPLETE THE HATTY ????????

WHAT A GAME!!!! https://t.co/dYbzt8or9m

— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) October 30, 2026

His game-tying goal sent the contest to overtime at 3-3. Then Mikhail Sergachev won it in the extra session for Utah at 3:27.

Everyone, breathe. https://t.co/zaWqEAnrd2

— Utah Mammoth (@utahmammoth) October 30, 2026

For Cooley, it was a special evening. A product of Sidney Crosby’s “Little Penguins” learn-to-play program, the forward never had much luck scoring against his hometown team. He didn’t register a goal in his first six tries.

But the 22-year-old erupted Thursday.

“This city means so much to me,” Cooley said. “They’ve been such an amazing team for so long. … I was fortunate to be in the city, to be able to watch (the Penguins) every night. Those are guys that I looked up to. I’m super fortunate to be from here and to be able to grow up through the Penguins organization.”

While the night was a celebration for Cooley and his family in attendance, it was a gut-punch for the Pens. Cooley’s third goal came just seconds after Ben Kindel put Pittsburgh up 3-2 with only 25 seconds remaining.

Pittsburgh goal!

Scored by Ben Kindel with 00:25 left in the 3rd. Assisted by Evgeni Malkin and Egor Chinakhov.

PIT: 3 | UTA: 2

#UTAvsPIT #LetsGoPens #TusksUp https://t.co/9JlJAVk5Vk

— NHL Goals (@nhl_goal_bot) October 30, 2026

But that’s all it took for Cooley to force the extra session with his third goal of the night.

“Under 20 seconds, and they score,” Pens forward Evgeni Malkin said. “We need to play so much harder — whole five guys. … It’s a little bit tough that we lost.”

Tough indeed. Under normal circumstances, leaving one point on the table against a good Western Conference team in late October isn’t the worst thing in the world. But given the 0-4 road trip the Penguins just concluded, sweeping the ensuing homestand would’ve gone a long way to restoring some confidence.

The Penguins took the first two steps toward doing that with their 4-0 shutout of Florida on Oct. 22, and their 3-2 overtime win against Nashville on Saturday. Going 3-for-3 upon returning to Pittsburgh was less than a minute from happening until Cooley snatched the win away from them.

“You’ve got to make sure you get the quick support on a puck recovery so we can get the puck out. Get it to the neutral zone and end the game. It didn’t happen,” Pens coach Dan Muse said of Cooley’s third goal. “They make a play into the slot and get the second chance right afterward.”

It’s not so much what the Penguins lost by yielding one point at the end of the game. It’s the exhausting component of working so hard to come back from a 2-0 deficit to take the lead and see it evaporate so quickly and with so little time left.

It’s also the emotional aspect of knowing that they almost got back to level with this homestand after getting blanked on the previous road trip, only to have to head up to Montreal for Halloween with a late trick from Cooley.

“It (stinks) we couldn’t get the win,” Kindel said. “But (we have) got to just have a quick turnaround here and get ready for Montreal.”

Kindel could’ve been the headline-maker with that potential game-winning goal in his first game back after a mid-fight medical scare, leaving Utah after these teams faced each other 10 days ago.

Goalie Arturs Silovs could’ve been the story with a stellar 30-save performance. Instead, it was Cooley’s hat trick homecoming that stole the show.

“That (third goal) was a great one,” Cooley said. “That was one of my favorite goals I think I’ve scored.”

Cooley now has four in his last two games and seven on the season. The former No. 3 overall draft pick seems to be on the ascent and may be heading into the rarefied air of the NHL.

I mean, it’s not Pittsburgh air. But it’s not bad, I guess.