las vegas- Lady luck was not on Vegas' side as the Utah Mammoth (1-1) defeated the Vegas Golden Knights (1-1) 3-2 to tie the first-round series at one on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena. Both teams took advantage of their opponent's mistakes, but both teams also took advantage of some puck luck. In Game 2, it was Utah that had a little more luck on its side, otherwise it was a fairly evenly played game.
In an eventful first round, Lady Puck Luck was on the side of both teams. With Utah's Logan Cooley held for interference, the Vegas power play began to work. Mark Stone (2) gained control of the puck low and attempted a cross-crease pass to teammate Tomas Hertl. However, instead of the puck reaching Hertl, it deflected off the skate of Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and into the net at 11:42 of the first. It was Stone's 12th career power play goal in the postseason, the most in Vegas franchise history, and his 43rd postseason goal overall.
Utah got a bit of a run of luck when they tied the game at one each. With 3:01 left in the first, McKenzie Weegar (1) took a shot from the point that bounced off Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin, then off the stick of netminder Carter Hart, then off the right shin pad of Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersen once again and past an unmarked Hart.
A total of eight penalties were called in the first period, five against Utah and three on Vegas. To no one's surprise, five of the eight penalties in the first period were for roughing. The penalty box parade will continue to start the second period. At 2:27 of the second frame, Nick Dowd was whistled for tripping and the Utah power play went back to work. This power play was notable, not because of the Utah goal, but because of four Vegas blocked shots during the penalty kill, two of which seriously fouled Hanifin and Jeremy Lazaun, respectively. While both players were hobbled on the bench, they were both able to continue the game after some recovery time. Vegas would kill all four Utah penalties in the game.
Unsuccessful attempts by both teams resulted in the next two goals of the game. Four seconds after Utah killed another Vegas power play, the Mammoth took that momentum and then took their first lead of the night. Mitch Marner attempted to clear the puck from under his own goal line, but Utah defenseman Kyler Yamamoto was able to thwart the clearing attempt with his right glove and then completed a backhand, cross-ice pass to Dylan Guenther (1), who was positioned at the top of the left circle. He then fired a one-time blast that sent Hart high up to his stick-side. The goal came at 14:56 of the second minute, giving Utah a 2-1 lead. However, this gain will be short-lived.
Just 1:02 later, Ivan Barbashev (2) deflected a Sergachev pass attempt at center ice and then skated in a one-on-three, but somehow managed to dance past all three Utah players like the Bellagio fountain and then backhand over the glove of Utah netminder Karel Vejmelka to tie the game at two and that's how the score stood until the second intermission.
The goaltenders took center stage in the third period, as both teams gave the opposing netminders a tough run, but each played brilliantly. However, late in the third, Utah was able to solve Hart for the third time through sheer tenacity. Guenther took a shot at Hart, then got his rebound and fired it off the post. As Guenther looked up to the sky in disbelief, his teammate Logan Cooley (2) swooped in and intercepted the rebound off the post and pushed it past Hart to put Utah ahead 3-2 with exactly six minutes left in regulation. With the goal, Cooley became the youngest American-born player to score in the first two playoff games of his career.
Vegas pulled Hart for an extra attacker and put some pressure on him late, but could not get the equalizer. Utah's win is considered their first in franchise history as they were considered an expansion franchise after relocating to Utah from Arizona the previous season. While this was the first playoff win for Utah, it was the first regulation loss for Vegas under coach John Tortorella. Vegas was 8-0-1 since Tortorella became the new bench boss on March 30.
The series will now change venues to Salt Lake City's Delta Center for Games 3 and 4. Game 3 will take place on Friday night and will be Utah's inaugural home playoff game.
notes
- The final shots on goal were 29–21 in favor of Utah.
- The Hites defeated Utah 33–31.
- Blocked shots also led to a 17–15 win in Utah's favor.
- The faceoff winning percentage was split equally at 50%.
