Two years to the day after the franchise's players were introduced to the city of Salt Lake, the Utah Mammoth recorded their first ever home Stanley Cup Playoff victory, beating the Vegas Golden Knights 4-2 at Delta Center on April 24 to take a 2-1 lead in their Western Conference first-round series.
Lawson Crouse was the difference. The forward scored twice in the second period, at 4:06 and 9:48, and was on the ice for both of Utah's other goals. MacKenzie Weegar opened the scoring early in the first by hammering a rebound past the Vegas goaltender after a feed from the corner. Dylan Guenther's late first-period power-play strike, an 88-mph blast from the right circle that he had cocked and ready, doubled the lead and made the Delta Center erupt.
"Sometimes we're going to have more shots than other nights. Quality over quantity sometimes and just bearing down on the looks that you do get," said Mammoth captain Clayton Keller. Utah scored four times on just 12 shots — a finishing rate that would have looked freakish in any other game and a pace head coach Andre Tourigny credited to his special teams and his goaltender. "I think Vejmelka was rock solid and made key saves at key moments on the PK. We had a great performance from our special teams," Tourigny said.
Karel Vejmelka stopped 29 of 31 shots, including a string of glove and pad saves through the third period as Vegas pushed for a comeback. Jack Eichel pulled one back for the Knights early in the second when he crashed the net and converted off a Mark Stone feed. Nic Dowd narrowed it to a two-goal margin in the third with 3:07 left, but the Mammoth held firm, killing off four Knights power-plays in the process.
Vegas head coach Bruce Cassidy will face the same questions the Knights have heard for two games now. The team has dominated possession in stretches and outshot Utah comfortably, but the finishing has not arrived. Vegas's netminder gave up four goals on just a dozen shots, two of them goals the staff will want back. The Knights' power-play, normally a weapon, went 0-for-4 on the night.
For Utah, the night was bigger than the scoreboard. "About two years ago to the day, these players from Arizona were introduced to this community and the Delta Center," the ESPN broadcast noted as Crouse's second goal sent the building into a sustained roar. The Mammoth, who only became a major-league franchise after the relocation from Arizona, now sit one win from putting a defending conference finalist into elimination territory. Game 4 is back at Delta Center on Saturday.
