Utah Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka (70) blocks a shot by the Vegas Golden Knights (center) Brett Howden (21) in the second period of game 3 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Thu Apr 24, 2026 (AP News photo)
Mammoth Stomp Golden Knights 4-2 In Historic First NHL Playoff Game In Utah
By Tom Walker
SALT LAKE CITY–Lawson Crouse scored twice as Utah built up a 4-0 lead halfway through the game and then held on to complete the 4-2 win and take a 2-1 series lead in the Western Conference First-Round series.
The Stanley Cup Playoffs made their official Utah debut on Friday night before a noisy, sold-out crowd at Delta Center in Salt Lake City where the Mammoth hosted the Vegas Golden Knights for Game 3 of the Western Conference First-Round Series. The two squads split the first two games in Las Vegas, with the Mammoth evening up the series on Tuesday with their 3-2 victory.
The festivities began outside Delta Center at noon when as many as a thousand fans turned out to take advantage of an offer to switch allegiances and exchange a licensed Golden Knights jersey for a new Mammoth jersey. Prior to the arrival of the Utah Hockey Club two years ago, the Golden Knights and the Colorado Avalanche had been the closest thing Utahns had to a home NHL team, with Vegas games being broadcast on local television, and the Smith Entertainment Group has actively sought to win fans over with much success. Then at 3:00pm the community was invited for a giant outdoor playoff party with a live band, face painting, food, games, and even an opportunity to take pictures on the Zammoth.
Prior to puck drop, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Utah Mammoth Governor Ryan Smith held a press conference where Bettman announced that next season’s Winter Classic between the Mammoth and Colorado Avalanche will be held New Year’s Eve at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Smith elaborated that Utah is planning a series of events over the weekend including a New Year’s Eve concert at Delta Center.
It was two years ago today that members of the former Arizona Coyotes landed in Salt Lake City, having just been acquired at the conclusion of their season by Smith Entertainment Group. They were overwhelmed to be greeted at the airport by legions of kids wearing their own hockey gear and holding up signs welcoming them to their new home, and later that night being introduced to thousands of screaming fans at the Delta Center. As loud as the arena was on that night, or on the night of their first ever home game on October 8, 2024, against the Chicago Blackhawks, nothing compared with the volume on Friday night at Delta Center where the decibel level reached such peaks that players couldn’t hear Head Coach André Tourigny shouting out line changes.
MacKenzie Weegar got things going for the Mammoth at 12:59 of the first period, collecting a loose puck and scoring his second playoff goal of the series and his first ever at Delta Center, assisted by Liam O’Brien and Kailer Yamamoto. On the assist, O’Brien, who has played parts of 9 seasons in the NHL, notched his first career playoff point. With three and a half minutes remaining in the frame, Brayden McNabb was whistled for high-sticking against Logan Cooley to give Utah its first power play opportunity of the game. With 45 seconds remaining in the man-advantage, Cooley sent the puck across the ice to Dylan Guenther’s office at the top of the faceoff circle where he one-timed a bullet into the net to give the Mammoth a 2-0 lead heading into the locker room. The goal was Guenther’s second of the playoffs, with the additional assist going to Captain Clayton Keller. Courtesy the Mammoth stat crew, Guenther is one of just four players in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to light the lamp in any franchise’s first home regular-season and playoff game, joining Ray Cullen (Minnesota North Stars), Larry Keenan (St. Louis Blues), and Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers). Golden Knights Head Coach John Tortorella defended his netminder after the game, saying, “No one is stopping Guenther’s shot, and that’s just a bomb.” Vegas outshot Utah 13-6 in the period, but Karel Vejmelka successfully kept them off the scoreboard.
Four minutes into the second period, the Mammoth kept the momentum going as Associate Captain Lawson Crouse attacked the net and tipped in a pass from Nick Schmaltz to take a 3-0 lead with Weegar picking up the additional assist. Schmaltz’s assist was his first career playoff point. Halfway through the period Crouse struck again with a blast from the top of the faceoff circle to give Utah a commanding 4-0 lead. Crouse’s second goal of the game and the series was assisted by Keller who picked up his second assist of the night for his first multi-point playoff game of his career. Thus far in the playoffs, Crouse’s two goals at 5:42 apart are the fastest two goals by the same player. At 13:20 of the second period, Jack Eichel spoiled the shutout, knocking in a rebound in front of the net for his first post-season goal, assisted by Ivan Barbashev and Mark Stone. Once again Vegas doubled up Utah in shots on goal, 10-5, but the Mammoth doubled up the Golden Knights in goals to head to the locker room with a 4-1 lead.
Throughout the third period Vegas continued to attack, ultimately outshooting Utah 9-1, but could only muster a late goal by Nic Dowd with three minutes remaining to cut their deficit in half. The Golden Knights pulled Carter Hart from the net for an extra attacker the rest of the way, but Vejmelka and the Mammoth closed the door on Vegas despite having been outshot 32-12 in the match. Utah’s penalty kill was a perfect 4-0 against the Vegas power play.
“Right when we came out, it was electric in the building,” said Weegar in the locker room after the game. “It was loud, and I saw the towels going, introducing the starting lineups, and felt it after that. The first five minutes give you goosebumps. That’s sort of what it’s about. You know, feeling it with the fans and the players. Both sides appreciate each other so much. But we really felt that.” On the mental test of holding onto the lead in the third period against a club like Vegas, Weegar said, “I think that’s a big topic with our group, you know, that’s the maturity. Learning from the end of the season, closing out those games when it matters. I thought we did a great job. Veggie, obviously, the start of his game was really why we were in that game the whole time. So he closed it out for us. A lot of character, and it was similar to that game two, closing out and finishing the job. So we have to continue that.”
Guenther talked about the difficulty hearing Tourigny calling out line changes. “It’s tough, especially when it’s loud in there, and a couple times, you know, he’s barking off the lines. I think it always just comes back down to just work and speed. So I think if we’re kind of getting off our game a little bit, I think just simple, simple speed.”
In the media room, Keller and Crouse stepped up to the microphone to field questions from local and national media. On his team’s effort, Keller began, “Yeah, I think we used our speed a lot tonight. I think we stuck with it. They’re a great team, and they make you work for everything. I think just having a simple game getting pucks to the net, I know we didn’t have a ton of shots, but we had some attempts, and some looks where we may have missed the net. Veggie was unreal, PK was unreal tonight, so I think we’ll make adjustments and go forward into the next one.” On the energy in the arena, Lawson said, “Yeah, the fans have been incredible ever since day one, when we’ve shown up here, and it seemed like they took it to a whole new level tonight. We can start to use that to our advantage. They really energize us. I was looking up in the stands after the first goal, and just seeing all the rally towels going and just feeling the energy and the passion from them really gives us that boost.” Talking about the team’s emotions taking the ice for the franchise’s first playoff home game, Keller said, “It was amazing. We were so jacked up to play tonight. I think even just in warm ups there was an amazing feel. You could tell that they (the fans) were invested, and they were super excited as well. It’s great to get a huge win here at home, the first playoff game in franchise history. It’s pretty cool, and I’m sure the crowd will be even better the next one.”
“I think we did a good job of weathering the storm,” said Head Coach André Tourigny at the beginning of his press conference. “We scored a big goal on our power play, then we scored a big goal five-on-five, and then our power play took the lead from there. I think until we took the 4-0 lead, it was a hard-fought game, and it was really good. Obviously, in the third, they had a big push, and they played well. They’re a good team. They played really well. Proud of the way we defended and the way we weathered the storm in the first period.” On the team’s successful penalty kill, Bear added, “It starts with your most important player on the PK, your goalie. I think Vej was rock solid. Made key saves at key moments. Our PK was tuned in. A few good block shots, and a few good clearings. I think they were solid. Our power play as well. Like I said before, a big goal. We had a great performance from our special teams.” Tourigny also commented about the noise level, “That will be an adjustment. Seriously, we had some confusion on the bench. Guys did not know who was up, and for the people who know me, I can be pretty loud. The crowd beat me, no doubt about it. There are a few things we did as a staff to get better during the game to make sure there was less confusion. Because, if you look at the tape, there are two situations in the second period where there was a little bit of confusion.”
If you’re going to have any confusion, an arena full of screaming fans is the way you want it to be.
The Mammoth take a 2-1 series lead into Game 4 this coming Monday night at Delta Center.
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