Utah Mammoth defenseman MacKenzie Weegar (52) controls the puck against the Vegas Golden Knights center Brett Howden in first period action in game 6 of the NHL Stanley Cup Playoff first round on Fri May 1, 2026 (AP News photo)

By Tom Walker

SALT LAKE CITY–Vegas Golden Knights (4-2) dominated all but a few moments of play while clinching their Round Two postseason berth against the Anaheim Ducks. The Knights put away the Utah Mammoth (2-4) on Friday night with a 5-1 win.

It was do or die Friday night at Delta Center for the Mammoth, down three games to two in the best-of-seven Western Conference First-Round Series.

Game 5 in Las Vegas on Wednesday was a microcosm of the series overall, with leads going back and forth until Vegas emerged with the edge.

Both squads learned Thursday night who the winner of this series will face in the next round as the Anaheim Ducks convincingly disposed of Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers 5-2 to win their opening round matchup in six games. Anaheim went 2-1-0 against Utah during the regular season, and a perfect 3-0-0 against Vegas with each game decided by a 4-3 score, two of which were in overtime.

Per Utah’s stat crew, five Mammoth players have previously scored goals in a playoff elimination game: Nate Schmidt, MacKenzie Weegar, Kevin Stenlund, Sean Durzi, and Clayton Keller.

It took until the final five minutes of the opening period for the first goal of the game which came at the hands of Game 5 double-overtime heartbreaker Brett Howden who put the Knights up 1-0 on his fourth goal of the series, assisted by Mitch Marner and Mark Stone.

With 62 seconds remaining in the frame, Alexander Kerfoot was whistled for a dubious goalkeeper interference penalty against Carter Hart. Replays showed the contact between them taking place outside the goal crease, nevertheless Vegas went on the power play.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, forward Pavel Dorofeyev shot the puck hitting the face of teammate Jeremy Louzon who skated slowly to his team’s bench with the period coming to a close. The Golden Knights outshot the Mammoth 10-6.

The second period’s scoring drought lasted longer than that of the first period, with both netminders holding the line for the first nineteen minutes of the frame. Though Vegas wasn’t on the power play, the final minutes of the period were a constant barrage of offense which felt like it, and with the Mammoth defense completely gassed Mitch Marner found the back of the net with 45 seconds remaining to give Vegas a 2-0 lead heading into the final period of play, which for the Mammoth had the potential to be the final period of play for the season. The Knights outshot Utah 9-8 in the frame, but in terms of puck possession and any sort of momentum it was overwhelming in favor of Vegas.

At 7:41 of the third period, Mammoth forward Kailer Yamamoto breathed life into his squad and the 16,000+ fans in attendance when he ended Carter Hart’s shutout effort with his first goal of the playoffs, assisted by Mikhail Sergachev.

For a moment it seemed as if Utah had some genuine momentum upon which to mount a comeback, but that optimism was squashed at 9:39 when Colton Sissons restored the two-goal Vegas lead with his second goal of the postseason, assisted by Brayden McNabb and Kaedan Korczak, to make it 3-1.

If that didn’t already begin to deflate the home team’s hopes of forcing a Game 7 in Las Vegas on Sunday, things went from bad to worse when Logan Cooley went to the sin bin for high-sticking against Nic Dowd. It took Mitch Marner all of 15 seconds on the man-advantage to make it 4-1, assisted by Shea Theodore and Jack Eichel, to seemingly put the game and the series away with 7:51 remaining.

If it weren’t a playoff game, the seats would have been emptying quickly at that point. Cole Smith added an exclamation point to the Golden Knights victory with an unassisted empty net goal at 16:24 to wrap things up 5-1.

“We were in it, and we battled,” said Assistant Captain Mikhail Sergachev. “We tried, and we failed. Maybe an eye-opener for a lot of us, and it’s going to take us time to digest all of that. And come back with a game plan to get better and come back stronger. … I have no doubt we’ll do some damage next year. I’m proud of this team; we battled, and our fans saw it. We got a lot of support from them, and we tried our best today. Very proud of this team.”

Associate Captain Lawson Crouse talked about the emotions following the series loss. “A lot of emotions, upset that we couldn’t get the job done, and fight for another day. Obviously, the fans have been great all season long. We owed it to them to fight right until the end.” Talking about how failure can help the team grow, Crouse added, “You have to go through the lows to get to the highs. We can be proud as a group of where we got to. Obviously, we have some things to learn, closing out games, but Vegas, they’re a great hockey team. They’re a veteran hockey team. They’ve won previously, and they know what it takes to win. They know how to win games and close them out. That’s something that we can learn from them. We gave it our all, we can all be proud of that. It wasn’t like we rolled over at any moments throughout the series and we just came up short. That’s the way it is. Obviously you got to learn from it and come back with another goal next year and try and replicate it, get a couple wins in the playoffs and advance to the next round.”

Captain Clayton Keller was transparent about his disappointment. “Yeah, it obviously sucks,” Keller began. “Terrible feeling right now for the guys. We fought, gave everything we had never quit, lots of ups and downs. It’s fresh right now, but I’ll have some time to reflect. Like I’ve said all series, we’re super confident in one another and our game plan and everything like that. It sucks, it’s a terrible feeling. When you lose and you go through that pain, that’s when you learn the most, not when you win.” One can’t help but think, we so many young players under contract for years to come, that the experience gained in the first round will benefit the team in the future. The captain continued, “Yeah, I believe so much in this group and the guys that we have, and the character and guys that love coming to the rink and getting better every single day. It’s so fun to come to the rink with these guys. Definitely super excited about the future. We are only gonna get better. Like I said, this sucks, but we’ll learn from it, we’ll break it down and the next time we’re in this situation, next year, we’ll get over the hump.” Of the fans who stuck it out through the end of the game, Keller added, “Like I’ve said all year long, the past two years, they’ve been unbelievable. They took it to a new level in the playoffs here. Their support means so much to all of us in this room, and gives us lots of energy. We love playing at home. We love playing at the Delta Center. It’s the best building to play in. I just love their passion and how much you know they appreciate and care for us.”

Those who have interviewed Head Coach André Tourigny throughout the season didn’t need him to open his mouth at the podium. His face communicated everything you needed to know. “I don’t really know what to tell you tonight,” he began. “It hurt. I didn’t have that on my bingo card. I was really confident we would go to Vegas tomorrow. I assume some will ask me questions about the season, and this and that. My head is not there at all. I’m mad. I’m disappointed. Not mad at the players. I’m mad at the fact we lost. I hate excuses. I hate taking the easy way out. I think I told you all year, your failure makes you stronger. You learn from it, and it makes you better. In order to make sure that happened, it has to hurt. I don’t even want to feel good about it. I want that to hurt, and I want to learn from it. There will be a ton of things we will unpack and learn and grow as a coach, as a player, as an organization. Our crowd was unbelievable for us all season long. In the playoffs, there were at another level. I would’ve loved to win it for them.” Speaking of the team’s no-quit mentality, Bear said, “There’s no doubt. I love our players, I love our team. They’re competitors. They’re proud to play for that team, that state, that ownership. They fight for each other. They love each other. There’s no doubt. An unbelievable group of guys in that room. Having said that, what we’re going through tonight is important for our future. It’s really important. Like I said, you need to let it hurt. You need to let it bleed a little bit. Has to hurt because that will be the fuel of tomorrow to bounce back and find a way to be better and to get to the next. There will be a time in a few days when we will talk together with you guys, and we’ll talk about what’s been achieved. For tonight, for me, personally, it hurts, and that’s the way it should be.” Describing the locker room after leaving the ice, Tourigny said, “After the game, I hugged all of them, and I care for them, and that doesn’t change. That doesn’t mean everybody played well. There’s a difference between the player and the person. Every single guy in that room are really good guys who care for each other, and they give everything they had for our team, our organization, our state, and for Utah. That means a lot to me. I appreciate all of that. I think that said, I don’t want to deepen that, but there will be things we need to learn to be better. We succeed in a few things. Cannot take it for granted. So there will be a time to talk about that. Tonight, it’s time to grieve a little bit.”

If one had to point out key moments where the Mammoth could have turned the tide, the first was in Game 4 at Delta Center when Utah scored four unanswered goals and had a lead in the third period, only to surrender the tying goal and eventually fall in overtime. A victory would have given the Mammoth a commanding 3-games-to-1 lead in the series. Instead they went back to Vegas with the series tied. But the bigger heartbreak came when leading in the third period of Game 5, Utah surrendered the tying goal with 53 seconds left, and then lost the game on a short-handed goal in double-overtime to force Friday’s elimination game. If either of those games turn out differently, Utah would be playing Game 7 in Las Vegas rather than making summer plans.

Mammoth players will return to Delta Center in the coming days to clean out their lockers, participate in exit interviews with the coaching staff, and meet with the local media. It is inevitable that some of them could be traded or otherwise not return.

Little did we know at the same time a year ago that Michael Carcone would be back after saying that he would be parting ways, or that Josh Doan and Michael Kesselring, having been traded to the Buffalo Sabres in the offseason for JJ Peterka, would be going to Round 2 of the playoffs after eliminating the Boston Bruins.

Under the tutelage of Tourigny, the then-Coyotes and current Mammoth have improved their performance in each of the past 5 years. The expectation is that 2026-27 will make it six as General Manager Bill Armstrong continues to improve the squad through free agent signings, trades, further development of Utah’s deep prospect pool, as well as the upcoming 2026 NHL entry draft which will be held in Buffalo on June 26–27.

Tom Walker covered the 2025-26 Utah Mammoth season for http://www.sportsradioservice.com