Logan Cooley scored the go-ahead goal on a rebound with six minutes remaining to give the Utah Mammoth the first playoff win in franchise history, 3-2 over the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 2 of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series on Tuesday in Las Vegas.
Cooley buried a rebound of a Dylan Guenther shot just inside the left post, evening the best-of-seven series at one victory apiece. The scene now shifts to Salt Lake City for the next two contests, with Game 3 on Friday.
“Man, it’s unbelievable,” Cooley said. “This is everything I thought it was going to be. Just the intensity of the game, the physicality and speed, it’s so much fun to play in. … It’s always fun when you’re winning, too.”
Utah coach Andre Tourigny praised Cooley and his teammates for not letting their focus waver amid the pressure of the playoffs.
“We know how competitive, how good he is,” Tourigny said. “For us, it’s just stay in the moment. ‘Cools’ has been really good for us since he’s been with us, which is three years now. Right now his head is in the right place, he’s in the moment. I think everybody in our room, their focus is in the right place, and we need to keep it there.”
Guenther had a goal and an assist, Kailer Yamamoto had two assists and MacKenzie Weegar also scored for Utah. Karel Vejmelka made 19 saves, including a close-in shot by Mark Stone from the left side of the net with five seconds left to seal the win.
Stone and Ivan Barbashev each scored a goal and Jack Eichel had two assists for Vegas, which lost for the first time in regulation in 10 games (8-1-1) under coach John Tortorella. Carter Hart finished with 27 saves.
“We’ve got a couple things we need to fix,” Tortorella said. “I’m not going to discuss it here. That’s why it’s a series. … We’ll have tomorrow off, we’ll practice on Thursday and get on the road.”
The teams exchanged own goals during the first period, which ended with the score 1-1.
Vegas, which rallied for a 4-2 victory in Game 1, took a 1-0 lead at the 11:42 mark on a power-play goal. Stone’s cross-crease pass for Tomas Hertl near the right post caromed straight into the net off the skate of Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev. It was Stone’s 43rd career playoff goal and his sixth in the past six games dating back to the regular season.
Utah tied it with three minutes left in the period. Weegar’s shot from the right point deflected off the stick of Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin and then off the pads of Hart into the low slot toward Golden Knights defenseman Rasmus Andersson, who kicked the rebound into the net.
The Mammoth took a 2-1 lead in the second period on a one-timer from the top of the left circle by Guenther off a pass from Yamamoto.
“We’ve got to do a better job of slowing down their speed,” Vegas forward Mitch Marner said. “Obviously, they’re a skilled team, so a couple goals resulted off that. We’ve got to do a better job of getting our gap, getting up ice, just come back to the house a little better.”
The Golden Knights tied it 62 seconds later. Barbashev intercepted a clearing pass by Sergachev in the neutral zone and then skated in and split a pair of Utah defensemen before roofing a backhand shot into the top far corner for his second goal of the playoffs.
–Field Level Media
