Utah MammothThe first playoff series in Utah Mammoth history is tied 2-2 against the Vegas Golden Knights, and it has produced exactly the kind of basketball-score, four-on-four, transition-heavy hockey that the Mammoth's first season in Salt Lake City has trained their fans to expect.
Jack Eichel has six points in four games and is reminding everyone what the Vegas Golden Knights got when they made the trade with Buffalo in 2021. Karel Vejmelka has stopped 106 of 119 shots for Utah and has been the reason the lower seed is even in this series. Lawson Crouse and Dylan Guenther have two goals each. The series, which Vegas was favored to handle in five, is now a best-of-three with the higher seed getting the home-ice tiebreaker - but doing it against a Mammoth team that has shown nothing in the way of nerves.
Vegas finished the regular season with 95 points - their lowest total since the 2017 expansion year - and they limped into the playoffs with three losses in their last five. Coach John Tortorella, in his first year behind the bench in Las Vegas, spent the final two weeks of the regular season shuffling lines and looking for a goaltender he trusted. He has settled, for the moment, on Carter Hart, who came over at the deadline from Philadelphia and has played all four games against Utah with an .887 save percentage. That is not what Vegas needs.
Utah, on the other hand, has been the more cohesive team for stretches of this series. They are 2-2 because they have outplayed Vegas at five-on-five and because Vejmelka has been the better goalie. They have had answers for Mark Stone. They have had answers for Jack Eichel when he is not on the ice. The question now is whether they can convert that into a series win against a Vegas team that, when it has its full attention, is still very dangerous.
When Eichel Decides to Take Over
Eichel has the highest individual point total of any player in this series. He has scored once and assisted five times. He has played 23 minutes a night. He has been the most consistent offensive driver Vegas has had through four games, and the Golden Knights have won the two games where he has produced multiple points and lost the two where he has been held to one or none.
That has been the Vegas pattern in the postseason since the 2023 Cup run - the Eichel line either creates a mismatch or it does not, and the rest of the lineup has not been able to consistently pick up the slack. Mark Stone has three points but only one at five-on-five. William Karlsson has been quiet. Tomas Hertl, signed in 2024 to add a second center, has been one of the most disappointing performers of the first round across the entire league - one assist in four games, a minus-3, and a turnover in Game 3 that led directly to the Utah game-winner.
“When Eichel produces, Vegas wins. When he doesn't, the depth has not picked it up. That has been the Golden Knights' pattern for two years.”
— The Eichel Equation
| Player | GP | G | A | PTS | SOG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Eichel (VGK) | 4 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 14 |
| Lawson Crouse (UTA) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 11 |
| Dylan Guenther (UTA) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
| Ivan Barbashev (VGK) | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 9 |
Utah Has Earned This
The Mammoth came into Salt Lake City last summer carrying the pressure of being a market that has waited for an NHL franchise for 30 years. They posted a 43-33-6 regular season for 92 points. The team would have qualified for the playoffs as a wildcard, and it was their first playoff appearance in any form since the franchise relocated from Arizona. They came in heavy underdogs against Vegas. Through four games, they have been the more disciplined team and the more dangerous team off the rush.
Crouse has two goals and four points and has been the matchup forward Tortorella keeps trying to neutralize. Guenther, the 22-year-old former first-round pick, has two goals and four points and has been a problem for Vegas's defensive pairings. Mikhail Sergachev, who came over from Tampa Bay in 2024, has logged 27 minutes a night and has been the reason Eichel has not generated more.
The story, though, is Vejmelka. He played 47 games for Utah this season behind Connor Ingram, but when the postseason started, coach Andre Tourigny went with the Czech veteran, and through four games he has been the better goalie. He has stopped 106 of 119 shots. He has been clean on his rebounds. He stole Game 3 in Salt Lake City with a 35-save performance and he has given his team a chance in every game.
What Each Team Needs to Win Game 5
For Vegas - stop the bleeding from the second line. Hertl is being outscored by his Utah counterpart at 5v5 by a wide margin. Tortorella has to either get him going or trust Brett Howden in a bigger role. Then ride Eichel and hope Hart wakes up.
For Utah - keep feeding the rush. Vegas's defense has been vulnerable in transition all season and Crouse-Guenther have been the perfect matchup to exploit it. Get to the inside. Make Hart move side to side. Trust Vejmelka to do the rest.
What Tortorella Has to Decide
The Vegas coaching staff has a goaltending decision to make in the next 48 hours. Hart has been adequate but not great. Akira Schmid, signed in the summer as a depth option, has not played in this series. The Golden Knights' regular-season goaltending was the worst in the franchise's history, and the postseason has not changed it. If Vegas is going to win this series, they likely need either a sudden Hart breakthrough or a coaching change in the crease - and Tortorella, by reputation, is not a coach who hesitates to make moves like that.
The lineup is also under question. Pavel Dorofeyev has been quiet on the third line. Nicolas Roy has been moved up and down the depth chart. The fourth line, which carried Vegas to a Cup in 2023 with Reilly Smith and William Carrier, no longer exists in that form - Smith left in free agency, Carrier was traded last summer. The Golden Knights' depth is not what it was, and that has shown up in their inability to extend offensive-zone shifts against Utah.
The home-ice question matters too. Vegas plays Game 5 at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday night. Utah plays Game 6 at the Delta Center on Friday. The Mammoth crowd has been the loudest playoff atmosphere of the first round - they have played to a sellout in both of their home games, the building has not seen the postseason since the franchise was the Arizona Coyotes in 2012, and the Vegas players have publicly noted how loud it has been.
Vegas's Top Line
Eichel-Stone-Barbashev has been the only consistent matchup advantage for Vegas. They have to deliver in the next two games or this series is over.
Vegas's Goaltending
Hart's .887 save percentage is below what Vegas needs. The team's regular-season goaltending was already a problem and the playoffs have not solved it.
Utah's Home Building
The crowd in Salt Lake City has been the loudest of the first round. Game 6 at the Delta Center could be the loudest hockey environment in that city's history.
Can Tortorella Find a Match for Eichel?
The Mammoth have been able to keep Eichel relatively contained except in two key moments. If Vegas wants this series, they need their captain to have a five-point game, not a one-point game.
The Golden Knights have been here before. They went down 3-1 in 2023 against Florida and won the Cup. They came back from 2-1 deficits twice in 2024 before bowing out in the second round. This is a team built for the spring, with veterans who have answered every adversity question this league has thrown at them. They are not in trouble until they have lost three games.
But Utah is not the team Vegas thought they would be playing. The Mammoth are organized, they are getting goaltending, and they are getting the kind of secondary scoring that has made them difficult to put away. The series is even because they have earned it being even, and if Vejmelka stays hot for two more games, the favorite at the start of the round may not be the team that advances out of it.
#9 · C · 74 GP