Mammoth hold off Golden Knights 4-2 in first home playoff game

SALT LAKE CITY — It's difficult to have a better home playoff debut than the Mammoth did Friday night.

Hosting the Golden Knights for Game 3 of the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, Utah was able to make the most of its shots on goal and got a much improved effort from its special teams to take a 2-1 series lead after a 4-2 win.

Despite the win, Vegas outshot Utah 32-12; but it was the Mammoth who took advantage of the limited opportunities with four goals on the first eight shots.

"Over the years, we've been a team that's been able to generate in different ways," Clayton Keller said. "I think sometimes we're gonna have more shots than other nights, and I think quality over quantity sometimes, and just bearing down on the looks that you do get."

Two Utah skaters recorded 2 points in the win, with MacKenzie Weegar netting the first home playoff goal in franchise history and adding an assist on the first of two goals from Lawson Crouse.

Mammoth goaltender Karel Vejmelka had his best game of the series, stopping 30 shots and virtually shutting down a potent Golden Knights offense for a majority of the game.

Utah's special teams improved in Game 3 after it failed to score on the power play in the first two games while also allowing Vegas to net two goals on the man advantage.

"It started with your most important player in the PK, your goalie," Mammoth head coach Andre Tourigny said. "I think Veggie was rock solid, made key saves at key moments, and our PK was tuned in. A few good blocked shots, a few good clearings — I think they were solid, our power play, as well."

The Mammoth scored on its only power play of the night while also holding the Golden Knights scoreless on four chances.

After Weegar's opening goal in the first period, Utah went on the man advantage; and it was Dylan Guenther who finally ended the Mammoth's cold streak on the power play to begin the series.

"It was a weird game," Vegas head coach John Tortorella said. "They were very opportunistic, give them credit. When they had some chances they scored; I mean, no one's stopping Guenther's shot — that's just a bomb."

Utah kept up its pace in the second period, with Crouse adding two more goals to pad the Mammoth's lead. That lead was enough for Utah to hold on to the win despite a late push from Vegas.

Jack Eichel got the Golden Knights on the board after cleaning up a shot near the net. The Mammoth held up their end of the physicality all night and didn't allow Vegas to get comfortable despite the shot differential.

Nic Dowd scored his second goal of the series off a feed from Reilly Smith to make it 4-2.

Right after the faceoff, Tortorella pulled Carter Hart to give Vegas an extra skater for the final three minutes. Utah shut down the final push from the Golden Knights, though, to cap off an entertaining and historic moment for the franchise.

Mammoth fans showed up and made their presence felt in the first home playoff game in franchise history. From the opening face-off, to Weegar's opening goal, and all the way until the clock hit double zeroes, the Delta Center crowd was raucous.

"The fans have been incredible ever since Day 1 when we've shown up here, and it seemed like they took it to a whole new level tonight, and we can start to use that to our advantage," Crouse said. "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."

The loud environment wasn't just throwing off the opposing team, it even had an impact on Utah's bench, causing some confusion for what skaters were supposed to be on the ice at times.

"That will be an adjustment," Tourigny said. "We had some confusion on the bench; guys did not know who was up. For the people who know me, I can be pretty loud, I did not go through. The crowd beat me, no doubt about it. There's a few things we did as a staff to get better during the game, to make sure there were less confusion."

A lot of questions were asked about whether or not hockey would work in Utah before the NHL came to the state. Not only have the Mammoth answered the bell on the ice, but the fan base showed out and represented themselves well on the game's biggest stage.

"It's huge to get into the playoffs. We want to take another step each and every year, and I think our goal this year was to make the playoffs and now we're here and it's great to do that, the first one at home," Keller said. "We just want to continue to get better."

Game 4 is set for Monday night, with Utah looking to take control of the series.

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