{"id":557783,"date":"2026-04-22T08:06:22","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:06:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557783\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:06:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:06:22","slug":"utah-mammoth-beat-vegas-golden-knights-3-2-for-1st-playoff-win-deseret-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/557783\/","title":{"rendered":"Utah Mammoth beat Vegas Golden Knights 3-2 for 1st playoff win \u2013 Deseret News"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kailer Yamamoto is a man of few words, but the three he used to describe the Utah Mammoth\u2019s locker room after its first-ever playoff win said it all.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was hyped.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Mammoth\u2019s series with Vegas Golden Knights was one of the biggest question marks in the league going into this year\u2019s Stanley Cup Playoffs.<\/p>\n

On one hand, you have a somewhat-recent championship team that significantly underperformed in the regular season. Yet, after a coaching change, the team went on a 7-0-1 run to clinch the division title.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, you have a young, inexperienced team \u2014 both on the ice and behind the bench \u2014 that has found ways to beat good teams all year, including the Golden Knights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The result, at least through two games, is a deadlock. Not only is the series knotted at 1-1, but neither team has even maintained any semblance of dominance for more than a few minutes at a time.<\/p>\n

Both games were decided by one mistake.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what playoffs are all about, you know?\u201d said Mammoth defenseman MacKenzie Weegar after Utah\u2019s 3-2 win at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday. \u201cTight games like that, and we willed our way to get that win tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The teams now head to Salt Lake City for a two-game set. With each team having won a game, they\u2019re guaranteed to make at least one more trip to Sin City.<\/p>\n

Passing the torch<\/p>\n

For the first couple years of their respective careers, Dylan Guenther and Logan Cooley chipped in secondary offense, with guys like Clayton Keller and Nick Schmaltz doing the bulk of the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n

This season, it has begun to switch \u2014 and in the playoffs especially, the two young guns have been the Mammoth\u2019s primary source for offense.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two are unbelievable,\u201d said Yamamoto of his two line mates. \u201cEverything they do, you know, very easy to play with for myself and they just use their speed. They\u2019re so quick and heavy on pucks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Much has been said about the difference between the playoffs and the regular season. Around the league, there are plenty of stars who score a point per game or more from October through the first two weeks of April, but lose their touch as soon as the postseason rolls around.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still early into their playoff careers, but it seems as though that won\u2019t be the case for Guenther and Cooley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe games are so intense, physical, fast, and I think that fits my game,\u201d Cooley said.<\/p>\n

He also expressed how much he cares \u2014 a trait he shares with every difference-maker in the history of the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so exciting playing these games,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019re playing for the Cup. It\u2019s what you dream of since you\u2019re a little kid, and you just want to leave everything out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, really quickly: Yamamoto\u2019s contract is up at the end of the season. With how well he has complemented Guenther and Cooley \u2014 including registering two assists on Tuesday \u2014 it\u2019s time to start thinking about an extension for No. 56.<\/p>\n

He has played the last two seasons on two-way deals worth the league-minimum salary at the NHL level. Perhaps it\u2019s time for him to get a raise akin to what Michael Carcone received<\/a> in March.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about balance<\/p>\n

Good playoff teams know how to play physically without taking unnecessary penalties.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s how Game 1 was: A combined 82 hits with just one power play for each team. But in Game 2, the penalty box attendants probably endangered their rotator cuffs with how much they had to open and close the gates.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a fine line, and the Mammoth are learning to walk it. But where that line is changes from one series to the next.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you get in the series, (you need) to find the standard to what will be called, what won\u2019t be called,\u201d Tourigny explained. \u201cWe were not disciplined enough at some points. But at the same time, we had some opportunity on our power play as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NHL has a mechanism in place to promote consistency and fairness in the playoffs. Each series is assigned a supervisor \u2014 usually a retired referee \u2014 who meets with the officials to go over trends, flaws and anything the teams complain to them about.<\/p>\n

The system allows the teams\u2019 complaints to be heard and addressed, which helps decrease frustration levels.<\/p>\n

\"\"Vegas Golden Knights right wing Keegan Kolesar (55) crashes into the boards after failing to check Utah Mammoth center Logan Cooley (92) during the second period in Game 2 of a first-round NHL hockey Stanley Cup playoff series Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Ian Maule) | AP <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS \u2014 Kailer Yamamoto is a man of few words, but the three he used to describe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,3157,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-557783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-golden-knights","9":"tag-goldenknights","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-news-feed-local","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-vegas","14":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","15":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116447333166334853","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=557783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}