{"id":558002,"date":"2026-04-22T14:33:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:33:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/558002\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T14:33:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T14:33:26","slug":"vegas-golden-knights-face-adversity-after-losing-game-2-to-utah-mammoth-golden-knights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/558002\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegas Golden Knights face adversity after losing Game 2 to Utah Mammoth | Golden Knights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adversity was going to come sooner or later for the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a> under John Tortorella.<\/p>\n

That time has come after the Knights dropped Game 2 of their first-round series to the Utah Mammoth 3-2 at T-Mobile Arena on Tuesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time the Knights are put in a position to respond to Tortorella \u2014 how he manages his team after their first regulation loss under him, and how the team responds to his message.<\/p>\n

Thus begins the chess match for the series. Tortorella has kept most of his thoughts close to the vest as far as how to attack Utah or how to adjust.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got a couple of things we need to fix,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cI\u2019m not going to discuss it here, but it\u2019s why it\u2019s a series.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tortorella said before the playoffs that it was still too early to see how it looks when his team responds to adversity after finishing the regular season 7-0-1.<\/p>\n

They wound up winning 4-2 in Game 1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The players will lean on the premise that they\u2019ve dealt with adversity all year. All the highs and lows through the regular season. Going through a coaching change with eight games remaining.<\/p>\n

Those are the sort of things they can hang their hat on, and why they\u2019re in a position where their first-round series is tied at a game apiece.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t a fully angry Tortorella after the game, but there was some agitation in his three-question press conference.<\/p>\n

The Knights got off to a strong start with a 10-6 edge in shots through 20 minutes. They even scored the first goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought we were going to take off after the first period,\u201d Tortorella said. \u201cI really liked the way we looked there. We just got all disjointed.<\/p>\n

But, Tortorella felt the Knights \u201clost our flow in the second.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of that was due to a cavalcade of penalties that carried over from the first period. Utah broke through the stagnant flow with its speed and playmaking ability.<\/p>\n

Led by their young stars Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther, the Mammoth took over to the tune of outshooting the Knights 23-11 in the final 40 minutes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re a fast team,\u201d forward Brett Howden said. \u201cThey come through the neutral zone with speed. I thought we played our game for the most part in the first half of the game and then kind of got away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Forward Mitch Marner said slowing down Utah\u2019s speed has to be a focus. The Knights did well to contain it in Game 1 despite needing a rally in the third period to complete the comeback.<\/p>\n

Though the top six got goals from captain Mark Stone and winger Ivan Barbashev, the top forwards were kept quiet. Stone, Marner and Jack Eichel had one shot each.<\/p>\n

Howden had two, and Pavel Dorofeyev had three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had decent looks,\u201d Marner said. \u201cMaybe we\u2019ve got to do a little better job in our o-zone of sustaining pressure and supporting each other. They do a good job of making it tight in the corner or in the spot they can pressure quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Game 3 is a time, historically, where the Knights find another gear. They\u2019re 12-6 all-time in Game 3, including a 9-5 mark at home.<\/p>\n

When the series is tied 1-1 and starting at home, they\u2019re 6-3 in the best-of-7.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s plenty of hockey left to play. But it\u2019s a series now with a raucous crowd expected at Delta Center for Utah\u2019s first ever home playoff game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awesome,\u201d Cooley said. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to get the win and a big goal in a big moment to get the series tied up going back home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com.<\/a> Follow @DannyWebster21<\/a> on X.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adversity was going to come sooner or later for the Vegas Golden Knights under John Tortorella. That time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":558003,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[149,5317,5,4,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-558002","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-nhl","12":"tag-vegas","13":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","14":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116448854327196303","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558002","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=558002"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/558002\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/558003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=558002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=558002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=558002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}