The Vegas Golden Knights suffered their second straight defeat when they lost 4-2 to the Utah Mammoth in Game 3 Friday night at Delta Center.
It was the first Stanley Cup Playoff game in the state of Utah, and the home team made the most of its opportunities, scoring four goals on its first eight shots of the contest. The Golden Knights trailed 4-0 midway through the second period and were unable to recover in the 4-2 decision.
Utah now leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.
Karel Vejmelka was the difference early, as the Utah netminder was able to withstand Vegas’ strong push with a 13-save effort in the opening 20 minutes.
Vejmelka was heavily tested, as the Golden Knights were completely dominant for the first half of the period. Vegas got the first power play of the game at 9:42, setting up a glorious opportunity to set the tone on the road. However, Vegas squandered said opportunity, and the ice began to tilt the other way.
Despite Vegas’ promising start in the first road period of the first-round matchup, the home team struck first.
The Golden Knights were preoccupied with the play along the boards and lost track of MacKenzie Weegar, who was all alone when the puck squirted into the center of the zone. Weegar skated into his slapshot, which hit Hart in the mask, deflected off Hart’s stick and then made its way into the net to break the ice at 12:59.
Brayden McNabb was whistled for high-sticking, giving the Mammoth their first chance on the power play 3:31 later. Utah took full advantage and scored on an absolute laser from Dylan Guenther, who collected a seam pass from Logan Cooley and beat Hart top-shelf.
Vegas led 13-6 in shots in the period but trailed 2-0 where it mattered most.
The story was much the same in the second period, as the Golden Knights were the better team to start, recording the first five shots. But Utah added two more tallies on its first two shots of the frame.
The first goal was an excellent play by the Mammoth, who used their speed effectively. Utah won the faceoff in the defensive end, worked the puck up the ice and completed a give-and-go to set up a Lawson Crouse tip in the slot, making it a 3-0 contest just 4:06 in.
Crouse scored his second of the period at 9:48 to put Vegas in a four-goal hole. Hart wasn’t screened on the uncontested shot, which beat him cleanly.
John Tortorella elected not to pull Hart.
The Golden Knights responded with a strong shift and finally broke through 3:32 later. It was a simple play, with Mark Stone throwing the puck at the net and Jack Eichel potting his first of the playoffs on the rebound. Ivan Barbashev was credited with the primary assist on the play, as his strong postseason play continued.
The Golden Knights got a late power play with a chance to make it a two-goal game before intermission, but both Pavel Dorofeyev and Rasmus Andersson hit iron to keep the deficit at three.
Through 40 minutes, the Golden Knights led 24-11 in shots, 47-35 in shot attempts, 26-13 in scoring chances and 9-4 in high-danger chances, per Natural Stat Trick. But, once again, the Mammoth were in control with a multi-goal edge, setting up an uphill climb for Vegas in the third.
Tortorella put the lines in a blender, putting Colton Sissons with Eichel and Barbashev, Reilly Smith with Mitch Marner and Stone, Brett Howden with Tomas Hertl and Keegan Kolesar and Dorofeyev on the fourth line.
Though the Golden Knights had plenty of zone time, they were unable to do much for most of the period.
After a Barbashev hit on Crouse resulted in a skirmish, the Golden Knights got a power play midway through the period. However, Vegas managed just one shot and was unable to chip away at Utah’s lead.
The Golden Knights eventually scored to make it 4-2 with 3:08 remaining when Nic Dowd recorded his second goal of the series.
But the road team was unable to pull within one and ultimately fell 4-2.
In the end, the Golden Knights allowed just 12 shots on goal, the fewest allowed in a single postseason game in franchise history.
But it wasn’t enough to come away victorious.
Instead, Utah scored four goals on its first eight shots, and the Golden Knights managed two on 32.
It was just one of those games.
Hart finished the night with a .667 save percentage with just eight shots in 56:57. He should have stopped the fourth goal but otherwise wasn’t the primary reason for the loss.
When asked, Tortorella was adamant that he never considered pulling him.
“I know Carter well enough,” the Vegas bench boss said. “He wants to work through it. I have full faith in him. There was no thought of taking him out.”
Tortorella remains confident in Hart and in his ability to bounce back.
“I think he cares,” Tortorella said. “I know there weren’t a lot of shots and there were four goals, but it was a weird game. … I just know him so well. He has an attitude and a mental toughness about him at that position. He’ll be fine. He’ll be fine.”
Similarly, Tortorella is confident that the team’s offense will come if the club continues to defend.
“I thought we had some scoring chances tonight,” he said. “We still need to get some guys on track. I want us to defend the proper way. I think that’s the most important thing. We defend the proper way, our offense will come. I have full trust in the guys that way.”
The Golden Knights failed to take advantage of their surge in the first 10 minutes of the game. Vejmelka was solid, but his teammates were opportunistic with their chances; the Golden Knights were not.
Notwithstanding the lopsided shot count, the Golden Knights had plenty of opportunities to make this a closer game, particularly on the power play, which went cold at the worst possible time.
Though Vegas hit the post twice late in the second period, the power play let Vegas down in Game 3. After scoring on the man-advantage in Games 1 and 2, the Golden Knights went 0-for-4 in Game 3.
“We hit two posts on that second [power play] in the second period there,” Eichel said. “I think sometimes it just needs to be simplified, urgent, get pucks to the net and then crash the net. But at the same time, we gotta be confident when we have [a power play] and make the right play. Our power play’s been good for us this year. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to score tonight.”
Tortorella said he liked one of Vegas’ power plays but knows it’s something the team will have to address ahead of Game 4.
“I thought when [Eichel] started shooting the puck a little bit more and they made the puck work, it looked better,” Tortorella said of the man-advantage. “I think we’re just a little too deliberate. We’ll look at the units as we look at the tape and see what we have the next game.”
The Mammoth won the special teams battle overall, going 1-for-1 on the power play and 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.
The Golden Knights could use more from certain players, including Hertl and Marner, who have a combined zero goals through three games.That being said, the Golden Knights — as a team — did not play poorly.
As such, the Golden Knights remained positive in their post-game comments.
“I thought we came in, we had a good first 10 minutes,” Eichel said. “We knew it was gonna be a good environment, the crowd was gonna be in it. We wanted to come out and try to establish our game early. I thought we did that. I thought we played a good game. It was a bit of a weird one. We didn’t give up a ton.”
Tortorella also was pleased with several aspects of Vegas’ performance.
“I thought we took a step forward in how we have to play from Game 2,” Tortorella said. “In game 2, we gave up 27-28 scoring chances. That certainly didn’t happen tonight. It’s a series with ebbs and flows. I like a lot of our minutes tonight.”
Dowd, too, had a favorable outlook following the loss.
“Obviously, it’s always unfortunate when you lose,” he said. “There’s gonna be games where you play great and you don’t get the outcome that you want, but overall I thought we played well.”
The Golden Knights are experienced and knows what it takes to win.
“You stay consistent and you play the right way, you’re gonna be successful,” Dowd said. “Veteran teams have to understand that there’s a reason there’s 82 games, there’s a reason there’s seven games in a series. I think that the belief in this group doesn’t change with the outcome of a game.”
Vegas has been here before, including last year when the Golden Knights trailed 2-1 against Minnesota in the first round.
“We were down 2-1 last year and found a way to win a pivotal Game 4,” Eichel said. “That’s our focus now, is Monday’s game and preparing for that. We’ll be ready to go.”
Statistics courtesy of Natural Stat Trick.
Photo courtesy of the Golden Knights