Golden Knights vs. Mammoth Game 6: Key takeaways as Vegas punches ticket to Round 2

AtlanticBruinsCanadiensLightningMaple LeafsPanthersRed WingsSabresSenatorsMetropolitanBlue JacketsCapitalsDevilsFlyersHurricanesIslandersPenguinsRangersCentralAvalancheBlackhawksBluesJetsMammothPredatorsStarsWildPacificCanucksDucksFlamesGolden KnightsKingsKrakenOilersSharksScores & ScheduleStandingsPodcastsFantasyNHL OddsNHL PicksPlayoff bracketStanley Cup tiersNHL Draft rankingRed Light NewsletterNHL Playoffs Mitch Marner scored the game-winner as the Golden Knights advanced to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Alex Goodlett / Imagn Images Share article1SALT LAKE CITY — Mitch Marner came to Vegas with a history of not being his best the deeper a playoff series goes. In his first opportunity with the Golden Knights to disprove that notion, he did exactly that. Marner scored the game-winning goal, then added an insurance marker in the third period, as Vegas cruised to a comfortable 5-1 win to eliminate the Utah Mammoth in six games. Early in the game, Utah needed goaltender Karel Vejmelka to be its best player on the ice, and he was. The Golden Knights generated 10 shots in the opening period, and Vejmelka stopped nine and controlled the rebounds well. Perhaps Vegas’ best opportunity came only minutes into the game, when Marner caught a pass all alone on the back side of the play. Vejmelka slid across his crease, calm and controlled, to stuff Marner’s shot and freeze the puck. Later in the period, he got over to catch a weakside shot by Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb, and once again held onto the puck for a whistle. The Golden Knights finally broke through late in the opening frame when Marner’s shot missed the net, rebounded off the end boards and straight to Brett Howden’s stick. Howden buried it for his series-leading fourth goal of the first round. Nearing the end of a relatively quiet second period on both ends, Marner scored his first goal of the postseason to extend Vegas’ lead to 2-0. Jack Eichel set it up with an incredible shift. He won several possession battles in the Utah zone and zipped through the Mammoth defense before eventually changing to give Marner possession against exhausted defenders. He took advantage with a slap shot from the right circle that beat Vejmelka high. Kailer Yamamoto got Utah on the board midway through the third period with a shot from outside the right faceoff dot in transition that slipped underneath Vegas’ goalie Carter Hart’s blocker. It was Yamamoto’s first goal of the series and cut the Golden Knights’ lead to 2-1. Colton Sissons answered almost immediately, following a shot by McNabb and potting the rebound to extend Vegas’ lead back to two goals. Marner added another, giving him his first multi-goal playoff game in more than three years and making it, 4-1 Golden Knights. Cole Smith scored into the empty net to put the game away. Marner scored his first of the postseason with a missile of a slap shot near the end of the second period, snapping a 10-game goalless drought in the playoffs dating back to last season in Toronto. He added another goal in the third period, on the power play, to help Vegas close out the series. The 28-year-old, who signed an eight-year, $96 million contract with the Golden Knights in the offseason, was finding other ways to impact the series before the goal. He racked up assists in five of the six games, including helpers on both of Howden’s crucial short-handed goals. He was also excellent off the puck, regularly tracking Mammoth players down on the backcheck to end chances. But for a player with the contract Marner signed, who was brought in specifically to help Vegas score goals when it needs it most, Friday night’s goal was much needed. His line, with Howden and Mark Stone, was the Golden Knights’ best in Game 6, controlling possession and territory nearly every time they went over the boards. If Utah was going to win this series, it was going to be on the backs of its young, fast, skilled forwards. Logan Cooley and Dylan Guenther made their mark at five-on-five early in the series, but as it wore on, the Golden Knights allowed fewer and fewer chances. That’s not terribly surprising, considering the tight-checking nature of playoff hockey. Where the Mammoth’s top scorers were particularly disappointing, though, was with the man advantage. Utah’s power play went 1-for-16 in the series for an atrocious 6.3 percent conversion rate, and failed to score a single goal after Game 3. The unit failed the Mammoth in some of the biggest moments of the series. It went scoreless on a four-minute power play early in the third period of a close Game 5. It gave up a short-handed goal to Howden early in Game 4, and again in double overtime of Game 5. It was only the second short-handed game winner in double overtime or later in NHL history. Friday night, Utah’s power play didn’t have as disastrous a moment, but it went 0-for-3 and zapped all momentum from the team every time it took the ice. After back-to-back games with nine goals between the teams, the Golden Knights’ defense bounced back with its best performance of the playoffs in the closeout game. Vegas crowded the neutral zone, getting pieces of Utah’s forwards as they skated up the ice to throw off their speed and rhythm. That helped the Golden Knights’ defensemen hold good gaps and get to dumped pucks before forecheckers could pressure them. In the defensive zone, Vegas’ zone was structured throughout, holding the Mammoth attack at arm’s length. Carter Hart saved all but one shot, but wasn’t asked to stop many shots from in tight. Utah’s lone goal came on what felt like a relatively harmless play, with a clean shot from outside the faceoff dots. Spot the pattern. Connect the terms Find the hidden link between sports terms