𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

LAS VEGAS — Utah’s speed, skill and youth showed up in the biggest moment for the Mammoth on Tuesday night, with three young players combining for a highlight-reel goal to deliver Utah a 3-2 win, and tie the first-round series with the Vegas Golden Knights 1-1.

Forward Kailer Yamamoto has only 35 playoff games under his belt, and he’s by far the most experienced player on Utah’s talented second line. He made a brilliant play late in the third period with a subtle touch pass that sprung Dylan Guenther on a rush.

Guenther, who entered this series with no playoff experience, flew into the Vegas zone, buzzed by Golden Knights defender Shea Theodore and drove to the net. He shot it off Golden Knights goalie Carter Hart’s pads, then put his own rebound off the post.

Then 21-year-old Logan Cooley swooped in to bury the rebound and give the Mammoth its first playoff win since relocating. After stealing home ice from the Pacific Division champs, Utah heads home with a chance to take the series lead.

Vegas captain Mark Stone opened the scoring with his second power-play goal of the playoffs. Jack Eichel fed him the puck next to the Utah net, and Stone tried passing to Tomas Hertl for a tap-in goal on the backside of the play. The pass deflected off the skate of Utah defenseman Mikhail Sergachev and into the net. It was Stone’s 38th playoff goal with Vegas, the most in franchise history.

The fortunate bounces went both ways on Tuesday night, though. Utah tied the game late in the first period with a shot from the point by MacKenzie Weegar that bounced off Hart’s pad, off defenseman Rasmus Andersson’s skate, and into the net.

The Golden Knights controlled possession for the majority of the game, much like they did in Game 1. Utah iced the puck an excessive amount and spent a lot of time in its own zone as a result.

Guenther delivered the Mammoth’s first lead of the night midway through the second period, with a blistering one-timer for the first playoff goal of his career. The play began with a great play by Yamamoto. Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin attempted to clear the puck from the zone by banking it high off the glass, but Yamamoto caught it with his glove, calmly set it down and backhanded it across to Guenther for the shot.

Barbashev tied the game minutes later with an incredible individual effort. He has been Vegas’ strongest forward through the first two games, laying hits and creating magic with the puck. He danced through the Utah defense earlier in the second period, but was stoned by Vejmelka in front of the net. Later in the frame, Barbashev cut through the defense yet again and roofed a backhand shot over Vejmelka’s glove to tie it.

Hart stopped 26 of 29 shots. Vejmelka continues to be a strength for the Mammoth as well, stopping 19 of 21 shots.

Vegas’ power play rounding back into form

When the Golden Knights fired Bruce Cassidy, they had the fourth-ranked power play in the NHL with a 24.6 percent conversion rate. It went cold before the coaching change, and while the change to John Tortorella behind the bench improved many aspects of their game, the power play wasn’t one of them.

The good news is that unit has looked much better through the first two games of the playoffs. They struck in Game 1 with a goal from Stone that tied it late, and put Vegas on the board Tuesday with another goal from Stone. It was actually a centering pass from Stone, destined for Tomas Hertl on the backside of the play, but the puck went off Sergachev’s skate and into the Utah net to make it 1-0.

Vegas’ power play also generated a lot of good looks on later opportunities. Hertl had another golden opportunity in front that he put just wide of the post.

Utah’s top line struggles

The Mammoth’s top forward line of Nick Schmaltz, Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse has not found its game through the first two games of this series. The trio has combined for only a single point — an assist by Crouse in Game 1 — and has been on the ice for several of Vegas’ goals.

Keller led Utah with 88 points in the regular season, and Schmaltz was right behind him with 74. The two have struggled to find time and space early in this series, regularly getting outmuscled along the boards and spending too many shifts defending in their own end. Keller had a great chance to give Utah the lead late in the third period, but his redirection went wide of the Vegas net.

To make matters worse, Vegas has matched its fourth line up against Utah’s top line quite a bit. To lose that matchup really puts the Mammoth in tough spots when it comes to matchups further down the lineup.

Cooley and Guenther have carried the load offensively for Utah. If the Mammoth are going to win this series, they will undoubtedly need more from the line that scored 28 goals at even strength in the regular season, which was tied for the 10th-most of any line in the NHL.

Strong goaltending on both ends

Vejmelka and Hart have been really solid early in this season. They’ve both been the victim of some unfortunate bounces in Games 1 and 2, but have yet to be beaten by a soft goal. Hart made several big stops on Utah’s dangerous power play early in the game, sliding across to get a piece of one-timers.

Vejmelka was a brick wall for Utah. Not only was he making save after save on grade-A chances, but he was also absorbing the puck and giving very few rebounds for the Golden Knights to find in front.

The Golden Knights were able to force the big, Czech netminder to move laterally with passes across the zone, but Vejmelka answered the bell and made save after save to earn his first career playoff win.