For a franchise experiencing playoff hockey for the first time ever, the Utah Mammoth certainly understood the assignment. The team flew out of the gates in Game 1 against the Vegas Golden Knights, setting the tone early with their fleet-footed game… and plenty of extra-curriculars.
The Golden Knights brought the glitz. Utah brought the grit. And 60 minutes of chippy, chirpy hockey later, it looks like we’ve got a new rivalry on our hands. This one brought plenty of heat, and lots of hate.
There was no love lost between the Pacific-topping Golden Knights and the league’s newest franchise, which earned a post-season berth in just their second season in Salt Lake City but couldn’t kick things off with a win on Sunday. Vegas’s 4-2 series-opening victory gives them the upper hand for now.
But the rough stuff was the biggest story of this one. Net-front scuffles broke out early and often. Face-washes were plentiful, as were fighting words. There was even a head-butt — Utah’s Sean Durzi got away unpenalized after (lightly) head-butting an irate Rasmus Andersson, but would be wise not to use his noggin in battle again. He got a lucky break here.
The camera caught a bloody-faced Nic Dowd, scorer of the game-winning goal, shouting not-so-niceties across the ice after the final buzzer. Perhaps a promise for Game 2. After all the fracas, it’s worth wondering if officials will be quicker to call penalties in Game 2 before things get out of hand.
Considering how this one played out, Utah won’t be going anywhere without a fight.
Cooley writes his name into Utah’s history books
Logan Cooley is known for his killer shot and his penchant for scoring against Vegas — he had four in a single game (including two empty-netters) against the Golden Knights back in November.
Late in the first period of Game 1 in Vegas, Cooley scored the biggest of them all when he potted the first playoff goal in Utah Mammoth history. That puck’s a keeper.
The goal opened the scoring for the series, and the timing of it could’ve been a real momentum-shifter. But Vegas’ experience ultimately shone through, the home team staying patient and keeping pace through the second period before a three-goal third to claim the 4-2 victory.
Kings contain Avalanche’s stars, but Colorado’s depth shines through
There are no moral victories in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but it’s hard not to look at the way the Los Angeles Kings approached Game 1 against the Colorado Avalanche and not see a few small victories within the 2-1 loss.
L.A. held Nathan MacKinnon to just a single assist, goal-less on three shots. Cale Makar and Martin Necas were kept off the scoresheet. Top-line winger (and noted playoff performer) Artturi Lehkonen opened the scoring for Colorado, and it was an unlikely hero who registered the game-winner: Logan O’Connor, who only made his season debut on Mar. 24 after missing most of the campaign with an injury. Sunday’s goal was the first of his season.
Artemi Panarin’s power-play goal with less than three minutes remaining in regulation was too little, too late for the Kings, but it might prove to be the shot in the arm the team needs to generate a bit more offence heading into Game 2.
Colorado’s power play could be a sleeping giant
It certainly should be… but will it ever wake up? There were signs of life on Saturday as the Avalanche put on a passing clinic with the man advantage, but not in any way that mattered on the scoreboard.
In four power-play opportunities against the Los Angeles Kings’ 30th-ranked penalty kill in Game 1 of their first-round series, Colorado couldn’t capitalize. Cue the snooze button.
While the club’s power-play issues didn’t stop the home team from registering a 2-1 series-opening win, it’s certainly a head-scratcher for a squad that boasts such dominant offensive numbers.
The team that led the league in goals per game (3.63) and goal differential (plus-99) while posting a Presidents’ Trophy-winning 121 points and boasting two 100-plus point-getters, finished the regular season with the 27th-ranked power play. That just doesn’t compute.
Equally head-scratching is L.A.’s penalty kill rate in the regular season. The team’s reputation for shut-down defensive play hasn’t typically translated on special teams, but it was certainly on full display Sunday.
Meanwhile, it was the Kings’ power play that got on the score sheet in this one, with Panarin breaking Scott Wedgewood’s shutout bid with less than two minutes to go in regulation against Colorado’s top-ranked PK unit.
Perhaps Colorado could take a few notes from the Canadiens…
Slafkovsky makes Tampa Bay pay for undisciplined penalties
No team took more penalties in the 2025-26 regular season than Tampa Bay, and it wasn’t particularly close — the Lightning’s 425 trips to the penalty box were 53 more than the next most-penalized team.
They didn’t exactly change their ways in Sunday’s series-opener against the Montreal Canadiens, and they paid a hefty price for it. Montreal went 3-for-5 with the man advantage for a 60 per cent success rate.
It should be noted, of course, that Montreal didn’t go unscathed, either. They gave up a pair of power-play goals on five opportunities, the first of which brought the Lightning’s offence to life — just 29 seconds after Darren Raddysh got Tampa Bay on the board midway through the second period with the man advantage, Brandon Hagel gave the Lightning a 2-1 lead.
But undisciplined play by Tampa Bay — a high-sticking minor for Conor Geekie late in the second, an interference call against Anthony Cirelli early in the third, and Jake Guentzel’s high-sticking penalty that saw Tampa open overtime short-handed — got the best of the home team, and ultimately cost them a shot at opening Round 1 with a win.
It was Slafkovsky who came to collect, scoring all three power-play goals in Montreal’s 4-3 overtime win. His hat trick was truly a heroic performance — and a historic one, too:
The Slovakian goal-scorer came up clutch, but in a game of details, head coach Martin St. Louis’ decision to call a timeout just one minute into overtime might just be the most clutch move of all. It was easy to question the timing of it at first, with the OT period having just gotten underway. But it gave his top PP unit an opportunity to catch its breath and stay out — and we all saw how it paid off.
Buffalo wins series-opener in most Buffalo way possible
The stage was set for a celebration 15 years in the making as the Sabres hosted the Bruins for Game 1 of their first-round series. Fans showed up in droves, the festivities starting long before puck drop… and after all that, the Sabres were late to their own party.
Turns out, the Sabres were planning a surprise party — one in which they lulled home fans back into the familiar darkness of disappointment, only to set off fireworks 12 minutes into the third frame of a 3-0 game with four unanswered goals to claim the 4-3 win.
It was, for much of the matchup, a deeply flawed performance by Buffalo. But the win was so perfectly fitting for these Sabres. After the long wait, what’s a few more periods, anyway?
It was historic: The three-goal, third-period surge was the first such comeback since Brad May led the Sabres to victory in April 1993. That win, too, was against the Bruins. What unfolded Sunday in Buffalo wasn’t a series-clincher like the one that took place more than 30 years ago, but it was a “May Day!” moment for a new generation.
That Tage Thompson got the party started with Buffalo’s first two goals to tie things up was fitting, too. He’s been the team’s offensive leader all season and was a main driver of their first-place finish atop the Atlantic Division. The Sabres finished the season with the second-most goals by defencemen, and Mattias Samuelsson’s go-ahead marker to take the lead was a perfect example of how Buffalo’s blue liners have contributed all year. That hometown kid Alex Tuch’s empty-net goal wound up serving as the game-winner was the perfect ending to what was a perfectly Sabres win.
from Sportsnet.ca https://ift.tt/oGEZ29V
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