The Utah Mammoth’s second season has been filled with important firsts, and on Tuesday night in Vegas, they earned the best one yet: Their first-ever victory in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

The 3-2 triumph was a win befitting the Mammoth name — not just for its historic significance but for the first-round fate of the NHL’s newest team, which could’ve headed home down 2-0 but instead brings a 1-1 series to Salt Lake City. 

After pledging more net drives and offensive-zone persistence following Sunday’s loss to Vegas, Utah put together a blueprint and stuck to it — perhaps no one more so than Dylan Guenther. 

Utah’s leading goal-scorer didn’t look like himself in the series-opener, but he hit his stride in Game 2, and that confidence brought a spark to Utah’s offence. With about five minutes left in the second frame of what was at that point a 1-1 game, Guenther unleashed a lethal one-timer from the point to give the Mammoth the lead. Even though Vegas quickly responded, Guenther’s confidence stuck.

That was on full display as the game went on, as was his speed. He was the difference-maker on offence for Utah on the game-winning goal, blowing past Vegas’ defenders while driving to the net and starting a play that Logan Cooley finished. Guenther has hit his stride, and is well-positioned to be a real force as this series shifts to Utah. 

Kings and Avalanche are playing chess 

Through two games of this first-round series, that might just be the best way to describe this matchup. Colorado and L.A. finished the regular season separated by a whopping 31 points in the standings, but you wouldn’t know it by how things have played out thus far — two incredibly closely contested bouts with very little scoring. Tuesday’s 2-1 overtime victory for the Avalanche followed Sunday’s win by the same score in regulation.

Anyone who thought Game 1 was merely a feeling-out period for Colorado’s red-hot offence before exploding in a flurry of goals was sorely mistaken. The only explosion in this game was the panel of glass behind the Kings’ bench, which couldn’t withstand the rowdy fans. They certainly weren’t celebrating a goal — there were none to be found until the second half of the third period, when Artemi Panarin cashed in on the power play to finally break the stalemate. The Avalanche answered late to force overtime, where Nicolas Roy notched the game-winner. 

The lack of goals wasn’t for lack of trying. Goalies Scott Wedgewood (24 saves) and Anton Forsberg (34) were sensational, the latter once again stumping Colorado’s biggest stars. 

Despite what the series score says, the Kings are testing Colorado like few have managed this year, and it’s making for a fascinating series.

Kucherov’s game-tying goal snaps years-long skid

Lightning defenceman J.J. Moser was the overtime hero in Game 2, his first career playoff point ultimately serving as the difference between an 0-2 deficit and the clean slate of a best-of-five as the series shifts to Montreal. 

But in many ways, you can point to Nikita Kucherov’s third-period marker as the most important goal of this series so far for the Lightning. Because in addition to evening things up late to force OT, it saw the star forward break free from a years-long playoff goal drought. 

Prior to Tuesday night’s wrap-around marker, Kucherov had gone a whopping 16 post-season games without a goal. The dry spell dated back to 2023, when Kucherov potted one in the first period of Tampa Bay’s first-round series against the Maple Leafs… and then didn’t score again until Tuesday night. The lack of production has been among the handful of reasons for the Lightning’s three straight first-round exits. (Andrei Vasilevskiy’s struggles in net haven’t helped, nor did the fact two of those exits were at the hands of the Cup-winning Florida Panthers.) 

Kucherov certainly hasn’t had any issues piling up goals in the regular season. Whether or not he can turn Tuesday’s skid-busting goal into any kind of momentum now that he’s no longer playing with a monkey on his back will be a storyline to follow as the series moves north. 

Hagel’s the heart and soul of this Tampa Bay team 

Brandon Hagel is built for playoff hockey, and we’re seeing that play out two games into Tampa Bay’s first-round series against Montreal. He tallied two goals in Game 1 on Sunday, including the game-tying marker to push for overtime, and opened the scoring Tuesday night en route to registering a Gordie Howe Hat Trick in Tampa Bay’s series-tying win. 

Hagel was a driver not just on offence but in the rough stuff, too. And there was a lot of rough stuff Tuesday night, the Lightning clearly hell-bent on stirring the pot and causing chaos to rattle Montreal right from the get-go. 

Was it the smartest strategy, considering how effective the Canadiens’ power-play has been this series? Maybe not. But it was certainly entertaining, as was Hagel’s brief bout of fisticuffs against Montreal’s Game 1 hero, Juraj Slafkovsky, in the second.

If Tampa Bay is to topple Montreal, they’ll need Hagel to continue to lead the way. 

Buffalo’s spark sputters out, and a goalie question emerges

The hockey gods were with Buffalo on Sunday as the club pulled off a remarkable comeback in their first trip to the playoffs since 2011. On Tuesday, though, the Sabres were on their own. Bad luck struck in the second period when Morgan Geekie sent a harmless-looking backhand into Buffalo’s zone from beyond the blue line, the puck fooling Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and trickling into the net to stun not just the netminder and his team, but the crowd of Sabres faithful hoping for another thriller and instead witnessing something closer to a nightmare. 

Luukkonen’s night ended early in the third period, after Viktor Arvidsson potted his second of the night, with Alex Lyon taking over in relief.

And yet, just when all the hope was sucked from the building, Bowen Byram’s goal injected a little spark. Peyton Krebs added to it soon after with another goal to come within two. 

Could they really do it again?  You could almost see the tidal wave of dreadful deja vu crash over the Bruins’ bench, but a well-timed timeout allowed the club to regain its composure and close out the win to even up the series. 

It’s worth wondering, as the series now moves to Boston, whether the Sabres give Lyon the start in Game 3. While Tuesday’s loss should not be blamed on Luukkonen, this team clearly needs to try something new after back-to-back sluggish starts. Lyon, like Luukkonen, started 34 regular-season games for Buffalo this year. He’s played post-season hero against Boston before, albeit in a limited capacity, back in 2023.