Deadspin | Golden Knights feeling good vibes heading into G2 vs. Mammoth 
Apr 19, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) celebrates with center Colton Sissons (10) and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (5) after the Golden Knights defeated the Utah Mammoth 4-2 in game one of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images After scoring three consecutive goals in the third period to pull out a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series with Utah on Sunday, the Vegas Golden Knights had good reason to feel positive.
After all, the Pacific Division champions still have yet to lose in regulation in nine games (8-0-1) under head coach John Tortorella. And another win Tuesday in Las Vegas would put the Golden Knights in a strong position to move forward in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But despite the loss, there was still plenty of optimism in the Mammoth’s locker room, too.
Utah, with seven players making their NHL playoff debut on the road against a veteran Vegas team that won the Stanley Cup in 2023, more than held its own on hockey’s biggest stage. The Mammoth led 2-1 after two periods, outshot the Golden Knights 33-31 and were in a one-goal game until Ivan Barbashev sealed the win with an empty-netter.
And even though Vegas finished with a 51-31 advantage in hits, Utah showed it wouldn’t be pushed around, more than standing its ground in scrums against the bigger and older Golden Knights.
Defenseman Sean Durzi, in fact, picked up a $5,000 fine on Monday for head-butting Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and 21-year-old forward Logan Cooley drew the ire of Golden Knights center Nic Dowd, who, with blood pooling by his right eye, was shown at the end of the game pointing and saying, “I’m going to (bleeping) kill you.”
“It’s the playoffs,” Cooley, who scored a goal, had four hits and was plus-one in 19:59 time on ice in his playoff debut, said. “You’re playing for the Cup. You’re doing whatever you can to help your team win, and if that is physical or scoring, playing good defensively, (you’ll do) whatever the team needs, and I think that’s our mindset in the locker room too. It’s all about the team focus and trying to win games here.”
“A lot of us, it’s our first playoff game,” Cooley added. “To get that under your belt, get settled in, it feels good. Obviously, we’d like to win, but just to get your feet wet a little bit and know how it is and what we need to do to beat them and get Game 2, I’m excited for that part, and it’s going to be exciting to get ready to get back at it.”
Forward Lawson Crouse said the Mammoth remain upbeat despite the opening loss.
“There’s a lot of positivity,” Crouse said. “Obviously, we’ve got to clean up a little bit of things defensively. They got a couple goals crashing our net, but that’s playoff hockey. (But), there’s no reason for us to be down on ourselves right now.”
Barbashev finished with eight hits to go with his game-clinching empty-netter. He expects another physical battle in Game 2.
“I think our team is best when we play physical, and I think we showed that today,” Barbashev said. “Just got to get the legs going early on, and that’s what we did.”
“We played physical. We have some things to work on, but it was good to see us bang around a little bit,” Tortorella said. “Long series, you just keep doing the things you think you need to do to grind away.”
–Field Level Media
#Deadspin #Golden #Knights #feeling #good #vibes #heading #Mammoth
Apr 19, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Carter Hart (79) celebrates with center Colton Sissons (10) and defenseman Jeremy Lauzon (5) after the Golden Knights defeated the Utah Mammoth 4-2 in game one of the first round of the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images After scoring three consecutive goals in the third period to pull out a 4-2 victory in Game 1 of their best-of-seven Western Conference first-round series with Utah on Sunday, the Vegas Golden Knights had good reason to feel positive.
After all, the Pacific Division champions still have yet to lose in regulation in nine games (8-0-1) under head coach John Tortorella. And another win Tuesday in Las Vegas would put the Golden Knights in a strong position to move forward in the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But despite the loss, there was still plenty of optimism in the Mammoth’s locker room, too.
Utah, with seven players making their NHL playoff debut on the road against a veteran Vegas team that won the Stanley Cup in 2023, more than held its own on hockey’s biggest stage. The Mammoth led 2-1 after two periods, outshot the Golden Knights 33-31 and were in a one-goal game until Ivan Barbashev sealed the win with an empty-netter.
And even though Vegas finished with a 51-31 advantage in hits, Utah showed it wouldn’t be pushed around, more than standing its ground in scrums against the bigger and older Golden Knights.
Defenseman Sean Durzi, in fact, picked up a $5,000 fine on Monday for head-butting Vegas defenseman Rasmus Andersson, and 21-year-old forward Logan Cooley drew the ire of Golden Knights center Nic Dowd, who, with blood pooling by his right eye, was shown at the end of the game pointing and saying, “I’m going to (bleeping) kill you.”
“It’s the playoffs,” Cooley, who scored a goal, had four hits and was plus-one in 19:59 time on ice in his playoff debut, said. “You’re playing for the Cup. You’re doing whatever you can to help your team win, and if that is physical or scoring, playing good defensively, (you’ll do) whatever the team needs, and I think that’s our mindset in the locker room too. It’s all about the team focus and trying to win games here.”
“A lot of us, it’s our first playoff game,” Cooley added. “To get that under your belt, get settled in, it feels good. Obviously, we’d like to win, but just to get your feet wet a little bit and know how it is and what we need to do to beat them and get Game 2, I’m excited for that part, and it’s going to be exciting to get ready to get back at it.”
Forward Lawson Crouse said the Mammoth remain upbeat despite the opening loss.
“There’s a lot of positivity,” Crouse said. “Obviously, we’ve got to clean up a little bit of things defensively. They got a couple goals crashing our net, but that’s playoff hockey. (But), there’s no reason for us to be down on ourselves right now.”
Barbashev finished with eight hits to go with his game-clinching empty-netter. He expects another physical battle in Game 2.
“I think our team is best when we play physical, and I think we showed that today,” Barbashev said. “Just got to get the legs going early on, and that’s what we did.”
“We played physical. We have some things to work on, but it was good to see us bang around a little bit,” Tortorella said. “Long series, you just keep doing the things you think you need to do to grind away.”
–Field Level Media
![Sooryavanshi ready for international cricket but must work on technique to become all-format batter: Sanjay Manjrekar Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has become a poster boy for Indian cricket after notable performances in the domestic circuit, the under-19s and in the IPL where he scored a record-breaking century in his debut season (2025) for the Rajasthan Royals.He has taken it one notch higher this term, already accumulating 246 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 236.54 including two fifties. With growing shouts over his inclusion in the Indian team, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes he is ready to don the national team colours.“Looking at IPL as a platform, to stake a claim for the Indian T20 team and keeping an eye on his performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali as well, where he’s got a 100 [vs Maharashtra], I think he’s done enough. If somebody’s lighting up this stage with this performance, then he’s ready,” Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.However, he explained that his inclusion will not be straightforward due to the long list of openers waiting in the wings for India in the shortest format, including his RR teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal and Test skipper Shubman Gill.“He might be ready, but are the others ready to make way for it? Because there is a huge crowd to bat at number one and two for India currently,” he reasoned.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58JRdBRAbIk[/embed]The former Mumbai batter pointed out that the Bihar prodigy belongs to the new-age T20 batters, who have the knack of making space to hit the ball. However, he explained that a lot of work had to be done with his technique if he wishes to become an all-format cricketer.“Take all the consistent T20 batters in the last few years, Sooryavanshi will stay leg side and hit a ball on middle stump through point because he’s staying leg side of the ball. In Test cricket, the advice is to get close to the ball. You will not get 20 runs in England or Australia, South Africa by staying away from the ball,” he opined.He further added, “If you want your kid to be famous and rich, T20 batting is for you. If you want him to get the respect of people like us, the critics, then get him to get close to the line of the ball.”Published on Apr 21, 2026 #Sooryavanshi #ready #international #cricket #work #technique #allformat #batter #Sanjay #Manjrekar](https://i2.wp.com/ss-i.thgim.com/public/incoming/50lqfv/article70888348.ece/alternates/LANDSCAPE_1200/2150_19_4_2026_16_16_32_1_IPL_19042026_05.JPG?ssl=1 "Sooryavanshi ready for international cricket but must work on technique to become all-format batter: Sanjay Manjrekar Vaibhav Sooryavanshi has become a poster boy for Indian cricket after notable performances in the domestic circuit, the under-19s and in the IPL where he scored a record-breaking century in his debut season (2025) for the Rajasthan Royals.He has taken it one notch higher this term, already accumulating 246 runs in six innings at a strike rate of 236.54 including two fifties. With growing shouts over his inclusion in the Indian team, former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar believes he is ready to don the national team colours.“Looking at IPL as a platform, to stake a claim for the Indian T20 team and keeping an eye on his performances in the Syed Mushtaq Ali as well, where he’s got a 100 [vs Maharashtra], I think he’s done enough. If somebody’s lighting up this stage with this performance, then he’s ready,” Manjrekar said on Sportstar’s Insight Edge podcast.However, he explained that his inclusion will not be straightforward due to the long list of openers waiting in the wings for India in the shortest format, including his RR teammate Yashasvi Jaiswal and Test skipper Shubman Gill.“He might be ready, but are the others ready to make way for it? Because there is a huge crowd to bat at number one and two for India currently,” he reasoned.[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58JRdBRAbIk[/embed]The former Mumbai batter pointed out that the Bihar prodigy belongs to the new-age T20 batters, who have the knack of making space to hit the ball. However, he explained that a lot of work had to be done with his technique if he wishes to become an all-format cricketer.“Take all the consistent T20 batters in the last few years, Sooryavanshi will stay leg side and hit a ball on middle stump through point because he’s staying leg side of the ball. In Test cricket, the advice is to get close to the ball. You will not get 20 runs in England or Australia, South Africa by staying away from the ball,” he opined.He further added, “If you want your kid to be famous and rich, T20 batting is for you. If you want him to get the respect of people like us, the critics, then get him to get close to the line of the ball.”Published on Apr 21, 2026 #Sooryavanshi #ready #international #cricket #work #technique #allformat #batter #Sanjay #Manjrekar")
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