Stone-Dowd 1:47 Stretch Decides It. Vegas Takes Game 1 Over Utah 4-2

Mark Stone and Nic Dowd scored 1:47 apart in the third period to lift the Vegas Golden Knights to a 4-2 win over the Utah Mammoth in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round at T-Mobile Arena. The Mammoth made franchise playoff history but left Las Vegas down 1-0 in the series.

Vegas Golden Knights – Utah Mammoth 4:2 (0:1, 1:1, 3:0)

Goals: 23:21 Sissons (Smith, McNabb), 45:33 Stone (Hertl, Marner, PP), 47:20 Dowd (Hanifin, Sissons), 58:30 Barbashev (Hanifin, EN) – 19:00 Cooley (Schmidt, Crouse), 25:00 Stenlund (Durzi, Cole).

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Cooley Writes Mammoth History

Logan Cooley made it a piece of franchise history at 19:00 of the first period, finishing a Nick Schmidt feed with Lawson Crouse credited the secondary assist. It was the first goal in Utah Mammoth playoff history and gave the road team a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Sissons Replies, Stenlund Restores the Lead

Colton Sissons drew Vegas level 3:21 into the second from Cole Smith and Brayden McNabb. Kevin Stenlund then put Utah back in front at 5:00 of the second on a feed from Sean Durzi and Ian Cole. Through 40 minutes, Vegas trailed by a goal at home.

Stone and Dowd Flip the Series Opener

Vegas drew level on the power play at 5:33 of the third when Mark Stone redirected a Tomas Hertl feed past Karel Vejmelka, with Mitch Marner picking up the secondary assist. Just 1:47 later, Nic Dowd took a Noah Hanifin pass and beat Vejmelka at 7:20 — sudden 3-2 lead for Vegas, with Sissons earning his second point of the night on the secondary assist.

Barbashev Caps the Win

With Utah's net empty late, Ivan Barbashev scored at 18:30 of the third on another Hanifin pass to seal the 4-2 result. Vejmelka, despite the loss, kept Utah within reach all night against a top-six that combined Stone-Hertl-Marner with the Eichel line.

What It Means

Vegas takes Game 1 and the series lead, but Utah did enough to suggest this won't be a sweep. The Mammoth's franchise debut included two leads and a tight scoreline through 40 minutes. Game 2 stays in Las Vegas — Utah will need cleaner third-period defense, while Vegas will lean on its depth to repeat the formula.