After a long season with a condensed schedule, the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs are finally upon us. The Vegas Golden Knights kick off the postseason on Sunday at home against the Utah Mammoth.

Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. PST.

This won’t be by any means a slam-dunk matchup. Both teams are hungry and have something to prove. However, the Golden Knights have the edge in three specific areas.

Never let anyone tell you that face-offs don’t matter. Simply put, it’s easier to start with the puck than to have to spend time and effort working to get it back. In the offensive zone, winning a face-off allows players to get right to their attack instead of having to forecheck. And in the defensive zone, winning a face-off allows players to attack off the rush rather than being forced to defend.

The Golden Knights aren’t the best team in the face-off dot, but their 51.0 face-off win percentage ties them for 10th in the league. The Mammoth have players who are strong in the dot, but they’re collectively 23rd in the league with a 49.2 face-off win percentage.

“On their power play, [Nick Schmaltz] has taken a lot of draws over the years, especially on the right side. He’s a capable face-off guy for sure,” said Golden Knights center Colton Sissons. “But I think I like our lineup better, and I’d imagine our numbers would reflect that… It’s such a big part of the game, and I’ll be looking to take advantage of it.”

The Stanley Cup Playoffs are a different animal. Every player is giving 110%, physicality is ramped up, and scoring goals is significantly harder. At this time of year, experience matters.

In their starting lineup, the Golden Knights have nine players who have won it all. They also have two Stanley Cup Champion extras in Ben Hutton and Brandon Saad. Conversely, the Mammoth have just four players in their starting lineup who have hoisted the Stanley Cup (Ian Cole, Mikhail Sergachev, Kevin Stenlund, and Vitek Vaněček.

It’s also worth noting that this will be the first postseason appearance in quite some time for several of Utah’s stars. This will be the first taste of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, and JJ Peterka. Clayton Keller and Lawson Crouse have both played only nine playoff games and haven’t been to the dance since 2020. And Nick Schmaltz hasn’t been to the postseason since 2017, when he played just four games.

While the Mammoth certainly have their fair share of stars, none of them are on the same level as Jack Eichel and Mitch Marner.

In 2023, Eichel proved that he can find a new gear when the lights are brightest and helped lead Vegas to its first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He has 43 points in 40 postseason games, and he’s still hungry. Marner has 70 playoff games under his belt and recorded 63 points in them.

Now, both Eichel and Marner are better at making plays than they are at simply putting the puck in the back of the net. While Marner’s playoff woes have certainly been over-exaggerated, he does have only 13 goals in 70 postseason games. And Eichel is over a point-per-game in the playoffs, but has just ten goals in 40 postseason games. In last year’s run, when the Golden Knights fizzled out because of their inability to score goals, Eichel only scored once in 11 games.