As the Vegas Golden Knights prepare to kick off the Stanley Cup Playoffs, a dangerous opponent awaits them: the Utah Mammoth.
The Golden Knights have the edge in certain areas, but this won’t be an easy matchup. The Mammoth are fast, young, and potent offensively. If the Golden Knights want to avoid a first-round exit, they’ll have to be cautious of these three challenges.
Power Play
The Mammoth struggled on the man advantage to begin the season. At the Olympic Break, their power play ranked 31st in the league, ahead of only the Colorado Avalanche. Since returning from break, however, they boast the 3rd-ranked power play in the league with a 30.0% success rate.
All five players on the top unit— Nick Schmaltz, Logan Cooley, Clayton Keller, Dylan Guenther, and Mikhail Sergachev— are dangerous in their own right. Schmaltz and Guenther are the main trigger men with 11 and nine power play goals, respectively. Keller is an elite playmaker, with 27 of his 62 assists coming on the man advantage. And Sergachev recorded 26 of his 49 assists on the power play.
Dylan Guenther
On a team rich with talent, no one is better than Dylan Guenther at putting the puck in the back of the net. He’s the best scorer in this series, and it’s not particularly close. With 40 goals and 73 points in 79 games this season, Guenther has proved to be equally talented as a puck distributor as he is as a shooter.
Guenther can score from anywhere on the ice— he can rip it from distance or bang in a rebound. He’s especially dangerous on the power play, where he scored nine goals and recorded 24 points.
There’s no reason to believe that Guenther’s success is unsustainable— he’s shooting 16.5%, but that’s not terribly higher than his normal shooting percentage. The Golden Knights will need to be very conscious of when and where the young sniper is on the ice.
Depth Scoring
Dylan Guenther is far from the only dangerous player on this Mammoth roster. They, like the Golden Knights, have ten players on their roster with at least 10 goals. Their forwards are fast and skilled, and their defensemen are all capable puck movers.
The Mammoth have a dangerous top line with 83 goals between the three forwards. Apart from the obvious threat of Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz is particularly dangerous this season, with a career-high 33 goals. But they’ve also spread the wealth around, with 77 goals on their second line. Logan Cooley scored 24 goals in 54 games this season. And with 48 goals and one JJ Peterka on the third line, the Mammoth have no weak links offensively.
The Golden Knights certainly have their fair share of depth scoring, as well. But Tomáš Hertl, who is the fourth-highest goalscorer on the team, hasn’t scored since March 4th. He has just one goal and six assists in his last 23 games. And on their top line, despite ending the season on a high note, Jack Eichel is still less than two weeks removed from a 13-game stretch where he scored just once.