a man in a white tank top is holding a flaming hand . ALT: a man in a white tank top is holding a flaming hand .

Linus Ullmark’s glove hand in this series

Jake Oettinger has been awesome early in this game.

Minnesota is on fire with the puck.

That shoulder shrug by Ullmark near the end of regulation was the save of the postseason thus far.

No style points, but at that point just keep the puck out of the net. What a stop!

Tocchet’s system is very goalie-friendly, so that has helped. But Vladar also made great strides this summer. I know he worked hard on his lateral movement, and it has improved his positioning. When a goalie that big is in position, he’s tough to score on.

Daniel Vladař earns his first career playoff shutout in his second career playoff start.

What a season it’s been for the big, Czech netminder.

Apparently all it took was me tweeting about it

Very true

Carolina deserves a lot of credit for it, of course, but it’s shocking how bad the Senators have looked through 4.5 periods of this series.

Frederik Andersen is 36 years old.

His .874 save % this season was by far the worst of his 13-yr career.

He lost more games than he won for the first time ever.

He posted career worsts in GAA (3.05) & GSAA (-18.3).

Then, the playoffs started and he’s been unbeatable. Freakin goalies.

John Tortorella said there are things he believes the team needs to work on, and improve between games 1 and 2, but he didn’t want to elaborate on them.

Golden Knights design blueprint to bully Mammoth in bloody, physical Game 1 win In a clash of styles, Vegas' heavy hitting battered speed-first Utah to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 series lead.

The Golden Knights showed their blueprint to bully the Mammoth in last night’s bloody, physical Game 1

My story, on @theathletic.com ⤵️

“That’s playoff hockey” — Cole Smith, talking through a bloody lip with stitches hanging out of it.

Mammoth vs. Golden Knights Game 1: Key takeaways from a physical Vegas win A physical game was punctuated by excellent goals from Logan Cooley and Mark Stone.

Golden Knights take a 1-0 series lead with a physical 4-2 win over Utah.

Key takeaways from the win, on @theathletic.com ⤵️

Final- Vegas 4, Utah 2

The Golden Knights leaned on the Mammoth with their size and physicality all night, and eventually wore them down.

Utah pulled Vejmelka for the extra attacker, and Ivan Barbashev put it into the empty net before he even reached the bench.

4-2 Vegas

Nic Dowd deflects a shot past Vejmelka to put Vegas up 3-2 with 12:39 to play.

Mark Stone ties it on the power play.

He made a great seam pass to Marner, then crashed the net to jump on the rebound, and buried it.

2-2

Shot attempts are 18-4 Vegas with Mark Stone on the ice tonight.

Wow

2-1 Utah

Greasy goal for Vegas to tie it 1-1.

Colton Sissons jams it over the line after Cole Smith backhanded it into the crease.

And a beauty of a pass by Nate Schmidt in his old stomping grounds

Holy smokes what a play by Logan Cooley.

He gives Utah a 1-0 lead with 9.5 seconds left in the 1st period.

Ivan Barbashev just demolished Ian Cole in the corner, and the hit couldn't have been cleaner.

Early returns on loading up the top line have been good for Vegas. When Eichel, Stone and Marner are on the ice, the Golden Knights are creating a ton.

Really physical start to this game. Everyone is throwing their bodies around, and now we get a post-whistle scrum in front of the Vegas net.

The Mammoth are flying around to start this game.

They have been skating themselves out of position at times. If Vegas can string together a few passes they could take advantage of it.

The Stanley Cup Playoffs have arrived in Las Vegas

Golden Knights pregame line rushes ahead of Game 1 vs Utah:

Marner–Eichel–Stone
Barbashev–Howden–Dorofeyev
R. Smith–Hertl–Kolesar
C. Smith–Dowd–Sissons

Hanifin–Andersson
McNabb–Theodore
Lauzon–Korczak

Hart
Hill

Carter Hart and Karel Vejmelka lead their teams onto the ice for warm-ups in Las Vegas.

There are quite a few Utah fans in the building. They just started a "Let's Go Utah!" chant, which was met with boos from the Vegas fans.

They were going back and forth for quite a while. It's a really fun atmosphere in here already, and we're still more than 30 minutes from puck drop.