Knights look to maintain physicality in Game 2 vs. Mammoth

Vegas Golden Knights F Nic Dowd (26) roars after he scores the go-ahead goal against the Utah Mammoth in Round 1 of the NHL Playoffs on Sunday, April 19, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

(RJ Forbus - The Sporting Tribune)

LAS VEGAS — The Vegas Golden Knights registered a season-high 52 hits in their 4-2 win over the Utah Mammoth Sunday in Game 1 of their opening-round Stanley Cup Playoff series.

But realistically, is that sustainable? Can we expect that kind of physicality in the Knights' play in Game 2 on Tuesday at T-Mobile Arena and beyond?

“I think that’s the way we want to play,” said forward Keegan Kolesar, who led Vegas with nine of those 52 hits in Game 1 against the Mammoth. “I think in the playoffs, the intensity goes up and it’s part of the game.”

Defenseman Brayden McNabb, who had 110 hits during the season and two in Game 1, said the Knights are being adaptable by playing a heavy game against Utah.

“We’re a big team that can play a lot of different styles,” he said. “It’s the playoffs. It’s going to be more physical. The intensity skyrockets.”

It’s John Tortorella’s job to see to it that the intensity doesn’t reach a point where it becomes a detriment to how the team plays. He’ll tap into the high hockey IQ throughout the roster run order to get his points across quickly and simply.

“Everything has to be raised,” he said of the intensity level. “But we’ve got a veteran group, some of who’ve been here since the inception of the team. It’s a smart group and I think with this group, it needs to be a two-way street how you get the message across. You collaborate with them and you don’t spend a lot of time explaining things.”

The mental side of the playoffs can be just as important as the physical. And staying fresh mentally matters. Absorbing the information and not letting it bog you down can be essential.

That means not crossing the line and letting your emotions get the best of you to where you’re expending energy in post-whistle scrums. There were several of those in Game 1 Sunday, one of which came during Sean Durzi’s decision to head-butt Rasmus Andersson. Durzi, who did not play in Utah’s regular-season finale against St. Louis last Wednesday, was fined $5,000 by the NHL’s Department of Player Safety, the maximum allowed under the collective bargaining agreement, for what he did to Andersson.

And the hate quotient in this series wasted no time in ratcheting up. Cole Smith had a cut lip. Nic Dowd took a stick to the face, neither of which resulted in a penalty.

“That’s playoff hockey,” Smith said when asked how he was doing with his fresh battle scar.

McNabb said it’s important to not wind up in the penalty box.

“You don’t want to take penalties,” he said.

But he added that it doesn’t mean you can’t play physical. You don’t have to have the kind of huge hits Ivan Barbashev unloaded on Logan Cooley and Ian Cole in the first period in order to be effective. Disrupting a play along the boards, a nudge to put an opponent off-balance won’t make the highlight reel but they can be effective components of winning hockey.

Both teams elected not to practice Monday. For Tortorella, making the adjustments in the meeting room and tweaking a couple of things was a better use of the team’s time as it prepares for Game 2 at 6:30 p.m.

“You show them the things they did well and point out a couple of things you want to correct,” he said.

Utah coach Andre Tourigny took a similar approach with his team Monday. Rather than skate, the Mammoth worked on the mental side to address what Tourigny felt needed to be addressed as his team looks to even the series and get home-ice advantage when it returns to the Delta Center for Game 3 Friday night.

One adjustment? Get team captain and left wing Clayton Keller more engaged offensively. The Knights did a good job of keeping Keller in check, limiting him to just two shots in Game 1.

“We have stuff we can do better so we’ll make the adjustments,” he said. “As a coach, you need to make sure your team is in the right mindset.”

Sounds like both coaches are reading from the same script.