Marner scores twice, Golden Knights eliminate Mammoth in Game 6

SALT LAKE CITY -- Mitch Marner had two goals and an assist for the Vegas Golden Knights, who eliminated the Utah Mammoth with a 5-1 win in Game 6 of the Western Conference First Round at Delta Center on Friday.

The Golden Knights will take on the Anaheim Ducks, who eliminated the Edmonton Oilers in six games on Thursday, in the Western Conference Second Round.

“I think this is what I hoped for sure, an opportunity to do something special,” Marner said. “Like I said when I first got here, I knew it was a special group. All four lines contributed throughout the series. There's different moments that we need every line to step up and come in big, and every line did that. So, this is what I hoped for. There’s a lot more work to keep doing.”

Brett Howden extended his goal streak to three games, and Carter Hart made 22 saves for the Golden Knights, who are the No. 1 seed from the Pacific Division.

“We simplified things. We just tried to go north, tried to play behind the net,” Vegas coach John Tortorella said. “The second goal was a really important part of the game for us, just to shift itself, and then we scored the second one before they got one. I thought that was a really big part of the game.”

Kailer Yamamoto scored, and Karel Vejmelka made 21 saves for the Mammoth, who were the first wild card from the Western Conference.

“I was really confident we would go to Vegas tomorrow,” Utah coach Andre Tourigny said. “I’m disappointed. I’m not mad at the players, I’m mad at the fact we lost. ... I hate excuses. I hate taking the easy way out. I think I told you all year, your failure makes you stronger. You learn from it and it makes you better, but in order to make sure that happens, it has to hurt. I don't even want to feel good about it. I want it to hurt and learn from it.”

Howden opened the scoring at 15:02 of the first period. Marner's shot from the high slot went wide of the net, but the rebound caromed off the end boards right to Howden, who put it past Vejmelka at the left post to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.

Marner made it 2-0 at 19:15 of the second period, scoring with a slap shot past the glove of Vejmelka from the top of the right circle.

“I think it was two lines that went out there and really just put their foot down, cycled the puck well, made plays when they were there,” Marner said. “I thought we did a really good job. We had opportunities to get pucks to the net there, but no one was really around it. The two lines just held on to it, wore them down, and then it was a great change by (Jack Eichel), just tried to find high ice there. (Ivan Barbashev) found me, and I was lucky enough to finish it off.”

Yamamoto cut it to 2-1 at 7:41 of the third period with a wrist shot from the right circle that snuck under the blocker arm of Hart and trickled into the net.

“Yeah, it obviously (stinks). Terrible feeling right now for the guys,” Mammoth captain Clayton Keller said. “We fought, gave everything we had, never quit. A lot of ups and downs. It's fresh right now, but I’ll have some time to reflect. Like I've said all series, we're super confident in one another and our game plan and everything like that. It (stinks), it's a terrible feeling. When you lose and you go through that pain, that's when you learn the most, not when you win.”

Colton Sissons responded back for Vegas at 9:40, picking up the rebound of Brayden McNabb's shot and scoring from the slot to make it 3-1.

“We played some good hockey,” Sissons said. “I think we were pretty darn effective in making it hard on them, getting to our forecheck and just leaning on them game after game. Obviously, potting some big goals feels good, too.”

Marner scored his second goal of the game on the power play to push the lead to 4-1 at 12:09. Shea Theodore's one-timer from the point was blocked before it reached Vejmelka, and Marner quickly located the rebound and scored from the slot.

Cole Smith scored an empty-net goal at 16:24 for the 5-1 final.

“We've been here before,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “We don't have the panic maybe some teams do. We can calm ourselves pretty quickly. You look at Games 4 and 5 got away from us a little bit. We were able to calm ourselves down, tie the game, and win it in overtime. So tonight, a little bit more flawless. When they scored to make it 2-1, we got right back on the saddle. It got loud in there. Same thing, the (Nic) Dowd line goes out there, wins the draw, gets the puck to the net, and you could tell our bench gets some confidence after that."