Vegas And Utah Are Murder On Early Bedtimes

Big leads suddenly appear and then evaporate. Momentum-shifting goals find the net dang near every period. Tired east-coast bloggers think they're free to fall asleep until suddenly, Nope, we're doing overtime. In a follow-up to a Game 4 where Vegas took a 3-0 lead, went down 4-3, and came back to win in OT, these squads put together yet another 5-4 thriller—this one needing a second overtime to finally settle. The Golden Knights are now just one win from escaping the Mammoth. But in this series, no win comes predictably or painlessly. The high final scores in these games belie long stretches of strong defensive hockey from both sides—goalies excluded. But this is the playoffs, so all that really matters is who bends enough to break. In this Nevada-set Game 5, the first four goals followed a pattern: Utah would get theirs, and then a few minutes later Vegas would get one back. Late in the second, the Golden Knights took their first lead on a play you can't help but blame on Karel Vejmelka in net. Then it was Dylan Guenther—Utah's 22-year-old leading goal-scorer and one of many Mammoths playing in their first-ever (or first excluding the 2020 bubble) postseason—who evened things with a one-timer off a breakout about six minutes into the third. And with time ticking away in regulation, the Mammoth forced a turnover in their own end, then hit the gas. This time playoff newcomer Michael Carcone finished the chance on the rush, earning the goal that—not that I'm complaining!—looked like it would give me a full night's sleep. https://youtu.be/hJKLePWbERc?si=r2GQLL1w8YmIwR_6t=379