LAS VEGAS -- Golden Knights fourth-line winger Cole Smith stood in front of his stall in the dressing room following Sunday's 4-2 win over the Utah Mammoth in their opening game of the playoffs, smiling through a swollen, bloodied upper lip with stitches hanging out of it.
"It's a little sore, but that's playoff hockey," he said.
Smith recorded the first playoff point of his six-year NHL career with an assist on Sunday night at T-Mobile Arena. He's one of the few players on Vegas' roster without years of postseason experience.
Game 1 was the playoff debut for six different players on the Mammoth, including key forwards Logan Cooley, Dylan Guenther, JJ Paterka and others. Meanwhile, all 20 players on the Golden Knights' active roster had already experienced playoff hockey. In most of their cases, a lot of it.
In total, the Vegas roster has 1,101 combined games of postseason action. That's nearly double the 585 games on Utah's roster, which isn't surprising considering it was the team's first playoff game since relocating from Arizona after the 2023-24 season.
The experience showed, as Vegas' grizzled veterans leaned on Utah's young stars and bullied their way to a come-from-behind win to take a 1-0 series lead.
"They're a very high-skilled, high-flying offensive team, so I think the more we can play like we did tonight, and just keep going after them and grinding," Smith said. "Tonight is one game. It's a long series. Every play matters throughout the series, so we have to just keep grinding."
Vegas' bruising power forward Ivan Barbashev welcomed the Mammoth to the playoffs, laying booming hits early in the first period that brought the sold-out crowd to its feet. Barbashev crushed Utah defenseman Ian Cole in the corner on one of his first shifts, sending a message to the other bench.
"It's hard to play like that for 82 games," said Barbashev, who has consistently elevated his game to a different level in the postseason over his 10-year career. "When the playoffs come, I think it matters."
The 52 hits the Golden Knights landed on Sunday were their most in nearly two years. It bested their highest hit total of the regular season by 16 and was exactly the style of play John Tortorella was looking for out of his group.
"I think it needs to be part of our game," Tortorella said after. "I thought it showed up tonight. I'm thinking about some other parts of our game that we need to improve, but we found a way to win tonight."
Utah is one of the fastest skating teams in the NHL. It thrives on scoring with speed in transition. The Golden Knights are the bigger, stronger team and know they must lean on that, especially as the series progresses.
"You look at some of the guys on our team, and that's a strength we can play with," Smith said. "We can play that heavy style of game and that's something we want to focus on, using our size to our advantage. Throughout a series it's going to lead to more."
Early in the game, the Mammoth were flying up and down the rink.
"I think we struggled with their speed in the first period, and their checking," Tortorella said.
Cooley, arguably the fastest player on the ice, opened the scoring with a dazzling display. He raced up the ice all alone against four Vegas defenders, then turned back to buy himself time and space while awaiting reinforcements. Cooley then fed a pass to a streaking Lawson Crouse and found room to wind up for a one-timer that he crushed into the back of the Vegas net.
Despite trailing entering the first intermission, there was little concern in the Golden Knights' room. Not only has this core been through plenty of playoff series, it has come from behind to win over and over again this season.
The Golden Knights tied the game in the second with a greasy goal by fourth-liner Colton Sissons. Less than two minutes later, the Mammoth answered with a goal by Kevin Stenlund, the result of an unfortunate bounce off Vegas goalie Carter Hart that then went right into his own defenseman Kaedan Korczak and into the net.
Trailing again, the veteran group still showed zero panic in continuing to go about its business. In this series, that business is battering Utah's skilled players with body checks. It's not just the big, booming hits delivered by Barbashev and Keegan Kolesar. It's leaning on players along the boards and getting a piece of them as they skate by to throw off their timing and rhythm.
"That will definitely be an emphasis," veteran center Nic Dowd said. "When you can get pieces of guys, and get in the way of guys, you don't always have to run guys over. You just want to get some body contact and slow them down. It makes the game a little more challenging."
The residual effect was visible. As each period passed, the game shifted further and further into Vegas' favor. As the pressure and tension went up, the Golden Knights got more comfortable.
Captain Mark Stone tied the game with a power-play goal midway through the third period, crashing the net and potting a rebound. Shortly after, Dowd fought his way in front of the net and tipped in a shot by Noah Hanifin to give Vegas its first lead of the night. Barbashev appropriately put the exclamation mark on the victory with an empty net goal from long range to make it 4-2.
It wasn't always pretty, but Game 1 was a strong indicator that Vegas' blueprint for winning this series can be a successful one.
"It's a good team," Tortorella said of the Mammoth. "It's a fast team. We play physical. We have some things to work on, but it was good to see us bang around a little bit. It's a long series. You just keep on trying to do the things you think you need to do to grind away."
Utah coach André Tourigny was proud of the way his young team performed on Sunday.
"I think the guys were pretty composed and in control," Tourigny said. "That was a hard-fought battle, but I really like the way the guys stayed in control. From now on, it's a race of improvement. We have stuff that we can be better (at). We will make adjustments, but I'm really proud of the way we performed."
Tourigny is right that the Mammoth showed relatively well. But there's a noticeable difference between the sides. Utah was happy to find out it was ready for this moment, while Vegas already knew it would be.
Cooley and his fast, skilled teammates could win this series. They showed plenty of flashes of ability to create enough time and space to score the necessary goals. They also showed that they can hold Vegas' attack to the outside for long stretches.
Utah didn't back down from Vegas' physicality, but it didn't win that battle either. The question is, as the games go on, will the Golden Knights further wear Utah down, or will the Mammoth skate their way out of it?
The final image of Sunday night's game, just as the players were exiting the ice, was a memorable one. Dowd, having just scored the second playoff game-winning goal of his career, stared down the Mammoth players as they skated by. With blood dripping from his eyebrow, staining the front of his gold jersey, Dowd yelled at Cooley that he's coming for him.
Asked after the game if he'd like to elaborate on what exactly he said to Cooley, Dowd politely declined. Sissons, sitting next to him, couldn't help but crack a smile.
"It's going to be a grind of a series," Dowd said. "It's an emotional game. They played well tonight. They put us in tough spots at times. I think pushback is good."
A bloody, contentious Game 1 was just the first course. The series should only get better from here.