(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
There may not be another person on the planet more qualified to speak about a playoff series between the Vegas Golden Knights and Utah Mammoth than defenseman Nate Schmidt.
The 34-year-old veteran lifted the Stanley Cup with Florida last season after a journey that began as an undrafted free agent, before becoming a Golden Knights expansion pick. He later spent time with two other Western Conference teams before joining the Mammoth this past summer.
He knows Vegas, he knows the playoffs, he knows what it takes to win, and of course, he now knows Utah.
Along with his defense partner, John Marino, Schmidt has helped a young Mammoth team turn the corner and reach the playoffs for the first time in Utah history, and the first time (aside from the weird bubble playoffs) since 2012 for the organization that moved to Salt Lake City two summers ago.
As the guy who’s been there and done that, he’s taking on the wise mentor role with the team.
The message I want to get across to our guys is you’re not going to go 16-0. That’s just not realistic. I don’t think it’s ever happened. You’re going to lose games. You’re going to make mistakes. Once you go in understanding that, knowing mistakes are part of it, it frees you up. I’m going to make one, you’re going to make one, we all are. Once you accept that, you realize it’s still the same game you’ve played your whole life, and you should be able to have some fun with it. -Schmidt
Schmidt knows the Golden Knights as well. While there aren’t many players he played with during his time in Vegas, he’s familiar with the style VGK are looking to deploy and knows the challenges it can present.
The playoffs are about the dirty areas. It’s about the deflections. It’s about taking away time and space when you can. If we can eliminate their time through the neutral zone because they have a lot of guys that like to carry it, I think this series is going to be indicative of that. Who’s going to be able to slow down the other team’s speed? -Schmidt
Schmidt admitted that if the Golden Knights spend loads of time in the Mammoth zone, VGK’s highly-skilled playmakers will find ways to hurt Utah consistently. To combat that, Schmidt believes the work has to be done before the puck crosses the blue line, rather than after.
A big one at this time of year is not allowing the free pass. Someone’s going to have to stay out, and you just have to do the job. You have to stay even if you’re dead tired and make sure the goalie doesn’t throw the puck up the ice and beat somebody on a change. It’s those little things that kind of open the game up. Especially for a team like that that wants to get in, drive a deep delay, hit some of their defenseman that come in the rush. It’s going to be a series in my opinion, that kind of revolves around that. If we can slow down that neutral zone, it’ll make a big difference. -Schmidt
The teams enter the series with materially different styles. Vegas likes to control possession for long stretches with excellent puck protection. It eventually disorganizes the defense and opens up shooting and passing lanes for high-danger chances. Utah, on the other hand, prefers to play a speedy, quick-strike game that relies upon taking the puck away, then hitting cross-ice passes to exploit the defense before they can set up.
Both teams are good at what they do; that’s why they are each here. According to Schmidt, who knows as well as anyone, the team that can eliminate threats before they arise will have the most success.
