LAS VEGAS — Shea Theodore scored at 5:38 of the second overtime and Mitch Marner recorded the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup history in the second period as the Vegas Golden Knights recovered from blowing a 4-0 third-period lead to edge the Carolina Hurricanes in a wild 5-4 victory in Game 3 on Saturday night.
Theodore’s slap shot bounced off the end boards and bounced in off the skate of goaltender Brandon Bussi for the game-winner and a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.
Marner scored three times in the span of 6:10, besting the mark for the fastest hat trick of 6:21 in Game 1 of the 1957 Stanley Cup Final set by the Montreal Canadiens’ Maurice “The Rocket” Richard against the Boston Bruins.
Marner, who had an assistant in addition to his natural hat trick, leads the NHL with 28 playoff points, surpassing Jack Eichel’s team record for points in a playoff (26) set in 2023 when the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup.
According to ESPN Insights, the winner of Game 3 in a best-of-seven series tied 1-1 in the Stanley Cup Final has gone on the win the series 77% of the time. Game 4 is Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
Tomas Hertl also had a goal and an assist for Vegas. Carter Hart finished with 29 saves for the Golden Knights.
Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal scored for Carolina, all in a 39-second span midway through the third period. It marked the fastest three goals by one team in Stanley Cup Final history. Andrei Svechnikov forced overtime with a power-play goal with 1:42 remaining and Sebastian Aho added two assists.
Frederik Andersen stopped 12 of 16 shots for the Hurricanes before giving way to Bussi at the start of the third period. Bussi finished with 18 saves on 19 shots for Carolina, which lost for the first time in seven road playoff games (6-1). The Hurricanes had been 6-0 in overtime during this playoff run.
Following a tight-checking first period that saw Vegas held to just two shots, including none over the final 15:13, the Golden Knights took charge in the second period, scoring four times in the span of 6:26.
It could have been worse for the Hurricanes. Vegas had goals by Mark Stone and Eichel both waived off in the first four minutes. Stone’s goal was taken off the board following a coaches’ challenge by Carolina that found the Knights’ Brett Howden was inches offside on the play. Eichel’s tap-in in front of the net was ruled no-goal because Ivan Barbashev hit Anderson in the head while skating across the top of the blue paint.
Didn’t matter. Hertl made it 1-0 at the 10:26 mark with a power-play goal after the Hurricanes picked up a penalty for too many men on the ice. Hertl one-timed an Eichel pass from behind the net into the low slot for his fifth playoff goal.
Just 16 seconds later, Marner scooped up a rebound of a William Karlsson shot by the right board and backhanded a shot into the low slot that Carolina defenseman Sean Walker redirected past Andersen and inside the far left post.
Less than four minutes later, Marner, just seconds after hitting the post on a breakway, extended the lead to 3-0 when he wrapped in a backhand shot around Andersen’s right pad.
Marner then completed his natural hat trick at the 16:52 mark with his 10th goal of the playoffs, breaking down the right wing and blasting a slap shot from the top of the right circle past Andersen’s blocker side.
Marner had a chance to score four straight goals when he was awarded a penalty shot early in the third period after being slashed by Aho on a clean breakaway. However, Bussi deflected his backhand try past the left post.
Bussi’s save seemed to inspire the Hurricanes, who a few minutes later exploded for goals by Martinook and Hall, both on wrist shots, and a tip-in by Staal of a Jaccob Slavin shot, all in the span of 39 seconds from 7:03 to 7:42 into the period, to cut the lead to 4-3.
Vegas defenseman Theodore picked up a delay of game penalty for firing the puck into the stands with 2:55 remaining. On the power play, Svechnikov scooped in a loose puck in the middle of the crease during a goalmouth scrum to force overtime.
