Golden Knights recover for 2OT victory against Hurricanes in Game 3 of Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- Shea Theodore thought only about what could happen when he fired his one-timer from the right point.

"I mean, yeah, at that point of overtime you're just trying to get anything to the net and kind of hope for a bounce," the Vegas Golden Knights defenseman said. "Luckily, we got one."

Theodore's shot hit off the end boards and found its way into the back of the net off goalie Brandon Bussi at 5:38 of the second overtime, allowing the Golden Knights to escape with a 5-4 win against the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday despite giving away a four-goal lead in the third period.

Vegas leads the best-of-7 series 2-1. Game 4 is here Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

"Not a lot was said in between periods (after regulation)," Vegas coach John Tortorella said. "We just needed to take a deep breath, right? We know what happened. We blew a four-goal lead. We really didn't have to talk about that. It was what we were going to do when we start overtime and just try to get back to our game. Not much has to be said to the group. They handle themselves the proper way and I think that's why they've had an opportunity to play for the Stanley Cup."

Mitch Marner scored the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history with three consecutive goals in a span of 6:10 to give Vegas a 4-0 lead with 3:08 remaining in the second period. Marner bested Maurice Richard's 69-year-old record of three goals in 6:21. 

Marner also had an assist on Tomas Hertl's power-play goal 16 seconds before he deposited his first as the Golden Knights built the four-goal lead in a 6:26 span. He is the first NHL player to record four points in a period in Cup Final history.

Marner leads the Stanley Cup Playoffs with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists), the most by a Golden Knights player in a single postseason, two more than Jack Eichel had in 2023, when Vegas won the Stanley Cup.

"He's on another level right now," Eichel said of Marner. "So much credit to him, he's playing incredible. That was awesome to watch."

Marner had a chance at a fourth goal with a short-handed penalty shot at 4:04 of the third period, but Bussi, who replaced Frederik Andersen to start the third, stopped him, and 2:59 later the Hurricanes started their comeback.

Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal scored 39 seconds apart on three straight shots, the three fastest goals in Stanley Cup Final history, to make it 4-3 with 12:18 remaining and break the 72-year-old record set by the Montreal Canadiens (56 seconds in Game 2 of the 1954 Final). 

Andrei Svechnikov scored the tying power-play goal with Bussi pulled for an extra skater with 1:42 remaining in regulation.

The Hurricanes became the second team in Stanley Cup Final history to erase a four-goal deficit in a game. The New York Rangers did it in Game 1 in 1972 but lost to the Boston Bruins in regulation. 

"Yeah, definitely a kick in the you know what," said Staal, the Carolina captain.

Carter Hart made 29 saves for the Golden Knights.

Andersen allowed four goals on 16 shots. Bussi made 18 saves on 19 shots.

"I love that we feel like we can come back from anything, but we can’t put ourselves in a hole like we did," Martinook said. 

Before going on a four-goal run, Vegas had two goals disallowed early in the second period, at 34 seconds (offside) and 4:00 (goaltender interference), because of successful coach's challenges by Carolina.

"They were the right calls tonight," Tortorella said. 

Hertl scored the first Vegas goal that counted at 10:26 of the second, connecting 10 seconds into the first power play of the game for either team to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead. The Hurricanes were called for too many men on the ice.

Vegas was 0-for-7 on the power play in Games 1 and 2. 

"First six minutes everything is going fine, and then we took a bad penalty," Carolina coach Rod Brind'Amour said. "They make a nice play and then a bad bounce on the second one, and it snowballed on us there."

Marner scored 16 seconds later, when his backhanded shot from near the wall in the right face-off circle was inadvertently knocked into the net by Carolina defenseman Sean Walker, giving Vegas a 2-0 lead.

Marner made it 3-0 at 14:32, 11 seconds after he hit the right post on a breakaway. Brayden McNabb kept the puck in the zone and found Marner low behind all five Carolina skaters, where he scored off a forehand-to-backhand deke for his second goal in 3:50 and Vegas' third in 4:06. 

"'Nabber' just coming in on that pinch, just the patience and play he made to me to allow me to get around the net was phenomenal," Marner said.

Marner's third goal came off another breakaway. He got loose past Alexander Nikishin, took a pass from Hertl, skated into the right circle and made it 4-0 with a far-side slap shot that went in off Andersen's blocker at 16:52.

Bussi stopped his penalty shot early in the third to keep it a 4-0 game.

"I'm thinking we need to score that and I'm not lying to you because they came back and scored four," Tortorella said. "I'm thinking we need another one just to keep on going."

Martinook made it 4-1 at 7:03, cashing in on a strong forecheck by Seth Jarvis before getting hit from behind by Cole Smith.

"I just think we needed something good to happen," Martinook said. 

Hall cut the deficit to 4-2 at 7:29. Sebastian Aho stole the puck from McNabb in the offensive zone and from below the right circle sent a backhanded pass across to Hall, who scored from the far post.

Staal made it 4-3 at 7:42, scoring from the lower part of the left circle on a deflection of Jaccob Slavin's shot off the left-wing half-wall.

Carolina also scored three goals on consecutive shots in the third period of Game 2 on Thursday.

Svechnikov tied it 4-4 at 18:18, scoring a power-play goal with Bussi pulled for the extra skater to make it a 6-on-4 situation. After the puck went to the net and got loose, Carolina forward Nikolaj Ehlers was pushed in as Svechnikov found it in the slot and shoved it into the net.

"I've experienced a lot of games in playoffs. I haven't experienced one like this," Tortorella said. "We could do nothing wrong in the second period and probably did everything wrong in the third period."

But the game didn't end there. It continued for 25 minutes and 38 seconds of overtime, until Theodore did the right thing, got the bounce and the reward.

"Not how we drew it up," Vegas forward William Karlsson said, "but we'll take it."

NOTES: Carolina forward William Carrier left the game in the second period with an upper-body injury and did not return. Brind'Amour did not have an update on his status. … The Hurricanes lost in overtime for the first time in the playoffs this season (6-1). … McNabb played with a full cage because of facial injuries he sustained in the first period of Game 2, when he was struck in the face by an Ehlers slap shot. The defenseman played 35:47, finished with two assists, including the setup for Theodore's winner, and was plus-3.