Carrier injured for Hurricanes in Game 3 of Stanley Cup Final

LAS VEGAS -- William Carrier of the Carolina Hurricanes missed the final three periods of a 5-4 double-overtime loss to the Vegas Golden Knights in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.

The fourth-line forward sustained an upper-body injury, but there was no update on his status after the game. Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said he wasn’t sure what happened.

Carrier played four shifts in the second period, his last ending at 14:32 after his attempted clearing pass was intercepted at the blue line by Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb, who passed to Mitch Marner for his second goal of the game to make it 3-0.

It was the second time Carrier left the game.

Marner scored again in the period, finishing a natural hat trick for a 4-0 lead. Carolina scored four goals in a furious third-period comeback to force overtime.

“Look, we played hard after he went out,” Brind’Amour said of Carrier. “It’s tough in a game like that with extra minutes and not having a full group. Again, this part of it. You deal with it.” 

Carrier finished the game minus-1 with two hits in 6:51 of ice time.

The Hurricanes played the final 51:06 of the game with 11 forwards, so extra playing time was heaped on the other wings. 

Forward Jordan Martinook said Carrier’s absence wasn’t too hard to work through.

“Especially the way we were doing It, we were rotating right wings, left wings,” Martinook said. “It is what it is.”

The game ended when Shea Theodore’s shot from the point went off the end boards, bounced off goalie Brandon Bussi and went into the net at 5:38 of double overtime to give Vegas a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series. 

Game 4 is here on Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

Carrier had gone to the locker room late in the first period. He was shown on the ESPN broadcast hunched on the bench and favoring his right arm.

The left wing, who normally plays with center Mark Jankowski and right wing Eric Robinson, has four assists in 16 games in these Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The 31-year-old received a warm reception from the crowd during pregame introductions; Carrier played seven seasons for the Golden Knights (2017-24) and won the Stanley Cup with them in 2023.

Carrier has 136 points (69 goals, 67 assists) in 526 NHL games with the Buffalo Sabres, Golden Knights and Hurricanes. He has 17 points (six goals, 11 assists) in 112 postseason games.