Golden Knights survive Hurricanes’ shocking comeback in historic Stanley Cup Final Game 3
LAS VEGAS — Twenty minutes into Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final, the game, the series and the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP all felt like toss-ups.
Twenty minutes later, favorites had emerged.
By the end of the night, we were back to square one.
The Vegas Golden Knights, behind a second-period natural hat trick from Mitch Marner and a double-overtime winner from Shea Theadore, beat the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 on Saturday night, securing a 2-1 series lead heading into Tuesday’s Game 4 at T-Mobile Arena.
To get there, Vegas needed to withstand a historic third-period flurry by the Hurricanes that turned the game into yet another nail-biter in what’s been one of the most closely contested Cup Finals in recent memory. All three games have been decided by one goal, and the last two have featured pure chaos down the stretch. Had they won, the Hurricanes would’ve become the first team in Final history to win a game in which they trailed by four goals. They came back from two down in the third period to win Game 2, 4-3 in overtime.
Vegas and Marner initially seized control during a six-minute, 10-second sequence that saw him beat Carolina goaltender Frederik Andersen three times, pushing Vegas’ second-intermission lead to 4-0 and sending himself to the top of the list of playoff MVP contenders.
The outburst gave Marner 10 goals in 19 games during this postseason and was the fastest hat trick in Final history, breaking the previous record of 6:21 set 69 years ago by Montreal Canadiens legend Maurice ‘Rocket’ Richard.
Andersen faced 14 shots on goal in the second and stopped just 10 of them. Carolina replaced him with Brandon Bussi for the third period and, after Bussi stopped Marner on a penalty shot at 4:04, got goals from Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal separated by just 39 seconds, the fastest three-goal sequence in the history of the Cup Final. Bussi finished with 18 saves on 19 shots, several of them Grade-A stops.
He was out of the net for teammate Andrei Svechnikov’s game-tying goal with 1:42 remaining in regulation. Svechnikov beat Vegas goaltender Carter Hart amidst a scramble in the crease, setting up a second straight overtime finish.
The Golden Knights appeared to take a 1-0 lead 36 seconds into the second period on a partial breakaway by Mark Stone, who beat Andersen for a five-hole squeaker, but the call was overturned by a Carolina coach’s challenge. Officials ruled that Brett Howden, Vegas’ leading playoff goal scorer, was offside.
About three minutes later, another apparent Vegas goal, by Jack Eichel, was overturned by another Carolina challenge; Ivan Barbashev made contact with Andersen’s head in a net-front mosh pit, sent him to the ice and prevented him from attempting to stop Eichel’s shot. Tomas Hertl put the Golden Knights up 1-0 with a no-doubt power-play goal at 10:26, setting the stage for Marner’s fireworks show.
The first period represented a bit of a course correction from the chaos of Games 1 and 2 at Lenovo Center. In Saturday’s first 20 minutes, both teams combined for nine shots, with Carolina holding a 7-2 edge, seven high-danger chances and zero goals.
Andersen yanked
Through three rounds of the playoffs, Andersen was stellar but relatively untested. In the first three games of the Cup Final, he has failed the test. Andersen was replaced by Bussi after two periods on Saturday, after allowing four goals on 16 shots.
The veteran netminder has looked a half-beat behind on most of Vegas’ dangerous chances in the series, and has chased the play. There have been times in the postseason where it has looked like he is guessing on plays, but he’s such an instinctual goalie that he has guessed right more often than not. Facing a faster, higher-octane offense, it hasn’t gone nearly as well.
After allowing only 20 goals on 269 shots through the first 13 playoff games, Andersen has allowed 12 goals in eight periods of the Cup Final. He allowed three or more goals once in the first 13 games, and has now done it in every game this series.
Bussi made his Stanley Cup playoff debut and was immediately tested when Marner earned himself a penalty shot after being slashed on a short-handed breakaway by Sebastian Aho. But Bussi stood firm, a rare time Saturday that Marner could be stopped. — Russo and Granger
Canes finally arrive
There has only been one goal on 14 all-time penalty shots in the Stanley Cup Final. Who would have thought Marner not scoring to make it 5-0 would be so pivotal?
Out of nowhere, the Hurricanes turned a 4-0 deficit into a 4-3 deficit with three goals in 39 seconds by Martinook, Hall and Staal.
Martinook opened the scoring for Carolina with a goal off the forecheck. He jumped on a puck behind the Vegas net, curled around the crease, and slipped it underneath Hart’s outstretched pad to make it 4-1.
Seconds later, Hall redirected a one-timer past Hart on the backdoor off a perfect feed from Aho. It was his sixth of the postseason, tying him with Nikolaj Ehlers for the most on the team. Then Staal tipped a shot by Jaccob Slavin from the point on a brilliant play in front of the net to pull the Hurricanes within a goal.
Staal joined Brad Marchand as the second player age 37 or older to score in the first three games of a Stanley Cup Final. Marchand did so last year against Edmonton during Florida’s second straight Stanley Cup bid.
It was the fastest three goals in Stanley Cup Final history and the fifth time a team scored three times that quickly in any playoff game.
When Svechnikov tied the score with 1:52 left after Theodore put the puck in the stands, it made Bussi the goalie of record — amazingly. — Russo and Granger
Brind’Amour was darn sure
Two days after Rod Brind’Amour said the one thing he has learned this postseason is you better be “100 percent sure” if you’re going to challenge goals or no-goals due to incidental contact, the Carolina coaching staff was correct in getting two Golden Knights goals overturned in the first four minutes of the second period.
The first one was a no-brainer when Howden preceded the puck into the zone before Stone’s breakaway goal. That offside challenge bailed out a poor step-up by Sean Walker at the blue line, allowing Stone into the zone, then a goal that Andersen should have stopped.
But it’s goalie interference challenges that Brind’Amour said coaches need to be wary of. It’s clear the NHL doesn’t want to overturn goals, but Barbashev nearly took Andersen’s head off while he was in the crease before Eichel’s goal. It led to a super quick video review by referees Chris Rooney and Wes McCauley before Rooney delivered the crowd the bad news.
Had those two goals counted, the Hurricanes would have allowed six goals in the second period.
Late in the third period, Carolina scored the game-tying goal on a play that was eerily similar to the one Vegas scored late in Game 2 that was ruled no goal. Andrei Svechnikov dug the puck out from underneath Jeremy Lauzon, then jammed it over the line. Vegas coach John Tortorella looked closely at it on his iPad on the bench, but chose not to challenge it. — Russo and Granger
McNabb’s return
Only two days after taking an 87-mile-per-hour slap shot to the face, Brayden McNabb showed up to play. With stitches in his nose and a full cage on his helmet, McNabb didn’t miss a beat for the Golden Knights.
The veteran defenseman was standing in front of the Vegas net midway through the first period of Game 2 at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Thursday, when a hard shot by Nikolaj Ehlers snuck underneath his visor. He dropped to the ice before immediately skating off and missed the remainder of that game.
Saturday night in Las Vegas, McNabb led all Vegas skaters in ice time in the first period and had made an excellent defensive play on an early net drive by Seth Jarvis. In the second period, he held the puck in the zone at the blue line and sent it to Marner, who danced around Andersen for his second goal of the night. It was McNabb’s seventh assist of the playoffs.
McNabb played more than 30 minutes and landed one of his patented hip checks late in the game, stunning Taylor Hall with a massive hit as he entered the Vegas zone. He may have the cage on his helmet, but he didn’t look any different on the ice. — Granger
Carrier, Hanifin injured
Two days between Games 3 and 4 may have come at a good time for Carolina’s William Carrier and Vegas’ Noah Hanifin.
Carrier, the former Golden Knight, was hurt in the first period when he checked Lauzon into the side wall. It was a pretty innocuous check, but Carrier, after hunching over on the bench, ultimately left. While he returned in the second period, he finally left the bench for good when the game got out of hand after Marner gave Vegas a 3-0 lead.
Also in the second period, Hanifin was hurt when he was checked by Jordan Martinook. The defenseman left down the tunnel holding his right arm, but returned in the third period. — Russo