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It was much more nerve-wracking than they probably desired, but the Golden Knights narrowly avoided a catastrophic collapse with a 5-4 double-overtime win over the Hurricanes in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday. After the Golden Knights coughed up a 4-0 lead, Shea Theodore scored in overtime to save the day.
Theodore must have pleased the hockey gods because his goal was the result of a wild bounce. A low slap shot kicked off the end boards and ricocheted into the net off the skate of Carolina goaltender Brandon Bussi, who was playing the shot a bit too aggressively.
Mitch Marner continued his exceptional postseason with a gem of a performance on Saturday night. As part of a four-goal barrage in the second period, Marner registered four points, including a natural hat trick that also happened to be the fastest hat trick of any kind in the Stanley Cup Final.
As if that wasn't enough, Marner also reached 28 points, which is a new franchise record for the most in a single postseason. It was one of the finest single-game Stanley Cup Final performances in recent history.
After that second-period scoring burst, Vegas took a 4-0 lead into the third period, and it looked as though Game 3 would be a blowout. Then the Hurricanes made some history of their own with the fastest three goals in Stanley Cup Final history. Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal all scored in the span of 39 seconds to trim the Golden Knights' lead to 4-3.
With under two minutes left -- and the goalie pulled on the power play -- Andrei Svechnikov tied the game by punching a rebound home in front of the net. Ultimately, that comeback was all for naught as the Hurricanes lost in devastating fashion anyway.
With this win, Vegas avoided what would have been a historic meltdown, and it can push Carolina to the brink of elimination in Game 4 on Tuesday.
Masterful Mitch Marner
It's hard to keep coming up with ways to describe how brilliant Marner has been in the playoffs, but the word "historic" does the trick tonight. Marner was a one-man show for Vegas as he notched a natural hat trick that will go down in the record books.
Admittedly, the hockey gods were in Marner's favor on his first goal of the night. He threw a blind pass to the slot, and Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker deflected the puck past his own goalie. It is better to be lucky than good, but Marner was both on Saturday night.
Over the next 6:10 of game time, Marner scored two more goals, with his third of the game being a rocket that rang hard off the far post and in behind Andersen. That gave Marner the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history, and it was the first natural hat trick in a Final since Ted Lindsay did it for the Detroit Red Wings all the way back in 1955.
Marner is now up to 28 points in the postseason, and he has been the difference for Vegas in the playoffs. Does anyone think the Golden Knights would be up 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final if they didn't acquire him last summer? Marner has been a game-changer in Vegas, and he's on track to win a Stanley Cup and the Conn Smythe Trophy after a decade of postseason misery in Toronto.
Goaltender change in Carolina?
Frederik Andersen got the Hurricanes to the Stanley Cup Final, and he entered the series as a Conn Smythe Trophy frontrunner. That said, Rod Brind'Amour simply cannot go back to Andersen in Game 4 after the way Brandon Bussi played in relief on Saturday night.
If Bussi wasn't in goal at the start of the third period, Carolina wouldn't have had a prayer to win the game. The Golden Knights came out firing in the third period, and Bussi erased a number of egregious mistakes by his defensemen. Let's not forget he also turned away Mitch Marner on a penalty shot after the Vegas forward got slashed on a shorthanded breakaway.
Ultimately, Bussi stopped 18 of the 19 shots he faced, and plenty of that rubber came from the slot. Perhaps more importantly, Bussi posted 0.89 goals above average with a perfect 1.000 high-danger save percentage, per Natural Stat Trick. Keep in mind that GSAA number is skewed because of a poor bounce that Theodore couldn't replicate if he fired the same shot 100 more times. Plus, Bussi managed to play this well after sitting on the bench for nearly two months.
Sure, you can quibble with Bussi's position on Theodore's game-winning goal, but that was a freak play. Bussi earned a chance to start in Game 4, and if he falters, Brind'Amour can always return to a steady veteran in Andersen.
Iron man McNabb
In the first period of Game 2, Brayden McNabb left the game and went to the hospital after taking an 87-mph slap shot to the face. After seeing the replay, I wasn't sure he'd be back at all in the series, and I certainly didn't think he would suit up for Game 3.
Instead, McNabb was on the ice wearing a full cage when the puck dropped on Saturday night. And not only was McNabb in the lineup, but he played over 35 minutes, the second-most of any player on both teams. In that time, McNabb notched two assists while posting a 57.7% expected goal share and a plus-3 goal differential at five-on-five, per Natural Stat Trick. His assist on Marner's second goal was a textbook example of patience and vision coming together.
This is the Stanley Cup Final, and it's not unusual to see players endure extreme pain when they're so close to a lifelong dream. McNabb's case is a bit different, however, because he almost seemed to improve while playing through the injury. Every hit had to be painful, but this win probably takes some of that sting away.
