Golden Knights take 2-1 lead in Stanley Cup Final with 5-4 win in double overtime
After coughing up a multi-goal lead to let the Carolina Hurricanes back into the Stanley Cup Final in Game 2, the Vegas Golden Knights put a scare into their fans on Saturday, as they neared a re-run before erasing a furious rally by the visitors in the third with a double overtime winner.
Mitch Marner recorded a natural hat trick in the second period, the fastest hat trick in the history of the Stanley Cup Final, to power an offensive onslaught that chased Hurricanes goalie Frederik Andersen from the game and put his team in the driver’s seat in the series.
The first period unfolded in similar fashion to those of Games 1 and 2, as the Hurricanes were the better team in terms of puck possession and scoring opportunities, but unlike in Game 1, they couldn’t capitalize early, and unlike in Game 2, the Knights didn’t strike for an early lead anyway.
That changed in a hurry in the second. On two occasions, the Golden Knights appeared to have taken the lead, but successful challenges from the Carolina bench kept the game scoreless. First, a Mark Stone breakaway goal was negated as a Knight was offside on the zone entry. Next, Ivan Barbashev plowed through Andersen in the crease to take a goal by Jack Eichel off the board.
A too many men penalty by Carolina led to a phenomenal pass on the power play from Eichel to Tomas Hertl who buried one from the slot to finally give Vegas a 1-0 lead.
The Golden Knights got a bounce a few moments later, when Marner got his first of the night when Hurricanes defenseman Sean Walker deflected a centering pass Frederik Andersen to make it 2-0.
Marner wasn’t done. After being turned aside on a breakaway, Marner regained possession of the puck in the offensive zone and danced through the Hurricanes’ defense to beat Andersen and make it 3-0.
With a third goal in 6:10 for a natural hat trick and the fastest in the history of the final, Marner made it 4-0 when he broke in to the zone and wired a slap shot home to the far side of Andersen.
After 40 minutes, that was all for the veteran Dane, as Rod Brind’Amour opted to go with Brandon Bussi for the third period in what looked like a bid to give Andersen a reset before a crucial Game 4.
Instead, Carolina found one of the most improbable rallies of all time. Bussi came up big early, making a quick save before turning Marner aside on a penalty shot in a bid for Marner’s fourth of the night and a five-goal lead.
Then, the Hurricanes scored the fastest three goals by one team in Stanley Cup Final history when Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal found the back of the net in a 39-second span to cut it to 4-3 at the drop of a hat.
Carolina then killed off a penalty with just over seven minutes to play, giving them just over five minutes to make a real push for an equalizer. Shea Theodore took a delay of game penalty for putting the puck over the glass, and the Hurricanes cashed in when Andrei Svechnikov scored out of a net front scramble.
John Tortorella and the Golden Knights bench weighed a challenge for goaltender interference, but Nikolaj Ehlers was blatantly pushed in by a Vegas defender to cause the contact that disrupted Carter Hart’s bid for a save.
The first 20 minutes of overtime went by scoreless, but the Golden Knights found a way to get it done when Theodore sent a shot wide of the net, but a bounce off of the end board, off the stick of Martinook, off the back of Bussi and in delivered a game-winner that wiped out the bad energy from surrendering the four-goal lead.
After the first three games of the series were all separated by one day of rest, there will be two days off before the puck drops on Game 4 from T-Mobile Arena at 8:00 PM Eastern on Tuesday night.