Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. Then chaos. This is the easiest way for anyone to fully comprehend what just happened between the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Knights.
No, really. Vegas’ Mitch Marner scored a second-period hat trick — the fastest in Stanley Cup Final history — to help the Knights take a 4-0 lead into the third period, chasing Hurricanes starting goalie Frederik Andersen in the process.
One overtime would not be enough, of course. And the winning goal credited to Vegas’ Shea Theodore took an awkward bounce off Martinook then ricocheted off Carolina goalie Brandon Bussi‘s equipment and into the net.
With the 5-4 win, the Golden Knights have a 2-1 series lead with the series set to resume Tuesday with Game 4. Here’s a look at what went down, why it went down and what it all means between now and when the puck drops for the next matchup.
Legal is forcing us to get the fine print out of the way first: Those who subject themselves to the Golden Knights this postseason could experience confusion, elation and an amplified sense of concern. Sometimes, it all happens in the same game — and it did Saturday.
First period? Two shots. That’s it. Another slow start for a team that entered Game 2 averaging the second-most goals per game this postseason. There’s the confusion.
But come the second period, it wasn’t just that the Golden Knights scored four goals. It’s how they broke out. After two straight disallowed goals — one for offside, one for goalie interference — came the barrage.
Marner grabbed the secondary assist on Tomas Hertl‘s power-play goal, set up by a patient Jack Eichel, who surveyed the ice behind Andersen’s net before finding Hertl in the slot.
On the second goal, Theodore played a perfect breakout pass to William Karlsson, who sent Marner the puck on a cross-ice pass that led to the winger throwing the puck toward the net; the puck was deflected by Carolina defenseman Sean Walker past Andersen for a 2-0 lead. The Knights took advantage of another mistake when a turnover allowed Brayden McNabb to recover the puck and find Marner, who created even more space to beat Andersen for a 3-0 lead before finishing the hat trick on a blast from the faceoff circle. There’s the elation.
Coach John Tortorella had to make adjustments to his defense pairings with Noah Hanifin going back to the Knights’ dressing room midway through the second period. Hanifin would return, but his minutes were largely absorbed by Jeremy Lauzon, with Hanifin playing third-pairing minutes to limit his usage.
But when the Hurricanes suddenly scored three goals in the span of 39 seconds in the third — knowing they came back from a two-goal deficit to win Game 2? And showed again that once the Canes find an opening, they won’t stop — much like they did in Game 1? This is where the amplified sense of concern begins to affect the brain and all other bodily functions for those involved.
In the final 2:55 of the third period, Vegas was assessed a delay of game penalty to send Carolina to the power play. And just like Game 2, the Hurricanes tied the game in a way that once again left Tortorella and his staff staring at their iPads to determine if there was goaltender interference. But this time, Tortorella didn’t challenge, and Vegas’ four-goal lead was erased with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.
Overtime allowed many of the above symptoms to return before Theodore’s winner in double overtime sent the Golden Knights’ fans home happy, as their team holds a 2-1 series lead.
Again, legal is making us say the following so we’re not held liable: Those subjecting themselves to the Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final are likely to experience adrenaline-induced episodes of confidence, doubt or both at the same time.
Doubt became the primary symptom in the second period when Jaccob Slavin left the net front to pressure Eichel, only for Hertl to get on the wrong side of Jalen Chatfield and have a point-blank look at the net. Failed clearance after failed clearance preceded William Carrier‘s attempt to clear the puck, which made its way to McNabb, Marner and the back of the net. Alexander Nikishin played an errant pass that quickly forced Shayne Gostisbehere to fly diagonally to close space on Marner — only for him to still score a goal from distance.
Goaltenders are often asked to mask errors. That said, how much of what happened Saturday was on Andersen, versus the fact he was simply at the center of a system that failed him multiple times over the course of the second period? No matter the answer, what went down in the second period led to coach Rod Brind’Amour pulling Andersen, with Brandon Bussi coming in for the third period.
Bussi was in for barely three minutes before he faced pressure from the Golden Knights, including when Sebastian Aho hacked Marner from behind, leading to a penalty shot that Bussi stopped.
There was also another truth facing the Hurricanes at the time they were trailing by four goals going into the third: Their top-six forwards were struggling to make an impact. Jackson Blake, Seth Jarvis, Logan Stankoven, Svechnikov, Aho and Taylor Hall were facing questions about their lack of involvement. Especially when four of the eight goals the Hurricanes had scored entering Game 3 had come from beyond those top-six forwards.
Then came the confidence and doubt. Seeing Martinook, Hall and Staal score three quickfire goals in the span of 39 seconds created the belief that the Hurricanes could pull off consecutive comebacks. But Jarvis getting called for delay of game created the concern the Golden Knights could push the lead to two goals before the Hurricanes killed the penalty.
But worrying wasn’t needed. Confidence came back after a successful penalty kill and when the Golden Knights — again — were assessed for a delay of game penalty. That led to the Hurricanes’ power play scoring a game-tying goal — again — in the final minutes of regulation. This time, Svechnikov won the battle at the net front to poke in the puck for a 4-4 tie after once trailing by four goals.
Bussi’s performance provided a sense of defensive stability for a team that has struggled to find that at times in the postseason. It was enough to reach double overtime before Theodore scored the winner in the most unlikely of ways.
Players to watch in Game 3
The Knights watched one of their top-four defenseman and most important players head to the dressing room in the second period, and Hanifin played limited minutes thereafter compared with his usual workload. Hanifin is averaging 23:44 in ice time this postseason, which ranks second on the Golden Knights behind Theodore.
Hanifin was essentially used as a third-pairing defenseman, logging a little more than 16 minutes about midway through overtime. Could the time between games provide the Golden Knights’ training and medical staff the runway to get Hanifin back to his regular workload? Or could Tortorella be forced to make lineup adjustments on the back end?
Maybe this ends up being nothing to talk about at the end of the day, but Bussi stopped all nine shots he faced in the third period — including Marner’s penalty shot — and provided stability in a period in which his team came back to force overtime. In overtime, he stopped another seven shots, with some of them coming from within 10 feet, before Theodore’s bizarre winning goal.
At first, it appeared that pulling Andersen after two periods was done to get him rest ahead of Game 4. There’s still a chance that could be the case. But Bussi’s contributions present a little bit of intrigue to a team that went from navigating the season with multiple goalies to using only one during the playoffs. Does Carolina make a switch for the all-important Game 4?
Big questions for Game 4
Can the Golden Knights find a way to hold on to a lead in this series?
Think about how inane that question sounds when you say it out loud. This team has some of the best offensive talent in the NHL, with a top six that’s capable of shutting down opponents in a variety of ways. Vegas has made a living out of making opponents second- and third-guess themselves.
And we’re out here asking if the Knights can hold on to a lead because they lost a two-goal lead in Game 2 and a four-goal lead in Game 3. Why are we asking this question? Because like everything about this series: Nothing. Makes. Sense.
What can the Canes take away from the first, third and first overtime periods?
Why are those three frames of hockey relevant? Because those periods provided the most defensive consistency the Hurricanes have shown against the Golden Knights during the Cup finals to this point.
Vegas scored in all three periods of Game 1 and grabbed a goal in each period of regulation in Game 2 before losing in overtime. Marner’s four-goal performance in Game 3 was historic and at one time appeared to be too much to overcome. But the way that the Hurricanes performed to push this game to double overtime raises the possibility that they might have found something sustainable for the rest of this series.
