4 Takeaways From Golden Knights’ Rollercoaster Game 3 Victory – The Hockey Writers – Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in overtime of Game 3 in both dramatic and historic fashion.

Tomas Hertl, Mitch Marner, and Shea Theodore scored for Vegas, while Carter Hart made 29 saves on 33 shots. For Carolina, Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall, Jordan Staal, and Andrei Svechnikov were the goal scorers, while Frederik Andersen made 12 saves on 16 shots, and Brandon Bussi stopped 18 of 19 in relief.

If you’re a neutral observer of this Stanley Cup Final, you are still buzzing from what was maybe the greatest game we have seen in either a long, long time or maybe even ever. If you’re a Golden Knights fan, however, you’re likely still catching your breath.

Let’s get into it.

Historic Saturday Night on the Strip

Before we get into Game 3 from a Golden Knights perspective, let’s take a moment to appreciate what we just witnessed.

Sixteen seconds after Hertl gave Vegas a 1-0 lead, Marner scored the first of what would be four goals for Vegas in 6:10 and the first of three individually. Marner had an assist on Hertl’s goal as well, making him the first player ever with four points in a single period in the Stanley Cup Final.

Heading into the third and final period, or so we thought, this game was all but over, and in the early minutes of the period, it didn’t feel like Carolina was on the brink of a historic moment of their own. Martinook’s goal at 7:03 was the first of three in 39 seconds for the Hurricanes, which was the fastest three goals in Cup Final history. Then, with Svechnikov’s game-tying goal at 18:18, the Hurricanes became the first team since 1972 to erase a four-goal deficit in the Stanley Cup Final.

Thankfully for Vegas, one more piece of history was averted, as no team has ever come back from being down four goals to win a game in the Stanley Cup Final.

“It just kind of sums up the sport of hockey,” Vegas center William Karlsson said after the game. “No one’s really out of it. And kudos to them. They found their way, found a way to tie it up. But I’m happy and proud how we got the win.”

Golden Knights Always Find a Way

Due to the insanity of what we watched in the second and third periods, it may be hard to remember that the Golden Knights had to grind their way through a first period in which they couldn’t generate much of anything. They were held to just two shots against Carolina’s seven and had no shots on the only power play of the period.

Then, in the second, Vegas had two goals disallowed before Hertl officially opened the scoring at 10:26, on the power play, with a perfect wrist shot from just in front of the crease. Then, just 16 seconds later, Marner scored the first of three in the period that gave the Golden Knights a 4-0 lead heading into the third. In addition, Vegas outshot the Hurricanes 14-5 in what was a dominating 20 minutes.

Early in the third, Marner had a penalty shot that could have given his team a 5-0 lead, and as it would turn out, they could have really used it.

“I’m thinking we need to score that and I’m not lying to you because they came back and scored four,” head coach John Tortorella said after the game. “I’m thinking we need another one just to keep on going.” They didn’t keep it going, and Carolina, as we know, came back to force the second straight overtime game in the series.

“We could do nothing wrong in the second period,” Tortorella added, “and probably did everything wrong in the third period.”

Despite outshooting the Hurricanes 7-6 in the first overtime, the Golden Knights were somewhat fortunate to get out of the period alive as Carolina controlled much of the play.

Then, as was fitting on a night like this, the Golden Knights got the right bounce at the right time when Theodore’s point-shot bounced off the end boards behind the net and off of Bussi at 5:38 of the second overtime to give Vegas the 2-1 series lead.

In sports, we’ve seen time and time again a team build a large lead, squander it, and lack the momentum to recover and win the game anyway. On this night, Vegas found a way.

“Not how we drew it up,” Karlsson said, “but we’ll take it.”

Marner’s Conn Smythe Bid Continues

After the first two rounds, the play of Marner was the talk of the playoffs. He had seven goals and 18 points in 12 games and had seemingly exorcised the demons that had been haunting him every spring of his career. In the Western Conference Final, while he had some big assists and played well defensively, Marner had no goals and three points in four games, and heading into Game 3 on Saturday, he had been goalless in his last six games.

As we touched on earlier, the first 30 minutes of Game 3 were a grind for Vegas, and Marner’s assist on Hertl’s opening goal was all he needed for the floodgates to open.

“It was incredible,” Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel said after the game. “He’s been doing it all playoffs for us. Just pretty special, right?”

Special, it was.

“He was pretty incredible the whole game,” Eichel added. “He’s on another level right now. So much credit to him. He’s been playing incredible so that was awesome to watch.”

Defenseman Brayden McNabb added to the praise. “Unreal performance tonight. So happy for him. What a player. He just took the game over. It’s so much fun to see. Spectacular, really. So we’re just lucky to have him.”

The funny thing is, after a phenomenal second period, it was Marner’s missed penalty shot that shifted the game’s momentum in favor of the Hurricanes. But, just as fitting, it was his line that was on the ice for the game-winning goal.

“I thought our line actually played a really good game throughout all three periods – all five, actually,” Marner said. “I thought we did a really good job of advancing pucks, winning battles down low, making plays. I thought we had good looks from all three of us.

So, yeah, I got put in good areas by my teammates and I was happy enough to finish them off.”

McNabb Does the Unthinkable

McNabb left Game 2 halfway through the first period after taking a slap shot directly to the face, and it would have surprised nobody if he was out of the lineup in Game 3. Not only was he in the lineup, but he had two assists, including on the game-winner, played 35:47, and all of that with 25-30 stitches in his nose and a cage on his helmet.

“I don’t know. When you’re in it, you’re in it and mentally you’re just trying to battle,” McNabb said. “The guys played great. The third period wasn’t how we wanted it to be, but it happened. A bit more adversity but we came through it.”

Adversity in the context of the flow of the game is one thing, but adversity in the form of taking frozen rubber to the face at 87 miles per hour is a whole other type.

“He’s an animal, you know,” Noah Hanifin said. “I knew it was kind of up in the air during the day, but once we got to the rink, I think we all had an idea that there was no way he was going to miss the game.”

“I just don’t think you can say enough good things about him,” Eichel added. “His courage, heart, I mean, they don’t make a lot of people like him anymore. He’s just a selfless human being and so (many) guts.

“I could sit here and talk about him forever, right? To go through what he’s gone through and be out there and play incredible for us, he’s such a big part of this team, has been for a very long time and you know, he was huge for us tonight.”

All of the praise and kind words are wonderful, and it is crazy to do anything physical after what he went through, let alone play in five periods of a game in the Stanley Cup Final. But it’s the last thing that Eichel said. He is a big part of this team, and he was huge for them on Saturday night. His role didn’t change at all.

It was the same old McNabb, and he was a key part of a wild victory.

Game 4 Goes Tuesday Night

Both teams had a well-deserved two days off before continuing the series on Tuesday night, back in Vegas. Game 5 is in Carolina on Thursday, and Game 6 will be in Vegas next Sunday if necessary.