After taking a seemingly crushing 4-0 lead, the Vegas Golden Knights watched the Carolina Hurricanes erupt with three goals in 39 seconds, force double overtime, and then finish the job when Shea Theodore scored at 5:38 in the second overtime to win 5-4 in Gam
The Vegas Golden Knights didn’t just hold a lead Sunday night — they watched it evaporate in real time, then claw their way back for the one moment that mattered.
In Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday. June 6. Vegas let a massive fourth-quarter-sized hole open after building what looked like a safe 4-0 advantage. Carolina then flooded the scoreboard. tied the game late. and pushed the matchup all the way to double overtime before Shea Theodore’s shot — a pinball-style bounce off the boards and Brandon Bussi — found the net at 5:38 of the second overtime.
The win was 5-4, and it gave Vegas a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Game 4 will be Tuesday, June 9 in Las Vegas.
Mitch Marner set the tone early in the second period. scoring the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history and adding an assist as Vegas raced to the 4-0 lead. But Carolina made that deficit look temporary — setting a Stanley Cup Final record with three goals in 39 seconds. Andrei Svechnikov tied the game with a late power-play goal.
What finally tipped the balance in the postseason chess match came from a different kind of chaos. Theodore scored in double overtime after a shot bounced off the boards and off goalie Brandon Bussi. sending the Golden Knights past a Hurricanes team that had already shown it could strike faster than Vegas could settle.
Vegas had its own share of high-stakes swings earlier, too. For the third game in a row, both teams demonstrated that no lead is safe — just as Games 1 and 2 had featured comebacks.
Before Marner’s surge fully locked in, two Vegas goals were overturned in the second period. Even so, the Golden Knights put points on the board in ways that didn’t feel steady or predictable: Vegas scored two times with the puck going in off Carolina players.
The penalties and momentum shifts kept arriving like pressure waves. There were two delay of game penalties. In one moment. Jordan Staal pushed Noah Hanifin. who fell into Carter Hart after being shoved; no penalties were called there. Seth Jarvis, later, put the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty. The referees consulted for a long time before calling it, but Carolina killed the penalty to keep it one game.
Carolina’s power-play and goaltending switches added to the tension. Frederik Andersen was pulled for the first time in the playoffs. Brandon Bussi entered for Andersen and stopped a Marner penalty shot. Bussi also saw his first action of this game and finished with 16 saves since coming in.
Vegas struck back after Carolina’s early defensive tightening. Golden Knights goals included a shot that bounced off the boards and off Bussi into the net at 5:38 of the second overtime to give Vegas the 2-1 series lead. and an earlier sequence in the game when Mark Stone’s shot was stopped after it hit teammate Jack Eichel’s skate. with Bussi diving to freeze the puck as the score climbed to 4-4 in the narrative arc of the comeback.
The second period belonged to Marner. He set up Tomas Hertl’s goal and then produced a natural hat trick at 6 minutes, 10 seconds, the record for the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history. Another up-ice rush for Marner ended with his blast eluding Frederik Andersen for a hat trick.
Vegas’ scoring run reached beyond skill and into timing. After Mitch Marner threw the puck in front and Sean Walker tipped it past his goalie 16 seconds after the Hertl goal. the Golden Knights were leading 2-0. Another Golden Knights score made it 3-0 when Marner threw the puck and easily beat Andersen from the slot. Then Vegas drew another break when Hurricanes were called for too many men on the ice and Vegas scored.
Carolina answered with a kind of statistical insistence: the Hurricanes scored three times in 39 seconds. matching a Stanley Cup Final record for the speed of a turnaround. Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal followed up the Martinook goal as the sequence escalated. with “three goals in 39 seconds” described as the fastest three goals in one team in Stanley Cup Final history.
That stretch pulled the Hurricanes back toward the finish line just as quickly as Vegas had pushed forward.
Throughout, the game carried procedural friction that players felt in their bodies and fans felt in the noise. Anti-referee chanting started in the arena. Rod Brind’Amour was 2-for-2 on challenges.
One goal swing came via review. Jack Eichel’s goal was overturned for goaltender interference. Ivan Barbashev skated through the crease and clipped Frederik Andersen’s head. Offsides reviews also mattered: Brett Howden was the player offsides when Carolina challenged.
Even health and lineup movement carried into the drama. William Carrier didn’t play after 15:18 and went to the dressing room after a check, holding his elbow. He was later back on the ice. Brandon McNabb. who left Game 2 after being hit in the visor by Nikolaj Ehlers’ slap shot. appeared in the warmups wearing a full cage after his nose was stitched up. He also wore the cage in the starting lineup roster report and was listed as out on the ice for pregame warmups.
The game’s physicality wasn’t limited to one name or one moment: Ivan Barbashev was described as looking banged up at the end of the period. In the third period, there was also a note that a player had been holding his elbow after an earlier check and was ruled out of the game.
For long stretches, it still felt like the series was deciding itself on small margins. A defensive battle played out in the first part of the game’s flow. with Carolina carrying a 7-2 shot advantage in one described segment and Carter Hart making saves on Seth Jarvis and K’Andre Miller. Frederik Andersen “really wasn’t tested” during that particular sequence.
Shots bounced around too. The game included moments described as 7-6 Vegas and at other times 4-2 Carolina or 5-2 Carolina, as momentum shifted between sustained pressure and quick bursts.
A trainer doing stretching exercises for a Hurricanes defenseman was shown during a TV timeout on ABC, but the defenseman was playing.
As the series now moves forward, the numbers around Game 3’s significance also loom. This was the 32nd time a best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final has been tied 1-1. In the previous 31 series, the winner of Game 3 went on to win the Cup 24 times (.774). When Game 3 is won at home. teams have a series record of 10-5 (.667); when it comes on the road. teams are 14-2 in the series (.875).
There’s also the coaching and lineup chess that shaped what fans saw. The Hurricanes moved Seth Jarvis off the Sebastian Aho-Andrei Svechnikov line late in Game 2 and moved up Jordan Martinook. and Jarvis then played on the third line with Jordan Staal and Nikolaj Ehlers. Coach Rod Brind’Amour said before Game 3 that he probably would not use the revised lines to start Saturday’s game.
Golden Knights coach John Tortorella said Saturday morning he had “no update” on defenseman Brayden McNabb. who left Game 2 after being hit in the visor by a puck. Tortorella and defenseman Shea Theodore both said they also had no update. NHL Network cameras spotted McNabb walking into T-Mobile Arena.
The aftermath still has a familiar feel to it for fans watching this final play out at full speed: the team that thought it had control watched the other team surge, and the team that survived the surge had just enough left in the tank to end it.
Vegas now leads 2-1, and Game 4 arrives Tuesday, June 9, back in Las Vegas — with the clearest lesson of the night sitting right there in the scoreboard: even a 4-0 lead doesn’t guarantee safety, and double overtime can erase everything except the final bounce into the net.
Vegas Golden Knights Carolina Hurricanes Stanley Cup Final Game 3 double overtime Mitch Marner Shea Theodore Brandon Bussi Frederik Andersen Andrei Svechnikov Stanley Pup
2OT?? wow lol
How do you blow a 4-0 lead in the playoffs, like that’s insane. Also idk what Marner has to do with it but people keep saying his name so I guess he mattered? Glad Vegas pulled it out though.
Marner rush?? I thought Mitch Marner plays for Toronto not Vegas/Carolina. Maybe I’m mixing it up with someone else but anyway the recap says Theodore scored off boards and Bussi, so… basically it was luck? Pinball bounce sounds like the puck went wherever it wanted.
39 seconds?! That’s like a glitch in the game. Vegas really looked cooked after that, then suddenly it’s 5-4 in double OT. I don’t even understand how they survived the comeback, but I guess Bussi was the answer? Can’t believe Game 4 is Tuesday already, feels too fast, like the ice barely had time to cool.