Shea Theodore’s mistake in the opening minutes of the Stanley Cup final quickly swung the game in the Hurricanes’ favor—but the former defensive liability is now making leadership look automatic. After a shaken start, Theodore scored and later set up Brett How
RALEIGH – Mere seconds into the first shift of Tuesday’s Stanley Cup final opener, Shea Theodore made the kind of error that would have snapped the confidence of his earlier self.
A bad pinch at the offensive blue line turned into a turnover, and Nik Ehlers was gone. Vegas was down 1–0 before the half-minute mark.
This time, it didn’t snowball.
Kevin Bieksa still remembers the version of Theodore who could be derailed by a single miscue, because he lived it. As Theodore’s first NHL defence partner in Anaheim, Bieksa described a talented player who used to let mistakes linger.
“He would let one mistake really get him down, and it would eat at him for a while,” the Hockey Night in Canada analyst said.
“He didn’t have that maturity yet.”
Tuesday looked different. Theodore glanced up at the Jumbotron, watched the replay of his error, smiled, shook his head, and moved on. That calm reaction—equal parts confidence and refusal to spiral—has become a big part of why he’s succeeded Alex Pietrangelo as the Golden Knights’ No. 1 defenceman, the heartbeat of their blue line, and the player everyone watches when the game wobbles.
After that early mistake, Theodore didn’t just settle. He took over.
His first-period goal cut the deficit to 2–1 with a point blast through traffic. For Vegas, it was a needed jolt after the disastrous start.
“It was a huge first goal to get us back in it,” said Brayden McNabb, who joked that his partner “did all the work” on all three of his assists—one of them a career high for the 1,000-game veteran.
The bench temperature shifted right with it. Vegas started to remember they’d been here before, remember who they are. Then, early in the third, Theodore delivered the play that made the turnaround feel inevitable.
Taking a pass from McNabb, he glided in from the right side before making a move past Sean Walker that almost broke the defender’s ankle. Theodore threaded a pass through two sticks to a driving Brett Howden at the side of the net for a go-ahead redirect.
“His vision is unbelievable,” Howden said, crediting the pass that put the Knights up 4-3 early in the third. “On that play, he wasn’t even looking at me, but I just feel like he knew I was going there and he made an unbelievable pass. I just had to chip it in.”
That assist capped a three-point night for Theodore. Along with McNabb, he became just the third defensive pairing in Stanley Cup Final history to each record three points in the same game. The list now includes Paul Coffey/Charlie Huddy (1985) and Brian Leetch/Sergei Zubov (1994).
In other words, Vegas weren’t merely surviving the moment—they were writing a version of it that looked like franchise identity in motion: two of the team’s original Misfits building the blueprint under pressure.
The most striking part is what Theodore has looked like this season, especially in the absence of Pietrangelo. With Pietrangelo out, Theodore was handed the keys to the blue line—minutes, matchups, responsibility—and the results have been immediate.
He leads all playoff defencemen with five goals. He has 14 points in 17 games. He’s averaging more than 25 minutes a night. He’s leading the NHL in shot blocks. And while he’s producing highlight-reel offence, he’s also shutting down top lines.
Cole Smith summed up the rhythm of it simply.
“He’s been amazing offensively, kind of leads our group back there,” Smith said.
“Him getting on the board last night with the first goal changed the momentum. He’s kind of our heartbeat back there.”
“Shea holds a lot of responsibility for this group,” Smith added.
“Him getting on the board last night with the first goal changed the momentum. He’s kind of our heartbeat back there.”
What Tortorella has noticed is the response when things go wrong—because for a No. 1 defenceman, that’s where leadership either emerges or evaporates.
Head coach John Tortorella leaned on Theodore after Tuesday’s swing in momentum.
“The thing I liked about Shea last night is he gets spanked on the first goal, but then it does not bother him,” Tortorella said.
“It was a bad mistake early on, cost us right away, but he just played on. It’s a great lesson for all of our guys to see.”
Bieksa sees the same evolution, and he pointed to the bench moment after that first goal.
“His reaction on the bench after that first goal, that’s maturity he didn’t have when I played with him,” Bieksa said.
“Now he’s confident. He goes, ‘that one mistake’s not going to define my game. I’m going to make up for it.’”
The numbers keep stacking up. Theodore is on a three-game point streak, and he’s anchoring a team that has won 12 of its 20 games under Tortorella via comeback—including seven of their 13 playoff wins.
In the Stanley Cup final opener, Vegas didn’t just chase its way back from an early deficit. They did it with the player who used to be most at risk of unraveling now acting like the calm center of the storm.
This is what a No. 1 defenceman looks like.
This is what leadership looks like.
And it’s how far Shea Theodore has come.
Shea Theodore Golden Knights Stanley Cup final Hurricanes Nik Ehlers Vegas comeback John Tortorella Brayden McNabb Brett Howden Alex Pietrangelo Kevin Bieksa Stanley Cup playoffs