The manner in which the Carolina Hurricanes lost — or, the Vegas Golden Knights won — Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final on Saturday night at T-Mobile Arena is bizarre enough, but the circumstances leading up to that double-overtime result?
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It was a never-ending chain of one-upsmanship from the drop of the puck, replete with dueling lockdown defenses early, a hat trick, a penalty shot, and two NHL records.
“It was kind of a weird game,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said afterward. “I thought we were OK at the start. Even the start of the second, the first six minutes everything’s going fine.”
That was the lockdown defense part. Carolina held Vegas to just two shots on goal against Frederik Andersen through 20 minutes.
And then?
“That first goal, kind of started with me,” Canes forward Andrei Svechnikov said.
The talented Russian jumped the bench when he wasn’t supposed to, and officials whistled Carolina for too many men on the ice.
“I took that penalty, six men on the ice, it’s kind of on me, and I have to do a better job on that,” Svechnikov said, offering an honest mea culpa.
But wasn’t just one goal. Yes, Tomas Hertl scored at 10:26 of the second to put Vegas on top 1-0.
But then Mitch Marner took over, and earned a piece of NHL history in the process. Just 26 seconds after Hertl’s goal, Marner’s shot was headed well wide when it deflected off Sean Walker’s stick and past Andersen.
2-0 Vegas.
Another 3:50 later, Marner struck again on a backhand.
And 2:20 after that? Marner streaked up the right side of the ice, reached the top of the circle and fired a slapshot that beat Andersen clean low blocker.
4-0 Vegas.
Marner’s natural hat trick — three consecutive goals by one player — in 6:10 was the fastest three goals by a single player in Stanley Cup Final history.
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“We take a bad penalty, and then they make a nice play,” Brind’Amour said. “And then bad bounce on the second one, and it snowballed on us there for the rest of that period.”
So, what was said in the Canes’ locker room?
“To be honest, it was kind of quiet a little bit,” Svechnikov said. “Roddy came out and gave us a little speech and we knew what we had to do.”
The Hurricanes did what they had to do — and almost more.
After another seven minutes of stifling defense from Vegas, Carolina snuck one in, Jordan Martinook with the honors.
“I think we just needed something good to happen,” Martinook said. “You get that one, and you felt like that’s where the game turned.”
Did it ever.
Martinook scored at 7:03 of the third.
Then, Taylor Hall at 7:29.
Then, Jordan Staal, at 7:42.
Wait, what?
Those are not typos.
The Hurricanes scored three goals in 39 seconds, obliterating the previous NHL record of 56 seconds for three consecutive goals by a team in any Stanley Cup Final game, a record that had stood since 1954.
“Proud of the group, we gave it a chance,” Staal said. “It was a heck of an effort from everyone, contributing and grinding and finding the ways and giving us a shot.”
Svechnikov completed the climb back with a power play goal with fewer than two minutes to play in regulation, poking home the puck through a pigpile in front of Hart to force OT.
It was a heck of an effort, but …
“We feel like we can come back from anything, but we can’t put ourselves in a hole the way we did,” Martinook said. “The second period for them to come out like that and take total control of the game is something that can’t happen, especially this time of year.”
The Hurricanes now face a Game 4 Tuesday in Las Vegas that, while not a must-win in a literal sense, become crucial to the Canes’ chances at a second NHL championship in 20 years.
“It’s playoff hockey, it’s part of the gig,” Staal said. “It’s never easy, it’s never going to be easy, we know that and we’ve got a bigger hill to climb now, but we’re excited for the challenge.”
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This story was originally published June 7, 2026 at 7:00 AM.