In a game where Vegas needed every bit of offence they could muster, Mitch Marner rewrote the history books by scoring the fastest hat-trick in Stanley Cup Finals history on Saturday night. Marner erupted for 3 straight goals in the span of 6 minutes and 10 seconds to give his team a 4-0 lead. That mark eclipsed the previous record of 6 minutes and 21 seconds previously held by Maurice “Rocket” Richard.
When Marner buried his 3rd goal of the evening, one would assume that the Golden Knights had the game well in hand. However Carolina stormed back, scoring 4 unanswered goals of their own in the third period to force overtime.
Luckily for Marner and the Knights, they would get a fortuitous bounce off the end boards in the 2nd overtime, giving them a 5-4 win and 2-1 series lead overall.
“He’s probably one of the best players in the league. He does everything,” said coach John Tortorella. “Mitch is Mitch. He does everything as a player. He was certainly a huge piece tonight.”
“I thought our line actually played a really good game throughout all three periods — all five, actually,” Marner told reporters afterwards. “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.”
This postseason Marner has been red hot, setting new franchise records in total playoff scoring with several games still to go. He currently sits 8 points ahead of teammate Jack Eichel for the playoff scoring lead at 28 (10G, 18A), and is 11 clear of Brett Howden and Taylor Hall who occupy 3rd place.
He’s now only the 7th player in NHL history to score a natural hat trick in the Stanley Cup Finals. Marner’s name will now be mentioned alongside Sam Reinhart, Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, Sid Smith, Maurice Richard, and Newsy Lalonde as the only players to accomplish the feat.
The 29 year old would finish with 3 goals and 1 assist, across 27 minutes of ice time Saturday. His 10 shots were easily the most of any skater on either team, as his lineman’s continued to feed the hot hand throughout the night.
Ironically, his night could have been even more impressive offensively had he not failed to capitalize on his penalty shot in the 3rd period. According to Marner, he was so exhausted by that point of the game that he failed to notice that Carolina had replaced Frederik Andersen with Brandon Bussi. Bussi catches right handed, while Andersen catches left.
“On the penalty shot, I was pretty exhausted,” he said. “Saying that, I did not notice they switched their goalie. And I didn’t notice he’s offhanded as well.”
Nevertheless, it was an impressive performance from the Markham, ON native. Marner is currently the betting favourite to win the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP at most major sports books.
Both teams will get a few days off before resuming their series on Tuesday night. Game 4 is scheduled for an 8pm ET puck drop in Las Vegas, NV.
Photo: Tomas Del Coro. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.