Golden Knights, Hurricanes rewrite Stanley Cup Final record books in Game 3 thriller

LAS VEGAS -- It ended with a crazy bounce. Of course it did, because this was maybe the craziest game in Stanley Cup Final history.

Shea Theodore fired the puck wide right. It ricocheted off the end boards, off the back of the goalie’s left skate and into the net at 5:38 of double overtime at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, and the Vegas Golden Knights defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 5-4 in Game 3 after blowing a 4-0 third-period lead.

Vegas holds a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series entering Game 4 here Tuesday (8 p.m. ET; ABC, SN, TVAS, CBC).

“Just relief,” said Theodore, who played 39:09, more than any other skater on either team. “I think I was pretty gassed there towards the end, so just relief that the game’s over and we got the win.”

This series has been a classic already through three games, full of lead changes, dramatic moments and record-setting performances.

Vegas came back from a 2-0 first-period deficit to win 5-4 in Game 1. Carolina came back from a 2-0 third-period deficit to win 4-3 in overtime in Game 2.

Then came Game 3.

“I’ve experienced a lot of games in playoffs,” said Vegas coach John Tortorella, who was behind the bench for his 139th Stanley Cup Playoff game. “I haven’t experienced one like this.”

It looked like it was going to be a blowout.

The Golden Knights took a 2-0 lead after Tomas Hertl and Mitch Marner scored 16 seconds apart in the second period, setting the Vegas record for the fastest two playoff goals.

Marner completed a hat trick in a span of 6:10 to make it 4-0, breaking the 69-year-old record for the fastest hat trick in Cup Final history. Maurice Richard scored three times in 6:21 in a 5-1 win for the Montreal Canadiens against the Boston Bruins in Game 1 in 1957.

With four points (three goals, one assist) in the second, Marner became the first player with four points in a period in the Cup Final. With 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists) in 19 games, he leads the playoffs and holds the Vegas postseason record.

“He’s on another level right now,” Vegas center Jack Eichel said.

Marner had a chance to make it 5-0 on a penalty shot at 4:06 of the third period but failed to score. Who would have thought that would end up as a key play in the game?

The Hurricanes stormed back with three goals in 39 seconds by Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall and Jordan Staal -- the fastest three goals in Cup Final history -- then Andrei Svechnikov tied the game 4-4 with the goalie pulled on the power play with 1:42 left in regulation.

Only once before had a team erased a deficit of four goals or more in the Cup Final, and that was 54 years ago. The New York Rangers trailed the Boston Bruins 5-1 in Game 1 in 1972 and came back to tie it 5-5 before losing 6-5.

“Quite a game, right?” Eichel said. “I mean, at the end of the day, all that matters is we found a way to win, right? Obviously not the third we wanted, letting them get back in the game, but there was a lot of things to like about our game, and just so much credit to our group and the resiliency and sticking with it and finding a way.”

This was the third straight game with a tying goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation, a first in Cup Final history. Only once before had there been three games at any point in a Cup Final with a tying goal in the final 10 minutes of regulation. It happened in Games 1, 4 and 6 between the Bruins and Chicago Blackhawks in 2013.

Each team had multiple chances in overtime before Theodore got his lucky bounce.

What was the feeling in the Vegas locker room after it was over? Relief? Exhaustion?

“Excitement,” Eichel said. “We just won. Yeah, I mean, that was a huge, huge game. You find a way to win, and that’s all that matters this time of year.”

What about in the Carolina locker room? Will it be hard to recover from this?

“No,” Carolina coach Rod Brind’Amour said. “We’re in the Stanley Cup (Final). We’re down 2-1. It’s tough, a tough way to lose a game, but they’re all tough. You lose here, it is what it is. We’ve got to just bounce back, and we have always, so I’m not worried about that.”

It’s probably a good thing, though, that the teams have two days before Game 4. The coaches and players are going to need time to process what just happened -- and to try to prepare for what happens next.

Who knows what that’s going to be?

“It just kind of sums up the sport of hockey,” Vegas center William Karlsson said. “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.”