Mitch Madness! Marner Hat Trick Gives Golden Knights 2-1 Series Lead

The Golden Knights took Game 3, 6-2 to take a 2-1 series lead. Game 2 between the Vegas Golden Knights (1-1) and Anaheim Ducks (1-1) took more than half the game for either team to score. Game 3 had no such problem, as the Golden Knights scored early and often, including a Mitch Marner hat trick, to win Game 3, 6-2 and take a 2-1 series lead.

The Golden Knights scored five-on-five, short-handed, and on the power play in the first period. It was their third, three-goal period of the playoffs. Just 1:06 into the game Jack Eichel , stationed along the bottom left wall, threw a precise cross-ice pass to defenseman Shea Theodore (3) who then wristed the puck from the crease past Anaheim goalie Lukas Dostal .

It appeared that Anaheim forward Ryan Poehling screened Dostal and he never saw the shot, which was Vegas’ first of the game. The Golden Knights’ top playoff penalty kill unit continued its stellar play and scored its third short-handed goal of the post-season to give Vegas a 2-0 lead. Mitch Marner carried the puck into the Anaheim zone against a tired Anaheim group.

Once over the blue line, he dropped the puck to an on-coming Brayden McNabb (1) who skated down the left wing and flicked a wrist shot from the faceoff dot inside the left circle that snuck under Dostal’s glove at 12:13 of the first. Just as the Golden Knights scored early in the period, they also scored late. While on their first power play opportunity of the game, and with just 4.