Mitch Marner recorded three goals and an assist for his first career playoff hat trick, leading the Vegas Golden Knights to a dominant 6-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks on Friday night, giving Vegas a 2-1 lead in their second-round series.
Shea Theodore contributed a goal and an assist, while Brayden McNabb added a shorthanded tally as the Golden Knights built a 5-0 lead through two periods. The performance silenced the sellout crowd in Orange County and erased memories of their offensive struggles in Game 2.
Carter Hart stopped 30 shots, moving Vegas within two wins of the Western Conference finals while handing the Ducks their worst loss in their first postseason appearance in eight years. Game 4 is set for Sunday night in Anaheim.
Marner delivered a natural hat trick in the first two periods, giving him six goals over the last four games since joining his new team. The longtime Maple Leafs forward produced Vegas’ first four-point playoff effort since 2019. Hats rained onto the ice after he slipped his third goal past Ville Husso with 2:04 left in the second period.
Marner’s three goals surpassed his total from last spring’s entire 13-game playoff run with Toronto, where the Ontario native often faced criticism for his postseason production.
Rookie forward Beckett Sennecke and Chris Kreider scored in the third period for the Ducks, who suffered an embarrassing defeat in their first home game of the second round since 2017. Lukas Dostal allowed three goals on eight shots in a rough first period before being replaced by Husso. Anaheim lost at home for the first time in four games this spring.
Vegas captain Mark Stone did not play in the third period after apparently suffering a lower-body injury in the first.
Theodore gave Vegas a 1-0 lead just 66 seconds into the game with his 20th postseason goal, finishing off a clever assist from Jack Eichel. The Ducks originally drafted Theodore in 2013, but former general manager Bob Murray traded him to Vegas in 2017 as part of a questionable strategy to protect defenseman Josh Manson in the expansion draft.
McNabb, 35, then scored the third shorthanded goal of his 14-year NHL career by beating Dostal with a fluttering shot.
Marner capped a stellar first period for the Knights with his fourth playoff goal on a power play after Dostal failed to control a rebound. He added another midway through the second, tapping in a pass from Theodore while the Ducks stood watching.
Brett Howden sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 18:04 of the third period, his sixth of the playoffs.
