Mitch Marner is in the middle of a postseason run with the Vegas Golden Knights that just keeps stacking up moments, and Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Carolina Hurricanes was another one of those nights.
Marner has a historic night for the Knights
He really took over the second period. A natural hat trick, plus an assist, and suddenly Vegas walks out of it with a 5-4 win in a game that probably feels very different without him.
With his third point, Marner moved past Jack Eichel for the most points in a single postseason in Golden Knights history. Eichel had set the mark during the 2023 Cup run, but Marner is now up to 10 goals and 28 points through 19 playoff games, and it’s starting to look like he’s pulling away from the rest of the field a bit.
MITCH MARNER. HAT TRICK IN 6:10. BRING HIM THE CONN SMYTHE. #ForgedInGold pic.twitter.com/xkidpsXmig
— NHL News (@PuckReportNHL) June 7, 2026
The second period is where it really went into history territory. The hat trick came in just 6:10, which is now the fastest in Stanley Cup Final history. That breaks Maurice Richard’s record from 1957, which had sat there for decades without really being threatened.
Marner is a lock to win the Conn Smythe Trophy
Right now, he’s sitting eight points clear of Eichel in the playoff scoring race, and the Conn Smythe conversation is basically following him around at this point. There’s still a series to finish, but Vegas is leaning on him in a pretty obvious way, and he’s responding every time they need something.
For Toronto Maple Leafs fans, watching him dominate throughout the 2026 NHL playoffs has been extremely difficult, especially now that he looks like a front-runner for the Conn Smythe with Vegas up 2-1 and a Stanley Cup run becoming very real, which has naturally led to thoughts of what could have been.
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