It wasn’t pretty, but the Vegas Golden Knights won Game 3 of the Stanley Cup Final in double overtime to take a 2-1 lead over the Carolina Hurricanes in their best-of-seven series.
The Knights were the better team for the majority of Saturday’s contest, and were staked to a 4-0 lead after two periods, but the Canes mounted a historic comeback to force overtime.
Mitch Marner, who scored a hat-trick in the second period, and Shea Theodore, who scored the game-winning goal, were the heroes, but both teams have plenty to sort out after one of the strangest games in the history of the Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas is now a -185 favorite to lift the Cup at bet365 Sportsbook, but the line for Game 4 is a pick’em.
Golden Knights vs. Hurricanes Game 4 odds, pick
It feels like you can throw the tale of the tape out the window for this series, which is a strange development because the hockey world felt pretty confident about how the Canes and Knights would match up.
Carolina, built to cause and take advantage of chaos, would want as much of the puck as possible and to be on the front foot. Vegas, one of the best teams in the NHL at defending the middle of the ice, would sit back and look to counter.
While that rhythm has played out at times, this series has been so strange and unpredictable that you have to wonder if everything we learned about these teams matters anymore.
Instead, this series has been boiled down to moments, with individual players stepping up to make the difference. It was Tomas Hertl in Game 1, Logan Stankoven and Seth Jarvis in Game 2, and then Marner and Theodore in Game 3.
For two clubs that are built on a team-first identity and system, it’s quite a turn of events for this series to play out this way.
Neither of the starting goaltenders has been very good, either, and it seems likely that the Hurricanes will turn to backup Brandon Bussi for the start in Game 4. The Long Island native was terrific in relief of Frederik Andersen in Game 3, but this would be the 27-year-old’s first start of the postseason, and just his second-ever appearance in the playoffs.
Betting on the NHL?
Perhaps the most actionable development in the first three games is that we’ve seen what the Carolina Hurricanes have looked like when they get tested by an elite team, and one that can handle the all-out pressure that the Canes apply.
With all due respect to the Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens, they looked like cannon fodder against the Hurricanes, and never really made Rod Brind’Amour’s team look uncomfortable.
The Knights have done that for large chunks of this series, and the Canes have looked out of answers at times. When their system breaks, Carolina doesn’t really have a Plan B. We’re seeing that play out in the Stanley Cup Final.
If this series settles, Vegas’ elite defense should be able to handle Carolina’s everything-at-the-net attack. If it continues to be decided by big moments from star players, the Golden Knights tick that box, too.
The Play: Golden Knights moneyline (-105, bet365)
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Michael Leboff is a long-suffering Islanders fan, but a long-profiting sports bettor with 10 years of experience in the gambling industry. He loves using game theory to help punters win bracket pools, find long shots, and learn how to beat the market in mainstream and niche sports.
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