Hattrick hero disenchants Anaheim Ducks

The Anaheim Ducks suffered their second loss in the playoff quarterfinals. On Friday night, the Vegas Golden Knights had a hero who scored a hat trick.

09 May 2026

From: never

Mitch Marner scored a perfect hat trick and also assisted on a shorthanded goal for the Vegas Golden Knights, who defeated the Anaheim Ducks 6-2 in Game 3 at the Honda Center on Friday. It was Marner's first career Stanley Cup playoff hat trick. He also set a new personal playoff high with four points.

“It’s nice to be able to contribute in a few games, of course, but at the end of the day you just want to win games,” Marner said. “Today, a lot of people around me made great plays and put me in situations where I could be successful.” Vegas now leads the best-of-seven series 2-1.

The Knights begin furiously

Shea Theodore (1:06) and Brayden McNabb (12:13) opened the scoring, before the Marner show began. The 29-year-old first netted just before the intermission (19:55), and then added two more goals in the second period (29:19/37:56). For the completely out-of-sorts Anaheim Ducks, Beckett Sennecke (46:30) and Chris Kreider (55:09) did score, but Brett Howden sealed the victory late in the game (58:04).

The Anaheim Ducks were overwhelmed. © APA / SEAN M. HAFFEY

South Tyrolean Damian Clara was not in the squad, as he had been in the previous two games. Game 4 of the playoff series is scheduled for Monday night at the Honda Center.

The results from last night:

Montreal Canadiens – Buffalo Sabers 5:1
Anaheim Ducks – Vegas Golden Knights 2:6

The series standings in the quarter-finals:

Colorado Avalanche – Minnesota Wild 2-0
Vegas Golden Knights – Anaheim Ducks 2:1
Buffalo Sabers – Montreal Canadiens 1-1
Carolina Hurricanes – Philadelphia Flyers 3-0

Keywords hockey NHL Playoffs Anaheim Ducks Damian Clara