Vegas Golden Knights star Mitch Marner scored a career-first Stanley Cup Final hat trick in Game 3 against the Carolina Hurricanes. Marner scored three back-to-back goals in the second period, and assisted in the first goal of the game by Tomas Hertl, capping off a four-point period which spiralled him up to the Stanley Cup playoffs points leaderboard with 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists). He completed his hat trick in 6 minutes and 10 seconds, which made it the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history.
The most number of goals Mitch Marner scored across 9 postseason appearances for his former team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, was 3 in 2022-23, per Sportsnet stats on X. He requested to be traded from his hometown team in the summer of 2025, and joined the Vegas Golden Knights on an 8-year, $96 million contract.
NHL fans on X went berserk after Marner registered his Stanley Cup Final hat trick, with majority taking shots at the Maple Leafs fanbase.
“Toronto fans dying a death by 1000 cuts” wrote @Bronagnos on X
Mitch Marner was under massive scrutiny from the Maple Leafs fanbase for his lackluster playoff performances over the years. His best playoff numbers for Toronto came in 2022-23 when he scored 14 points (3 goals, 11 assists) in 11 games. During his 9 years with the team, the Toronto Maple Leafs never made it past the second round of the playoffs.
Edited by Srihari Anand