Mitch Marner of Markham, Ontario recorded his first career National Hockey League Stanley Cup Playoff hat trick on Friday night. He accomplished the feat in a 6-2 Vegas Golden Knights in over the Anaheim Ducks at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California. With the win, the Golden Knights now lead the best out of seven second round Western Conference playoff series two games to one.
Marner had a natural hat trick as he scored three straight goals in the game. His first goal was the game-winning goal. It came with five seconds left in the first period on the power-play to put Vegas up 3-0. Colton Sissons of North Vancouver, British Columbia and Pavel Dorofeyev had the assists. Marner’s second goal put the Golden Knights up 4-0 at 9:19 of the second period. Defenseman Shea Theodore of Langley, British Columbia and Brett Howden of Calgary, Alberta had the assists on an all-Canadian goal. Marner then put the Golden Knights up 5-0 with two minutes and four seconds left in the second period. William Karlsson and Ivan Barbashev had the assists.
This was Marner’s fifth career hat trick overall. Three came with the Toronto Maple Leafs and two with the Golden Knights. Marner’s first NHL hat trick came in a 10-7 Maple Leafs win over the Detroit Red Wings on February 26, 2022 where Marner actually scored four goals. That was followed by a three goal game in a 4-3 Maple Leafs win over the Seattle Kraken on November 30, 2023 a three goal game in a 5-2 Maple Leafs win over the Red Wings on December 27, 2024 and a three goal game in a 6-3 Golden Knights win over the Calgary Flames on April 2, 2026.
Canadians scored all six of the Golden Knights goals. The other Golden Knights goal scorers were defenseman Brayden McNabb of Davidson, Saskatchewan, Howden and Theodore. Marner added an assist for a four point game. Howden and Theodore also had an assist for a two point game.
In the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Marner leads all players with six goals, 13 points, three shorthanded points, and two game-winning goals. He also has seven assists, is a +8 with four penalty-minutes, four power-play points, 25 shots on goal, 23 faceoff wins, five blocked shots, seven hits, three takeaways, and 11 giveaways. The other playoff game-winning goal came in game six against the Utah Mammoth, also a four goal Golden Knights win as they won 5-1. Marner scored from Ivan Barbashev and defenseman Noah Hanifin with 45 seconds left in the second period to give the Golden Knights a 2-0 lead.
In the 2025-26 regular season, Marner had 24 goals and 56 assists for 80 points in 81 games. He was a +17 with 24 penalty minutes, 24 power-play points, two game-winning goals, one shorthanded point, 165 shots on goal, 150 faceoff wins, 46 blocked shots, 24 hits, 40 takeaways and 104 giveaways.
Marner’s first game-winning goal during the regular season came on March 12, 2026 in a 6-2 Golden Knights win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Marner scored from Dorofeyev at 9:20 of the second period and put the Golden Knights up 3-1. Marner’s second game-winning goal during the regular season came on April 15, 2026 in a 4-1 Golden Knights win over the Seattle Kraken. Marner scored from McNabb and Jack Eichel at 1:23 of the third period and put the Golden Knights up 2-1.
Game four of the series is Sunday night in Anaheim.
