NHL news: Wild stat sums up Golden Knights-Hurricanes series chaos

The 2026 Stanley Cup Final has been nothing short of absolute and complete chaos between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Carolina Hurricanes, and that trend is continuing through the first period of Game 4 on Tuesday evening at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

In fact, both teams have combined to make Stanley Cup Final history not seen since the early dynasty days of the New York Islanders, dating back to 1980. It’s the first time that both clubs in a Cup Finals series have combined for four or more goals in three straight regulation periods in 46 years.

“This is just the second time in Stanley Cup Final history that the teams combined for four or more goals in three straight regulation periods,” wrote NHL Insider Chris Johnston on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Previous occurrence was during the 1980 Islanders-Flyers series.”

In the second period of Game 3, the Golden Knights got a hat trick effort from Mitch Marner as well as a power play goal from Tomas Hertl; Marner’s hat trick set a new record in Cup Final history, beating the previous record for the fastest three goals in a Cup Final game since 1954. But the Hurricanes put together a monumental rally in the third period, scoring three goals in 39 seconds before getting the tying marker late in regulation.

On Tuesday night in Game 4, the Hurricanes jumped out of the gate with goals from Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake before Vegas captain Mark Stone responded. However, Carolina captain Jordan Staal scored for the fourth straight game, restoring Carolina’s two-goal lead.

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