Shea Theodore scored at 5:38 of the second overtime period Saturday night, giving the Vegas Golden Knights a 5-4 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
The win puts Vegas ahead 2-1 in the Stanley Cup Final.
The game-winning goal deflected off the skate of Hurricanes goaltender Brandon Bussi. It prevented a Vegas collapse after the team surrendered a four-goal lead during regulation.
The victory ends Carolina's perfect 6-0 overtime record this postseason.
Historically, teams with a 2-1 series lead in the championship round have won the Stanley Cup 80.7% of the time (46 of 57 instances).
Vegas dominated the second period with four goals.
Mitch Marner recorded the fastest natural hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history, scoring three goals in 6:10.
He also assisted on a Tomas Hertl goal, finishing the frame with four points, matching a single-period record set by Frank Foyston in 1919.
Carolina mounted a comeback in the third period after replacing starting goaltender Frederik Andersen, who allowed four goals on 16 shots, with Bussi, who stopped 18 consecutive shots.
Jordan Martinook, Taylor Hall, and Jordan Staal scored three goals in 39 seconds, setting a record for the fastest three goals by one team in a Final game.
Andrei Svechnikov tied the game on a six-on-four power play with 1:42 left in regulation, forcing overtime.
Vegas forward William Carrier remained sidelined with an upper-body injury.
Vegas goaltender Carter Hart made 29 saves.
Two second-period goals by Mark Stone and Jack Eichel were overturned due to offside and goaltender interference, respectively.
This is the 10th time in NHL history that the first three games of the Stanley Cup Final were decided by one goal, last occurring in 2016 between Pittsburgh and San Jose.
Defenseman Brayden McNabb returned to the top pairing with Theodore, wearing a protective cage after a facial injury from a puck on Thursday.
"We just left our foot off the gas," Theodore said on the ABC broadcast.
"I think we have to be sharper in the third, but I liked the resiliency out of our group."
Captain Mark Stone praised McNabb: "I wish I could say it's shocking, but it's not.
Just the way he comes to the rink every day, it's like nothing happened. He's one of a kind."
Both teams have now blown two-goal leads in the series. Vegas rallied in Game 1, and Carolina responded with an overtime win in Game 2.
The series resumes with Game 4 on Tuesday night in Las Vegas.
