Tomas Hertl couldn’t believe the statistical anomaly as a question was asked to Brayden McNabb at the podium they shared after a Game 1 road victory over the Carolina Hurricanes at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C., on Tuesday night.
Was McNabb aware he had just recorded three assists in a game for the first time in his 1,005 NHL games in the Golden Knights’ 5-4 win?
“I didn’t know that,” Hertl said, smiling at his teammate before McNabb could answer. “That’s awesome.”
McNabb wasn’t about to celebrate the individual accomplishment.
“My partner did most of the work on all of them,” he said. “But yeah, the guys made great plays, and it’s nice to chip in offensively when I can.”
McNabb’s defensive mate was also impressive to be fair, though Shea Theodore’s goal and two assists were a bit more in line with his usual role.
Still, the teammates became the first defensemen to each record three points in a Stanley Cup Final game since 1994 and the third to ever do it. It’s the first time it has happened in a Game 1.
“He’s an offensive guy,” Theodore joked of McNabb. “Love to see it.”
Theodore, who entered Tuesday’s game with 11 points in 16 postseason games this year, got the Knights on the board in the first period and stopped the bleeding after a dominant start that put the Hurricanes ahead 2-0 and saw them threatening to add to the lead.
“I thought after it was 2-0, we kind of got adjusted to their speed and knowing what they’re all about,” said McNabb, who had an assist on the play and finished plus-3 in the game. “It was a huge first goal to get us back in it and then a great start to the second (period).”
The duo was far from finished.
Both got assists on Brett Howden’s goal that put the Knights ahead 4-3 just 1:21 into the third period.
McNabb was able to keep the puck in the offensive zone after a failed clearance attempt by the Hurricanes, and he swung it across the blue line to Theodore, who made a nifty move to cut inside a defender.
Theodore, who’s now just the fourth active defenseman with 10 points in Stanley Cup Final games, then somehow found Howden cutting to the net through traffic and put the puck right on his stick at the far post for a beautiful tap-in goal.
“Shea’s been awesome for us,” Howden said. “His vision is unbelievable. On that play, he wasn’t even looking at me, but I just feel like he knew I was going there and he made an unbelievable pass. I just had to chip it in.”
Of course, Theodore and McNabb also took care of their responsibilities on the defensive end as well for the most part as they have since the inaugural season as original members of the Golden Knights.
Their analytics were off the charts as their Game Scores, according to Hockey Stat Cards, were 6.42 for McNabb and 5.74 for Theodore. The only other player in the game who recorded over a 3.0, which is considered an elite performance, was Carolina’s Nikolaj Ehlers (3.85), who had two goals.
Theodore and McNabb played together in 5-on-5 situations for more than 16 minutes and produced 1.16 expected goals while allowing just 0.4, according to NaturalStatTrick.com.
It was a similar story for scoring chances (10-4) and high-danger chances created (3-1).
Theodore did get a bit too aggressive on a pinch that led to a Carolina goal in the opening minute of the game, but Jeremy Lauzon had already come on to replace McNabb at the end of the shift.
“It was a tough start, but we knew they were going to push,” Theodore said. “Once (coach John Tortorella) was able to calm us down a little bit, I thought we felt a lot better about our game.”
He more than made up for it as the game went on and McNabb said Theodore was just trying to make a play for his team.
“We’re going to be aggressive when we can in all three zones,” he said. “We want to try to kill plays and make sure we’re on top of them in the O-zone.”
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
