It was a moment that Adin Hill needed to have.
It was a moment that Adin Hill needed to have.
With the Vegas Golden Knights up 3-1 over the Calgary Flames on Saturday late in the first period, Hill and his team found themselves on the penalty kill once again. Calgary had already cashed in on the man advantage, and they looked poised to do it again. All Flames forward Jonathan Huberdeau had to do was get the puck past Hill again, and T-Mobile Arena would have played host to a much different hockey game.
Instead, Huberdeau’s shot found the outstretched left pad of Hill, and the Golden Knights were able to roll to a 6-1 victory.
“Just trying to read the play,” the goaltender said after the game.
“You’re just trying to know where their options are, know where they want to go with the puck, and just kind of be patient and stick with it.”
Golden Knights fans have seen Hill make his fair share of incredible saves before, but there was relief in seeing that puck stay out of the net.
The season did not start off on the right foot for Hill, with the Golden Knights losing both of the games he started earlier in the year against the Los Angeles Kings and Seattle Kraken. He was in net for the team’s first game against the Flames on Oct. 13, but suffered a lower-body injury in the first period and did not return after the intermission. Returning to the ice on Saturday, Hill came into the matchup with something to prove to his teammates, the fans and himself.
That desire for redemption was not lost on his teammates or the coaching staff.
“He’s looking at it, he doesn’t have a win yet…he wants to get into the win column,” Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy said.
“We scored first, which helped him, and then they got one really quick and, after that, we converted on a couple of good opportunities. We didn’t have a lot of quantity, but a couple of high-quality ones we finished, and they had some good looks too, and we got the saves we needed. Second period, I think we understood that better and built our lead but played well defensively…first period, we needed Adin to be solid. He was. He should feel good about it.”
Even with the early-season turbulence, Hill has never lost the confidence of the team playing in front of him.
“He made a lot of good saves today,” said Golden Knights forward Ivan Barbashev.
“He was there for us too. If we give one away, which happens in the last few games when we let teams back in the game, so he was huge. He made some really good saves, and just happy to see him win.”
Saturday’s rout of the Flames will be remembered primarily for the offensive explosions of Mitch Marner and Mark Stone, and for good reason.
However, when Hill needed something to go his way, he rose to the challenge at a time when he needed to the most.
Category: General Sports
