Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill (33) reacts after a goal by the Florida Panthers during the second period of an NHL hockey game at T-Mobile Arena Thursday, Jan. 12, 2023.
Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023 | 2 a.m.
Golden Knights' late-season push
T he opportunity is there for Adin Hill.
Since entering the NHL in 2018, the 26-year-old Golden Knights goalie has been a serviceable and effective backup. Hill has never been a No. 1 goalie, never been given the responsibilities and the workload appropriate for that distinction.
Hill will now get that chance with All-Star goalie Logan Thompson out week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
“It’s tough to see your goalie partner go down like that. You hope the best for him and hopefully, a quick recovery,” Hill said. “At the end of the day, I have my job to do and my job doesn’t change. My preparation stays the same.”
You would think after years of being the on-call option, Hill would relish that opportunity. After all, he’ll be an unrestricted free agent this season. This could be a good audition for the Golden Knights — or any team this summer — to show he’s capable of this type of role.
That, as Hill calls it, is the selfish side of thinking.
“It’s not about the personal side of things,” he said. “We’re in first place in our division. It’s about staying in first place and getting to the playoffs and try and go on a run.”
A former third-round pick from 2015, Hill’s next start will be his 21st this season. The most he’s ever had in his NHL career was 22 last season when he was a member of the San Jose Sharks.
Hill signed a two-year deal with San Jose two offseasons ago, joining a franchise that needed help in net and giving him that opportunity. But ongoing lower-body injuries derailed his chance. He finished 10-11-1 in 25 appearances with the Sharks last season.
“That was a tough blow,” Hill said.
Vegas acquired Hill via trade on Aug. 29 as an insurance policy with Laurent Brossoit recovering from offseason hip surgery, after the team had lost Robin Lehner this season due to hip surgery.
Brossoit, after a lengthy stint with AHL Henderson because of the success of Thompson and Hill, is back with the NHL club due to Thompson’s injury.
Now, Hill and Brossoit are the tandem going forward for the Golden Knights, who have won four in a row coming out of the All-Star break. Hill has started in three of those, the latest being a 26-save effort Thursday in a 2-1 win over the Sharks.
Vegas will host the three-time Stanley Cup finalist Tampa Bay Lightning today (7:30 p.m., ATTSN-RM) in what will be Hill’s greatest challenge this season should he get the start. Not only would it be his third consecutive start, but he’d be facing the best goalie in the world, Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.
“It’ll be good,” said Hill about facing the Lightning. “They have a class team over there. You know they’re going to play the right way, and they have arguably the best goalie in the world. I think it’s big for us to stick to our game and not think too much.”
Hill has posted a .937 save percentage and 1.63 goals allowed in his last five appearances, something that’s been needed for the Golden Knights as they’ve tried to find their game since the mandatory bye week.
It’s a complete 180 for Vegas, which was 1-5-2 before the week off.
“We’ve had a lot of energy. We’ve had it in practices, the locker room and the ice. The break couldn’t have come at a better time,” Hill said. “We had that week in New York where all three of those games (against the New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers and New York Islanders) we could’ve won, but a bounce here, a bounce there didn’t go our way. I felt like we were playing pretty well.”
The schedule has been a major proponent to Vegas’ success. Wins against Nashville in the first game after a week off, Minnesota which was on a back-to-back, and a struggling Ducks team has righted the ship in the short term.
The Golden Knights have found their offensive groove with 19 goals in these three games while also playing strong defense, giving up five. These three games have allowed Vegas to get back to what worked so well during its 13-2-0 start to the season — better play in the defensive zone, cleaner breakouts to get the offense going, and solid play from the goaltending.
“I don’t think we want to change the way we play,” said center Jack Eichel. “We have our structure in place, and we want to play as close to that as we can. You see a tighter D zone and giving up less chances.
“We have a lot of confidence in Hilly, we have a lot of confidence in LB. We feel like we have good goaltending and we’ve gotten that throughout the season.”
No one would blame Hill if he was the least bit self-centered in getting the starter’s net for the foreseeable future.
In fact, that’s what coach Bruce Cassidy wants.
“What we want right now is for Adin to say, ‘OK, we’re not sure how long Logan is going to be out. He’s not with us, so I want to be the guy,’” Cassidy said. “’I want to be in the net every day, and I want to prove that I can handle a No. 1 workload.’
“How long that will be obviously depends on how quick Logan recovers and his performance.”
The Golden Knights have just six more games during February — four of them at home — before the schedule picks up heavily with 15 games in March. Pending how long it takes for Thompson to get back, this could be a busy time for Hill going forward.
“It’s just staying with it, staying with your routine,” Hill said. “We’ve got to use these rest days while we have them because there won’t be any the rest of the year.”
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
