Las vigas — Aden Hill He was sliding off the net when he lunged again at the last second, getting a piece off Nick Cousin’s tip attempt with his stick paddle.
Was it the best save of a Vegas Golden Knights guard’s career?
“Yeah, maybe in time, considering the Stanley Cup Final,” Hill said with a laugh. “But I feel like I made other great saves, too.”
Sure, but this was huge for the Golden Knights in 5-2 win Against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday.
[RELATED: Complete Stanley Cup Final coverage]
Hill’s save on Cousins came 50 seconds into the second period and looked very reminiscent of Washington Capitals’ goaltender Braden Holtby’s save from Golden Knights forward Alex Toch in Game 2 of the Cup Final in 2018. Holtby’s save, which Hill recalls witnessing, happened at the same end of the ice as Hill as well.
Washington went on to defeat Vegas in five games to win the Stanley Cup that year.
“This is definitely a momentum slingshot for sure,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone He said. “It freshened up the bench. It kind of opened your eyes a little bit as well. We might not have played that great to start the second game, but that save just kind of turned it around for us, got us going in that period.”
video: Aden Hill and Braden Holtby have near-identical saves
Even the opposition had to give Hill his due.
“Yeah, I mean, that’s an incredible save,” the Florida forward Carter Verhaghe He said. “He’s down and out and back with the bat. Great save for them for sure.”
It was another reminder of how good Hill, who made 33 saves in Game 1, was with the Golden Knights during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 27-year-old relieved Laurent Broissuyt when the latter suffered a lower-body injury in the first period of a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 3 of the Western Conference Round 2 and hasn’t looked back.
He is now 8-3 with a 2.06 goals against average, . 938 save percentage and two shutouts in 12 playoff games, including 10 starts.
“That’s an unreal save, right?” said Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy. “You need those balls in the crucial moments. We didn’t play our best game against him, I’m the first to admit that. Sometimes the first match goes like this.
“Recently, [we] He found a rhythm and we managed to score him some goals, so he didn’t have to be perfect in any way. But this was a huge saving. Guys are excited to see that, for obvious reasons. I don’t know what it does with them but for us, it takes us.”
Hill has already had a memorable post season with some of his performances. The work isn’t done yet, but thanks to saves like the one he made on Cousins, the Golden Knights are now three wins away from the Cup.
Game 2 is here on Monday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).
“Your confidence is rising a bit [after a save like that]But I also feel like my confidence is in this team now,” Hill said. “We’re playing great hockey and we just have to keep it going.”
