Down 2-0 heading onto the road, Golden Knights need Adin Hill to turn the tide

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LAS VEGAS – Entering their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers, the Golden Knights had a perceived advantage in net.

In Vegas’ crease: Adin Hill – The hero from their 2023 Stanley Cup title. The goalie who stepped into the middle of that season’s series against the Oilers, and was brilliant all the way through, picking up Conn Smythe votes along the way. The goalie who just signed a six-year, $37.5 million extension this season as the clear franchise netminder.

In Edmonton’s crease: Calvin Pickard – A goalie who has played more games in the AHL than the NHL over the last eight years before establishing himself as the Oilers’ backup this season. He’s since taken over for Stuart Skinner in this postseason and won six-straight games, including Thursday’s 5-4 overtime win at T-Mobile Arena that gave Edmonton a commanding 2-0 series lead heading home.

The perceived advantage has not played out that way through two games for the Golden Knights.

Hill has had his moments. He made a sensational pad save to rob Corey Perry of a would-be game winner in the waning moments of regulation on Thursday. He stood tall during a five-minute power play for the Oilers, confidently shoving his way through traffic to get his blocker on several hard shots from distance.

The problem is through eight playoff games, the moments haven’t happened consistently enough for Hill. His .874 save percentage ranks 16th amongst the 18 goalies with at least three starts this postseason, and he gave up two momentum-crushing goals in the second period of Thursday’s game that ultimately cost the Golden Knights a win they felt should’ve been theirs.

“I liked our game today,” Vegas captain Mark Stone said after. “We put up four goals and usually when you score four goals you’re going to win a playoff game.”

After taking a 1-0 lead into the first intermission the Golden Knights out-chanced the Oilers 11-1 in the middle frame. Everything was leaning in Vegas’ favor, until Edmonton scored three goals in less than six minutes.

“I actually thought we were playing a pretty good second period, and then we gave up three goals, bang, bang, bang,” Stone recalled.

The first goal wasn’t on Hill. Oilers defenseman Jake Walman blasted a one-timer from the point that was heading off-net before it ricocheted off Vegas defenseman Brayden McNabb’s leg and into the net. Hill appeared to have his angles on that play prior to the tip, so there’s not much more you can ask for.

The next two goals, though, are saves the Golden Knights desperately need Hill to make. The first was a rush play in which fourth-line winger Vasily Podkolzin let a wrist shot go from the top of the circles, and it beat Hill’s glove to give Edmonton its first lead of the night.

Less than two minutes later, following a turnover by Vegas, Darnell Nurse skated to nearly the same spot as Podkolzin’s shot and beat Hill to the blocker side with a wrist shot.

Vegas defenders threw their stick blades in front of both shots at the last minute, which could’ve thrown Hill’s read of the releases off, but in the second-round of the playoffs, facing the potential of falling into a 2-0 series hole in your own building, they are shots that need to be saved.

Hill knows that. He’s as competitive of a goalie as there is, and wants to be a difference maker for his team. He knows he’s capable of that, with the 2023 Cup run as proof. His game improved as the first-round series went on against Minnesota, and he was stellar in the Game 6 close-out.

Now facing an even bigger challenge, needing wins in four of the next five games against the defending Western Conference champs, Hill is running out of runway. The Golden Knights need his best. They need him to outplay Pickard moving forward to have any chance at a comeback.

“There are positions and areas of the game that you gotta out play them,” coach Bruce Cassidy said bluntly. “He’s going to have to do that at some point. That’s just the make-up of any series, usually.”

The Golden Knights need to win the goaltending matchup to beat the Oilers (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

It’s not as if Pickard is playing lights out. He’s 6-0 since taking over as the starter for the Oilers, but he’s done so while allowing 19 goals and stopping only .888 percent of the shots he’s faced.

One of Pickard’s biggest moments in Thursday’s game came early on in overtime, and it was an encapsulation of his playoff run to this point. Alex Pietrangelo fired a shot on net from his own defensive zone, and Pickard bobbled the rebound right onto the stick of Vegas’ Tomas Hertl streaking toward the net. Pickard robbed Hertl with a huge stop, and then Victor Olofsson’s follow-up chance.

Pickard hasn’t been perfect, but he’s made big saves when Edmonton has needed it most, and that’s been enough to win. His story – going from an AHL-NHL tweener to backstopping a playoff run – has been incredible.

Having said that, the Golden Knights should be – and need to be – winning the goaltending matchup in this series if they’re to have any chance.

Vegas played Edmonton’s star duo of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl incredibly tough on Thursday, holding them completely off the score sheet in regulation.

“This will sting, but the positive tomorrow will be good,” Cassidy said. “I felt like we outplayed the Oilers for the most part of the game, and deserved a better fate.”

Edmonton out-shot Vegas 38-32, but the Golden Knights held edges in scoring chances (46-41) and high danger chances (19-18) according to Natural Stat Trick. The 5-4 overtime loss was the first time Vegas lost a playoff game while scoring three goals in more than six years. They had won 42-straight prior to Thursday.

“I liked our game today,” Stone said. “We put up four goals and usually when you score four goals you’re going to win a playoff game. Unfortunately we didn’t, but you can’t get down. You have to go to Edmonton tomorrow, get ready for Saturday’s game, put your best foot forward and get a win.”

Vegas didn’t just lose to drop the first two games of a playoff series at home for the first time in franchise history. It lost in the most gut-wrenching fashion.

First the Golden Knights rallied from a two-goal deficit in the third period to force overtime. Then they killed off a five-minute power play when Nicolas Roy was given a game misconduct penalty for cross-checking Trent Frederic in the face. Then they seemingly lost defenseman McNabb to an injury when he went shoulder-first into the boards after Viktor Arvidsson tripped him in a race for the puck.

Only seconds after McNabb went down the tunnel to the Vegas dressing room, McDavid found Draisaitl for a backdoor one-timer to win the game.

“We had a lot of good looks,” Stone said after the game. “We could’ve easily won that game. We should’ve won that game. I thought we played a good game. Good enough to win, but we didn’t.

Coming back from an 0-2 series deficit is a long road, but it’s one the Golden Knights have driven. They ripped off four-straight wins to take out Colorado after two series opening losses in 2020-21.

The biggest key will be Hill’s performance. If he elevates his game to the level he’s capable of, Vegas has a chance. This is the goalie who saved 13.13 goals above expected in 2022-23. The goalie who put up an incredible .932 save percentage over 16 starts – a number that’s rivaled in the salary cap era only by great runs such as Andrei Vasilevskiy’s in 2021, Marc-Andre Fleury’s in 2008, Tim Thomas’ in 2011 and Jonathan Quick’s in 2012.

Hill is a difference-maker for Vegas. He’s one of the most important players on the team, and while they’ve come this far with him still finding his next-level in the playoffs, that runway has run out.

Hill can turn the tide for the Golden Knights in this series. They need him to, and fast.

(Top photo by Stephen R. Sylvanie/Imagn Images)

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