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LAS VEGAS — Adin Hill has won eight games in the 2023 Stanley Cup playoffs after winning 16 games in the entire regular season. In the span of a year, he’s gone from playing for a lottery team to being three victories away from winning the Stanley Cup.

More people watch his games at T-Mobile Arena than the amount of residents who live in his hometown of Comox, British Columbia. He plays goalie in a city in which their initial exposure to that position was a future Hall of Famer who set the standard by which all followers have been judged — for a franchise that’s just six years old.

Oh, and he never had any previous Stanley Cup playoff experience until his first game a month ago.

Championship teams all have defining traits. And if this is the year the Vegas Golden Knights capture their first-ever Stanley Cup, among those traits is their ability to find answers to colossal problems.

Hill just happens to be one of those answers. But it’s not like what he’s doing is anything new; he’s been that way all season. He was one of the answers for the question of how the Golden Knights would fare in net once Robin Lehner had an offseason hip surgery that forced him to miss the regular season.

Even though Logan Thompson started the majority of the games, Hill worked in tandem with the rookie to provide Vegas with the goaltending to finish with the best record in the Western Conference. He was there when Thompson was hurt in February and again toward the end of the regular season.

He was that constant when Laurent Brossoit, who took over from Thompson, sustained an injury in the second round against the Edmonton Oilers. Hill won three of his next four starts to close out the Oilers. Hill played well enough to give the Golden Knights a chance to win every game of the Western Conference final against the Dallas Stars, a series they won in six games.

All of that is what made Hill’s accomplishments in the Golden Knights’ 5-2 victory against the Florida Panthers in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final even more monumental. Because it was more than just the Golden Knights taking a lead in the series.

Hill provided another reminder of what has made him one of the Golden Knights’ strongest performers this postseason.

“I mean, it’s unreal. It’s kind of per usual now at this point, him making those saves and kind of bailing us out,” Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore said after Game 1. “He’s had our back the second he stepped in, and we’ve been fortunate to help him on the other end.”


NICK COUSINS WAS right there. He found a spot in the coverage that allowed him to be at the net front by himself so he could be on the other end of a Matthew Tkachuk centering pass to give the Panthers what would have been a 2-1 lead.

Hill was leaning toward Tkachuk before contorting his body back toward Cousins to use every fiber and sinew of his right arm to extend his stick in a manner that allowed his paddle to stop the puck just inches from the goal line, keeping the game tied at 1-1 barely a minute into the second period.

“A Hill To Die On.” “King of the Hill.” “Hill The Thrill.” “The Save.”

Pick whatever catchy phrase you want. It amounts to Hill’s save becoming arguably the defining moment of Game 1, one of the defining moments of this year’s playoffs, and if the Golden Knights win the Cup, potentially one of the defining moments of an entire franchise.

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Adin Hill makes phenomenal stick save for the Golden Knights

Adin Hill makes a phenomenal stick save as the Golden Knights keep it even in the second period.

“We were talking about it in the room,” Golden Knights captain Mark Stone said. “That was an incredible save at a pretty important time in the game. He makes a huge save, [Alex Pietrangelo] makes an incredible defensive play right after to keep the puck out of the net, and then not long after [Shea] Theodore makes an incredible play to get us a lead.”

Brett Howden, Nicolas Roy and Zach Whitecloud were all on the bench when Hill made the save, and each of their recollections just adds to what made Hill and the stop itself even more massive for the Golden Knights.

Howden echoed what a number of players said about the save: It was the “a-ha” moment that forced the Golden Knights to confront the fact they needed to help out their netminder.

“I’ve seen it live, I saw a couple pictures of it after but to see how close it was? It was just inches away or even just [Cousins] raising the puck, it could have been in,” Howden said. “I thought it was going in and saw that it didn’t go in. I was in disbelief and then the play started coming back the other way. Right then, we kinda looked at each other and were like, ‘Alright. He’s doing everything he can. We gotta get going here.'”

You mean there were no four-letter words used at that moment?

“Uh, there probably were some words like that,” Howden smiled.

Roy had just come onto the Golden Knights bench and said he did not actually see Hill’s save when it happened. His first viewing of it was when he went back and watched on social media.

“I heard the guys stand up and cheer for Adin, but I didn’t see it until after the game,” Roy said. “It was a game-changer for sure.”

Whitecloud said everything about the moment — from Hill’s save to watching Pietrangelo clear the puck down to seeing the puck go in the air after Pietrangelo’s clearance — made him feel tense for the three or so seconds it took for everything to play out in real time.

“When you’re watching, you’re tense. When you’re out there, it’s easy because you’re not as tense,” Whitecloud explained. “When you are watching your friends and brothers out there battling — for me anyway — I get tense. I watch, almost like I am a fan! That sort of thing can turn a game. When you look at those breaks, you’re like, ‘That’s a break. That’s one we need.'”

So what did Hill, the individual who authored such a moment, have to say about everything?

“The save? It kind of played through on a little screen on a cross to Tkachuk on his [strong] side and I kinda flew across to the [strong side] and then I saw him throwing it backdoor and Cousins was there,” Hill said matter-of-factly. “I reached out with my stick and was able to track it and got a piece of it with my paddle. It felt good!”


SPEAK TO ANYONE who works for an NHL team’s in-game production staff. They’ll tell you about how everything is subject to change. Unless that subject is how the Golden Knights treat the goaltender when it comes time to do the starting lineup at T-Mobile Arena.

There have been games in which Golden Knights public address announcer Bruce Cusick can’t even be heard announcing a goalie’s name — because the applause along with the music drowns out his voice.

Plenty of teams show a graphic of the player in the starting lineup on the video board before cutting to a live feed of them on the ice as they’re being announced. But in Vegas, they have a camera that does a gradual close up on the goalies that both creates an imposing figure, while also underscoring the importance that being “the starting goalie for the Vegas Golden Knights” means something substantial to many people.

There will be a time when this particular piece of the Golden Knights’ dynamic changes. For now, Vegas is a market that lacks several decades of team history that fans talk about with reverence. Vegas has what it knows, and what the city knows is that anyone who wears that mask and those pads better come correct or not even come at all.

So much can be said about the impact Marc-Andre Fleury had on the franchise during his four seasons in Vegas. What Fleury did and how he did it is part of the foundation for why there is such a passion about who plays in net for the Golden Knights.

“Honestly, it’s a little bit of pressure but it’s also really exciting for these guys because you could hear it yesterday when they named him and how loud it was,” Roy said of Hill. “It’s been unreal. I think every goalie who comes through this organization has had a real good time. You look at Flower. I think he was basically almost a God here.”

Nobody can say for certain what Hill’s impact will be whenever he does move on from the Golden Knights — he’s a pending unrestricted free agent, by the way. During this playoff run, his popularity continues to surge. Hill didn’t just receive a loud ovation when the starting lineups were read before Game 1: Hill received the loudest ovation of anyone, and that includes fan favorites like William Carrier and an All-Star like Pietrangelo.

There are more subtle nods too, such as when he made a save in the first period and once the play was whistled dead, the Golden Knights’ in-game production staff made the conscious decision to play the theme song from “King of the Hill.”

So why is there so much love?

He’s always been there for the team this season. He has been the same person whether he was playing or sitting. He came through when others were injured. The performances that have allowed the Golden Knights to be three wins away from winning the title that has come to define their win-at-all-costs mentality.

All of this is why the majority of the 18,432 fans who were in attendance for Game 1 screamed his name while celebrating every save he made.

It’s also why with three more wins Hill could be more than just a Golden Knight. He has a chance to possibly be king in a city that desperately wants a crown.

“He’s competed, he’s been a great teammate, he works hard, he pays attention to the details, he wants to get better,” said Whitecloud, whose stall is next to Hill’s at the team’s practice facility in Summerlin, Nev. “You’ll play for a guy like that any day of the week.”

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

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Makar 9th NHL blueliner with 30 goals in season

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Avalanche star Cale Makar scored against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night to become the ninth defenseman in the NHL, and the first with Colorado, to score 30 goals in a season.

The sixth-year player is the NHL’s first defenseman to reach the 30-goal mark since Mike Green of the Washington Capitals had 31 in 2008-09.

Makar put the Avalanche up 5-2 by scoring a power-play goal with 38 seconds left in the second period. He was set up in the left circle for a one-timer by a pass from Nathan MacKinnon. He also had two assists as the Avalanche won, 7-3, to clinch their eighth consecutive playoff appearance.

Overall, NHL blue liners have now combined to reach 30 goals 18 times, led by Bobby Orr, who had five 30-goal seasons. Paul Coffey (four) and Denis Potvin (three) are the only others to have had multiple 30-goal seasons. The list is rounded out by Ray Bourque, Kevin Hatcher, Phil Housley and Doug Wilson.

With the goal and two assists, the 26-year-old Makar also increased his point total to 90, matching the franchise record for defenseman he set last season. In doing so, he became the NHL’s fifth defenseman to produce consecutive 90-point seasons, and first since Coffey (1988-89 to 1990-91) and Al MacInnis (1989-90 to 1990-91).

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

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Oilers keep pace for home ice, but lose Draisaitl

SAN JOSE, Calif. — NHL leading goal scorer Leon Draisaitl left the Edmonton Oilers‘ game against the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night in the second period because of an undisclosed injury and didn’t return.

Draisaitl appeared to be injured midway through the second period and skated gingerly to the bench before leaving for the dressing room. Coach Kris Knoblauch said after the game that he had no update on the severity of the injury.

Jeff Skinner scored the tiebreaking goal shortly after Draisaitl left the game, giving the Oilers a 3-2 victory that kept them within two points of the Los Angeles Kings in the race for second place in the Pacific Division and home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

“Obviously we’ve had some injuries to key guys,” Skinner said. “It’s a lot of opportunity for other guys to step up and I think guys have done a good job so far. We’re going to have to continue that and keep working together to get the results we want.”

Draisaitl had an assist earlier in the second period. He leads the NHL with 52 goals and is third in the league with 106 points.

Draisaitl sat out four games last month because of an undisclosed injury.

The Oilers are already without star center Connor McDavid, who has been sidelined since colliding with Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey on March 20. McDavid has resumed skating with the team in a noncontact jersey but there is no timetable for his return.

The playoffs begin in just over two weeks.

“You never want to miss those guys,” Knoblauch said. “You never want your top players not to play because every time they’re not in, it decreases your chances of winning because they are good players, obviously. But what happens is other guys have some opportunities to play, get some confidence, hopefully score some goals, because we’re going to need them.”

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Blues’ Holloway exits with lower-body injury

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Blues' Holloway exits with lower-body injury

ST. LOUIS — St. Louis forward Dylan Holloway left the Blues’ 5-4 overtime victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first period Thursday night because of a lower-body injury.

Blues coach Jim Montgomery had no additional information on the injury after the game.

“We’ll have more, I’m sure, tomorrow,” Montgomery said.

The team announced the injury during the first intermission and said he would not return to the game. It was not clear when Holloway was injured.

Holloway had eight shifts in the first period.

Holloway has been a driving force in the Blues’ 11-game winning streak, which ties a franchise record. He has 26 goals and 37 assists in 77 games this season.

“Obviously, that’s an elite player for us, someone who plays in all situations, and, you know, a really important piece to our team,” forward Jake Neighbours said. “We had to focus on the task at hand. … it sucked losing Dylan, and just hope he’s OK.”

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