EDMONTON -- The Vegas Golden Knights have not skipped a beat this season regardless of who has been in goal. They hope that continues in Game 4 of the Western Conference Second Round against the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; ESPN, CBC, SN, TVAS).
The Golden Knights are expected to turn to backup Adin Hill after Laurent Brossoit left with a lower-body injury 11:44 into the first period of Game 3 at Rogers Place on Monday, a 5-1 road win.
Hill entered with the game tied 1-1 and stopped all 24 shots he faced to help give Vegas a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 series.
"I don't have anything on 'L.B.' (Brossoit) right now," Vegas coach Bruce Cassidy said Tuesday. "He's getting all the tests done, I'm sure there is an MRI involved there, but I can't tell you much other than we're having an optional practice and he won't be on the ice today."
[RELATED: Complete Golden Knights vs. Oilers series coverage]
Brossoit was injured stretching out for a rebound after making a right pad save on Oilers center Connor McDavid. He had to be helped off the ice and was unable to put weight on his left leg.
Brossoit is 5-2 in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 3.18 goals-against average and .894 save percentage. He made his regular-season debut Feb. 21 after having hip surgery in the offseason.
"We've used five goalies this year and they've been all great for us," Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb said. "Nothing changes for us in that aspect, we trust anyone that goes in, and they've done an awesome job. He (Hill) was awesome, he's got a great demeanor like that, we have all confidence in the world in Adin. He made things look pretty easy right when he got in, so we were happy for him, and good for him for staying ready."
This season, the Golden Knights had Logan Thompson (37 games), Hill (27), Brossoit (11), Jonathan Quick (10) and Jiri Patera (2) each play at least one game. Robin Lehner, who had been the No. 1 goalie, missed the season after having hip surgery in the offseason.
"I've never gone through this many injuries to our goalies," said Cassidy, who is in his first season as Golden Knights coach, "but the next guy up has done a good job for us all year. That's the fortunate part, that's why we're still playing. It's been good in that sense. It's an important position. At the start of the year, we had Robin Lehner and we're not sure on his surgeries and I was new to that situation. Then we had L.B., who had surgery and was going to come back, but not right away, we knew that, but we weren't sure when."
Hill was 16-7-1 with a 2.50 GAA and .915 save percentage in 27 games (25 starts) for Vegas this season after being traded from the San Jose Sharks on Aug. 29, 2022. He hadn't played in the playoffs until replacing Brossoit at the beginning of the third period of Game 2 on Saturday, a 5-1 loss.
If Brossoit is unable to continue in the series, the Golden Knights will use Quick as a backup and Patera as their third goalie, according to Cassidy. Thompson (lower-body injury) hasn't played since March 23.
"I haven't experienced something like this before," Vegas forward Chandler Stephenson said. "It's unfortunate. You look at last year and all the man-games lost we had, it was kind of crazy, and we had a little bit of that this year, but this is nothing like I've ever experienced,"
Despite having to use so many goalies, the Golden Knights (51-22-9) finished first in the Pacific Division and had the best record in the West. They defeated the Winnipeg Jets in five games in the first round.
"It's been tough luck for the goaltenders," Cassidy said. "Adin was one of those guys that got injured earlier when he was playing well, and he's healthy again and got a chance last night. He responded well. It's not an easy situation. Obviously, he's kept himself ready, that's a credit to him and (goaltending coach) Sean Burke for putting the work in. He played well and the team played well in front of him to give him a chance to make saves."
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2023-05-10 07:17:10Z
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