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Adin Hill. Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

Streaking Adin Hill could make or break Vegas’ Cup chances

Originally posted on Daily Faceoff | By Anthony Trudeau | Last updated 5/19/23

The Vegas Golden Knights have used no shortage of goaltenders this year, but it seemed throughout the first round that one of them, Laurent Brossoit, finally claimed the net.

Brossoit went down hurt against the Oilers, though, and one-time third-strong goaltender Adin Hill led the Knights to victory over Edmonton.

On Friday’s edition of "Daily Faceoff Live," hosts Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna discussed whether Hill’s stellar play will be enough to vanquish all-world goalie Jake Oettinger and the Dallas Stars.

Frank Seravalli: Is it possible to overstate the goalie impact in this series? You look at it, and we’ve been saying all season long that Vegas can’t win with Logan Thompson in net, or with Laurent Brossoit in net. Now Hill, another pending UFA, is the goaltender for the Golden Knights, their third-string guy. Can he do the job against Oettinger? On paper, it’s a pretty big mismatch, but I don’t know if that’s actually the case.

Mike McKenna: It’s tough to say for me because Hill has played so well in his limited time in the playoffs. He’s 3-1; his entire playoff sample size was in the last round against the Oilers.

Hill hit a speed bump in Game 3, but in Games 4, 5, and 6 he was so good against Edmonton. He was really big time in those games, only allowing three goals. The question is can he keep it up?

Even through the first half of the season, Hill spent so much time on his back, on his stomach, flopping all over the place. He’s worked with goalie coach Sean Burke to just try to let the game come to him, not move as much, and be in position on time. Can he keep it up? That’s what it comes down to against a really dynamic Dallas offense.

On the other hand, Oettinger has been pulled three times this postseason despite his reputation of being one of the best money goaltenders. I found a tweet the other day that I thought was interesting that showed Oettinger is good from Games 1-4 but lockdown from Games 5-7.

Jake Oettinger's Playoff Career (as the starter), 20 games:

Games 1-4: 2.69 GAA, .915 SV%
Games 5-7: 1.97 GAA, .942 SV%

His play elevated for the most important game of the series | #TexasHockey https://t.co/9yXRwNOheM
— Brien Rea (@BrienRea) May 16, 2023

There is no question in my mind that Vegas will try to dictate the pace of this series from the get-go, because the deeper it goes, Frank, the more it favors Dallas. Hey man, that’s the Pete DeBoer factor. He knows those players on the Vegas Golden Knights as well as anyone, and this is going to be a great coaching matchup.

You can watch the entire episode here…