SUNRISE, Fla. — As the Florida Panthers made a furious attempt to tie Game 4 — and the series — Saturday night, Adin Hill made the biggest save of his career as he denied Florida’s Matthew Tkachuk and Sam Bennett in the game’s closing seconds to give his team a win and commanding 3-1 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final.
“I kind of saw where the puck was and just tried to do anything I could to get a piece of something on it,” Hill said. “In situations like that it’s just full on desperation.”
His play this series has fueled the Golden Knights’ success and helped Vegas to a 3-2 win Saturday. The Golden Knights head back to Vegas one win away from hoisting their first Stanley Cup in franchise history.
“Hillsy made the saves that we needed him to make,” Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “You can’t be surprised. How many games has he played here, as well as he’s played? He’s played well all year for us. All of our goalies have played well regardless of who’s in here. It’s a credit to him for being prepared when he did come in there a few series ago. You’ve got to be happy for him.”
Hill set the tone of the game by robbing Tkachuk in the opening period after Chandler Stephenson gave Vegas a 1-0 lead at 1:39 in the first period with his first of two goals.
Hill was on his way to putting forth his third shutout of the postseason before a goal by Florida’s Brandon Montour somehow deflected off two Golden Knights and into the net in the second period, giving the Panthers life.
But the 27-year-old Hill has made big saves at seemingly every turn of these playoffs, and that did not change. He had a spectacular stick save that helped Vegas to a 5-2 win in the opener, has blocked 111 of 120 shots in the series and has the highest save percentage (.934) among all goalies in the postseason.
A name that few likely knew as recently as two months ago, Hill wasn’t even dressed for the first round. Laurent Brossoit was injured early in Game 3 of…
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