Adin Hill Shuts the Door As Vegas Takes Commanding 3-1 Series Lead

The Vegas Golden Knights are one victory away from hoisting the Stanley Cup after winning Game 4 by a score of 3-2 over the Florida Panthers. Another great game in the Stanley Cup Final sees Adin Hill once against backstop his team to victory.

It seems like a broken record, but Adin Hill continues to marvel as he will earn himself a nice contract this summer. Entering Game 4 you wondered if Florida found the answer by getting traffic in front of Hill and taking his eyes away. The Panthers did that again, but Hill’s instincts took over.

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Speaking of instincts how about the final play of the game? With the Panthers on the power play and looking to tie the game at three, Matthew Tkachuk had a glorious opportunity and there was the left pad of Hill to make sure there were no more late-game heroics to send Game 4 to overtime. Hill has about three or four guys in his way and somehow gets his left pad out. Hill continues to amaze in the playoffs.

But it was not the first time he did this. In the first period, Hill robbed Tkachuk multiple times with the Panthers trailing 1-0 and looking for the equalizer. Nothing affects him. Every game is different for Hill and he made sure there was going to be no repeat of Game 3 in Game 4. Hill finished the night stopping 29 of 31 shots. His remarkable play allowed Vegas to survive a game they were in complete control of.

Entering Game 4 you were going to know quickly what the likely outcome of this series was going to be. Vegas was the better team as they started their top line. And 1:39 into the first Chandler Stephenson got his first goal of the evening. Stephenson became the 10th different goal scorer for the Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup Final.

Florida had a good response and Hill was spectacular. The Golden Knights had a response of their own, but it was not what many expected. We have seen in the playoffs the Golden Knights take over games and they were just playing too passively allowing Florida to dictate play. Then all of a sudden in the second the Golden Knights took over the game.

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It starts with Stephenson getting his second goal of the night after just missing earlier on a great save by Sergei Bobrovsky. Then the Original Golden Misfits connect as Jonathan Marchessault extends his point streak to nine assisting on William Karlsson‘s goal. Karlsson then became the 11th different goal scorer for the Golden Knights. Nic Hague also picked up an assist on the goal as well. There was Vegas driving the play. Winning puck battles and foot races. The Panthers had no answer and the Golden Knights just cut off the middle of the ice.

This appeared to be a runaway until Brandon Montour goes double doink to make it 3-1 Vegas. From there Florida took it to Vegas. Shift after shift the Panthers brought their speed and aggressive forecheck to the Golden Knights. 3:50 into the third period Aleksander Barkov got his first of the Stanley Cup Final to make it 3-2. Again it was all Florida. Vegas was on their heels. Barkov and Montour each finished with a goal and an assist as Florida really needed both of those players to step up.

Adin Hill made sure to keep this a one-goal game. He also had help from his defence as they blocked 30 shots on the night. Again Vegas usually takes it to teams when they have a lead and you can’t let Florida stick around they are just too good and find ways to win games. Towards the end of the third, we saw Vegas take control again but it was Bobrovsky holding down the fort. He finished stopping 28 of 31 shots including two big saves on Ivan Barbashev and Marchessault.

In the dying moments, the Panthers get a power play as Alex Pietrangelo sends the puck over the glass. The Panthers control the puck but Adin Hill shut the door. The Vegas penalty killers did not give the Panthers much to shoot out either. In the end, the Golden Knights were able to survive to win the game and move within one victory of the Stanley Cup.

After the buzzer sounded Montour came in and delivered a late check sending the Vegas defender Brayden McNabb into Hill which started a huge fight. Tkachuk, who missed a good chunk of time nursing and injury and played the final five minutes of the third period, was also in the middle of this going up against Pietrangelo.

Let’s see if this has any carryover into the next game. This type of skirmish allowed the Panthers to get back into the Boston series. But Vegas is a different team.

Game 5 goes Tuesday night in Las Vegas and the Stanley Cup will be in the house.