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Unexpected lineup choice made by the Golden Knights in their first title defense game
Adin Hill led the Vegas Golden Knights to their first-ever championship just a year ago and was a rock for the team throughout the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs. However, the 27-year-old will be seeing the team’s first-round Western Conference series against the Dallas Stars on Monday night from the sidelines.
According to Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Logan Thompson, who has been lights out for the Knights down the stretch, will start his first-ever postseason game in the opening at American Airlines Center in Texas.
For the majority of last season, the sophomore was outstanding; in fact, as a rookie, he was chosen an All-Star. However, he missed the final two games of the 2023 playoffs due to a couple of lower-body injuries and never made an appearance on the ice.
That will quickly alter in 2024 when the Knights play a different formidable team with real Stanley Cup hopes. This is a replay of the Western Conference Final from the previous season, which Vegas won in six games despite having a 3-0 lead.
In front of an ecstatic audience at T-Mobile Arena, they would go on to defeat the Florida Panthers 9-3 in Game 5 to win their first championship in their brief history.
And in the seventh year, it appears to be Thompson’s net as the reigning champs appear to be the first squad to win two straight since the 2020 and 2021 Tampa Bay Lightning.
Prior to Game 1, Thompson said, “Last year, for me personally, sucked,” according to Webster. “Obviously, you couldn’t be happier for the team.”
This time around, Thompson performed admirably for his team in the closing stages and should start in goal for the postseason. Since the start of March, he has gone 8-3, giving up one goal or fewer in seven of those games. In 2023–24, he made 46 appearances and finished with a 2.70 goals-against average and a.908 save percentage. Those are respectable figures.
However, benching Hill, who finished the postseason 11-4, is undoubtedly an intriguing decision.
If the Knights want to win back-to-back titles, they have two outstanding alternatives for goaltending.
Nevertheless, Laurent Brossoit, who is currently the Jets’ backup, started the Stanley Cup Playoffs for Vegas in 2023 instead of Hill. As a result, Hill has a good possibility of seeing some action in Round 1, perhaps even as soon as a little later.
However, Thompson currently enjoys the full trust of his head coach.
He is mentally absorbed in the game. Bruce Cassidy said, “You see it in his puck play,” according to Webster.
Logan most likely wants to play hockey in the playoffs, which is why. Observing what [Hill] and Brossoit accomplished the previous year, he too aspired to be that man. That seems to be all there is to it. I believe he has more control over him now than at the beginning of the year. I believe that because the squad is doing better in front of him, he is not required to put in long stretches of work on his own end.
Among the greatest teams in the NHL, the Stars and Golden Knights really don’t have a business meeting in the first round. However, given how Logan Thompson has played in the latter stages, the series ought to be electrifying.
Naturally, Mark Stone, Anthony Mantha, and Alex Pietrangelo—who have all missed time due to injury—will be primed to go when the title defense gets underway on Monday. This is typical of the Vegas Golden Knights.