Adin Hill is back between the pipes for the Vegas Golden Knights, but the road back hasn’t been easy. The goaltender missed nearly three months after suffering a noncontact lower-body injury less than 10 minutes into his fifth start of the season against the Carolina Hurricanes.
“It sucks,” Hill said Sunday. “I got a little emotional.”
The injury is the latest in a series of lower-body setbacks that have punctuated Hill’s four-year tenure in Vegas. He missed the final month of the 2022-23 regular season, then missed time in 2023-24 after returning from an earlier injury. This latest absence also cost him a spot on Canada’s Olympic roster.
“That definitely sucked,” Hill said. “I obviously wanted to be on that Olympic roster, but when the injury happened, knowing the timeline that I was going to be out, it was just one of those things where you’re like, ‘Well, if they pick me, they pick me. If they don’t, they don’t.’”
Hill made his return Thursday in a 6-5 overtime win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, allowing five goals. Coach Bruce Cassidy acknowledged it will take time for Hill to regain his form.
“I don’t know how long it’ll take for him to get back to where he needs to be,” Cassidy said. “It’s going to take awhile. We understand that.”
Despite the goals against, Hill made a highlight-reel save in the first period on Bobby McCann, lunging to his right and kicking the puck away with his skate while on his back.
“I knew he was going to raise a puck, and I only had my one pad there,” Hill said. “I reached for it with my blocker stick on the pass, but I missed the pass. So now, I can’t get my blocker there, so I have to just find a way to take up more space in the net.”
Hill is in the first year of a six-year extension and remains the team’s No. 1 option. The Knights have a condensed schedule ahead, with six games in 10 days to close January, which Hill hopes will help him find a rhythm.
“I always find playing a lot of games is going to get you in a rhythm,” he said. “You’re just kind of in game mode.”
Up next
Who: Golden Knights at Bruins
When: 4 p.m. Thursday
Where: TD Garden, Boston
TV: KMCC-34
Radio: KFLG 94.7 FM, KKGK 1340 AM
