LAS VEGAS (AP) — Chants of “You’re a backup!” came at Vegas Golden Knights goalie Laurent Brossoit during Game 4 at Winnipeg in front of the same Jets fans who not that long ago cheered him on.
He wasn’t rattled, playing his best game and setting up Thursday’s clincher in Las Vegas in which the fans chanted, “You’re our starter!” as the Knights closed out a first-round NHL playoffs series victory with a 4-1 win in Game 5.
Even Brossoit didn’t expect to be in this position. He began the season coming off hip surgery, cleared waivers, was sent to the American Hockey League affiliate in Henderson and then was promoted only to suffer another injury.
And now Brossoit is Vegas’ unquestioned starter as the Knights prepare to play the Edmonton Oilers in a second-round series that begins Wednesday.
“It’s always one side of you that maybe naively, optimistically, thinks that it’s going to happen and you’ll get that opportunity and you’ll seize it and all the stars will align,” Brossoit said. “And then there’s the other half that’s maybe more realistic and maybe a little bit more pessimistic that’s just, ‘Let’s bide our time.’ At the start of the year, if you would have said that I’d be in this position, I probably would’ve doubted it.”
Brossoit now has the difficult task of trying to stop an Edmonton Oilers team with three 100-point scorers that includes Connor McDavid, who led the NHL with 64 goals, 89 assists and 153 points in the regular season.
It would be a daunting challenge for any goalie and certainly is for the Knights, who spent much of the season uncertain about hockey’s most important position. Injuries caused a revolving door in which five goalies recorded multiple victories, and Vegas at one point became the first team in league history to win four consecutive games with four different goaltenders.
“Keeping healthy was our challenge,” Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said. “It’s nice to have a consistent guy in there every night, but we did well in the regular season. I think our team is goaltender friendly the way we play in from of him, so that helps. It helped LB in that last series.”
Between the regular season and playoffs, Brossoit has lost only one game in regulation in 15 starts. He posted a 2.17 goals-against average in the regular season, and in the playoff series against Winnipeg, Brossoit had a 2.42 GAA.
Part of it is Cassidy’s defensive system, which forces teams to shoot from near the walls rather than in the circles or slot. It was that system that helped give the Knights a 2-1 series lead entering Game 4 in Winnipeg, where Brossoit was a reserve from 2018-21.
Thus the “backup” chants from the fans.
In that game, Brossoit had to make some tough stops among his 24 saves in the 4-2 victory, showing he could come up with big plays in big situations.
“You want to contribute,” Brossoit said. “Not that you want your team to play poorly so you can get some shots, but it’s the playoffs. You’re playing against the best teams, and they’re going to get their chances, especially if we’re going to play a team like Edmonton. We have to realize they’re going to get their chances and they’re going to score. It’s how you bounce back and it’s how you handle that.”
Brossoit has shown this season just that ability to respond.
“I’m sure he wasn’t thrilled about having to go down and play in the American League again after establishing himself in our league and being a really good goaltender,” teammate Jack Eichel said. “But I didn’t hear him complain once about anything. He’s very attentive to his work, he takes care of himself extremely well and he prepares extremely well. So I’m not surprised to see him having success with the work and effort he puts in.
“We feel really confident with Laurent as our goalie.”
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