Not even Patera has prevented the great discipline of the Sharks recently, who are gaining points with powerful final attacks. They went from 1:4 to 5:4 in overtime with the Islanders, from 0:4 to 6:5 in overtime in Detroit and this time in the last 4 minutes they made up a two-goal deficit (2:4). Tomáš Hertl invited Mike Hoffman, who equalized 39 seconds before the end of regular time.
“I envisioned a little better play in front of our goal, but it was our fourth game in six days,” apologized Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy.
Patera received an invitation to the first team already on December 2 due to the health problems of this year’s playoff hero Adin Hill. However, Logan Thompson had the upper hand between the posts. “The day before, Logan was catching in Dallas, so now Jiří got a chance,” explained Cassidy.
The 24-year-old goalie played two games for the Golden Knights last season, which ended with Vegas going all the way to the Stanley Cup. The reigning champions also started the new season very well. They lead the overall table with 43 points. Patera is also signed, although the duel with San Jose started unluckily for him with a conceded goal from the first shot by Mario Ferrara in the 29th second.
“Tough start, but he did a good job. You never know in the first game, although he had two starts last year and tried it out a little bit,” the coach said. However, neither Kevin Labanc nor Mikael Granlund matured in the raids against the Czech goalkeeper, whose backhand bluff between the concretes was expertly guarded by Patera.
The native of Prague played 14 games for the farm team Henderson Silver Knights this season. He has a record of 6-6-2 with an average of 3.17 goals per game. He has faced the second most shots in the AHL so far (441). With 834 minutes caught, he remains in the top five.
“He shoots, he scores!”
“Top right corner Marchessault! Shootout winner!”
Jiri Patera shuts the door on San Jose as Jonathan Marchessault pots the shootout winner. pic.twitter.com/61aRmJ51V0
— Golden Knights Radio (@VGKRadioNetwork) December 11, 2023
“Everyone is fighting hard, but especially Jiří keeps us going, he is amazing. We are trying to improve and help him more,” Silver Knights forward Mason Morelli said to the former star.
Patera was Vegas’ third “standby” goaltender during the playoffs. “I don’t want to go anywhere else. I’d love to continue and play right here,” he said during the Stanley Cup celebrations and inked a new one-year deal with the Golden Knights in early July. Now he believes in more opportunities to defend the goal of the best NHL team.
2023-12-11 10:10:31
#NHL #goal #shot #tackles #Czech #goalkeeper #Vegas #percent #Sport.cz
