Hill, Samsonov Respond To Cassidy’s Comments On Goaltending As Vegas

LAS VEGAS — As the Vegas Golden Knights hit the road for two games, tonight in St. Louis and Friday in Dallas, they’ll hope to shed a 1-6 losing skid that left coach Bruce Cassidy calling out every aspect of his team after a 5-4 shootout loss to the Blues on Monday.

Most notable, however, was Cassidy’s criticism of his goaltenders, Adin Hill and Ilya Samsonov, something you rarely see from coaches.

A coach might point out a soft goal here or there, but they’re generally careful when discussing high-scoring allowances. They remind everyone that it starts with the work in front of netminders.

Cassidy didn’t mince words after his team lost for the sixth time in seven games, allowing 25 goals.

“We need better play out of the goaltending position right now,” Cassidy said. “We can’t expect to give up four and win – well, we’re not winning, right? We beat Minnesota, we scored four, gave up one. So we just need (to be) better there.”

To be fair, while Cassidy also said the team needs to be bailed out by the goalie at times, he did say skaters need to be harder on the puck, mistakes need to be limited, and they need to start quicker by striking first.

Hill and Samsonov both spoke Tuesday after practice, one day before the team left for the two-game trip.

“I don’t feel like it’s as big as it’s made out to be,” Hill said. “We’ve lost some games. They’ve all been one-goal hockey games. We’re right in them. So yeah, it’s just that extra save, or that extra puck going in for us, either way.

“So that’s the difference in the NHL. Every team is good, every player is good. So the margin for error is pretty small.”

Three of the six losses during the 1-6 slide have been one-goal games, actually, while the Knights have been outscored 25-17 overall.

Samsonov said the current slump is part of hockey and it’s on everyone to do their job.

“Forwards need to score, defensemen need to defend, goalie need saves,” Samsonov said. “We’re all disappointed. We need everybody to do his job. We have a nice…