Anton Khudobin, it seems, truly is the goaltender to beat these playoffs. (Who had that on their 2020 Bingo Card?)
After managing to stop 40 shots to eliminate Colorado in a tight game seven just two short days ago, Anton Khudobin posted his first career NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs shutout on Sunday night — against the top-seeded Vegas Golden Knights, of all teams. He turned away 25 shots on goal en route to the 1-0 final decision, giving Dallas a surprising upset win to take the first victory of the Western Conference Final.
There’s plenty to unpack — the bizarre nature of the playoffs, the mysterious new inability of the Vegas Golden Knights to score goals when the other team has a goaltender in net, why Vegas went with Marc-Andre Fleury instead of Robin Lehner to start this round — but it’s also just a nice feel-good story for a goaltender who played in the WHL, ECHL, AHL, and KHL before finally making it to the show.