Before Saturday, Max Lagace's last start in the NHL was on Feb. 1, 2019, a loss for his Golden Knights in Carolina.
In the two years, three months, and one week since then, he's been working his way back to the NHL, with AHL stints in Chicago, Providence, and most recently, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The minor injuries that held Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith out of the Penguins' regular season finale at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday finally created an opportunity for Lagace to get back into the NHL, and he made the most of it with a 29-save shutout in the Penguins' 1-0 win. It was the first shutout of his career, and the first time in Penguins franchise history that a goaltender recorded a shutout in his first start with the team.
"Tonight is going to be a night that I'll remember for sure," Lagace said after the win. "I think what I'll remember the most is when the buzzer sounded at the end there. I don't even know how to describe it, it was such a relief."
Lagace said that it wasn't until the last four minutes of the game that he started thinking about the potential for a shutout.
"It was creeping into my head a little bit," he said. "I wanted it so bad, and the boys didn't give up a shot. I'm thankful, and I'm very happy to be here."
The Penguins put Lagace to work early, being outshot 11-3 in the opening frame:
Lagace said that he had "lots of nerves" coming into the game, but that the early workload helped calm them.
"When you get a couple of shots right off the bat, it kind of gets rid of those nerves," he said. "You just feel more confident as the game goes on. They did put a lot of pucks on net for the first two periods, so I felt really comfortable. The guys cleared any rebounds that had to be cleared, so it makes my job that much easier."
Lagace stopped 13 more shots in the second period:
... including this breakaway save on Drake Caggiula:
"I don't think we had our sharpest game," Marcus Pettersson said. "We really relied on (Lagace). From the get go, we really didn't think much of it. We felt comfortable with him, and he was calm and poised back there. he did a great job."
The Penguins held the Sabres to just five shots in the third:
"I read the pass," Lagace said of the above save on Victor Olofsson. "But the reaction on the shot was probably instinct, honestly. When he shot it, I literally just put my glove up and it hit. Sometimes you have to be lucky, and I'll take it."
Jared McCann called Lagace's performance "awesome."
"He was a big part of our win," McCann added. "If it wasn't for him, it definitely would have been a different story. We're all happy for him. It was a big challenge for him, and he answered the bell."
It was the culmination of an interesting year for Lagace, after he spent most of the year on Pittsburgh's taxi squad with brief stints in Wilkes-Barre throughout the year, only appearing in nine AHL games spread out over the course of the season.
"Max has worked extremely hard all year long," Mike Sullivan said. "Those guys that have gone from the taxi squad down to Wilkes, playing some games in Wilkes trying to keep their game sharp, it's been a challenging year for those guys. I give them a lot of credit. They work so hard at just controlling what they can to keep their games sharp and staying ready, because you just don't know when you're going to get tapped on the shoulder to get in the lineup. Today was a perfect example. Max deserves a ton of credit for his preparation and how hard he worked. I was thrilled for him -- we're all thrilled for him -- that he played as well as he did. He made some big stops over the course of the game to help us win, and to get a shutout I'm sure is a big thrill for him."
The shutout was a big thrill for Lagace's teammates and coaches down in Wilkes-Barre, too, who were cheering him on from afar and catching glimpses of his play before their own 5 p.m. game.
"He's been so solid for us when he's played here," head coach J.D. Forrest told me of Lagace after Wilkes-Barre's win. "I had a lot of confidence that given the opportunity, he'd play a strong game. I don't know if I would have guessed a shutout (laughs) but he looked great in net.
"It's really good to see, he's a heck of a guy," forward Nick Schilkey said of Lagace's shutout. "Everybody in the room loves him. He's saved games for us down the stretch all year when he's been here. ... It's good to see guys go up there and just plug right in. For him to get a shutout up there in his first game back, all the guys in the room are very happy for him. It's awesome to see."
With Jarry and DeSmith expected to be back for Game 1 of the playoffs, the expectation is that Lagace will go back to the taxi squad after this game. Looking back, Lagace will be able to be proud of the mark he made on the Penguins in the push for home ice advantage going into the playoffs.
"It's great being part of the Pittsburgh Penguins," Lagace said. "Growing up it was one of the teams you looked up to. It's a great, great group. I'm very proud to be able to be part of the Penguins."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Jeff Carter scored the game's only goal, picking up right where he left off last game.
It was Carter's 399th career goal.
Freddy Gaudreau had the lone assist on the goal with his setup from below the goal line to extend his point streak to three games.
"It was nice to see Freddy Gaudreau get an assist on the game-winning goal too," Forrest told me. "Like usual, Wilkes-Barre has a fingerprint on the season that Pittsburgh has. It's nice to see a couple guys like that that have been in the league then out for awhile be able to help out a team that's looking to make a big statement this year."
• Sullivan said that the team is getting the second vaccine shot Saturday night and that the team's traveling party will be well over the 85 percent vaccinated rate needed to loosen COVID restrictions for the team in the playoffs.
• Colton Sceviour played in his 500th career game.
• The win secured home ice in the first round at least, and then the Capitals later failing to win in regulation secured the No. 1 seed in the East for the Penguins. More on that later.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Video highlights
• NHL scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Max Lagace, Penguins
2. Jeff Carter, Penguins
3. Michael Houser, Sabres
THE INJURIES
• Forward Brandon Tanev has resumed practicing with full contact and hopes to return in time for the playoffs.
• Forward Evan Rodrigues is day-to-day with a lower-body injury after taking a shot somewhere in the lower leg in Washington.
• Defenseman Mike Matheson took a puck to the face in Washington and is week-to-week. He's resumed skating in a non-contact capacity with the taxi squad.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Jared McCann-Jeff Carter-Freddy Gaudreau
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Colton Sceviour
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Chad Ruhwedel-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino
And for Don Granato's Sabres:
Andres Bjork-Sam Reinhart-Victor Olofsson
Rasmus Asplund-Casey Mittelstadt-Tage Thompson
Jeff Skinner-Dylan Cozens-Arttu Ruotsalainen
Brett Murray-Riley Sheahan-Drake Caggiula
Mattias Samuelsson-Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin-Henri Jokiharju
Jacob Bryson-Colin Miller
THE SCHEDULE
Sunday is an off-day, and the Penguins will practice Monday. It's not yet clear when the playoffs will begin.
THE CONTENT
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