Golden Knights goaltender Jiri Patera called his father in Prague after winning his NHL debut March 12 against the St. Louis Blues.
Despite being six hours ahead, his dad was still up. And father and son shared an emotional moment over the milestone Patera had just accomplished.
“My dad, he was tearing up,” Patera said. “It was awesome to see. He sacrificed so much for me.”
Calling his mom was a different experience. Patera woke her up because she fell asleep after the second period.
He hopes the same isn’t true for his second start with the Knights. Patera is expected to get the nod at 1 p.m. Sunday against the Columbus Blue Jackets at T-Mobile Arena, and the team flew his parents in for the occasion.
”Really cool experience to have my parents here to share this moment,” Patera said.
Patera is the fifth starting goaltender the Knights have used this season, a franchise record. The 24-year-old is also the first goaltender drafted by the organization to get into an NHL game.
The 2017 sixth-round pick got the opportunity after injuries to Robin Lehner, Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit and Adin Hill. He also showed he was ready for it. Patera stopped 30 of the 33 shots he faced against the Blues.
“He looked composed,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He was solid in the nets. He played between the posts, like he wasn’t sliding out of position. Sometimes younger guys will get overactive. He’s a pretty athletic guy. I liked his game.”
The Knights will try to give Patera enough support for his second win. They allowed a season-high seven goals in Thursday’s loss to the Calgary Flames, but the Blue Jackets are a different level of opponent.
Columbus has lost two straight and has the worst record in the NHL.
Still, the Knights don’t want to be dismissive. They are in a tight race in the Pacific Division and Western Conference standings. They don’t want to drop points with a difficult and busy schedule the rest of the way.
“It doesn’t really matter where these guys are at,” defenseman Brayden McNabb said. “They’ve still got high-end skill, create a lot. (It’s) important to have a good game tomorrow. It’s a lot of hockey coming up.”
Knights vs. Blue Jackets (1 p.m.)
TV: AT&T SportsNet
Radio: KKGK (98.9 FM, 1340 AM)
Line: Knights -330; total 6½
Knights record: 42-21-6
Blue Jackets record: 21-40-7
Head-to-head: Knights 1-0-0
Knights’ projected lineup:
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Jonathan Marchessault
Reilly Smith — William Karlsson — Pavel Dorofeyev
Paul Cotter — Chandler Stephenson — Phil Kessel
Brett Howden — Teddy Blueger — Michael Amadio
Alec Martinez — Alex Pietrangelo
Brayden McNabb — Shea Theodore
Nic Hague — Zach Whitecloud
Jiri Patera
Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.