LAS VEGAS --Laurent Brossoit hasn't hit top gear yet, but he feels it is close.
The 30-year-old goalie for the Vegas Golden Knights has won five of six games in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, with a .906 save percentage and a 2.67 goals-against average in his first real taste of NHL postseason action.
He helped Vegas defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-4 in Game 1 of the Western Conference Second Round by making 23 saves at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday, with Game 2 of the best-of-7 series here Saturday (7 p.m. ET; TNT, CBC, SN TVAS).
Not a bad start for a player who began the season in neutral, idling in rehab following surgery and then with an assignment in the American Hockey League.
"I would say I've hit the highest gear that I have in my career," Brossoit said. "I wouldn't say I am anywhere near done yet. You know, this is the first season that I was able to show what I could do. I am healthy and I'm excited to be able to move forward beyond this year and not come out of the summer fresh out of rehab. It'd be nice to be able to keep building and building my game."
The gear analogy is appropriate because Brossoit has been compared to a Formula One race car by his personal trainer and goalie adviser, Adam Francilia, who runs the NET360 goalie camp in partnership with Alpha Hockey.
"All goalies are like types of cars," Francilia said. "Some goalies are like 4-by-4s and they can run a little rugged and be a little nicked up.
"Laurent is like an F1 car. Sometimes those cars need a little more attention, a little more precision, more of an attempt to make sure everything is in sync, and there is some tinkering to find just the right modifications."
Brossoit went in for a full overhaul after being shut down last March. He had hip surgery, which was followed by a long, grueling offseason of rehabilitation that bled into the 2022-23 regular season.
Through the rehab, the message was that Brossoit would come back with his engine running as smoothly as ever.
"The hope was that this would be like taking the McLaren into the shop to find that one modification that would align everything and make the car run up to its full potential without the frame falling apart," Francilia said.
It has worked beyond Brossoit's wildest dreams.
He said his body feels as unencumbered as it has since a dozen years ago when he was playing junior hockey for the Edmonton Oil Kings in the Western Hockey League.
Brossoit has a freedom of movement that he had not enjoyed as a pro. He can do the splits and move into other save selections freely, where once they were avoided because of the limitations of his body.
He is free -- mentally and physically.
"I think the biggest thing that it all comes down to is your mental state," Brossoit said. "If your game feels good, you're going to be confident.
"Before the injury fix, there's cracks in the armor, right? And so it's hard to be as confident. It's harder to really grow your confidence because there is a bit of a governor."
The governor has been removed, the goalie is free to mash on the accelerator, but his path has not been one long straightaway this season.
Brossoit did not start playing until February, and he was sent to Henderson of the AHL, where he languished because of a glut of goalies at the NHL level for the Golden Knights.
He played three NHL games in February before being sent to the AHL again. After another month, he was called up again and won his final five starts of the season, earning the No. 1 job heading into the playoffs against the Winnipeg Jets, one of his former teams.
He left the Jets when he signed a two-year contract with the Golden Knights as a free agent July 28, 2021. He played four seasons with the Oilers from 2014-18, including his only previous playoff game; he came in relief in Game 4 of the 2017 first round against the San Jose Sharks, a 7-0 loss.
In the five-game elimination of the Jets in the 2023 first round, Brossoit gave up five goals during a 5-1 loss in Game 1, then allowed three goals in the third period of Game 3, which Vegas won 5-4 in double overtime.
During the two games in Winnipeg, the crowd chanted that Brossoit was a backup, the role he filled with the Jets from 2018-21. Brossoit said he used the slights and doubt as fuel, much as he has throughout his pro journey, which has been rife with roadblocks.
He has played nine NHL seasons and never played more than 24 regular-season games. Opportunities have been few and far between for a variety of reasons, but he has tried to remain positive.
That positivity, he believes, served him well when facing situations like this.
"You have to be comfortable being uncomfortable," Brossoit said. "When the game is on the line, there's a lot of pressure and it's an important game. There's a lot of emotions beforehand and during the game. It's uncomfortable, but it turns into adrenaline, and that's usually when I have my best games.
"If I'm not feeling that discomfort, it almost bothers me and I'll start to try to think of self-deprecating ways to make me uncomfortable again so that I can get that adrenaline."
Whatever Brossoit is doing mentally, it is working.
He didn't get rattled after Game 1 or Game 3 against Winnipeg or following Game 1 against the Oilers, when Edmonton erased a two-goal deficit to tie it 3-3 in the third period. Brossoit hasn't blinked. He has been almost Zen-like, which has been noticed by teammates.
"It gives everyone else playing in front of him the same feeling," Vegas defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. "When he is comfortable in there, he is making the saves, playing the puck, he is talking to you in the [defensive] zone. … You can hear him back there chatting, having fun. He is the type of guy that enjoys this time of year and is having fun."
Broissoit is having fun because he is healthy. He feels like he is finally on the road to being the goalie he was destined to be after making deep playoff runs with the Oil Kings in 2012 and 2013.
He has overcome the adversity put in his path, endured the pain inflicted upon his body and the torment that ravaged his mind.
"I think just over the years you have all these highs and the lows," Brossoit said. "You end up realizing you learn from the lows the most. It makes me almost grateful for them.
"Once you realize that, then the lows don't feel as low because you almost welcome them."
Eddie Lack, who played 144 NHL games with four teams from 2013-2018, worked closely at the NET360 camp each summer when Brossoit was younger, trying to overcome the limitations of his body through hard work in the gym.
Lack, like so many other past workout buddies, is sitting back and reveling in what Brossoit has accomplished.
"That boy is strong and he deserves this so much, putting in all that time into playing this good," Lack said. "I'm so happy for him. I can't imagine being hurt half the year and then coming in and playing this good -- and against his old teams."
NHL.com independent correspondent Kevin Woodley contributed to this report
