Rangers solve Holtby in shootout
Capitals rookie goalie Braden Holtby is a creature of habit. The 21-year-old has all the quirks and foibles that you associate with a position where absorbing flying rubber is a pre-requisite.
About 25 minutes before his teammates even took the ice for warm-ups prior to their game against the New York Rangers on Monday night, Holtby stood on the bench all alone, still dressed in shorts and an undershirt, head resting on his goalie stick in quiet contemplation.
Within the hour Holtby was back in his crease for a third consecutive start. That visualization process worked for most of the night as Holtby made 28 saves against the Rangers. But his focus disappeared after the game went to a shootout when New York scored on three of its four attempts to take a 2-1 victory.
“It’s frustrating obviously,” Holtby said. “Not because of the game, but because in the shootout I wasn’t patient and I wasn’t efficient with my sliding and pushes. When it comes down to that you have to make those saves to win games.”
Just a few hundred fans had made their way into the building as Holtby, all but oblivious to their presence, kept up his vigil for about 10 minutes and then just as suddenly sprinted off the bench and down the home tunnel to finish his pre-game preparations out of public view. His notorious habits and superstitions do have a greater purpose. Holtby has now stopped 87 of 90 shots since a recall from AHL Hershey after both Michal Neuvirth and Semyon Varlamov came down with lower-body injures last week.
| Caps notes |
| » Washington defenseman Scott Hannan assisted on Matt Hendricks‘ second-period goal. That was his first point with the Caps. |
| » Hendricks has now scored goals in back-to-back games for just the second time in his NHL career. |
| » Washington was last held to fewer than 20 shots in a game on Dec. 22, 2007 against the New York Islanders. The Caps had 17 during regulation on Monday and 23 after overtime. |
“The only goal that beat [Holtby] it was one even the Rangers didn’t know they scored,” said Caps coach Bruce Boudreau. “So when you hold a team to one goal for [29] shots, I thought he did really well.”
Matt Hendricks scored just 87 seconds into the second period – his second goal in as many games – to provide all the offense the Caps would get.
Hendricks made a wonderful – if unexpected – deke on a breakaway in Toronto Saturday night to put that game out of reach. He didn’t need to do near so much work against the Rangers.
Instead, rookie center Marcus Johansson sent a perfect diagonal pass from the blueline and Hendricks simply re-directed it past New York goalie Martin Biron for the 1-0 lead.
New York didn’t tie the game until 6 minutes, 41 seconds remained in the third period when a Brian Boyle shot from just inside the blueline deflected off several players in front, hit Holtby, too, and then bounced off Marian Gaborik’s glove and hopped over everyone and into the net.
“It was a lucky bounce, a fluke goal on their part,” Hendricks said. “But they had been getting pretty close. They had a lot of shots. They were outplaying us in the attack zone. I’ll take this one. We got a point out of it, but I’m not satisfied. I’m not happy.”
.
