Big saves aren’t new for Holtby
ARLINGTON, Va. — Alex Ovechkin covered his eyes with his gloved hands in disbelief. Barry Trotz hid his disbelief inside.
Chandler Stephenson had the perfect view and didn’t like the odds. The net was wide open, but Braden Holtby reached his stick across and stopped Alex Tuch’s shot in the final minutes to save the game.
“I thought, ‘Oh, no, no, no,’” Stephenson said. “And then his paddle was there and he made the save, and I just couldn’t believe it.”
Holtby’s unbelievable move might go down as one of the most important moments in Stanley Cup Final history. It allowed the Washington Capitals to even the best-of-seven title series against the Vegas Golden Knights at a game apiece and served as further evidence of Holtby’s dominant playoff run.
Most of the buzz going into the series surrounded Vegas goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, a deserved Conn Smythe favorite who has two championship rings. But Holtby stole the show while making 37 saves in Game 2, returning to his career-long playoff dominance after allowing five goals on 33 shots in a Game 1 that was far from goalie-friendly.
It’s the kind of play his teammates have come to expect this time of year.
“The guy’s just a machine,” Capitals defenseman Matt Niskanen said. “Boy, has he been good. Making the saves that he’s supposed to make look really routine, and he’s made some game-changers — none better than the one with a couple minutes left in Game 2.”
Holtby has analyzed the play but believes “there’s a lot more saves that I’ve made even these two games that I like a lot more than that one.” The
laser-focused 2016 Vezina Trophy winner is far more worried about how to not need to make that desperate of a stop tonight in Game 3 — and beyond.
“You hope that next time you get more of your body behind it and give it less chance of going in,” Holtby said Friday. “You try and find little areas where you can limit the chance of the puck going in instead of just hoping it doesn’t.”
The 28-year-old doesn’t make saves on hope. Since he made his NHL playoff debut as a rookie in 2012, Holtby has a 2.04 goals-against average and a .929 save percentage — fourth- and second-best alltime among goalies with at least 50 games.
In other words, Holtby is no one-save pony. In these playoffs, he’s 13-7 with a 2.19 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage since replacing Philipp Grubauer in Game 2 of the first round.
“Thank God he’s our goalie,” Ovechkin said. “He’s over there when we need him.”
From the other end of the rink, Fleury — who has allowed seven goals in the series and not been nearly as unbeatable as he was in the first three rounds — can admire Holtby’s play even if he doesn’t like it.
“I think it’s an awesome save,” Fleury said. “I don’t appreciate it, though. I’d rather it be a goal.”