Game 2 gem adds to Holtby’s stellar postseason
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 and 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 allowed the Washington Capitals to even the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights and served as further evidence of Holtby’s dominant playoff run.
Most of the buzz going into the Cup Final surrounded Vegas goaltender Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby makes a stick save on a shot by the Golden Knights’ Alex Tuch late in Game 2 on Wednesday.
Marc-Andre Fleury, a deserved Conn Smythe favorite who already has two championship rings. But Holtby stole the show in making 37 saves in Game 2 and returned to his careerlong 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
Capitals teammates have come to expect this time of year.
“The guy’s just a machine,” 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 gamechangers — none better than the one with a couple minutes left
in Game 2.”
Holtby is not impressed.
Trotz has watched “the save” a handful of times, and Holtby has analyzed it but believes “there are a lot more saves that I’ve made even these two games that I like a lot more than that one.”
The 2016 Vezina Trophy winner is far
more worried about how to not need to make that desperate of a stop in Game 3 on Saturday night 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 on Friday. “You try to find little areas where you can limit the chance of the puck going in instead of just hoping it doesn’t.”
Since he made his NHL playoff debut as a rookie in 2012, Holtby has a 2.04 goals-against average and .929 save percentage — fourth- and second-best all-time among goaltenders with at least 50 games of experience.
In these playoffs, Holtby is 13-7 with a 2.19 GAA and .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.”
Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov took part in an optional practice on Friday after leaving Game 2 clutching his left arm and not returning. Trotz said Kuznetsov had not been cleared, considers him day to day, and expects Washington’s leading scorer to be a game-time decision on Saturday. ... Capitals defenseman Brooks Orpik, who took a slash from Erik Haula late in Game 2, had his left pinkie wrapped but expects to be able to continue playing. Orpik did not skate Friday.