Holtby on top of heap, but he’s not done yet

CAPITALS GOALIE

— from a .917 save percentage in October to a .939 showing in January. But he argues “tough luck” was more a factor early on, “weird goals” somehow finding their way into the net amid a good, if not great, start for both the Caps and their No. 1 netminder.

“And when you look at goaltending statistics it doesn’t take much to change things; it’s one or two goals,” said Holtby, who entered the season with more career wins and shutouts than the nine goalies picked before him in the 2008 draft combined.

“A lot of the times you’re playing a percentage and there’s something open; the shooter just has to hit it. Some days he hits it, sometimes he doesn’t.”

Vezina aside, Holtby wanted to deliver a more consistent performance in his bid to improve in the Washington crease this season. He didn’t like how the second half went last year — he posted just a .911 save percentage after the all-star break — and determined that he needed to manage his rest better, the all-star break being one such example.

Holtby found he almost got “more exhausted” during his first all-star appearance, unable to adequately rest over three days in Nashville.

He’ll try to get a better handle on that at next week’s event in Los Angeles, joining Bobrovsky as one of two goalies for the Metropolitan Division.

The Capitals’ bye week in February should help, too, though Holtby says he prefers a hectic schedule in some ways for the rhythm it allows him to build in the crease.

A fourth-round pick of the Capitals, Holtby was about average in his first two full NHL seasons before joining the elite in the 2014-15 campaign. Since that point, he trails only Price and Dubnyk in save percentage (minimum 100 starts), while outpacing all NHL goaltenders with 18 shutouts.

He credits Capitals goalie coach Mitch Korn for his technical progress and head coach Barry Trotz and Washington’s beefed up blue-line for team-wide improvements.

Holtby matched Martin Brodeur’s NHL record with 48 wins last year, but doesn’t seem at all concerned with becoming the first goalie since Brodeur to capture the Vezina in back-to-back seasons.

He wanted to win one as a kid because that’s what his heroes, including three-time winner Patrick Roy, did.

“But as I got older it wasn’t as much of a goal, it was more focusing on the team and trying to win a Stanley Cup,” Holtby said. “It’s not a big deal to me right now.”