Braden Holtby, who struggled late in Game 1, looks to bounce back for Capitals
He took the blame for the Islanders’ first goal that cut Washington’s 2-0 lead in half late in the second period. The play began with Mathew Barzal and Jordan Eberle attacking on the rush. Barzal dropped the puck for Eberle, who then cut left to right, getting past Capitals defenseman John Carlson before firing what should have been a harmless wrister toward the net. Holtby appeared to misplay the puck, which went right over his raised glove and into the net.
“First, first goal obviously can’t go in,” Holtby said after the game. “I haven’t seen a replay of it yet. Can’t really tell you too much. I just know it’s a bad goal in a bad part of the game. That’s on me. That changes the momentum of the game right there. That’s just something that you move on with, you realize the importance of the little things and you strive to do them better next time.”
The Islanders got an equalizer 51 seconds into the third period on a goal by Anders Lee.
Later in the third, Holtby was clearing the puck on a Capitals power play and tried to casually pass it to Alex Ovechkin, who was engaged with Brock Nelson. With Ovechkin unaware the puck was coming to him, Nelson got possession and passed to Josh Bailey, who scored the eventual game-winning goal shorthanded.
“I didn’t realize that there wasn’t much time there,” Holtby said. “I should’ve just held on to it. I thought we had more time. That one’s something that we just — you don’t want it to happen. It was kind of a weird play. It’s more that first one that I’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
Holtby finished with 23 saves on 27 shots, and his play has raised concerns even though it was only the first game of the series. He will get a chance to bounce back Friday in Game 2.
“We have an experienced enough group to know that one game doesn’t make a series,” Holtby said. “It’s how you respond to it; it’s how you do the little things, learn from the game that you just played and find ways to play them better. … First game in the series doesn’t say much about how it’s going to go. It’s how you respond from here on out.”
The Capitals’ backup goaltending options aren’t ideal.
Rookie Ilya Samsonov did not travel with the team to Toronto because of an injury he suffered off the ice in Russia, so Vitek Vanecek has been named the No. 2 behind Holtby. Pheonix Copley is also with the team.
Vanecek had a solid campaign with Hershey of the American Hockey League in 2019-20, posting a 2.26 goals against average and .917 save percentage behind a 19-10-1 record in 31 games while splitting time with Copley. Vanecek, 24, has not made an official NHL appearance — he played in the third period of the exhibition game against the Carolina Hurricanes on July 29. Coach Todd Reirden and General Manager Brian MacLellan praised Vanecek after his performance.
“Vitek, he’s earned a chance to play some games, and unfortunately we haven’t had the opportunity to get him into games, regular season games in the NHL,” MacLellan said in late July. “He’s played really well at the [AHL] level; he’s gotten better every year, has worked hard at his game.”
Copley went 17-8-6 with Hershey in the 2019-20 season and had a .905 save percentage and 2.47 goals against average. The 28-year-old went 16-7-3 with Washington in 2018-19, which was his first full season in the NHL.
The Capitals have faith in Holtby and know they need to do more on the other end of the ice, especially with Nicklas Backstrom out. Backstrom was placed in the concussion protocol after a late hit by Lee in Game 1.
“We know we need to be better, we need to generate a little more offense,” Tom Wilson said Thursday. “We looked at some ways this morning on how to do it. We just have to execute it at the end of the day, get pucks to the net — you know, that playoff-type hockey.”
