As expected, Capitals goaltender Philipp Grubauer will return to his backup position after opening the 2018 postseason as Washington’s starter. Grubauer posted a 4.57 goals against average and a .837 save percentage during Games One and Two of the Capitals’ first-round series against the Blue Jackets.
Head coach Barry Trotz will instead turn to Braden Holtby for Game Three.
Braden Holtby will be the Capitals’ starting goaltender for Game 3.
— Isabelle Khurshudyan (@ikhurshudyan) April 17, 2018
Holtby relieved Grubauer in the third period of Game Two. In 33 minutes of game time, Holtby made seven saves on eight shots, but gave up Matt Calvert’s overtime game-winner.
LRT: Holtby probably should have started game 1, but there's only so much a goalie change can do when this is where your goals against are being scored from #CBJ #ALLCAPS pic.twitter.com/gY4WeELJDA
— Natural Stat Trick (@NatStatTrick) April 17, 2018
“We just needed that one save,” Trotz said after Game Two. “We just needed that one save, and we weren’t able to get it.”
“The body of work of both those guys have been terrific, obviously Holts a little longer than Grubi in terms of that,” Trotz continued. “I have absolute confidence in both goalies. They’ve been terrific. They’ve won us a lot of games, and one thing about them is that they bounce back all of the time.”
With the Capitals facing a potential un-come-back-able 3-0 series hole, Holtby will need to have a huge game in Columbus.
And lucky for us, Capitals PR is here with some facts to give us all hope:
- Holtby has posted four shutouts, a 2.00 goals-against average and a .932 save percentage in a franchise-record 60 career playoff games.
- Braden Holtby ranks second in NHL playoff history (min. 50 games played) in career save percentage and third in career goals-against average.
- In addition, Holtby ranks first among active NHL goaltenders (min. 20 games played) in career playoff save percentage and goals-against average.
- Holtby has allowed two goals or fewer in 39 of his 60 career playoff games and Washington has posted a 26-13 record in those games.
- During the regular season, Holtby has played in 160 career games following one day of rest, recording 2.16 goals against average and a .927 save percentage, his lowest goals against average and his highest save percentage of any other combination of days with rest.
