Barry Trotz's intriguing comments on Braden Holtby

In the first four playoff games of the Washington Capitals first round playoff series against the Toronto Maple Leafs, goaltender Braden Holtby has not been playing very “Holtby-like”. The reigning Vezina trophy winner enters tomorrow’s game 5 contest with a 3.02 GAA and .907 Sv%, good for 15th among goaltenders is this year’s post-season.

So, when is it time to start panicking? Head coach Barry Trotz isn’t convinced that Holtby’s entirely to blame for his inflated statistics but stopped short of praising his goaltender’s play saying ,“It’s hard to gauge it because they’ve had a lot of strange stuff. During the year, goalies do everything on predictability. And there’s a lot of things that aren’t very predictable right now. And that, at times, makes Braden look like he’s not there. But it’s bouncing off four different guys.”

Whatever the case, Holtby needs to be better if the Capitals expect to get past the Leafs and make a push further in the playoffs. Call it a legitimate take, or a head coach standing up for his goalie, but Holtby must be better.

When asked to clarify whether he thinks Holtby has been good or not, Trotz reiterated his stance by saying,  “he’s playing fine. But it’s not very predictable right now because there’s stuff that is bouncing all over. It’s a pinball machine out there a little bit.”

If it’s indeed a pinball machine out there, Capitals fans better hope that Holtby and his teammates have more quarters in their pockets than the Leafs.