BREAKING: Trotz calls out his team after devastating loss

With his team now facing elimination against an undermanned Pittsburgh Penguins squad, Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz wasn’t pulling any punches when describing his team’s play so far in their second round series.

Ouch. That’s a direct shot across the bow to team’s leaders like Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstrom, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Braden Holtby. In their fairness to Ovechkin, Backstrom and Kuznetsov the trio have managed to find the back of the net in their series against the Pens. But Trotz’s criticism of Holtby is well founded. 

Holtby’s playoff GAA of 2.59 and Sv% of .909 leave a lot to be desired. In his last 4 games the numbers look even worse: 2.75 GAA and .852 Sv%. Double ouch. After such a fantastic regular season in 2016-17, it’s been a real shame to see Holtby’s game fall apart at the most inopportune time, unless of course you’re a Pens fan.

One thing’s for sure, if the Capitals have any chance of getting back into their series against the Penguins, they’ll need Holtby to be better.