After the minute-long video homage was over, Braden Holtby stepped out of the Capital One Arena tunnel for the delight of the roaring audience. Now with the Dallas Stars, Holtby has taken the Standing Ovation around him – waving and agreeing. It was his first return to the arena since leaving the capitals in 2020.
Holtby did not play against his former team due to injury. But his current squad may not have been the team he needed most.
The Red-Hot Capitals had beaten their four-game winning streak on Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Stars, a defeat that also saw their eight-game point steak end.
Washington’s Vitek Vanecek, who became the team’s primary goalie after Holtby’s departure, had 20 saves on 23 shots – with two of the three goals allowed to come in while the capitals were in the penalty area.
The Capitals (35-19-10) made a push late, but could not completely rally against a team that came in on a back-to-back set. All the positive vibes generated by Holtby’s return seem like an afterthought for the capitals – who were particularly angry about a late hit on defender John Carlson.
With less than a minute left, Dallie’s Jamie Benn struck a streaking Carlson with his stick – causing the veteran to fall to the boards. The defender was slowly getting up, and Capitals coach Peter Laviolette had no update on Carlson’s condition after the match.
“He gave it a lot of help,” said Laviolette, who called on the NHL to review the game. “That’s dirty.”
Sunday’s game came on the eve of the NHL trade deadline. The teams had until 3pm Monday to make a deal, and a little less than three weeks ago, the capitals looked as if they were going on a quiet day. In connection with a team strike, General Manager Brian MacLellan told reporters he was less likely to be “aggressive” than usual due to Washington’s poor start to the new year. MacLellan said the capitals have fallen out of candidate status, making it more difficult to separate them with draft capital or prospects.
Then a funny thing happened to the capitals: They got hot.
After MacLellan’s remarks on March 2 and before Sunday’s loss, the Capitals went 7-0-1 – including three wins over the Carolina Hurricanes and Calgary Flames in first place, leading their respective divisions. The current raised the question of whether MacLellan would reconsider his previous position.
Laviolette played it coy. He downplayed the idea that the executive’s comments motivated the group.
“It’s been a long year,” Laviolette said before the game.
If Capitals were to make a move, where would they look for upgrades? Adding a veteran goaltender seems like an obvious fit, and that notion was only reinforced on Sunday against the Stars.
Just 2 minutes and 17 seconds into the competition, stars band Alexander Radulov brought Dallas to the board as he shot one in a bounce off the side of the net. Even though the goal may not have been entirely on Vanecek, a veteran could correct the rebound before Radulov had a chance to get it.
Vanecek, with a .919 save percentage and 2.35 goal-versus-average, was the consistent netminder for the Capitals this season – outplaying Ilya Samsonov – but poorly-timed goals are something that MacLellan admitted he was worried about earlier this month.
“It’s not the overall savings rate, it’s when and how the goals happen,” MacLellan said.
This idea – the best goalkeepers save when it counts – was only further highlighted when Holtby was honored with a two-minute video tribute shortly after Radulov’s goal. As part of the montage, Holtby’s iconic explosive display was shown during Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final 2018, because how could it not be? The crowd roared in delight as Holtby finished off a spectacular series of passes through the middle to even the score for Capital One Arena.
By most accounts, Holtby – in the midst of a decline year for the 32-year-old – is not thought to be available for the deadline, so a reunion seems unlikely. The biggest name out there for Washington is former Pittsburgh Penguins rival Marc-Andre Fleury, but the Chicago Blackhawks will likely have no shortage of volunteers with the Minnesota Wild and the Edmonton Oilers are also rumored as possible destinations.
Nevertheless, against the stars, the Capitals also did not give Vanecek a taste for the net. Washington’s Penalty Kill allowed two goals, which scored a couple of goals for Dallas Roope Hintz to make it 2-0 and later 3-1.
“Not our best game,” said center Lars Eller, who made his return from a stint on the NHL’s COVID-19 list.
Eller was the last capital to return to the team after a short absence. Even during their recent stint, Washington has juggled boys in and out of the lineup – including TJ Oshie, Nic Dowd and Trevor van Riemsdyk, who all missed the Stars game.
As for the deadline, Eller said Sunday feels just like “another day”. If the capitals were to be rebuilt, he said, then it might be a different vibe. But if the capitals make a move, it will almost certainly be time to upgrade their list.
The Capitals have not made it out of the first round since winning the Stanley Cup with Holtby. And this year, captain Alex Ovechkin is putting together another dazzling campaign: The Russian star hit his 40th goal of the year on Sunday – he teamed up with Wayne Gretzky for the most 40 goal seasons in NHL history with 12. Will MacLellan trying to take advantage ?
The answer will come soon. But first, the priority of the Capitals seems to be Carlson.
“This is one of our best players,” Laviolette said.
Add Comment