In the playoffs, there’s truth and deceit. While NBC’s Pierre McGuire was exaggerating Braden Holtby‘s 24-save performance in the Caps’ 1-0 Game Two overtime triumph to take a 2-0 series lead over the Rangers, the Washington netminder was a bit more honest.
MSG’s John Giannone tweeted an accurate statement Holtby made about his continued mastery of the Rangers:
Not bulletin board material as much as honest assessment & summary of gm 2 from Braden Holtby:”It wasn’t a very straining game on a goalie.”
Going further, the Rangers didn’t register one shot on Holtby the final 17:43. He sure faced a lot of pressure watching Henrik Lundqvist get bombarded. It’s one thing if they’re making him work. Quite another when he’s facing one shot at a time without traffic. Of the 60 shots Holtby’s faced, only one has beaten him. Carl Hagelin scored on a wrap around off a Cap stick. It wasn’t even clean. Hagelin’s goal came 16:44 into Game One. Since, the Blueshirts are scoreless in the last 111:16.
Making matters worse, they continue to have trouble hitting the net. They attempted 57 shots with 24 getting through. Twenty missed the net and 13 were blocked by Washington. Conversely, the Caps attempted 75 with 38 reaching their destination. Sixteen missed and 21 were blocked by the Rangers.
SHOOTING BLANKS (Games 1-2)
Missed Shots Blocked Total
Rangers 38 48 86
Capitals 24 36 60
TOTAL ATTEMPTS (Games 1-2)
SOG Missed Attempts Total
Rangers 60 86 146
Capitals 68 60 148
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