Braden Holtby had plenty of hype surrounding him going into the 2013 campaign and it’s not hard to see why. He had been great in his brief stints with the Capitals, a hero in the playoffs, and looked good in the AHL during the lockout.
All that made him the obvious choice for Adam Oates to start in his NHL coaching debut on Saturday. Ultimately very little went right for the Capitals on Saturday and Holtby ended up allowing six goals on 34 shots in a 6-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Still, after the game Oates chose to defend his goaltender.
“You know what, I don’t fault Holts at all on the goals,” Oates said, according to the Washington Times. “I think it was more all of us. And he played hard. Once again I’ll talk to the goalie coach and we’ll evaluate that on Monday.”
Oates previously stated that he would use both of his goaltenders a lot this season, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see Michal Neuvirth start in Washington’s home opener on Tuesday.
You can view highlights from the game below: