Some nights, the Montreal Canadiens will get by without Carey Price. Nights like Thursday probably make his absence more glaring, however.
That’s because the guy in the other team’s net was lights-out; Braden Holtby was the main reason why the Washington Capitals contained the Canadiens in a 3-2 win.
This gives the Capitals a six-game winning streak and quite the run. They’re now 10-2-1 in their last 13 games.
.@washcaps' @Holts170 (33 SV) extended his personal win streak to a career-high 8 games, the longest such run by an NHL goalie this season.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 4, 2015
Washington now has the tiebreaker edge on the New York Rangers, who fell 2-1 to the Colorado Avalanche on this same evening.
This is a pretty convincing difference, too, as the Capitals own one more win (18 to New York’s 17) with three games in hand.
Really, the bigger debate may be: did Washington just make an argument that they are the East’s top team instead of Montreal?
Bat that one around in the comments, even if it’s ultimately a ponderous debate for December.
It’s tough for anyone to assemble any kind of argument that Holtby was the best goalie on the ice in Montreal, though.
.@washcaps head coach Barry Trotz earned his 620th career win to tie Bryan Murray for 10th place on the NHL’s all-time coaching wins list.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) December 4, 2015