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Capitals: Top 3 impact players to watch against Islanders

By Michael Marzzacco

UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 04: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates against the New York Islanders at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on October 04, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. The Capitals defeated the Islanders 2-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
UNIONDALE, NEW YORK - OCTOBER 04: Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals skates against the New York Islanders at NYCB Live's Nassau Coliseum on October 04, 2019 in Uniondale, New York. The Capitals defeated the Islanders 2-1. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 08: Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 8, 2020 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA – JANUARY 08: Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks on against the Philadelphia Flyers on January 8, 2020 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Braden Holtby

Braden Holtby has had a down season and with the play of rookie Ilya Samsonov heating up, it begs the question what does the future look like in the crease for the future. It’s an interesting and fascinating concept but for now, in my honest opinion, Holtby and Samsonov is the best one-two goalie punch in the NHL this season.

The last time we saw Holtby in net, the Capitals lost to a lowly New Jersey Devils teamwhere he allowed four goals and made 17 saves on 21 shots for an .810 save percentage. That’s his lowest in his last five games and Holtby has dropped four of those last five.

Samsonov got the start the last two games and he played brilliant. Holtby is in a contract year and in the quest for a raise, he obviously would like to have better starts to increase his value entering the offseason.

Holtby carries an 18-9-4 record. On the surface that looks good. But when you dive deeper into the numbers you see that his goals-against average is at it’s career-highest at 3.02 while his save percentage is at a career-low .899.

A couple games off for Holtby to reset is exactly what we needed. He looked loose on the bench the other night and was smiling at the fun parts of the game. Especially after Ovechkin’s hat trick.

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