Cardiac Cane
Fansided

Carolina Hurricanes: Four Keys to a Game One Win

By Robert Leonard

RALEIGH, NC - DECEMBER 14: Justin Williams #14 of the Carolina Hurricanes chats prior to a faceoff with former teammate Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals during an NHL game on December 14, 2018 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC - DECEMBER 14: Justin Williams #14 of the Carolina Hurricanes chats prior to a faceoff with former teammate Alex Ovechkin #8 of the Washington Capitals during an NHL game on December 14, 2018 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 5
Next
RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 28: Warren Foegele #13 of the Carolina Hurricanes scores a goal as Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks back at the puck in the net during an NHL game on March 28, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images)
RALEIGH, NC – MARCH 28: Warren Foegele #13 of the Carolina Hurricanes scores a goal as Braden Holtby #70 of the Washington Capitals looks back at the puck in the net during an NHL game on March 28, 2019 at PNC Arena in Raleigh, North Carolina. (Photo by Gregg Forwerck/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Solve Braden Holtby

There is a reason that Braden Holtby has been two four straight All-Star games, won the Vezina Trophy for the league’s top goaltender and has his name on the Stanley Cup; he’s a world class goaltender who does his job extremely well.

Holtby has played every minute of the four games against Carolina this year and won all four with a 91.81 save percentage in those games. If you take out the five goals he allowed in a December win, Holtby has allowed only five goals against Carolina in the other three games.

Of the 10 goals Holtby has allowed, three have been scored on the power play (four if you count Dougie Hamilton’s goal on a delayed penalty), two on breakaways, and two on what were basically Washington making errors in clearing a puck. The two that weren’t in these category? A face-off win in the offensive zone where Sebastian Aho won a draw and then Carolina got a good bounce and then this highlight real goal from Warren Foegele.

Holtby does not give up bad goals. To score on him, Carolina has to do the dirty work, draw penalties, take advantage of mistakes and win offensive zone draws. There simply was not a goal scored by Carolina on Holtby, except Foegele’s, where Carolina just beat him clean.

Home/Analysis