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Braden Holtby becomes second fastest goaltender to reach 200 wins: ‘It’s a cool accomplishment, I guess’

By Ian Oland

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November 10, 2017 11:23 pm

Everyone would agree that Braden Holtby accomplished something pretty special tonight – well, unless your name is Braden Holtby.

The Lloydminster, Saskatchewan-native became the second fastest goaltender to 200 wins, being beaten only by Hall of Fame goaltender Ken Dryden (309 games). Holtby accomplished the feat in 319 games played.

After the game, Holtby spoke about the feat and downplayed it hard.

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“I don’t know, it’s a cool accomplishment I guess,” Holtby, in full troll mode, said after the game. “It doesn’t really mean anything though. Shows I’m getting up there in years.”

“It’s an honor to be in same sentence as [Ken Dryden],” Holtby continued. “It’s just luck in some ways. It’s been a fun time. And now we go forward.”

Despite the Capitals struggling to start the season, Holtby has been mostly spectacular all season, winning 9 of his first 12 games. He also has a .924 save percentage despite having several rookies on defense in the lineup.

After the morning skate, Barry Trotz was asked about what it would mean to him if Holts was able to accomplish the feat against the defending-champion Penguins.

“Well, special players on good teams: that’s the first thing that comes to mind,” Trotz said. “Obviously a hall of fame guy in Ken Dryden. That says a lot about what Braden’s body of work in in his era in Washington to this point has been. There’s no question we’ve won a lot of hockey games since I’ve been here with Braden. It’s the reason why he’s the number one goalie. He’s put up good numbers. We’ve had good teams, but you’ve still got to win those games. When you’re not playing well, you’ve got to steal some games and he’s done all of the above.”

“Nothing gives a coach more comfort than your goaltending,” Trotz continued. “In football it’s quarterback. In hockey it’s the goaltender. If you don’t have goaltending in this league, you can’t win. It’s impossible to win without goaltending.”

Chris Gordon contribued reporting.

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