The Washington Capitals are still in the fight.
A 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 on Saturday night kept the Caps' season alive, and no one played a bigger role in the victory than all-world goaltender Braden Holtby.
The Vezina Trophy favorite made 30 saves, a big bounce-back performance in his eyes after losing three consecutive starts.
"I wasn't too happy with my performance the game before, and I wanted to make a difference for our team, show that I'd rebound just like us," Holtby told Isabelle Khurshudyan of The Washington Post. "Some nights you can make those saves."
Holtby was rock solid in preserving Washington's lead, and made a pair of crucial saves that caught the eyes of his teammates.
The “HOLTBY” chants rain down from the Verizon Center after these two. #HoltBeast pic.twitter.com/kptYlLZl76
— #RockTheRed (@washcaps) May 8, 2016
"Those are highlight reel saves," said forward T.J. Oshie, who scored the game-winner. "I think I jumped higher when he made that glove save than when we scored any of our goals out there."
Matt Murray, the goalie on the other end of the ice, has stolen the show in the playoffs thus far, garnering plenty of attention for his surprising performance as a rookie netminder.
Meanwhile, Holtby's teammates don't think he cares where the spotlight shines at this point.
"I think he would actually prefer if nobody said anything to him, just let him do his thing and play the game," defenseman Karl Alzner said. "Holts doesn't need it. He doesn't need anyone to talk about it, he probably doesn't even care if he were to win that Vezina Trophy. He's just happy to do his job, he just wants to win this prize, the Cup. So he doesn't care about that, but obviously he deserves all the accolades in the world right now."
