Braden Holtby’s stretch of 11 consecutive starts without a loss in regulation came to a screeching halt Wednesday night, when the depleted Capitals lost 4-1 to the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
The Caps’ goalie was 10-0-1 since Oct. 14, when head coach Todd Reirden benched him for allowing the Colorado Avalanche to score three times in the first eight minutes of the game.
Holtby looked good through the first two periods Wednesday, allowing just one power play goal off the stick of Artemi Panarin entering the third.
But things fell apart from there. New York scored two goals within 23 seconds of each other early in the third period, and while Evgeny Kuznetsov’s power play goal closed the deficit to 3-1 with a little less than 13 minutes to play, Brett Howden put the game away with a goal late.
Holtby is tied with the Vegas Golden Knights’ Marc-Andre Fleury for the most wins in the NHL with 11 but wasn’t able to take advantage of the opportunity to move into sole possession of first place while Vegas had the night off.
The Capitals will be back in action on Saturday when they play host to the Vancouver Canucks, with puck drop scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET.
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