ARLINGTON, Va. — Braden Holtby practiced with the Washington Capitals again Thursday, but the goalie’s status remains uncertain for their game against the New York Islanders at Capital One Arena on Friday (7:30 p.m. ET; ESPN+, SN1, SNE, NBCSWA, MSG+, NHL.TV) because of a left eye injury.
Holtby said his eye continues to improve, but he wouldn’t commit to being available to start against the Islanders.
“You’ll find out tomorrow,” he said.
Capitals coach Todd Reirden said picking his starting goaltender might be a game-time decision, depending on how Holtby feels Friday morning.
“[He] made it through a hard practice today and [we’ll] continue to evaluate,” Reirden said. “It’s been a little bit of a situation where we don’t know exactly how things are going to react until last minute.”
Holtby has not played since he was poked in the eye by the stick of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Cam Atkinson during the second period of a 2-1 overtime loss on Saturday. Holtby practiced Sunday and was expected to start at the Nashville Predators on Tuesday after dressing as Pheonix Copley‘s backup for Washington’s 4-1 home loss to the St. Louis Blues on Monday; however, he was held out as a precaution and again backed up Copley in a 7-2 loss.
“It just didn’t clear up as quick as we were expecting,” Holtby said. “It’s just one of those things where it was a decision where you don’t really know what it’s going to be like in a game and there was a bit of doubt about what it was going to react like. It obviously wasn’t close enough to 100 percent where we felt comfortable it was for the betterment of the team.”
The Capitals (27-14-5) don’t want Holtby to back up again if he’s not 100 percent, so Reirden said they might call up a goaltender in case Holtby isn’t able to start Friday.
“That was something that was not possible to do before last game and put us in a little bit of a tough spot, but that won’t happen again,” Reirden said.
The Capitals are confident that Holtby’s eye will heal completely and that it will not be a long-term issue, but they don’t know how much more time he’ll need. At this point, Reirden isn’t sure if Holtby will return in time to play in the 2019 Honda NHL All-Star Game at SAP Center in San Jose on Jan. 26 (8 p.m. ET, NBC, CBC, SN, TVAS).
Holtby, who is 17-10-2 with a 2.85 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage and two shutouts this season, was selected to represent the Capitals at the All-Star Game for the fourth time.
“It’s too soon probably to comment on now, but that potentially could be an issue,” Reirden said. “I’m hoping the rest of today goes like this morning has for the most part and then no problems with his sleep, comes in, has a good morning skate and we’re ready to go and we can talk about him being our starter tomorrow night. That’s what I’m hoping for, but it’s just something we’ve got to play a little bit by ear and it’s one that does change fairly quickly.”
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