Tonight Braden Holtby played his first full 60 minutes as a Dallas Star. The 32-year-old goaltender just came over to Dallas from Vancouver and I’ve been on the edge of my seat waiting for him to play.
Holtby is a phenomenal goaltender. He’s got one Stanley Cup, a Jennings, and a Vezina. Over his 11 year career, he’s played in 489 games with a 289-133-49 regular season record. He’s got an average 2.58 GAA and .915 save percentage. As for the playoffs, he has 97 games played with a 50-47-0 record. His average GAA in the postseason sits at 2.13 and his save percentage is .926. So with Ben Bishop’s health being a question mark and a steady backup in Khudobin, Holtby was just a special bonus to this mix. Dallas’s goaltending hasn’t been an issue their last two seasons so adding another great goalie in just makes things better IMO.
As for his first full 60 tonight, I think he did great. Against St. Louis, he faced 28 shots and stopped 27 of them. 5 of those shots were seen on the power play and none got past him. He finished the night with a .964 save percentage. For his efforts he was also awarded 1st Star of the game.
For a first full game with the team, even if it’s preseason, this is a great start. As I said, goaltending hasn’t been an issue as of late but that’s because we have had such strong goalies. Dallas depends heavily on their goaltenders to keep them in the game. Getting a solid first win, especially against the Blues, is going to not only give Holtby confidence in himself but his teammates the confidence that they can rely on him. Holtby has been a favorite of mine for years so having him on this Stars’ team is going to be something special.
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