UPDATE: Now With Lyrics!

“The Ballad of Braden Holtby”
(Sung to the tune of The Clash’s “Lost in the Supermarket“)

I’m all lost with this shootout gimmick
I can no longer save happily
I came in here for a special offer
A chance to play in the big time league

I didn’t lose so much as I lost out
My team forgot to score for me
We had a team that used to score at will
But those days seem so long ago

I heard the people who paid for their tickets
Scream and chant so loud for me
Hearing that noise just made me play better
That’s how it was all through the game

Chrous

I was tuned in, I saw all the shooters
I saved pucks from back of the nets
I’ve got my big strange goalie routines
I flip my bottle and I feel a bit free

In overtime I kept holding the line
And took the team to shootoutville
Came the shinny dekes on a rookie goalie
And the silence makes me lonely

Chorus

And it’s not here
It disappear
I’m shootout lost

——————————–

Three games, three goals against…and then there was a shootout.  The Washington Capitals helped out rookie goaltender Braden Holtby in the first two games of his most recent call up from the Hershey Bears by scoring a few goals in each game and allowing Holtby’s stellar play to stand on its own without buts, excuses, or caveats of any kind.  This time, he was thrown into the deep end of the shootout after Matt Hendricks was the only Capital that found a way to solve New York Rangers goalie Martin Biron in 65 minutes of regulation and overtime.  Holtby was easily deked and solved in the shootout by Rangers shooters Wojtek Wolski, Mats Zuccarello, and Artem Anisimov. If there wasn’t a shootout book on Holtby before this game, there will be next time.  Hopefully, Holtby can bounce back with Capitals goalie coach Arturs Irbe’s assistance and render that book out of date when someone tries to use it.  Still, it’s the same old story we’ve been seeing for some time…a little offense goes a long way, but too little doesn’t go far enough.

Japer’s Rink and Russian Machine have great write ups and Capitals Outsider has the box score you need to read.  Look at photos below or on flickr.