Holtby after Game 1: 'We just can't give up 5 goals and expect to have success'

Washington Capitals goaltender Braden Holtby was nowhere near his best during Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, but he's moving forward quickly.

Holtby took accountability for his team's performance in Monday's 6-4 loss to the Vegas Golden Knights, where he surrendered five goals on 33 shots. Tomas Nosek added an empty-netter with three seconds remaining to preserve the win for Vegas.

"For us, we just can't give up five goals and expect to have success," Holtby said via Lisa Dillman of NHL.com. "There's some areas where myself and our group, we can be more working on the same page and find ways to limit those and let our offense take over."

The Golden Knights present a unique complication for other teams, as they don't have an established precedent to base their play off of.

Holtby is well aware of the challenges the Golden Knights pose, but he's confident he will adapt to them as the series wears on.

"You can watch all the video of how to play other teams but you don't know how they're going to play you until they actually do it," Holtby said. "Every building is going to be loud. It's also another area, getting used to their team a little bit is going to help us."

It's clear that Holtby will need to be better if the Capitals are to split the series heading back to Washington, and the 2016 Vezina winner will surely be sharing his analysis with his defensemen as they prepare for Game 2.

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