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That made it easy for Trotz to rely on him so heavily.

“After the first 20 games we sort of dug ourselves a little hole and we had to dig ourselves out of it,” Trotz said of the Capitals’ tepid 9-8-3 start. “One thing led to another and he just kept performing well.”

A year ago, Holtby could never have played this many games. For one, his play did not warrant it. And he would have burned himself out by the midway point. Acrobatic and athletic, Holtby used to make the goaltending position look as difficult as it is. He was good. But he was too aggressive and not efficient enough in his movements to become great.

And then Mitch Korn came along and changed everything.

“He thought of ways to fix things in my game that I knew needed fixing but I didn’t know how to change them,” Holtby said of the Capitals goaltending coach. “It’s still a work in progress, but he’s brilliant in the fact that if you have something that you want to fix, he knows how to do it right away. You don’t waste time doubting yourself.”

Korn, who spent the past 15 seasons working alongside Trotz in Nashville, has worked with NHLers such as Dominik Hasek and Pekka Rinne. In 2010, The Hockey News included him as one of the 10 geniuses in hockey. His disciples call themselves the “Children of the Korn.”

“He’s,” Holtby said, searching for a right word, “different.”

Prior to training camp, Korn took Holtby to a vision centre in Minneapolis to help “train his eyes” to the see the puck better. In one of their first practices together, he shot pucks at Holtby that had been painted white and had him try to stop shots while clutching a medicine ball in his hands in an effort to make him more compact and controlled in his crease.