If you assume Neuvirth was almost destined to be shaky in his first start back and would need time to build up momentum, you might make the case that it is better to give up points in an inter-conference game if you have to. It may have been a case of getting as much out of Holtby as he could before switching back to Neuvirth, knowing that no matter what Neuvirth won't be on his game at the start.
Whether or not that's the case should become much clearer these next few games, when we see how he handles them. If he goes straight back to Holtby then I don't know what he was expecting. If he gives Neuvirth several games to build up momentum then I'll be able to believe he has some kind of plan (whether or not I agree with the execution of it).
EDIT: This is, of course, assuming that Neuvirth had been healthy enough to play in the last few games. If he wasn't then that answers a lot of questions I guess, even though that seems unlikely.