Thompson Backstopping Capitals Win Streak

While last season the Washington Capitals platooned their two top goalies in Logan Thompson and Charlie Lindgren en route to the top seed in the Eastern Conference, there has been no doubt who has been their starter this season.

Sunday afternoon on Long Island, Thompson turned away 30 of 31 shots and helped the Capitals overcome a very sluggish start to come away with a 4-1 win to leapfrog the New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division standings, as Washington has gone from being in 12th place in the Eastern Conference just a week ago to fourth place in the conference, and just two points off the lead as the team heads west for a California swing – and Team Canada begins to make its final decision who to bring to the Olympics.

Thompson has won three straight games as Washington’s starter, allowing just four total goals in those contests, and posted a .916 save percentage overall this season with a 2.08 goals-against. Overall, the Capitals have won four straight to move up the standings as the calendar moved past Thanksgiving.

While the Capitals have had some sluggish starts this season, Thompson did his best Sunday to keep Washington afloat despite allowing some excellent scoring chances in the first few minutes. Thompson made a spinning save on Anders Lee on a 2-on-1 break just 42 seconds into the contest, then another spectacular save on Simon Holstrom after he stripped Jacob Chychrun of the puck at the red line and broke in alone on Thompson less than seven minutes into the game.

Washington easily could have fallen behind early, as they have on a couple of occasions, but those two key save allowed a Tom Wilson power-play goal later in the frame to be the only score in the first 20 minutes – a period which the Islanders had the lions’ share of good chances, with Thompson’s saves eliciting audible groans from the crowd expecting a goal for the home team.

While the Caps eventually got their footing as the contest progressed, Thompson stood tall in net, just losing his shutout bid in the third period on a Bo Horvat power-play tally with less than seven minutes remaining in regulation.

After the game, the Capitals credited Thompson for keeping them from getting behind early and allowing them to grab two points after slowly getting their footing in the contest.

“I mean [he made] three or four huge saves in the first period,” Wilson said afterwards. “I think that’s something that he does very well for us. There’s 82 games. Some nights you come out a little bit slow, and in the last couple of years, he’s been able to make really big saves in the first, allow us to wake up, go down and get one, kind of get in front. That’s huge when you have a goalie that’s doing that for you.

“So it’s no surprise he’s been playing really, really well, and every time he’s in there, he gives us a chance.”

“He gave us a chance early on to find our footing, gave up too many odd-man rushes early in that hockey game,” Capitals coach Spencer Carbery said. “We were caught off guard a bit by their speed and transition … He bails us out and gives us a chance to find our footing. We get a power play, get up in that game, and then, yeah, we’re able to hang on.”

While Thompson has also cemented the No. 1 role in Washington, now having in played in 18 of Washington’s games after appearing in 43 of 82 last season, he also is auditioning this year for Team Canada. Despite being overlooked for last February’s 4 Nations tournament, he leads all but one Canadian netminder in wins this season, and is second in save percentage among Canadian goalies who have appeared in at least 10 contests this season.

Thompson has had limited experience in a crowded Team Canada net, appearing internationally just at the 2022 IIHF World Championship, where he went 3-1 before bowing out with injury as Canada ended up with the silver medal in Finland. But like several of Washington’s past few contests, Canadian staff were on hand and evaluating if he will be one of three picked to go to Italy in February.

But the goaltender was grounded after the game, comparing Sunday’s start to his only blemish in the last two weeks, where he allowed four goals on six shots in a loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning on November 22.

“I think any time you can make some desperation saves like that early on and keep your team in it,” he said. “It really could have gone the other way. I think it’s very similar to the Tampa game, right? I think sometimes you let four goals in on six shots, and other times you’re keeping the puck out of the net. So, fortunately, it went that way tonight, and I was able to buy the guys some time.”

One of the reasons for optimism despite Washington’s slugglsh start to the season was that the goaltending has been solid, and Thompson is giving the Capitals a netminder they haven’t really seen since Braden Holtby was in net. Not only has he been making the routine saves, but also allowing the team to erase some defensive miscues – and allowing the teams to weather some stretches where his defense needed bailing out.

And after an 8-8-1 start to the season where they sat in 14th place on November 15 and nine points off the conference lead, Washington has gone 7-1-1 since, with Thompson factoring in six of those games (4-1-1), and four of the last five starts (4-1), with the Capitals now back in the chase for both the Metro and Eastern Conference’s top seed.

“I mean, he had about, I don’t know, 10 grade-A saves for us,” Matt Roy said of his netminder. “He definitely kept us in it and gave us a chance to win. He played great today.”