The Washington Capitals had their most thorough victory of the season, a 5-1 throttling of the Minnesota Wild, on Friday night. While the Capitals got big performances by Dylan Strome (4 points) and Alex Ovechkin (898th career goal), the Capitals’ crease at the other end was awfully quiet as the Caps dominated possession and put up 45 shots against the Wild.
Logan Thompson faced only 14 shots total during the evening — three in the first period, four in the second, and seven in the third — and surrendered only one goal, a shot from the slot by former Capital Marcus Johansson.
At least, that’s according to the official game report. While the stats said one thing, Thompson seemed to disagree with the Wild’s final shot output.
“I think our shot clock guy might be blind in one eye,” Thompson quipped postgame.
While the lack of rubber might seem like an easy night at the office, Thompson explained to reporters that it was anything but.
“It’s harder,” Thompson said. “Definitely as a goalie when a team comes out and is firing everything, you definitely get into [a game] easier. You definitely get in a rhythm when you’re seeing a lot more action.”
Thompson persevered, though, and improved his record to 3-1-0. He’s now stopped 2.9 goals above expected, per Money Puck, good for tenth best in the league. His GAA is also well under 2.00 (1.75), and his save percentage is .922.
“I felt good tonight,” Thompson concluded. “Obviously, I thought the team played great in front of me, and I thought I was feeling it. I thought when I was needed, I was solid tonight. And credit to them, they didn’t go away, and they got a nice goal through the screen. But I thought it was our best game of the year, a full, complete effort for everyone tonight.”