The Washington Capitals were sleepwalking through much of their matinee matchup against the New York Islanders. While the team\u2019s defense struggled to keep the Islanders away from their net, their goaltender, Logan Thompson, kept the Islanders from ultimately breaking through on the scoreboard.<\/p>\n
Thompson\u2019s first save of the game came on a 2-on-1 chance from Anders Lee in flashy fashion, cartwheeling to rob Lee with his glove. Later in the first period, he added a breakaway stop on Simon Holmstrom and went to a full split to stymie Mathew Barzal\u2019s wraparound attempt.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, he had about, I don\u2019t know, 10 grade-A saves for us,\u201d defenseman Matt Roy said postgame<\/a>. \u201cHe definitely kept us in it and gave us a chance to win. He played great today.\u201d<\/p>\n In the first period, the Islanders owned 70.3 percent of the expected goals, creating 10 scoring chances and five high-danger chances. After Thompson helped the Capitals survive most of that early onslaught, the team in front of him drew a penalty and settled the game down with a power-play goal from alternate captain Tom Wilson.<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I mean three or four huge saves in the first period,\u201d Wilson said<\/a>. \u201cI think that\u2019s something that he does very well for us. There\u2019s 82 games. Some nights you come out a little bit slow, and in the last couple of years, he\u2019s 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\u2019s huge when you have a goalie that\u2019s doing that for you. So it\u2019s no surprise he\u2019s been playing really, really well, and every time he\u2019s in there, he gives us a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n Thompson battling for his teammates when they weren\u2019t at their best was the central theme for the Capitals after the win. He finished the game with 30 stops on 31 shots against, saving, per MoneyPuck<\/a>, 3.21 more goals than expected.<\/p>\n \u201cHe gave us a chance early on to find our footing, gave up too many odd-man rushes early in that hockey game,\u201d head coach Spencer Carbery said<\/a>. \u201cWe were caught off guard a bit by their speed and transition, and made a few mistakes with our F3 and D pinching in some situations. 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\u2019re able to hang on.\u201d<\/p>\n Carbery recently went right back to Thompson after he allowed four goals to the Tampa Bay Lightning on just six shots, and Thompson has rewarded that faith with three straight victories. Thompson brought up his tough night against the Lightning after beating the Islanders, comparing his play at the start of the bad loss to his heroics on Sunday afternoon.<\/p>\n \u201cI think any time you can make some desperation saves like that early on and keep your team in it,\u201d Thompson said<\/a>. \u201cIt really could have gone the other way. I think it\u2019s very similar to the Tampa game, right? I think sometimes you let four goals in on six shots, and other times you\u2019re keeping the puck out of the net. So, fortunately, it went that way tonight, and I was able to buy the guys some time.\u201d<\/p>\n Thompson is now 11-6-1 this season with a 2.08 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage. According to MoneyPuck<\/a>, he has now saved 16.8 more goals than expected this season, which is second in the league behind only Boston Bruins netminder Jeremy Swayman (19.4).<\/p>\n Logan Thompson stopped 30 of 31 shots against this afternoon to improve to 11-6-1. Thompson’s 11 wins are tied for the second-most in the NHL, trailing only Colorado’s Scott Wedgewood (13 wins). pic.twitter.com\/2uVk9GFKhP<\/a><\/p>\n