Since mid-November, both the Capitals and the Columbus Blue Jackets have been among the highest scoring teams in the NHL. But when the two teams hooked up for the third time this season on Sunday night at Capital One Arena, a goaltending duel unfolded.
In a game that featured the most combined shots on net – 77 of them – in any of Washington’s 30 games this season, Logan Thompson outdueled Columbus goalie Jet Greaves to lift the Caps to a 2-0 victory over the Jackets, their third in as many meetings with their Metro Division rival in 2025-26.
Thompson made 39 saves to earn his seventh career shutout and his 100th career victory. He turned his win total to triple digits in his 167th career appearance, becoming just the 17th netminder to achieve the feat that quickly. Among the sweet sixteen that came before him, exactly half are already members of the Hockey Hall of Fame, and one or two others could eventually join them.
“It's exciting,” says Thompson of the milestone. “Obviously, coming from Canadian university, you never really thought this would happen. And I think I owe a big thanks to the two organizations that gave me a chance with, with Kelly McCrimmon and the Vegas Golden Knights and being brought back here. I couldn't be happier to get to 100 [wins] with Washington as well. So, yeah, just thanks to those organizations definitely for believing in me and giving me a shot.”
Greaves stopped 36 of the 37 shots he faced; Washington’s second goal of the game went into an empty Columbus cage in the game’s penultimate minute.
In the dreaded first home game following a long road trip, the Caps showed up and stepped up, and Sunday’s win leaves them with a 10-1-2 mark in their last 13 contests.
“I thought both [goalies] were unbelievable, outstanding,” says Caps coach Spencer Carbery. “I was just watching the postgame from [Columbus]. They have more than our analytics, but they basically have 40 high danger looks 21-20 or something like that, 21 on both sides. There's one goal in the hockey game, but Jet Greaves was fantastic, and LT was just a little bit better.”
Following a fast paced but scoreless and penalty free first frame, the Caps ended the deadlock in the first minute of the second period. Washington’s passing and puck movement were strong for most of Sunday’s game, and the Caps worked the puck around the perimeter of the offensive zone early in the middle frame, moving the puck as well as a few bodies.
Anthony Beauvillier and Tom Wilson both migrated from the right to the left side of the ice, with the former filling in at the left point for a pinching Jakob Chychrun. Beauvillier sent down low for Chychrun; the puck tipped off Chychrun’s blade to Wilson, who was down low on the left side. When Wilson put it right back to Chychrun in the left circle, it had the effect of a give-and-go. And when Chychrun clapped it past Greaves on the stick side, it had the effect of a 1-0 Washington lead, 50 seconds into the second period.
And it ended up being the game-winner.
“It was a little out of my reach,” says Chychrun of the feed from Beauvillier that slipped off his blade. “I was just trying to touch it, to not let their guy get it. It went right to Tom, and my momentum brought me to a place where I was able to open up from a good area, and Tom put it right in my wheelhouse, obviously. So, great play.”
Washington had the game’s first three power plays, and the Caps’ extra man unit was buzzing tonight, but so was Greaves. Fourteen of his 36 stops came while Washington was on the power play, a span of 6 minutes and 12 seconds throughout the game.
Columbus had an extremely abbreviated power play of just a few seconds in duration early in the third, but when Hendrix Lapierre was boxed for a double-minor for hi-sticking Brendan Gaunce at 9:25 of the third, the game was clearly on the line, and the Caps would need Thompson and the Washington penalty killing outfit to successfully navigate those four minutes.
Not to worry, kid.
Wilson, Trevor van Riemsdyk, Connor McMichael and Rasmus Sandin all laid out to block Blue Jackets blasts during those four frenzied minutes, and Thompson made five saves during that span to preserve the slim 1-0 advantage.
“It’s exciting,” says Thompson of the help he had in front of him during those four critical minutes. “I think I was on my ass, so I was swimming and just trying to get back into position and looking up and seeing the guys throw their body on the line. It’s not easy, and I’ve got a lot more protection than they do, so I appreciate that.
“I know me and Chucky [Lindgren] really appreciate when the guys do that. And credit to the guys in front of me tonight, they really laid it on the line. We really wanted these two points tonight, and just happy to get it done.”
And getting it done wasn’t easy by any means. Tonight’s game was Washington’s sixth in 10 nights, and it just returned from the west coast about 24 hours before Sunday’s puck drop, landing at Dulles after sundown on Saturday after playing four games in six nights on the road, and logging over 5,000 air miles in the process.
“I'm not going to lie,” says Chychrun. “I couldn't believe waking up this morning we were going again tonight. But we show up, and we’ve got such great energy in this room, and you know those nights you’re battling a little bit, or tired, or wore down or sore, you show up. And the energy is always up in this room. And we rely on each and every guy in here to pick up slack when it's needed. And we’ve got all guys pulling the same direction, so it's special.”
Aliaksei Protas relieved the pressure on his buddy between the pipes with a nifty empty net goal at 18:34 of the third. Protas took a feed from Martin Fehervary high in Washington ice, threw an indirect to himself off the half wall, skated into Columbus ice and popped it into the vacant net.
When Protas was asked what went into prevailing in Sunday’s game after all the travel and the six games in 10 nights, he was succinct.
“Logan Thompson,” he said, through a small smile.
Columbus played a high event Saturday afternoon game in Florida yesterday, falling 7-6 to the Panthers in overtime in the opener of a three-game road trip. The Jackets travel to Carolina next to conclude that trip.
“I thought we had plenty of opportunities to score, obviously,” says Columbus coach Dean Evason. “Obviously, their goaltender has played extremely well against us every night, but he certainly did tonight. We had some quality, quality opportunities, and he made some saves when he was on his backside.
“We certainly liked our compete and our push; it was real good in the third period. We just couldn’t get one by him.”
