Last night, for the 11th time this season, the Capitals engineered a comeback win – this time against the Canadiens, in a game in which they trailed 2-0 after the first 20 minutes. Despite a slow start, they gradually clawed their way back to tie the game and then quickly jumped out to, and built on, a lead en route to their ninth-consecutive road win.
While the comeback win had many heroes (including Pierre-Luc Dubois, with yet another strong performance), let’s focus on two of the biggest of the evening: Logan Thompson and Tom Wilson.
Thompson didn’t have to make a lot of saves last night, facing just 24 shots, but the ones he did make were incredibly crucial, and included four breakaway saves. Arguably his biggest one of the four came late in the third, game tied at two, with Brendan Gallagher moving in alone:
Why was this the biggest breakaway save of the night? Because of what happened roughly 45 seconds later.
After Thompson’s fourth big save of the game, the large-and-in-charge line of Aliaksei Protas, Pierre-Luc Dubois and Tom Wilson took the ice for the offensive-zone draw. PLD won the faceoff to the corner, and the forecheck was on, with the newly combined trio hounded Montreal defenders, keeping them hemmed in for a good 20 seconds…
…before Protas got his stick in the way of a David Savard pass attempt, immediately sending it to Dubois in the slot, who bumped it to Wilson, who potted his second of the night and the eventual game-winning tally:
Just a stellar bit of forechecking by the line as a whole, great awareness and stickwork by Protas, another smart pass by Dubois to set up the guy with the shot, and of course, the warrior himself finishing it off for his second of the night. Not bad for a guy basically growing a second face out of his face for about half the game.
Another two points secured, the Caps now find themselves not just atop the Metropolitan Division, not just atop the Eastern Conference, but in first place in the entire league – and get a little break before getting back to work on Thursday against the Blue Jackets.