The Washington Capitals got back on the ice last night after the 19-day Olympic break looking to keep the momentum they had been building before the pause going. They were missing two key players in their lineup, however, because John Carlson is still nursing a lower-body injury and Tom Wilson was out due to illness. Fortunately for them, there were two positive lineup pieces to note: Connor McMichael was activated off IR yesterday morning, and Olympian and birthday boy Logan Thompson was in net. Thompson ended up being a huge part of why the Caps got the win over the Philadelphia Flyers, especially because Washington got off to an incredibly slow start. The other huge part of the Caps’ victory? Their defensemen.
Rasmus Sandin opened the scoring, snapping a lengthy 40-game goal drought with an assist from fellow blueliner Jakob Chychrun. Then it was Trevor van Riemsdyk’s turn, who scored on a…beautiful tic-tac-toe passing play with Declan Chisholm and Aliaksei Protas? Yes, you read that right, a stunning passing sequence in the offensive zone that included both defensemen on the ice for the Caps. That goal ended up being the game-winner, so let’s take a closer look…
Declan Chisholm read the play perfectly and saw that the Flyers were going for a line change, so he got the play started. He stepped on the gas to bring the puck into the offensive zone before dropping it back to a waiting Protas and driving hard towards the net. Protas passed it back to Chisholm once he turned around while van Riemsdyk snuck around to the other side of the net, ready to jump into the play. A quick pass from Chisholm to his defensive partner—around Philadelphia defenseman Travis Sanheim in front of the net—had TvR in the perfect spot to snap the puck over Dan Vladar’s left shoulder.
This was van Riemsdyk’s second goal of the season and his first goal in 38 games. Peep the celebration on the bench even before TvR gets over there to see just how excited the rest of the guys were for their teammate.