The Washington Capitals will play their first road game of the 2024-25 season against the New Jersey Devils, Saturday night.
After Charlie Lindgren helped Washington down the undefeated Dallas Stars on Thursday night, the Capitals will return to goaltender Logan Thompson in net, continuing to split the starts right down the middle. Per NHL.com’s Mike Morreale, the 27-year-old Thompson was the first netminder off the ice for the team’s morning skate at Prudential Center.
Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery indicated earlier this week that teach goaltender would play a lot in the opening weeks of Washington’s schedule.
“We’re just going to play it by ear and try to get both guys as involved as possible, especially early in the season,” Carbery said Wednesday. “Get them both playing. I don’t think there’s going to be a set plan alternating, but we’ll just continue to try to get them involved moving forward.”
Thompson’s first start this season came against his former club, the Vegas Golden Knights. He made 24 stops on 26 shots and, per MoneyPuck, prevented 0.6 more goals than expected.
“[Thompson’s game was] phenomenal, especially when it got to 4-2,” Carbery said postgame. “Because we got a little helter-skelter, made two pretty big mistakes on that faceoff, the o-zone faceoff…so we need to correct those, but he stepped up big time.”
Washington has already played the Devils once this season, dropping their Home Opener 5-3 with Lindgren in net.
Thompson will get his first look at New Jersey, who are 5-2 to start the year and lead the NHL’s Metropolitan Division. In three previous career games against the Devils, Thompson is 1-0-2 with a 3.22 goals-against average and a .895 save percentage.
New Jersey won 3-1 in their last outing against the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. After Saturday night’s contest, the Capitals and Devils will play twice more in November to quickly wrap up their season set.
