WASHINGTON, DC — The Washington Capitals ran into trouble against some familiar faces when the Detroit Red Wings came to DC on Saturday.
Neither Ryan Leonard (shoulder injury) nor Trevor van Riemsdyk (healthy scratch) dressed in the matinee game, but their older brothers helped swing the game in Detroit’s favor. John Leonard and James van Riemsdyk scored the first two goals of the game, giving the Red Wings a comfortable lead they maintained for the rest of the 5-2 showdown.
If that didn’t give the pair enough bragging rights, both of their mothers were at the game as part of the team’s Moms’ Trip.
Plenty of brothers have played against each other in the NHL, but games with multiple sets of sibling opponents are less common. If Ryan and Trevor had been in the lineup, Saturday would have been the first game in league history to have two unrelated teammates score against their respective brothers, per NHL Stats.
John Leonard opened the scoring just 1:05 into the game, capitalizing on a rebound at the netfront. The goal was his first in a Red Wings uniform.
A period later, James van Riemsdyk doubled Detroit’s lead with another rebound, this time off a shot from Moritz Seider.
Saturday’s matchup came less than a week after the Red Wings called John Leonard up from the AHL. Despite the late notice, his parents were able to arrive in Washington early Saturday morning, and a large group of family members attended the game. The brothers also got a longer opportunity to visit the night before the contest.
“[Ryan] swung by the hotel for about 45 minutes or so before the dinner (last night), and got to catch up with him, which is just great,” John said postgame. “Obviously, you can FaceTime and text and all that thing, but being face-to-face is obviously a little better.”
John had hoped he’d get the chance to face Ryan on the ice on Saturday. After sustaining a shoulder injury on December 5, Ryan is now day-to-day, but wasn’t able to return on Saturday.
“It would have been really cool (to play against him),” John said. “(He’s) six years younger, so we’ve never had the chance to play with each other, or against. But, yeah, it was still really cool to be able to play against the team and have a bunch of family here.”
Last season, Ryan travelled to Hershey to see his brother, then with the Charlotte Checkers, face the Hershey Bears in the AHL playoffs.
“Me and him are super close, talk every day,” John said then. “That was the first game he’s seen me play in a while, so it was awesome.”
Though they couldn’t compete on Saturday, Capitals head coach Spencer Carbery didn’t rule Ryan out for the second half of the home-and-home in Detroit, leaving the possibility open for a true Leonard Bowl on Sunday.
“He’s a heck of a player and a heck of a person,” John said of his brother. “Makes you really proud of him. It’s been really fun to watch his early journey in the NHL.”
