WASHINGTON — Leave it to Logan Thompson to capture his 100th NHL win in style for the Washington Capitals.
Thompson put on a show in net, and Jakob Chychrun and Aliaksei Protas scored en route to a strong 2-0 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Here are the takeaways from the win, which extended the team’s point streak to eight games.
For most of the night, it was the Logan Thompson show in net, as the netminder came up big time and time again for his 100th career NHL win.
Thompson stopped all 39 shots against for his seventh career shutout. He has boasted .955 save percentage over his last six starts.
The 28-year-old backstopped the team to a dominant victory, and he also got a lot of help from a strong defensive corps again operating without John Carlson, who is out with an upper-body injury.
Washington’s penalty kill also put on a dazzling performance, going 3-for-3 and killing off a double minor in the third.
The Capitals got the game-winning goal from Jakob Chychrun, who fired home a one-timer off a Tom Wilson feed to make it 1-0 in the second. His 11 goals this season lead all NHL blueliners.
Meanwhile, Wilson now has points in eight of the last nine games and has been involved in the game-opening goal in four of the last five.
Aliaksei Protas then iced the game with an empty-netter late to extend his point streak to five games.
The Capitals had to make adjustments without Ryan Leonard, who will be out for an extended period with an upper-body injury following a heavy hit from Jacob Trouba.
Ethen Frank slotted in for him on a new-look third line with Anthony Beauvillier and Nic Dowd, while Connor McMichael moved up top to work with Dylan Strome and Alex Ovechkin. Frank drew penalties at 5-on-5, and also slotted in on the first power play, though D.C. went 0-for-4, despite almost scoring and getting a handful of chances.