The Washington Capitals will put a four-game home winning streak on the line Friday night when they host the Pacific Division-leading Vegas Golden Knights.
The Capitals returned from the three-week Olympic break with a key 3-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday to move within two points of the third-place New York Islanders in the Metropolitan Division.
Washington is also within two points of the Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the congested Eastern Conference playoff race.
Defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk broke a late 1-1 deadlock with his first game-winning goal since 2018 and goaltender Logan Thompson celebrated his 29th birthday by stopping 23 shots. Thompson, the backup for Canada’s silver medal-winning Olympic team, allowed no more than one goal for the 14th time this season.
“We know where we are in the standings,” van Riemsdyk said. “We had three weeks to look at that and kind of crunch the numbers and know that we can’t afford many more losses. When you’re in a game like this where you’re playing well and in a good spot to get two points, you’ve got to find a way.”
The win was even more impressive considering it came without top defenseman John Carlson (lower-body injury) and forward Tom Wilson (illness), who played for Canada in the Olympics and returned to practice on Thursday.
The Golden Knights, winners of three straight, opened a five-game road trip with a 6-4 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday.
Pavel Dorofeyev scored twice to increase his team-leading goal total to 28, netting what proved to be the game-winner on the power play during Vegas’ five-goal third period. It was his 15th power play goal of the season, a franchise single-season record.
The Golden Knights extended their division lead to five points despite playing without five Olympians — center Jack Eichel and defenseman Noah Hanifin of the goal medal-winning U.S. team, and captain Mark Stone, forward Mitch Marner and defenseman Shea Theodore of Canada. All five are expected to play Friday.
Eichel and Hanifin visited the White House on Tuesday and stayed in D.C. and appeared in studio on Scott Van Pelt’s ESPN “SportsCenter” show on Wednesday night.
Considering how short-handed his team was, Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was asked if he expected his players to score six goals against the Kings, a strong defensive opponent.
“No, I did not,” Cassidy said. “Good for the guys. A few guys got an opportunity to play a little more and they took advantage of it.”
“That’s what good teams do,” added Dorofeyev, who missed an empty-net chance at a hat trick. “They pick up each other no matter what. Maybe we looked a little different on paper tonight, but we’re still the Golden Knights, and that’s how we play.”
This is the first of two meetings between the Capitals and Golden Knights. Vegas holds a 9-5-0 edge in the all-time series but has just three wins in seven tries as the road team.
