Logan Thompson made another positive step in his recovery from an upper-body injury.
After skating again for the first time on Saturday and Sunday, Thompson joined the Washington Capitals on their team flight to Long Island. The Caps play the New York Islanders on Tuesday night at UBS Arena.
The news was broken by NHL goals king and unintentional reporter, Alex Ovechkin, who showed off “LT” to the world while doing a media appearance via FaceTime on the Pat McAfee Show. Thompson was sitting next to Capitals forward Andrew Mangiapane on the team plane.
Thompson traveling with the Capitals comes after he left an April 2 game against the Carolina Hurricanes due to an upper-body injury. Thompson notably took a shot off the mask in the first period of the game, though it’s unclear if that’s how he got hurt. The 28-year-old netminder stayed off the ice until April 10 and, according to head coach Spencer Carbery, has still yet to face any shots in net.
The Capitals called up Hunter Shepard from the AHL’s Hershey Bears two days after Thompson’s injury, and the 2023 AHL Playoff MVP started in the Capitals’ 7-0 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday — his fifth career appearance in the NHL.
Monday morning, the team replaced Shepard on their roster with Clay Stevenson. Stevenson, Thompson, and Charlie Lindgren were all shown on the plane by Ovechkin during his interview.
The Capitals have two games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season — their final game is on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins — before the postseason begins this weekend.
The Capitals are the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and will face either the Montreal Canadiens or the Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round. Carbery has been noncommittal about whether Thompson would be ready for Game 1 of the postseason.
