Goalie left in 3rd period of Game 3 following collision with teammate Strome
© Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images
Logan Thompson will be a game-time decision for the Washington Capitals in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Sunday (6:30 p.m. ET; CBC, TVAS, SN, TBS, truTV, MNMT, MAX).
The goalie was in the starter’s net during the morning skate two days after he was injured with 6:37 remaining in Game 3 but left the ice with Charlie Lindgren at the same time.
Capitals forward Dylan Strome barreled into Thompson after Juraj Slafkovsky scored to make it 5-3 Montreal on Friday. Thompson appeared to struggle putting any weight on his left leg and nearly fell over when he tried to stand on his own before Strome, forward Brandon Duhaime and Capitals head athletic trainer Jaso Serbus helped him off the ice.
Lindgren replaced Thompson and stopped four of five shots in what became a 6-3 loss.
The Capitals lead the best-of-7 series 2-1 and like with Thompson will evaluate Aliaksei Protas throughout the day and decide before the game. The forward hasn’t played since April 4, when he sustained a skate cut on his left foot against the Chicago Blackhawks. He’s missed the last six games of the regular season and the first three games of this series.
Lindgren is expected to start if Thompson is unable to recover in time.
“I always feel ready,” Lindgren said Saturday. “Every day I’ve kept on working to get to moments like this, to potentially play in moments like this. You think about 10-year-old Charlie what he would do to be in a situation like this.”
Canadiens goalie Sam Montembeaultis day to day and could miss Game 4. He was not on the ice for the their morning skate. He left Game 3 with 8:21 remaining in the second after having a conversation with director of sports medicine and performance Jim Ramsay during a television timeout.
Montembeault, who appeared to be favoring his left leg, allowed two goals on 13 shots and was replaced by Jakub Dobes, who stopped seven of eight. Emergency backup goalie Patrick Chevrefils was in uniform a short time later.
Cayden Primeau was recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Sunday and will likely back up Dobes if Montembeault is unavailable.
Dobes, a 23-year-old rookie, was 7-4-3 with a 2.74 GAA, a .909 save percentage and one shutout in 16 games (15 starts). He made 34 saves in his NHL debut, a 4-0 win against the Florida Panthers on Dec. 28, the day after he was recalled from Laval. He won his first five starts and backed up Montembeault through the end of the season.
“I think you look at his first three or four games, I think they’re all some of the top teams in the League and he played well, so I have all the confidence in the world in Dobes,” Canadiens defenseman Kaiden Guhle said Saturday. “He has all the confidence in himself, which I think you need as a young goalie coming into the League. I think he believes that there’s no moment too big for him. I think he wants this moment. I think he’s ready for anything that was thrown at him. Obviously I don’t know what’s really going on with ‘Monty,’ but if Dobes is in the net tomorrow I think all the boys have confidence in him.”
NHL.com senior writer Dan Rosen and independent correspondent Sean Farrell contributed to this report
🔹Ottawa Senators vs. Toronto Maple Leafs
🔹Florida Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Lightning
🔹Montreal Canadiens vs. Washington Capitals
🔹New Jersey Devils vs. Carolina Hurricanes
🔹St. Louis Blues vs. Winnipeg Jets
🔹Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars
🔹Minnesota Wild vs. Vegas Golden Knights
🔹Edmonton Oilers vs. Los Angeles Kings
