The Washington Capitals are three games into their five-game road trip out west and may have a goaltending situation on their hands. Charlie Lindgren, who impressively took down the Los Angeles Kings in a 38-save effort on Wednesday, did not participate in the team’s morning skate on Saturday.
According to The Washington Post’s Bailey Johnson, the goaltenders on the ice for the Capitals were Darcy Kuemper and assistant/video coach Brett Leonhardt. The Capitals are calling Lindgren’s absence “body maintenance.”
Lindgren has spent time out of the Capitals lineup already this season. The team’s regular backup needed to go on injured reserve and missed six games due to an injury he suffered during a mid-October practice. Only a few days after returning from that spell out of the lineup, Lindgren again left a practice early due to injury although he missed no game time due to that particular one.
The 29-year-old backstop has been this season’s early MVP for the Capitals, amassing a 5-2 record with a 2.30 goals-against average, a .934 save percentage, and one shutout. His 10.9 goals saved above expected put him in the top five in the entire NHL.
Kuemper was the goaltender in the cage for Thursday night’s win over the Anaheim Ducks. In that 5-4 victory, Kuemper stopped 28 shots and improved his season record to 5-4-2. The team’s normal number one has only made three starts since returning from his own injury on November 22 against the Buffalo Sabres.
The Capitals are not carrying an extra goaltender and still have Saturday night’s game against the Vegas Golden Knights and Monday night’s game against the Arizona Coyotes left on their road trip. If Lindgren is healthy enough to backup, the Capitals should not need to make any sort of emergency recall for either outing.
The team’s next home game comes on December 7 against the Dallas Stars.
Update (4:37 pm): Spencer Carbery gave a short status update on Lindgren after the skate.
“Just maintenance day,” Carbery said. “Think he should be good tonight but we’ll see.”
Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB
