Charlie Lindgren faced reporters after an embarrassing miscue against the Tampa Bay Lightning Wednesday. After capturing a loose puck in the left faceoff circle, Lindgren cleared the puck on his backhand… directly into his own net. The own goal not only gave the Lightning a 4-3 lead with 12:35 remaining in the third period, but completed Brayden Point’s fifth career hat trick.
“It was obviously the worst mistake I’ve probably ever made in my life, in terms of on-ice [mistakes],” Lindgren said postgame. “I know better than that. I can’t go backhand there. I don’t know what I was thinking. I think I was just — I don’t know.
“When I made that big mistake, the boys, I mean, we all pretty much laughed it off. Even me, I chucked that puck out of the rink and I kind of chuckled to myself,” Lindgren continued. “It’s one of those moments where it’s like — you’ve obviously got two choices in that moment. You can either go in your shell or you can go out and battle.”
And battle Lindgren did. The Capitals netminder rebounded stopped all three shots he faced down the stretch. Meanwhile, his Capitals teammates scored two unanswered goals — one from John Carlson and another from Tom Wilson — to complete the team’s eighth comeback win of the season.
“I think it’s character,” Lindgren said. “I’ve been saying it all year: we’ve got such a great group. It starts at the top with the coaching staff and it trickles down to our veteran players, our leadership group. And everyone, I can say wholeheartedly, everyone in this team is bought in.
“I felt like we didn’t have any panic. We went down then, 4-3. We could have, if we weren’t a close team, we could have been frustrated and kind of packed it in, mailed it in. And I knew there was no chance. This team is, we’re too good, too good of guys in the locker room here. And found a way to get it done. Honestly, it was a pretty sweet victory. I’m not going to lie.”
Inside the locker room after the game, Lindgren was even rewarded for his efforts. First-pairing defender Jakob Chychrun, who had the primary assist on the game-winning goal, made light of the gaffe and gave Lindgren the team’s, uh, prestigious (?) gold chain as the player of the game.
“Hey, hell of a job sticking with it,” Chychrun said with empathy. “This guy, first NHL tuck tonight. But no, in all seriousness, buddy, way to stick with it. That’s a tough situation.”
“The guys picked me up and I’ve got a lot of respect for [them]” Lindgren said of his teammates’ support. “It wasn’t fun in the moment, but the guys rallied around me and found a way to get a big win.”
