Charlie Lindgren was not on the ice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex for the Washington Capitals’ first practice since he was taken out of Friday night’s game against the Montreal Canadiens with an upper-body injury. Washington placed Lindgren on injured reserve and recalled goaltender Hunter Shepard on Saturday.
Shepard served as Logan Thompson’s backup on the road against the Nashville Predators. The 29-year-old backstop remained in Lindgren’s place at the team’s skate on Monday morning.
Lindgren was injured against the Canadiens after Brandon Duhaime shoved Nick Suzuki into his own goalie early in Friday’s second period. The 31-year-old netminder was slow to get to his skates, took off his mask to stretch out his neck, and was removed from the crease one shift later.
Thompson finished the rest of the game, allowing all three goals in the team’s 3-2 overtime loss. The mid-game switch in net was the Capitals’ first of the season.
Head coach Spencer Carbery did not have a timeline for when Lindgren would hit the ice again.
“[No timeline] yet, but progressing well,” Carbery said. “Upper-body [injury], so we’ll see if he’s able to come off the IR when he’s eligible.”
He also would not commit to Shepard getting a start over Thompson during this next stretch of games.
“I don’t know,” Carbery said. “I honestly don’t know. He may very well – depends on the length of the injury, depends on workload, depends on how the games go. But, yeah, we’ll just see, TBD.”
Lindgren’s IR designation requires him to miss at least seven days retroactive to the date (Jan. 10) of his injury. His first eligible return date is Jan. 18 against the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Capitals play the Anaheim Ducks (Jan. 14) and Ottawa Senators (Jan. 16) before then.
After playing Pittsburgh at home to end this week, the Capitals will embark on a five-game Western road trip through the end of the month.
