Former Habs goalie Charlie Lindgren leads Capitals to playoffs

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ARLINGTON, Va. – Alex Ovechkin scored a lot of goals down the stretch for the Washington Capitals, but he’s not the main reason they made the playoffs.

That would be mustachioed, undrafted, unheralded, late bloomer goaltender Charlie Lindgren, who emerged as a starter and carried the Capitals in the second half of the season. No one in the NHL faced more shots or made more saves in the last three months since supplanting Darcy Kuemper at the number one spot.

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Lindgren’s play at the net has made him their MVP when it matters most.

“I had a great time,” Lindgren said. “I’ve dreamed about this for 20 years, legitimately. And just having the opportunity to play a lot of games and the faith that this team has put in me, I really appreciate it.”

Lindgren earned it, finally at age 30, and on Sunday he will make his Stanley Cup playoff debut against his brother Ryan and the heavily favored New York Rangers. Game 1 at Madison Square Garden (3 pm, SN, TVA Deportes) It comes less than a week since the Minnesota native played on consecutive nights to lead Washington to the postseason.

Go back a little further and Lindgren stopped 75 of the 78 shots he faced during a three-game winning streak after a poor performance in Buffalo. Not winning would have sent him and his teammates to the golf course.

“Any adversity I face is like, ‘it’s no big deal, I’m going to find a way to get through it,'” coach Spencer Carbery said. “Those are some quality traits of a professional hockey player that can really help you. I think it’s been awesome to see him and see how all of his teammates have rallied around him.”

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Fourth-line center Nic Dowd, who played with him for one season at St. Cloud State, said Lindgren has become a leader without even knowing it. He noted that Lindgren’s mustache game has also improved.

“He’s really mastered it,” retired defenseman Karl Alzner said of Lindgren’s mustache, several years since they played together with Montreal and in the minors. “That’s his thing now. He is channeling the hockey players of the 80s and 90s again.”

Lindgren is a personality from the past off the ice. He talks to reporters on match days, something that is usually a no-no for a superstitious goalkeeper, and nothing seems to faze him in the box.

“I have a lot of faith and confidence in myself, I have a lot of faith and confidence in my teammates, and I think when you’re prepared, that lessens the stress,” Lindgren said. “A lot of this comes down to experience and confidence.”

It would have been easy for Lindgren to lose confidence traveling between the NHL and the American Hockey League in his mid-twenties. Alzner thought it was difficult for teams to view Lindgren as anything more than a backup, but he believed the Caps were getting a potential gem based on what he had seen in Montreal and AHL Laval.

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“He fights harder in training than many goalkeepers,” Alzner said this week, praising Lindgren’s attitude. “I thought, ‘If this guy can get his trust back, he’ll get back to that level.'”

Kuemper is in the second season of a five-year, $26.25 million contract, while Lindgren earns $1.1 million a year through 2024-25. When Kuemper began to struggle, rookie head coach Carbery didn’t let that influence his decision on who to put in the net.

It has been a challenge for Kuemper, who said he is “trying to help Charlie the best he can when he needs help with something. “I’ve been through these experiences, so I try to share them with him and help him along the way.”

Lindgren, after beating Boston on Monday night, thanked Kuemper for handling the situation “like an absolute professional” and always being on his side. A lot of people are on his side now, even though his family will have split his interests in the first round, but he’s already won over the Capitals for everything he’s done to allow them to continue playing hockey.

“His work ethic, not only in games but in practice, off the ice, definitely shows,” senior winger TJ Oshie said. “Seeing all that work pay off is fantastic. You are always cheering on your teammates and wishing the best for them. “Anyone who knows Chuckie or knows him, or even comes to the game and watches how hard he fights there, it’s hard not to root for that guy.”

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