Charlie Lindgren ‘battled so darn hard’ for star turn with Capitals - The Washington Post

When Charlie Lindgren signed with the Washington Capitals in July 2022, no one was envisioning this moment. Somewhere between playing second fiddle and being an afterthought, Lindgren received a three-year, $3.3 million contract that was announced the same day as the big splash: a five-year, $26.25 million deal for fellow goaltender Darcy Kuemper, who was fresh off winning the Stanley Cup with the Colorado Avalanche.

There was no expectation that Lindgren would come to Washington to be anything other than Kuemper’s backup. And last season, that’s how it went. Kuemper started 56 games to Lindgren’s 26 and led the Capitals’ goalie tandem in every statistical category.

In his first full season in the NHL, Lindgren established himself as a serviceable backup to his veteran partner with a Cup-winning pedigree. In his second full season in the NHL, Lindgren took things to another level.

“He’s been arguably our MVP,” Coach Spencer Carbery said Tuesday after Lindgren backstopped the Capitals in two must-win games to get them into the playoffs. “He’s been fantastic all year.”

When Washington takes the ice Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden for Game 1 against the New York Rangers, there’s no question about which goaltender is expected to lead the Capitals out of the tunnel. It should be the unflappable No. 79, mustache peeking out from under his mask, who gets the nod between the pipes — after being, in large part, the reason Washington even gets to take the ice for a playoff game.

Lindgren played 50 games this season for the Capitals, more appearances than he has made since 2017-18, when he played 14 games for the Montreal Canadiens and 37 for Laval of the American Hockey League. After splitting time with Kuemper early in the season, Lindgren emerged as the go-to starter by the midway point. At times, his performance was the only thing keeping Washington afloat in the playoff race.

Lindgren’s six shutouts tied for the NHL lead, and his .911 save percentage and 2.67 goals against average improved markedly on his statistics from last season (.899 and 3.05).

“I’ve had a blast,” Lindgren, 30, said this past week. “I’ve dreamed about this for 20 years, legitimately. And just to have the chance to play a lot of games and just the faith that this team has put in me, I appreciate it greatly. I’ve had an absolute blast this whole season.”

‘Just kept rolling’

Lindgren did not take a linear path to being an NHL regular. He played three seasons at St. Cloud State and signed with the Canadiens as an undrafted free agent in 2016. He made his NHL debut that spring, but other than the 14 games he played for Montreal in 2017-18, he never saw more than six games of NHL action in a season during his five years with the organization.

“I remember all the guys in Montreal just being like, ‘Wait until you see this guy play; he’s so good,’ ” said former Capitals defenseman Karl Alzner, who played with Lindgren on Laval from 2018 to 2020. “He was playing great and then all of a sudden lost just a little bit of confidence, and it kind of changed a little bit of his trajectory.”

Lindgren signed with the St. Louis Blues in 2021 and rebuilt his game there, showing enough in a five-game NHL stint to earn his contract with the Capitals. Alzner and Lindgren — and their wives, Mandy and Mikkayla — became close in Laval, so when Lindgren signed with Washington, Alzner, who moved back to the D.C. area after his playing career ended, was thrilled.

He has taken even more joy from watching how Lindgren has played this year.

“I don’t think too many people were going to think they were going to see him in the position that he’s in, but for him to kind of take the reins has been pretty darn cool,” Alzner said. “… He’s just battled so darn hard. I think it’s like, when you see teams that go through serious adversity and then playoffs come and they end up just figuring out and they’re a great team versus the one that just kind of glides through the season the entire time and then all of a sudden they run up against some adversity in the playoffs and they can’t figure it out. I think that’s Charlie.”

When Lindgren’s teammates and coaches talk about what has enabled his success this year, his work ethic is always at the top of the list. That same work ethic kept him going even when his NHL future didn’t always look rosy.

“He’s taken his lumps over the years and been in tougher situations. But through it all, I think he’s just had a really strong belief in himself and what he can do and how he can play the position,” said Lindgren’s father, Bob. “He’s just kind of hung in there. … He’s kept at it. He could’ve said bag it a few years ago, when things weren’t easy for him. But he didn’t. He just kept rolling and kept working at it.”

‘Best I’ve ever felt’

As Lindgren began his preparation for his first appearance in the Stanley Cup playoffs, the typically nonchalant netminder remained as resolute as he has been all year. Goalies are notorious for being superstitious — bordering on squirrelly at this time of year — but Lindgren bucks those trends.

“This is the best I’ve ever felt — physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, everything,” Lindgren said. “I’m just in a very, very good place off the ice and on the ice, and I think that goes back to just the way I’ve prepared my whole life. This is what I’ve worked hard for.”

The calm, steady and competitive way Lindgren approaches each practice and each game permeates the Capitals, who have grown to rely on him as an emotional centerpiece. When Lindgren is on his game, everyone around him draws confidence from it — and he has been on his game for the vast majority of the season.

“I think without even knowing it, he’s become a leader in this group,” said Capitals center Nic Dowd, who also played with Lindgren at St. Cloud State. “At any point, when you have goaltending that is playing really, really well like he has for the majority of the season, your team feels very confident to go out there and play calm and loose. Honestly, I’ve said it a couple times already: Our team, [if] we score one goal, I feel like we can win a hockey game.”

Even the thought of matching up with his youngest brother, Ryan, a defenseman for the Rangers, didn’t influence Lindgren’s outward calmness. After acknowledging the stress levels that will surely be high for his parents and middle brother, Andrew, and the emotions of a family meeting in the postseason, Lindgren quickly refocused on the message he wanted to send.

“It’s not me versus my brother. It’s the Capitals versus the Rangers, and I care so much about this team and this organization,” Lindgren said. “I don’t want to make it about anything else. I just want to focus on Game 1 against the Rangers and just put everything I can into this Capitals organization.”

本文章由 flowerss 抓取自RSS，版权归源站点所有。

查看原文：Charlie Lindgren ‘battled so darn hard’ for star turn with Capitals - The Washington Post