Capitals ‘laugh at’ Charlie Lindgren’s own goal, rally past the Lightning

On By Littum

Nov 28 2024, 12:27 AM ET

Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren was able to laugh at himself after making what he called “the worst mistake” he’s ever made on ice.

It helped that his teammates continued to bail him out, rallying the Capitals to a 5-4 victory Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

With the score tied at 3-3, Lindgren tried to play the puck behind him, but inadvertently fired it into his own net at 7:25 of the third period.

But the Capitals weren’t rattled after Lindgren’s own goal put the Lightning ahead, and answered just three minutes later when John Carlson pulled Washington back with 9:30 left.

Tom Wilson then put the Capitals ahead, scoring a power-play goal with 3:26 left in regulation to lift them to their sixth straight road win.

“You obviously have two choices in that moment: You can either go into your shell or you can go and fight,” Lindgren said. “It wasn’t fun at the moment, but the guys rallied around me and found a way to get a big win.”

Wednesday’s win came despite Tampa Bay holding leads of 2-0, 3-2 and 4-3.

Lindgren credited his teammates for using the own goal play to fuel their comeback instead of panicking.

“When I made that big mistake, we all pretty much laughed it off,” said Lindgren, who finished with 24 saves. “Myself, I threw that puck out of the rink and I kind of laughed to myself. It was probably the worst mistake I’ve ever made in my life in terms of being on the ice. I don’t know what I was thinking. … The guys picked me up and I have a lot of respect for those guys.”

The Capitals had fun with Lindgren’s mistake in the locker room afterward, awarding him the team’s gold chain, which goes to player of the game.

“If we weren’t a close team, we could have been frustrated and kind of wrapped it up, sent it in,” Lindgren said. “I knew there was no chance. This team, we’re too good. There’s too good guys in the locker room here and we found a way to get it done. It was a pretty sweet win, I’m not taking to lie.”

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.