The 29-year-old goes 1-on-1 about fine-tuning his game and a productive offseason, expectations and setting a higher bar for himself in his second year with the Capitals.
ARLINGTON, V.A. — Charlie Lindgren remembers April 11, 2023 well. It was his final game of his season with the Washington Capitals, a tilt with the Boston Bruins at TD Garden where he was eager to finish on a high note and show the team what he could do.
Then, in the third period, he did something wild. He made a stop with his head on a David Pastrnak shot that had such force behind it that it left him with his first concussion in pro hockey. He knew he got his bell rung and felt off after it happened, but the play was still in full motion, and Lindgren wanted to leave it all out there.
What he didn't realize was the fact that his glove had fallen off somewhere in the midst of the chaos. All he knew was that there was a surefire goal coming his way that he had to stop. So, without a thought or any time to brace or close his eyes, he reached his bare hand out to make the glove save. He succeeded, and through some good fortune, it missed his fingers, his metatarsal bones and his entire hand and went off the inside of his well-padded wrist.
"I think everything was just a blur. It's one of those, I guess you could say, blackout moments," Lindgren said, before nonchalantly adding, "I'm just the kind of guy that, you know, whatever it takes."
After that stop, Lindgren stayed in a bit longer, but he would be pulled out of the game after his next highlight-reel stop saw him go full scorpion to rob Boston while pulling a muscle in his lower back. It was then that Jason Serbus pulled him out, and Lindgren went back to the room to see his phone blowing up with messages from family and friends about his performance.
"It kind of stuns me... the human body slash mind is just so unbelievable, just the way you can react, and that's one where I made the save and then I don't know what else happened," Lindgren reflected. "I'm happy it didn't end up hitting my hand... it probably wouldn't have felt good if it hit my bare hand. I was just really dialed in with the whole sequence."
Though that night isn't the fondest memory for Lindgren, given the injuries, it was a vital one for his career, an epiphany of sorts as he decided that's the way he wants to play the game: by doing whatever it takes.
"The goaltending position is so complex... I'm the kind of guy where I feel like if I see the puck, I'm gonna stop it," Lindgren explained.
After taking the time to rehabilitate and let his brain heal — he had to navigate headaches and some lower back pain to start his summer — Lindgren and his wife got away for a bit, going on a trip to Italy, spending time in the cabin in West Virginia and ultimately heading back home to Minnesota.
Then, he got to work.
His priority over the offseason was to work on his mobility and fine-tuning the body, and to do that, he got in touch with Dallas Stars goaltender Jake Oettinger, who he worked closely with over the summer.
To start, Lindgren and Oettinger both worked with chiropractor Anthony Benda. For Lindgren, it was his first experience with a chiropractor, and quickly, he became a believer in the practice — though cupping's not his favorite experience.
"It's an uncomfortable feeling. There's so much pressure in that area... it's red for days, there's so much blood to that area," Lindgren said. "There's just so much tension on your skin, but it makes you feel better.
"I think it's something that you can feel. I'll go in and I'll feel tight in a certain spot and then a couple days later, I'll feel a lot better," he added. "I just see benefit from it. I don't know if it's a placebo or not, but at the end of the day, I'm feeling better."
Oettinger then introduced Lindgren to mobility coach Grace Witthuhn. For Lindgren, who comes in at 6-2, 180 pounds, working with her was a significant difference-maker. He not only learned more about the anatomy of the human body, but he increased his flexibility, which proves imperative to his reactive style of play.
"I'm probably not one of the more limber goalies out there. Naturally, I'm someone that can barely touch my toes. I have pretty good [groin muscles]. I can't do the splits, but I'm somewhat close. But my hamstrings, IT bands, they're just muscles that are tight on me," Lindgren explained. "Hips are important for goalies, and so just working on those different muscles in a different way I think really benefitted me and just gave me new tools to work with."
Returning to D.C., Lindgren said his body is feeling 100 percent, and that there's more confidence in his game as he enters his second full NHL season. With that comes personal goals and high expectations for himself, as he looks to continue to earn trust from not only the coaches but his teammates.
"It's just about playing with confidence and just playing with the belief that you can be a difference maker," Lindgren said. "I'm a guy that I feel like whenever I get the chance to be in the crease, I find I'm very grateful for the opportunity. It's something that I always want to go out and prove to myself and my teammates that every time I'm in the net, I'm gonna give you guys a chance to win. I'm gonna do everything in my power to keep that puck out."
Then, there's the big goal that remains on his mind: making it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and helping the team back into the postseason after missing out for the first time in nine years.
And to do that, it'll mean playing like he did in Boston that night.
"I'm super excited to be back here. I think experience really does matter... I had a really good summer training; I'm feeling really good on the ice right now," Lindgren said. "I can't wait to get the season started, to be honest with you.
"We will have a chance to show that last year, we didn't play up to standard, and there certainly is a standard here, where it's been set for the last 20 years, the bar is set really high," he added. "We want to make sure that we're meeting that standard... it's an opportunity to say, 'Hey, let's put [last year] aside and let's go back out and have a really good year."