Breaking down the Capitals win over Boston, Jakob Chychrun's production, Alex Ovechkin's year and that wild Charlie Lindgren save. The Washington Capitals are gearing up for their first game of 2025 as they host the Minnesota Wild on Thursday, and they'll have Charlie Lindgren between the pipes. Lindgren will get the start as the Capitals continue to alternate goaltenders throughout the 2024-25 campaign. The Lakeville, Minnesota native has a .900 save percentage through 18 games this season. He has yet to win a game against the Wild in his career, and through three games against them, he has a .895 save percentage. Lindgren will play opposite Marc-Andre Fleury, who starts in what could be his last appearance at Capital One Arena. Besides Lindgren, Washington is running with the same lineup, including Martin Fehervary on defense. Fehervary had been listed as day-to-day [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/news/washington-capitals-fehervary-injury-update-ovechkin-optional-skate] on Wednesday after taking a high stick from Tom Wilson and subsequently leaving Tuesday's win over the Boston Bruins, but he took part in Thursday's morning skate and appears to be good to go. In other injury news, Sonny Milano also skated in a non-contact jersey and took part in skills work with his teammates ahead of morning skate, marking the first time he's integrated back with the group in some capacity. Per coach Spencer Carbery, there's no update on his timetable. Jakub Vrana, Alex Alexeyev and Dylan McIlrath remain the healthy scratches, as Ivan Miroshnichenko will stay in the lineup. Here are the projected combinations against Minnesota. Alex Ovechkin-Dylan Strome-Aliaksei Protas Connor McMichael-Pierre-Luc Dubois-Tom Wilson Andrew Mangiapane-Lars Eller-Ivan Miroshnichenko Brandon Duhaime-Nic Dowd-Taylor Raddysh Rasmus Sandin-John Carlson Jakob Chychrun-Trevor van Riemsdyk Martin Fehervary-Matt Roy Logan Thompson Charlie Lindgren Washington enters the new year atop the Metropolitan Division and the entire Eastern Conference with a 25-10-2 record. The Wild have also enjoyed a strong start to the regular season and sit third in the Western Conference with a 23-11-4 record. Puck drop is at 7 p.m. at Capital One Arena, with both teams having won their last game.
