The Washington Capitals have claimed the final NHL playoff spot after defeating the Flyers 2-1 on Wednesday. Caps goaltender Charlie Lindgren joined WTOP’s John Aaron and Michelle Basch, to discuss the season the Caps have had, and how they plan to move through the playoffs.
Listen to or read their conversation below.
John Aaron: Charlie, thanks so much for joining us. An exciting time for the team — you guys have had such an up-and-down season, but you were able to pull it together at the end here. As we know, playoffs are kind of a crapshoot almost. It’s anyone’s game now. It doesn’t really matter what you did in the regular season. How are you guys feeling and what do you feel like this team is built like, in terms of a postseason team?
Charlie Lindgren: You said it — it was an up-and-down season, but the fact that we’re in the dance now, I think that’s essentially all that matters. Every team’s at the same spot and we’re just looking forward to the opportunity to play against a really good New York Rangers team.
Michelle Basch: Yeah, you split the season series with the Rangers, who finished with the best record in the NHL. What lessons, if any, did you learn during the regular season matchups that might help you in this series?
Charlie Lindgren: Well, first off, I mean, they’re a really good hockey team. You look at their lineup, they’re extremely deep, both at the forward and the defense position. And they’ve got one of the best goaltenders in the league. So it’s obviously going to be a really good test, but I think it’s a test that we’re definitely looking forward to. We know it’s not going to be easy, but, you know, hockey in the playoffs is never easy anyway. So, we’re fired up to get it all started up.
John Aaron: Now, our Dave Preston has flagged you for having a world-class mustache. Is that hopefully going to turn into a world-class hockey beard over the next few weeks?
Charlie Lindgren: That’s a good question. I think for me, I’ll probably just keep it with the classic mustache, but you know, I guess we’ll see. I haven’t thought too much about it yet.
John Aaron: He calls it a Wild West inspired one. I mean, is that the label you would give it? Is there a specific influence or inspiration you’ve had?
Charlie Lindgren: I’d say that’s pretty accurate. I bought a Wild West book a couple of months ago at Barnes and Noble, and looking at some of the characters that were in the Wild West in the late 1800s — I can definitely see the comparison there.
Michelle Basch: Then there’s this — your brother Ryan plays for the Rangers. It’s going to add a whole ‘nother level to this series for you, isn’t it?
Charlie Lindgren: It definitely is. Obviously, my family is extremely excited. Our friends are really excited just at the chance of seeing me and Ryan play head to head at the highest stakes in the National Hockey League. So, it’s definitely an exciting time, and looking forward to playing against Ryan. But hockey is a team game, and so at the end of the day, it’s a fun storyline, but it’s Capitals versus Rangers. May the best team win.
John Aaron: In all seriousness, what do you think is carrying your team right now? And let’s not forget goaltending. Goaltending has carried the team. You can’t say that, but we can.
Charlie Lindgren: We’ve been fighting every single day to essentially get to this place, and it hasn’t been a smooth road 100% of the way. We certainly have had so some bumps in the road, but first off, we’ve got great leadership here. And guys like Ovie, Carly, Wilson, Oshie — we’ve got some guys with some really good experience and still playing some really good hockey. Then we’ve got some young guys that are higher draft picks that are now becoming full-time NHL guys, and you can just see the hunger they have to be the best players they can be. So, it’s a really good dynamic and a really fun dynamic to have, too. We’ve been playing playoff hockey for a couple of months. We’ve had that mindset. So I think just having that ability to go into the playoffs, just knowing that we’ve essentially been playing do-or-die hockey for the last couple of months, I think that helps as well. Again, it’s been a good season. I’ve had a lot of fun. I’ve been given a great opportunity to play a lot of games, and obviously that’s something that I’ve dreamed about for my whole life. I’ve just tried to take the ball and run with it. Certainly, like I just said earlier, you can’t do it by yourself. It’s a team game. I’ve got 20 guys in front of me that are fighting as hard as they can, every single game, and it’s been a team game. It’s a team sport, and we’ve been doing some really good things lately.
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