Charlie Lindgren, one of the Washington Capitals’ two starting goaltender options, has left tonight’s game with an upper-body injury and won’t return (X Link). Lindgren left the game early in the second period of tonight’s game against the Montreal Canadiens after being on the receiving end of a collision with Montreal forward Nick Suzuki.
Several reports indicate that Lindgren has entered concussion protocol, which may delay his next start. It’s highly unlikely Lindgren will travel with the team for tomorrow night’s contest against the Nashville Predators and more information should be provided before the Capitals’ return home on January 14th.
The saving grace for Washington is they have a more than capable goaltender in Logan Thompson to carry the load for the foreseeable future. He’s been the Capitals’ best option this year with a 17-2-2 record in 21 starts with a .919 save percentage and a 2.32 goals-against average. Thompson has already reached 11.0 goals saved above average according to Hockey Reference which is 0.3 lower than Lindgren’s 50-game performance last year.
Other notes from the Eastern Conference:
- The Columbus Blue Jackets got a positive injury update regarding one of their best forwards. Aaron Portzline of The Athletic reported earlier that Sean Monahan has avoided fractures on his right wrist and is only dealing with a sprain. The severity of the sprain will provide more clarity on his timeline but it appears the worst-case scenario has eluded Monahan and the Blue Jackets.
- Defenseman Mattias Samuelsson will miss his second straight game for the Buffalo Sabres. The organization announced that Samuelsson is still dealing with an illness that kept him out of the team’s most recent win against the Ottawa Senators and he won’t be in the lineup tomorrow night. Samuelsson’s absence should give oft-used seventh defenseman Jacob Bryson another opportunity in Buffalo’s lineup against the Seattle Kraken.