- Charlie Lindgren had a moment to forget against the Tampa Bay Lightning
Washington Capitals goaltender Charlie Lindgren scored a stunning own goal against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday night.
With the score tied 3-3 in the third period, Lindgren picked up the puck near his goal as a defender closed on it, before turning and sliding a backhand pass into his own net.
It looked like the goalie had tried to put the puck behind his net, but the move clearly went horribly wrong.
Unsurprisingly, he looked dejected afterwards as he cocked the puck off the ice before being consoled by a teammate.
Fans were shocked by the series as they reacted to a clip from B/R Open ice on X.
Charlie Lindgren seemed dejected after his shocking mistake for the Capitals on Wednesday
Lindgren seemed to want to put the puck behind his net, but that went horribly wrong
“WTF is going on???????”, someone asked.
“Been there, lol. Just not close to the NHL level,” a second fan added.
“I would never leave my house again if I did this,” a third added.
A fourth said: ‘Watching this back I still have no idea what Lindgren was thinking.
‘I don’t feel like shooting him through the middle [John] Carlson, but with the time he had, why not carry him behind the net and rim him and let your defense take care of it?”
And several others claimed it was ‘the worst own goal I have ever seen’.
Fortunately for Lundgren, his mistake was corrected just three minutes later when Carlson scored his third goal of the season – and the Capitals would win in a thriller.
Tom Wilson scored a power-play goal with 3:26 left in regulation, lifting the Capitals to a 5-4 victory against the Lightning.
With Anthony Cirelli in the box for a high-sticking, double-minor penalty with 4:03 to go, Wilson tapped in a shot from Jakob Chychrun for the winning goal.
Lindgren, Tom Wilson #43 and the Washington Capitals celebrate the win against the Lightning
Aliaksei Protas scored in shorthand, while Andrew Mangiapane, Dylan Strome and John Carlson scored for Washington, which has won six in a row.
Lindgren scored with 24 saves that night.
Brayden Point recorded his fifth career hat trick for Tampa Bay, while Michael Eyssimont also scored for the Lightning. Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 27 shots.
Tampa Bay held a 2-0, 3-2, 4-3 lead, with Point’s hat trick goal putting Tampa Bay ahead after Lindgren tried to play the puck behind him but fired it into his own net at 7:25 . the third period. But Carlson pulled the Capitals even again with 9:30 to go.
Washington returns home to host the New York Islanders on Friday, while the Lightning are in Nashville on Friday.