Charlie Lindgren gains revenge on Rangers for brother Ryan days after trade

The Washington Capitals came away with a 3-2 overtime victory over the Metropolitan Division rival New York Rangers on Wednesday night. While the focus was all on captain Alexander Ovechkin's 885th career goal, the game was personal for the team's netminder.

Charlie Lindgren used to look forward to playing the Rangers multiple times each season since joining Washington in 2022. His brother Ryan was a defenseman for "the Blue Shirts," creating an interesting sibling rivalry.

However, just on Sunday the Rangers traded Ryan and teammate Jimmy Vesey to the Colorado Avalanche in exchange for Juuso Parssinen, Calvin de Haan and draft picks.

That left Lindgren disappointed but also even more fired up to play and beat New York. Instead of being motivated to defeat his brother, he wanted to win for him.

"It felt good to get the win for my brother and, obviously, for the team here," Charlie told reporters following the victory Wednesday (h/t SportsNet). "My brother laid it on the line every single night for this team."

Beating the New York Rangers was personal for Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren

Charlie stopped 15 of 17 shots and logged his 14th win of the season. That kind of effort is what earned him a three-year, $9 million contract extension with Washington on Monday.

Capitals forward Tom Wilson, who scored the OT game-winning goal on Wednesday, gave Charlie the ceremonial gold chain in the post game locker room, awarded to the game's MVP as decided by the players. He made sure to note Charlie's motivation as being sourced from his brother being "shipped out of that place."

"[Ryan] loved being a Ranger, loved the group over there," Charlie said. "I know for a fact they are definitely going to miss him. There's going to be a big hole back there."

Ryan seems to be handling the move rather diplomatically, though some apparent fractures at Madison Square Garden were made evident.

"You kind of always see the rumours, especially this time of year. I saw my name floating around, so yeah, definitely thought that was a possibility," he told reporters in Colorado about the trade, h/t SportsNet. "New York, yeah, was definitely up and down. There was a lot of stuff going on. It's a new chapter (in Colorado)."

Washington and Colorado won't meet again during the 2024-25 regular season, meaning the Lindgren brothers will have to wait until next season to renew their sibling rivalry.