Charlie Lindgren's 27 saves power USA to win over Latvia

Team USA was victorious in their final preliminary game to advance to the tournament round of the IIHF World Championships

Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals
Charlie Lindgren, Washington Capitals / Scott Taetsch/GettyImages

In Czechia this morning if you're on the east coast, Washington Capitals goalie Charlie Lindgren made 27 stops en route to a 6-3 Team USA win over Latvia in the final preliminary game of the round robin. They will advance to the tournament and at the time of this writing the opponent is still to be determined.

Cole Caufield of the Montreal Canadiens had two goals and two assists while Matt Boldy of the Minnesota Wild and Brady Tkachuk of the Ottawa Senators each had a goal and an assist. Zach Werenski from Grosse Pointe, Michigan and Joel Farabee of the Philadelphia Flyers also joined in on the scoring.

Lindgren's dominance

The Lakeville, Minnesota native made 27 saves in the cage to get the win. It improved the team's record to 5-0-1-1 to rank second in Group B with 16 points. John Hynes, the head coach of Team USA told reporters after the contest on Lindgren via USA Hockey, "I thought Charlie did a nice job for us in net. It was a good game to have heading into the quarterfinals on Thursday."

The other Caps competing internationally

The USA will play on Thursday May 23 live on NHL Network. Opponent time and location is to be determined. Lindgren's teammate Ryan Leonard is also on Team USA and so far he's got one assist in five games. Still, the experience is helping the youngster who is expected to continue his education at Boston College.

Lindgren said on breakdown day that he wanted to focus on offseason training but after the storybook season he had and his home country needing some renforcements, the goaltender changed his mind. Now he can show his stuff on the international stage.

Martin Fehervary also competed for Slovakia and recorded a goal and assist in six games.

But for Caps fans near and far who have fell in love with the play of Chuck, seeing him compete on the international stage should at the very least make you proud to be a fan of the organization.

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