These days, Parker Milner is far more used to reporting on news than making it. Since his last professional hockey game in 2020, he’s established himself as a food critic, now working as an editor for the Post and Courier covering South Carolina’s restaurant scene.

But on Friday night, Milner found himself on the other side of the microphone. Milner, 35, dressed against the Anaheim Ducks in his first-ever NHL game, signing a professional tryout deal with the Capitals and backing up Logan Thompson after an injury to Charlie Lindgren.

“First one of these in a while,” he remarked with a grin as he began his postgame scrum.

Milner, who played seven seasons in the AHL and ECHL, has spent several years as a part-time practice goalie for the Capitals, and he’d even occasionally accompanied the team on extended road trips, but he’d never imagined he’d get to take the ice.

“It’s surreal,” he said. “You’re staring at the greatest goal scorer to ever play the game, and you’re about to go on the ice for an NHL game. So it’s really hard to describe, but just tried to be super present and appreciate the moment and appreciate the guys that I was around to help me do it.”

Once the Capitals ruled that Charlie Lindgren had sustained an upper-body injury and wouldn’t be able to play, Milner told (his fellow) media members that he’d had little time to prepare before the game.

“Found out that Chuckie was hurt after morning skate, and they were trying to figure out if they could make it work rules-wise,” he said. “Got the news probably around 2:30, so it happened pretty quickly from there. Just hopped on the bus, came here, and tried to enjoy the moment. I’ve played so many hockey games, and I never made it to this point. So even to get here — even in this way — was pretty special.”

Milner may have only joined the team on a PTO, and a close game meant he didn’t get any time in net, but the Capitals still gave him the full NHL treatment. After a round of congratulations in the tunnel pregame, Tom Wilson and Alex Ovechkin made sure he got a rookie lap as he led the team out for warmups.

When asked about the moment, Milner cracked a joke at his own expense before shifting the spotlight onto his teammates.

“Well, I just watched it on Twitter, and I was moving a lot slower than I felt like,” he said with a laugh. “I just really didn’t want to fall, or run into the boards or something. But I mean, it’s just a testament to the guys in here that they would have me do something like that.

“They treat me like I’m part of the group every single day I’m here. It’s really remarkable, from Carbs right on down, O, everyone. They show me a ton of respect and have welcomed me in, and I really appreciate it.”

Even the Ducks took time to recognize Milner, looking up his AHL stats and listing them on the night’s lineup sheet.

Just noticed this on the lineup sheet. Great work by Ducks PR to pull out Parker Milner’s old AHL stats and add them to his section of the card pic.twitter.com/a3FKl8HjNu

— Bailey Johnson (@BaileyAJohnson_) December 6, 2025

The game also gave Milner another chance to play alongside Thompson, who had been his final professional goaltending partner in the ECHL. More than half a decade later, the two shared the ice once again, this time on a far bigger stage. Milner joked that Thompson’s tendency to strike up a conversation during timeouts hadn’t changed a bit.

“I had a whole year with LT, so I got to hear him yap during the games quite a bit,” he said. “So it was fun to kind of get back into that routine. The last pro game I ever played, LT backed up for me in South Carolina. So it’s really just crazy, the full circle. Love watching him compete out there. That’s a perfect example of how he’s gotten to where he’s gotten. He just battles until the final whistle, and so cool to see it up close and personal again.”

Unlike many emergency goaltenders, who join the team for a single day, Milner has long been an honorary member of the Capitals’ locker room. After Milner spent four years with the South Carolina Stingrays and Hershey Bears — including four games under then-Bears head coach Spencer Carbery — the Caps looked to him when hiring a practice goalie. The job is well out of the spotlight, unknown even to many of the team’s fans, but Carbery highlighted just how difficult his role can be.

“People have no idea what he does for our organization,” Carbery said. “He shows up every single practice, and is out there taking hundreds of shots from NHL players every single morning, one-timers, and this guy just shows up and does it time and time and time again. And it’s incredible.

“So the guys appreciate it so much, because to have a goaltender of his caliber — he’s an excellent goaltender to boot — and he’s showing up every morning, going on the ice. They’re shooting puck after puck after puck, and he’s just getting up. Butterfly, up, this guy is exhausted by the time he finishes a 30-minute skill session.”

That connection made it even more rewarding when the Caps got to see their longtime training partner get his moment to shine.

“So all that, and for him to be able to dress — and me specifically, Parker Milner’s played for me as a head coach in the American Hockey League and won games for me, or been a big reason why I had success in the AHL,” Carbery said. “So I was so happy for him and that we were able to give him that moment tonight.”

Once the Capitals return to DC, Milner will resume his old routine. Though Carbery said postgame that the upper-body injury means Lindgren “is going to be out,” the team will almost certainly recall one of their current minor-league goaltenders if needed to fill the gap. Milner will go back to his rarely glamorous work during Capitals practices, all while continuing to file stories for the Post and Courier.

But he’ll do so knowing that, after decades in the sport and long after he’d given up on the dream, he’d finally gotten a taste of the NHL.