Photo credit: The Washington Post

On January 3rd, the Capitals beat the Calgary Flames 3-1, but suffered a huge loss, losing team MVP Nicklas Backstrom indefinitely due to a concussion. The head injury and subsequent symptoms forced Backstrom out for three months, but finally, after 40 games, the Capitals are about to get a huge boost.

Why? Because Backstrom’s back, baby! The 24-year-old Swede will return against Montreal tonight and retake his normal spot on the first line, centering Alex Ovechkin and Marcus Johansson.

The Capitals, who went 18-16-6 during Backy’s absence, will now have one of their best two-way players down the stretch as they try to hold on to the Eastern Conference’s 8th and final playoff spot.

“I’m very excited,” Backstrom told the media at Kettler. “It’s going to be fun to play again, it’s a big game for us and we need all those points.”

One question that still loomed is will Backstrom look for retribution tonight against Rene Bourque – the guy who originally injured him?

“I don’t really care about that,” Backstrom said. “It happened. I’m not going to waste any energy on that.”

Great answer! Because that’s what Matt Hendricks, Jason Chimera, and Troy Brouwer are for.