Skating on a line with William Nylander and and Oscar Lindberg, Nicklas Backstrom has been dominant during his short stint in the 2017 World Championship. That continued Thursday.
Backstrom scored a goal in Sweden’s 3-1 quarterfinals over Switzerland. The Swedes will now face their rivals, Finland, in the semis on Saturday.
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Backstrom started the scoring 4:15 into the first period. After Oscar Lindberg who rifled a shot on net, Nicklas Backstrom shot the rebound past Swiss goaltender Leonardo Genoni.
“I thought we played well,” Nicklas Backstrom said to the IIHF after the game. “I thought in the second period, we played a pretty strong team game. We managed the puck well, and after our goals, we got some energy from that. We played better. This is my third game, and I’d say this was our best team game. Perfect timing. We’re going to build from here and move on.”
Backstrom had two shots in 18:29 of ice time, but did have one major mistake.
The Swedish center took a double minor high-sticking penalty early in the second period, but the Swiss could not score during their four-minute power play. That proved to be a turning point in the game.
So far in three World Championship games, Backstrom has two goals, two assists, and six shots on net.
🚨🇸🇪 @Trekronorse kick off the scoring thanks to Nicklas Backstrom #SUIvsSWE #IIHFWorlds pic.twitter.com/C7zN0vh1du
— IIHF (@IIHFHockey) May 18, 2017
Headline photo: Matt Zambonin
