After losing both prior games in Cali, Barry Trotz dropped Nicklas Backstrom to the Caps second line with Brett Connolly and Andre Burakovsky. It paid immediate dividends against the Sharks.
Backstrom scored the game’s first goal late in the second period. It was straight fire.
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Right under the bar for @backstrom19! #CapsSharks pic.twitter.com/Xm4U8vT8uP
— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 10, 2018
Basically, Nicky dropped the hammer on Martin Jones. After taking a slick cross-ice pass from Brett Connolly, Backstrom fired a heavy duty slap shot on Martin Jones.
Good luck stopping that, Martin Jones. “That’s some serious heat,” NBC Sports Washington analyst Craig Laughlin said after the goal.
The goal was Backstrom’s 17th of the season. That puts Nicky third on the team in goals behind Alex Ovechkin (40) and Evgeny Kuznetsov (20).
Nicklas Backstrom on his slap shot goal: "First, I usually switch with Lars, but Conno took him and I took Ovi. So I came off the bench. I got a great pass. I saw a little space out there." pic.twitter.com/5RIUV6R8rb
— Ian Oland (@ianoland) March 10, 2018
According to the Capitals PR, Backstrom is now three goals shy of reaching the 20-goal mark for the third consecutive season, which would be the first time in a three season stretch in his career.
