Joe Sakic, Maurice Richard, Patrick Kane, and Glenn Anderson have two things in common. They’ve all won Stanley Cups. They’re also the only players in NHL history to score more playoff overtime goals than Nicklas Backstrom.
Saturday night at Capital One Arena, Backstrom scored twice, including his fourth overtime game-winning goal. The tally made the pass-first Backstrom one of the most clutch overtime scorers in NHL postseason history.
Alex Ovechkin, who in October became the all-time NHL leader in regular season overtime goals, has never scored a postseason overtime goal in his career.
According to Hockey Reference, Joe Sakic scored eight playoff overtime goals, Maurice Richard scored six, and Patrick Kane and Glenn Anderson scored five. All four players won at least two Stanley Cups.
Meanwhile, Backstrom’s four OT winners ties him with 15 other players, some of which are legends, like Wayne Gretzky, Jeremy Roenick, Martin St. Louis, Corey Perry, and former Capitals Esa Tikkanen and Dale Hunter (3 of his OT tallies were scored with the Quebec Nordiques).
| Name | OT goals | Time b/t first & last | Cups won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Sakic | 8 | 1995-2008 | 2 |
| Maurice Richard | 6 | 1945-1958 | 8 |
| Glenn Anderson | 5 | 1984-1996 | 6 |
| Patrick Kane | 5 | 2009-2016 | 3 |
| Nicklas Backstrom | 4 | 2009-2018 | 0 |
| Bob Nystrom | 4 | 1977-1980 | 4 |
| Dale Hunter | 4 | 1980-1988 | 0 |
| Wayne Gretzky | 4 | 1981-1993 | 4 |
| Stephane Richer | 4 | 1988-1994 | 2 |
| Joe Murphy | 4 | 1989-1996 | 1 |
| Esa Tikkanen | 4 | 1990-1997 | 5 |
| Jaromir Jagr | 4 | 1990-2000 | 2 |
| Jeremy Roenick | 4 | 1991-2004 | 0 |
| Kirk Muller | 4 | 1992-2001 | 1 |
| Jamie Langenbrunner | 4 | 1997-2007 | 1 |
| Chris Drury | 4 | 1998-2006 | 1 |
| Martin St. Louis | 4 | 2002-2014 | 1 |
| Patrick Marleau | 4 | 2008-2014 | 0 |
| Corey Perry | 4 | 2014-2017 | 1 |
While Backstrom is one of the best centers of this era, the Capitals have played in a ridiculous amount of overtime playoff games since 2008, which may partly explain his OT success.
Backstrom scored his first overtime game-winning goal during the 2010 playoffs.
4/17/10 against Montreal Canadiens
Backstrom’s goal in Game Two of the Caps first round series against the Montreal Canadiens gave the team a wild 6-5 win. Backstrom scored on Jaroslav Halak. The number-one seeded Capitals would eventually be defeated by the eighth-seeded Habs in seven games.
4/14/12 against Boston Bruins (2OT)
Backstrom’s second OT goal came in double overtime against the Boston Bruins during the 2011-12 playoffs. The Game Two tally gave the Caps a 2-1 win. The Capitals eliminated the Bruins in seven games.
4/21/15 against New York Islanders
Backstrom scored 11:09 into overtime for his third career OT tally. The goal gave the Capitals a 2-1 win in Game Four. The Capitals would win the series in seven games. Backstrom scored the goal again on Jaroslav Halak.
4/21/18 against Columbus Blue Jackets
Backstrom scored his fourth OT goal against Columbus, deflecting a Dmitry Orlov shot past former Vezina Trophy winner Sergei Bobrovsky. The Game Five goal gave the Capitals a 4-3 win.
According to Capitals PR, Backstrom’s fourth career OT goal also put him in some other rare air.
- Backstrom tied Alex Ovechkin, Peter Bondra and Jason Chimera for the most game-winning goals in the playoffs in franchise history (6).
- Backstrom also became the first Swedish born player to score four overtime goals.
- Backstrom tied Esa Tikkanen, Bobby Nystrom and Jaromir Jagr for the most career playoff overtime goals scored by a European-born player.
One thing missing in Backstrom’s postseason resume is a Stanley Cup. He is one of only four players out of 19 total who have never won a championship despite scoring four or more postseason OTGWGs.
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