The Washington Capitals’ twenty-goal club has just added yet another new member as Nicklas Backstrom cracked open the scoring against Tampa on Saturday night.
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The goal was the product of a solid top-line rush attack. Backstrom was the puck carrier through neutral. He dealt it to Tom Wilson once they took the Bolts’ zone. Wilson got low towards the goal line before sending a pass back up into the slot, which is exactly where Backstrom was waiting.
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“It was a nice play by Willy there,” Backstrom said at intermission to NBC Sports Washington’s Craig Laughlin.
Backstrom is the seventh Caps player to score 20 goals thi season. He joins Ovechkin (49), Vrana (23), Oshie (23), Wilson (22), Connolly (22), and Kuznetsov (20). Defender John Carlson is next up with 13 goals.
“It means a lot,” Backstrom said. “It means that a lot of guy can score. You need that depth going into the playoffs here.”
As Caps public relations remind us, Backstrom has had twenty-plus goals and fifty-plus assists in each of his last four seasons.
Photo: @CapitalsPR
Update: Nicky’s got 2!
