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Nicklas Backstrom appears to appreciate good puns

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The Washington Capitals lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs 7-3 in a blowout on Thursday. The game was mostly painful and hard to watch for Capitals fans – minus a stunning individual play by John Carlson and Tom Wilson’s kerfuffle with the Leafs.

But for one Caps fan in attendance at Scotiabank Arena, the night was special for another reason: Nicklas Backstrom acknowledged her and her clever sign.

Maya, a Capitals fan who lives north of the border, attended the game with her mom, who bought her tickets for Christmas.

“I had a sign that said ‘I’d go to the moon and Back-strom for a puck from #19’ since he’s my favorite player,” Maya said. “When they came out onto the ice he noticed my sign and laughed at it and nodded at me.”

And then it happened.

“Backstrom over towards the end and tossed me a puck,” Maya said. “He also made sure I caught it. Really sweet guy!”

The puck had rainbow colors because the Maple Leafs were celebrating their Pride Night.

Backstrom plays the Robin to Alex Ovechkin’s Batman, but has begun to be more in the spotlight as his numbers creep into Hall of Fame territory. Recently Backstrom eclipsed the 1,000 point mark, becoming the 93rd player ever to do so.

“I’m not really sure what made Nicky my favorite player,” Maya said. “Probably because of how humble and genuine he is. He seems like such a sweet guy and it just made me really really love him.”

The gesture further solidified a diehard Caps fan.

“Getting a puck from him was surreal,” Maya said. “It felt really really cool that my favorite player sort of acknowledged me and laughed at my sign. It didn’t really sink in until today though. I think when it happened I was just too overwhelmed. I keep going back and rewatching the videos. It felt really good.”

Maya described the final score as “sucky” but enjoyed the game anyway.

“Being an away fan is different because the Caps don’t play in Toronto all the time like they do in Washington, so I’ll take any chance I get to see them no matter the score,” she said. “I really enjoyed my night and I can’t wait to see them again next season.”

Here are some of the other photos and scenes Maya captured from the game on Thursday.

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