Nicklas Backstrom did not have a fun night for Brynäs IF in the SHL on Thursday.
Not only did Brynäs see their two-game win streak ended by the Malmö Redhawks, but Backstrom left the contest bloodied after taking a high stick to the nose in the first period. Despite the amount of blood present on Backstrom’s jersey, the offending player, defenseman Martin Schreiber, only received a two-minute minor penalty.
Backstrom was incensed on the bench, yelling at officials before getting ready to jump on the ice for Brynäs’ ensuing power play.
The 37-year-old pivot played 14:30 of ice time in the loss, recording one point, one shot on goal, and one hit. Backstrom’s lone point was a first-period assist to former Washington Capitals teammate Michal Kempny.
Backstrom won an offensive-zone faceoff directly back to Kempny, who pumped home his first career SHL goal. The assist gives Backstrom four points, all assists, in five games since he returned to his hometown club.
Brynäs has started the 2025-26 SHL season with a 2-3 record, currently sitting in 11th place out of 14 teams in the league. The team’s struggles have largely come on defense and in goal, as they’ve allowed five or more goals in four of their five games.
Backstrom and Kempny were joined on the ice by fellow former Capitals players Johan Larsson, Axel Jonsson-Fjallby, and Christian Djoos, as well as Caps draft pick Aron Dahlqvist. Djoos skated the most time on ice (22:52) of any Brynäs player.
Brynäs lineup on 9/25
Forwards
#81 Kieffer Bellows – #10 Johan Larsson – #33 Jakob Silfverberg
#23 Oskar Lindblom – #19 Nicklas Bäckström – #18 Anton Rödin
#52 Jack Kopacka – #36 Linus Ölund – #8 Bobby Trivigno
#71 Jonsson-Fjällby – #20 Tyler Vesel – #41 Greg Scott
#47 Lucas Pettersson
Defensemen
#5 Michal Kempný – #28 Johannes Kinnvall
#14 Christian Djoos – #29 Mattias Norlinder
#14 Robert Hägg – #24 Aron Dahlqvist
#2 Victor Raftheim Hedin
Goaltenders
#61 Collin Delia
#45 Damian Clara
