Hit set up big goal vs. the Rangers So much of Nicklas Backstrom’s game is subtle.
It is the pass before the pass that moves defenders around the ice like chess pieces to set up a quality scoring chance for the Capitals. It is coming out of a corner with the puck even though two opposing players were right there with him. It’s a head fake or a shift of his eyes on a rush to let a teammate know where to be.
But what Backstrom did to New York Rangers forward Artem Anisimov during Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Saturday afternoon was not subtle. It was a good, old-fashioned counter hit that knocked the stunned Anisimov — no small man at 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds — right to the ice. It’s an underappreciated part of Backstrom’s game and right out of the playbook used by his idol, Peter Forsberg, a fellow Swede and a future Hockey Hall of Famer.
| Up next |
| Capitals at Rangers |
| When » Monday, 7:30 p.m. |
| Where » Madison Square |
| Garden, New York |
| TV » NBCSN |
“He reverse-shouldered,” Washington coach Dale Hunter said of his center’s hit on Anisimov. “He’s strong on his feet. He’s got great balance. You notice he doesn’t fall much on the ice because of his balance.”
Hunter knows of what he speaks. He jokingly remembered the times Forsberg pulled the same move on him late in his playing career, including a short stretch late in the 1998-99 season when the two were teammates after a deadline trade from Washington to Colorado.
“So I’d go in very slowly when I’d go to hit [Forsberg],” Hunter cracked.
That reverse hit on Anisimov led to the puck finding its way to teammate Jason Chimera. He waited a beat, saw Backstrom drift into open space to the right of New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist and centered the pass as hard as he could. Backstrom stopped the puck cold and fired a wrister over Lundqvist’s right shoulder. It was an impossible shot to stop.
“I don’t know if he took a page out of Forsberg’s book, but he always does that,” Chimera said of Backstrom’s counter hit, bringing up Forsberg’s name unprompted. “It’s a good play to separate yourself from a guy because usually guys are not expecting to get hit when they’re coming to hit a guy. He’s done that a lot. … That’s why you don’t go near him in practice when he’s got the puck. So you try to stay off him.”
Backstrom, whose team plays Game 5 in New York on Monday night with the series tied 2-2, has contributed some since returning from a concussion on March 31. He had a goal and an assist in the regular-season finale against the Rangers. He scored the game-winner in double overtime of Game 2 in the first round against Boston and had two assists in Game 6. But he was relatively quiet in the New York series before Saturday’s dominating performance, had been suspended for Game 4 against the Bruins and had the key turnover in the Game 6 loss.
“Obviously, you feel it. But you can’t think about it too much,” Backstrom said. “You just have to go play the same way you always have. But yeah, I’ve been thinking about it a little bit, for sure.”
