Backstrom's Night Ends in 4-3 Win Over Devils

You like apples?
For 15 seasons now, Nicklas Backstrom has been making it rain apples here in D.C. And on this Saturday night - after Backstrom's third-period goal gave the Caps their first lead of the game against the New Jersey Devils - Caps fans rained apples right back at Backstrom in a show of their appreciation for his consistently stellar performance over the last decade and a half.

Prior to Saturday night's 4-3 win over the Devils at Capital One Arena, the Caps held a ceremony to commemorate Backstrom's 1,000th NHL point, recorded in Edmonton on March 9. Fans were given commemorative "apples," a nod to the 700-plus assists - "apples" in the hockey vernacular - Backstrom has recorded over the course of his brilliant NHL career. These weren't real apples that one would eat, but rather small and bouncy fake apples - emblazoned with the "N1KY" logo to denote Nicky's 1000th point - that fit in the palm of one's hand.
And when Backstrom settled a bouncing puck and fired it past Jersey goalie Nico Daws at 6:56 of the third, the apples came pouring out of the stands and onto the ice, bouncing all about and punctuating the rousing ovation for the sublime center's timely goal on his special night.
The pregame ceremony, Backstrom coming through in the clutch yet again, the cascade of "apples" and the Caps finishing off another third-period comeback for a victory made for another memorable Saturday night at the big barn on F St.
"For everybody, really," emphasizes Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "Everybody inside the organization and certainly the players, to be a part of that and to experience that before the game and such a tremendous accomplishment. To have his family in town to celebrate that, and for the fans that he's been in front of for so many years, it was a great night."
Washington had some looks early in the game, but on a pair of occasions they had the "tic" and the "tac," but couldn't quite convert on the "toe" part of the equation. Alex Ovechkin fanned on a back-door look, and another opportunity died when a pass went into John Carlson's skates rather than to his tape.
Caps goaltender Vitek Vanecek's first save of the night came on a 2-on-1 rush in the third minute when he denied Devils winger Jimmy Vesey. Later in the frame, Vanecek made a couple of good scrambles to cover loose pucks after he made the initial stops.
The Devils grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first minute of the middle period when the Caps turned it over at the New Jersey line and Jack Hughes converted a Yegor Sharangovich feed to put the visitors up 1-0 at the 55-second mark of the second.
Washington answered back less than two minutes later when Carlson sprang Conor Sheary and Tom Wilson into New Jersey ice on a 2-on-1, and Sheary made a patient play to set up Wilson's 20th goal of the season, tying the game at 1-1 at 2:47.
"Shears made a good play," says Wilson. "I just kind of picked the guy's stick and tried to throw it on net, and luckily it went in."
The Devils jumped back in front after winning an offensive zone draw just ahead of the midpoint of the period, pulling it to the point and retaking the lead at 7:17 on Damon Severson's drive from center point.
Later in the middle period, the Caps had a couple of odd-man rush opportunities, but they weren't able to generate as much as a shot attempt with either one. Washington went to the room for second intermission trailing 2-1 and needing to kill off 66 seconds worth of a carryover New Jersey power play at the outset of the third.
Soon after completing that kill, T.J. Oshie drew a penalty while Washington had possession in the Devils zone, and the Caps pulled even during the delayed portion of the penalty, finally finishing off the tic-tac-toe play in its entirety.
Carlson snapped it down to Justin Schultz down low on the left side, and Schultz quickly fired a perfect feed to Connor McMichael at the back door. The rookie center banged it home to knot the score at 2-2 at 2:08.
That set the stage for Backstrom's fruitful goal. With players from sides trying to tame a bouncing puck in New Jersey ice, where the Caps had been applying some offensive pressure, Anthony Mantha pushed it in Backstrom's direction, and Backstrom booted it from his skate to his stick. With Wilson helping out with a partial screen, Backstrom beat Daws with a wrist shot to the far side, giving Washington its first lead of the night, and sending the apples down upon the ice.
Players from both sides helped gather the apples, and they were brought into the Caps' locker room for the team's postgame celebration.
"I was like, 'This is amazing,'" recounts Backstrom. "I didn't score a hat trick, but it was just fun that the crowd did it. It was hilarious, and then all the players keep shoveling. They needed some help there. It was just an awesome experience."
Washington added what would prove to be a necessary insurance tally on the power play with 8:12 remaining. Evgeny Kuznetsov took a pass from Backstrom and in turn made a terrific feed to Ovechkin, who struck from just above the paint to make it a 4-2 contest.
New Jersey pulled Daws for an extra attacker, and put a lot of pressure on the Caps late, finally breaking through when Jesper Bratt buried a rebound with 31.9 seconds remaining to account for the 4-3 final. Vanecek, who made a number of timely saves on the night, was called on to make one more, stopping Nico Hischier's try for the equalizer with about 20 seconds remaining.
For the Devils, Saturday's setback was their eighth in a row on the road, all of them coming in regulation.
"We battled to the end," says Devils coach Lindy Ruff. "We made a couple of mistakes. I thought when they made a couple of big mistakes in the second, we didn't capitalize."
The Caps halted a two-game home slide and finished a sweep of a weekend set of back-to-backs; there were no sour feelings after this one.
"It was good the way it ended - with a win - because when you have a great night like that, you want it to end in a positive way where everybody feels good leaving the rink," says Laviolette. "Nonetheless, an incredible accomplishment for an incredible player."
How do you like them apples?