Backstrom to miss Game 2 for Capitals in Eastern First Round

Nicklas Backstrom will not play for the Washington Capitals against the New York Islanders in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Friday (8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, FX-CA, TVAS, NBCSWA, MSG, MSG+).

Capitals coach Todd Reirden said Backstrom is in concussion protocol after being injured on a hit by Islanders forward Anders Lee 2:33 into the first period of Game 1, a 4-2 loss. Lee received an interference penalty on the play.

Backstrom did not miss a shift over the remainder of the first period, but the center did not play after the first intermission.

Backstrom was third on the Capitals with 54 points (12 goals, 42 assists) in 61 games during the regular season. He had one assist in Washington's three games in the round-robin portion of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.

"Obviously, Nick is a tremendous leader for us," Reirden said. "His body of work as a player speaks for itself. But that's next man up. Who's going to take advantage of that opportunity? That's playoff hockey. Winning hockey during the regular season is having guys that are in a depth position take advantage of it. Sometimes you have players that roles are elevated within the game.

"That's what we're challenged with and we'll be ready for that tomorrow."

Center Lars Eller will return to the Capitals lineup and move up to replace Backstrom on the second line. Eller sat out Game 1 after returning to Washington following the birth of his son, Alexander, on Aug. 4. Upon returning to Toronto, he was required to quarantine in his hotel room for four days.

Though Eller's quarantine ended Wednesday morning, the Capitals opted to hold him out of Game 1 because he had not skated in a week.

"That was a choice to be able to put Lars in the best situation to succeed and that was to not have him playing until Friday," Reirden said.

Eller, who also missed Washington's final two round-robin games in the Qualifiers, participated in the Capitals optional practice Thursday. He had an NHL career-high 39 points (16 goals, 23 assists) in 69 games during the regular season.

Eller, who likely will play on a line with Jakub Vrana and T.J. Oshie, has a history of elevating his play when Backstrom or Evgeny Kuznetsov has been unable to play. He has 17 points (two goals, 15 assists) in 26 games over the past four seasons when either of the two centers has been out of the lineup.

"I love when those challenges happen because I think I don't change the way I think about the game or the way I prepare myself," Eller said. "It will basically mean I will be playing more minutes probably than I otherwise would. My mentality is the same, trying to go out there and play a strong two-way game and create offense in every shift."

When Backstrom fractured his right index finger blocking a shot against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 5 of the 2018 Eastern Conference Second Round, Eller moved up to play center on the second line and scored five points (two goals, three assists) in the four games Backstrom missed.

When Kuznetsov missed the first three games of this season because of a suspension, Eller had three assists to help Washington begin 2-0-1. When Backstrom missed eight games from Nov. 20-Dec. 6 because of an upper-body injury, Eller scored four points (one goal, three assists) and the Capitals went 6-1-1.

"Lars has done an amazing job when one of those top two centermen is down," Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. "He's done an amazing job filling in and picking up some slack. That's why it's nice to have depth at the center spot. …. Guys got to step up and come together as a group and rally for each other, rally for a guy like Nick and hopefully get the job done."

Eller went to great lengths to minimize the time he was required to quarantine, chartering a plane to take him home and back to Toronto. To avoid risking exposure to COVID-19, Eller did not go to the hospital when Alexander was born. He spent two and a half days at home with his wife Julie, daughter Sofia and Alexander before returning to Toronto and beginning his quarantine on Saturday.

"I basically gave up being at the birth," Eller said. "That was the only way to go around (a longer quarantine), not being at the hospital. I would have had to serve way more than four days of quarantine. I don't know if it was going to be seven or eight or nine days or 10 or two weeks. … So that was a sacrifice I made, but I still got some time with my family."