Head Coach of Washington Capitals Todd Reirden just revealed to the media that death center Nicklas Backstrom will miss Game Two of the Caps’ first-round series against the New York Islanders due to injury.
Backstrom was hurt after a blindside hit by Anders Lee, where the Islanders advanced into the Capital Center teams late with his head turned. The Swede would finish the first period, but did not come out with the team before the start of the second.
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“Nick Backstrom will not play tomorrow,” Reirden said. “He’s in protocol.”
Protocol appears to mean that Backstrom, presumably, has a concussion.
Meanwhile, Lars Eller will return to the lineup for the first time since leaving the bubble last week for the birth of his son Alex and will replace Backstrom in the top six.
The capitals have increased contributions from Eller in those times, according to the team’s PR.
In the last four seasons, Nicklas Backstrom or Evgeny Kuznetsov have been out of the lineup for 26 total games. In those 26 games, Eller has 17 points (2g, 15a). Eller set a new career high in the regular season 2019-20 with 39 points (16g, 23a) and recorded a 51.89 face-off percentage, his highest since joining the Capitals in 2016-17. Eller led the capitals this season with a 55.8 shot attempt at five on five (908 shot attempts for, 717 against), which was not only a personal career high for Eller, it was the third-highest percentage by a capitalist since the NHL began recording the data in 2009-10. In addition, it was the sixth-highest percentage by an attacker with at least 69 games this season.
“I love those challenges,” Eller said.
“It simply came to our notice then. Of course we do not like the hit, “said Tom Wilson. ‘We will do our best to play for him. Guys should step up after the end of the day. We’re moving forward. It’s never good to see that. ”
Screenshot: Zoom
