Backstrom Hits a Grand in Caps' OT Loss

Nicklas Backstrom recorded his 1,000th career point on Wednesday night in Edmonton against the Oilers, and Washington got a thrilling last-second goal from T.J. Oshie to force overtime and collect a point. But the Caps came out on the short end of a 4-3 decision when Connor McDavid scored on a 2-on-1 rush at 3:27 of the extra session.

"Obviously it means a lot, and it's a big milestone," says Backstrom. "I'm very happy that I reached it today. Obviously, we would have liked two points, but Osh tied it up there at the end, which gave us at least one point. We'll take that and move on."
Backstrom had a goal in the second period, had an assist nullified in the second, and finally hit the milestone with an assist on Oshie's power-play goal early in the third.
"I felt like we were digging," says Caps coach Peter Laviolette. "I thought the guys just kept competing and competing, and they didn't stop until the end. It's unfortunate and you're disappointed when it doesn't go your way because they work so hard for it, to try and get it done. It doesn't happen, but it was a heck of an effort by the guys."

Last month in Washington, Ilya Samsonov had an ill-fated start against the Oilers. After giving up three goals on the first four shots he faced in just 5:07 of work, Samsonov yielded the crease to Pheonix Copley. Washington rallied to tie the game before losing late, so Samsonov wasn't saddled with a loss. On Wednesday in Edmonton, he got his first start in just over a week, and a chance for redemption.
The Capitals took a pair of penalties and yielded 20 shots on net - the most they've allowed in the first frame of any game this season - including seven while the Oilers were on the power play. But Samsonov was sharp; he stopped all 20, including a few multi-shot flurries and a handful of high danger chances from in tight. His strong play in the first 20 enabled the Caps to get through the period at 0-0.
"He was really good, especially in the first period," says Laviolette of Samsonov. "They had some chances at 5-on-5, some in tight chances like right in front of him, and he made big saves. And then the power play chances that that they had off the two power plays, I thought he was really strong with that as well. He gave us an opportunity to keep fighting tonight."
Washington had a few good early looks as well; Edmonton goaltender Mikko Koskinen made a pair of good stops on Caps captain Alex Ovechkin in the first.
Early in the second, Washington broke the seal on the scoresheet. After the Caps survived a lengthy shift in their own end in which Oshie was playing without a stick, Oshie kicked the puck onto Anthony Mantha's stick and he carried out of danger and into Edmonton ice. Mantha halted just above the top of the right circle and fed Backstrom down low on the left side. The pass hit an Edmonton defender, and Backstrom whirled and threw a backhander on net and in at 2:43, registering his 999th career point in the process.
A few minutes later, the Caps had a pair of virtually consecutive power plays. They had the zone time and looks at the Edmonton net they would want, but they couldn't manage to get anything past Koskinen.
Meanwhile, just after the midpoint of the period, Washington committed an unforced error in taking a bench minor for too many men on the ice. The Oilers quickly struck on the power play, tying the game at 12:01 of the second when McDavid hit Kailer Yamamoto for a layup at the back door.
The Caps got a third power play chance later in the middle frame, and it appeared that they retook the lead on a John Carlson goal, a tally that would have lifted Backstrom to 1,000 points with 5:07 left in the second. But the Oilers issued a successful coach's challenge, and video review showed that Backstrom himself was in ahead of the puck.
"All the guys came up and celebrated," says Backstrom. "I said right away, 'It's offside.'"
With just under two minutes left in the second, two more Washington miscues enabled Edmonton to take its first lead of the night. First, the Caps turned the puck over in neutral ice, shortening the sheet for the Oilers. Brad Malone carried into Washington ice and fired, and Samsonov made the stop. But as the Caps goaltender sprawled out to try to cover the rebound, Edmonton's Cody Ceci got to it first, putting a backhander to the shelf to lift the Oilers to their first lead of the night with 1:48 left in the second.
On their fourth power play of the night in the front half of the third, the Caps pulled even when Backstrom sent Oshie into Edmonton ice on the rush, and the latter beat Koskinen with a shot from the right dot, making it a 2-2 game at 6:13 of the third, and lifting Backstrom to the 1,000-point plateau.

Just after the midpoint of the third, Edmonton's fourth line contributed its second goal of the night to put the home team back on top. Washington was unable to exit its zone cleanly, and Evan Bouchard kept it in at the right point. Zack Kassian retrieved the puck behind the Caps' net and issued a backhand feed to the front for Malone, who potted it from the top of the paint at 10:31 of the third. Malone's first NHL goal since Dec. 3, 2015 gave Edmonton a 3-2 lead.
Washington missed on a glorious opportunity to get even soon after the Malone goal, but Ovechkin airmailed his shot at a wide open net over the cage entirely.
With Samsonov pulled for an extra attacker in the final minute, the Caps struggled to get set up in the Edmonton end. Seconds after he adroitly kept the puck in the zone along the right half wall, Evgeny Kuznetsov rolled the puck out to Carlson at the right point with the clock down to about five seconds. Carlson crept up and bumped it to Oshie in the high slot, and the veteran winger cranked a one-timer past Koskinen's glove hand with 1.8 seconds left, forcing overtime.

"I just saw they had a lot of guys collapsed low, and I just tried to find my ice," says Oshie. "It was a good by [by Kuznetsov] to release it up to John, and John made a heads up play to get it down the middle to me.
"That's sort of in my power play area of one-timers a little bit, so just from experience I have a pretty good feeling of how to hit that top left side. I threw it out there, and fortunately it made it in."
The Caps nearly won it in the extra session, but Mantha's shot rang iron. Less than a minute later, Oshie lost possession near the Edmonton line, and McDavid took off down the right side on a 2-on-1 with Leon Draisaitl on his left and Lars Eller as the lone Capital back. McDavid called his own number and beat Samsonov for his 30th goal of the season, giving Edmonton its second 4-3 overtime win over Washington in the Capitals' last two visits here.
"You know me, I'm trying to get him that puck," says McDavid. "I always want to get Leo the puck in those types of situations, and I thought Eller actually played it pretty well. We didn't have a ton of speed, all three of us. He just stood in the middle, and I just tried to take the shot that was there."