Backstrom To Ovechkin Has Never Been Bigger Or Prettier

It’s 2-1 Washington as I write this, but the goals are coming fast and furious so let’s not spend too much time on this before the score changes. (No shit, Vegas made it 2-2 before I finished writing that sentence.) But the Caps have been scoring some of the prettiest goals of the playoffs—especially their setups—and Nicklas Backstrom threading the needle to set up Alex Ovechkin on the power play was downright incredible.

Look at it: The one-timer is absolutely indefensible from start to finish. Teams know exactly where Alex Ovechkin’s going to be hanging out, and what he’s going to do when he gets the puck, and for a decade haven’t been able to do anything about it.

Backstrom was supplanted as first-line center this year, but on the power play he’s reunited with Ovie, and it’s still a hell of a combination. And for Ovechkin, meanwhile, it’s his 15th goal of the playoffs, which both gives him the NHL postseason lead and sets a Caps franchise record. And, depending on how the rest of this game and series play out, might go a ways toward a Conn Smythe.