The two highest point earners in professional hockey will go head-to-head for the second and final time this season on Tuesday night.
When the Winnipeg Jets host the Washington Capitals, a litmus test for both cross-conference teams will be on the line in the greater landscape—although Capitals head coach Spencer Carberry doesn't think so.
“I’m not a measuring stick guy. We’ve seen them before,” Carbery said to The Washington Post. “Like, I think it’s going to be a really good hockey game against a really good team that’s sitting at the top of the league with us. I think our guys understand that. We don’t need to quote-unquote prove anything. I think we’ve done enough of that and we’ve shown that we’re one of the top teams in the NHL through this 70-game sample size.”
The Jets bested the Capitals 5-4 in overtime when they last met in early February. Washington, however, was just returning from a five-week road trip.
With less than a month left in the regular season, Washington is the highest-scoring team in the NHL while Winnipeg boasts the lowest goals against.
Both goaltenders in Connor Hellebuyck and Logan Thompson face one another with a .924 and .917 save percentage, respectively.
Carberry looks at this matchup as more of an opportunity to prove that the Capitals can play in a high-stakes environment as they gear up for playoffs.
“You’re going to have to be able to play well in these environments and situations, against a team like Winnipeg, in their building, on the road, not controlling matchups, dealing with adversity, dealing with fans booing you and all the sorts of stuff that go along with it,” Carbery said. “That’s going to be coming around the corner real quickly, so we’re going to have to be able to thrive in those environments and play really well. That’s what I’m looking to see.
“Not necessarily a result or building the game up of Winnipeg being one of the top teams. I think it’s more about [against] a good team, on the road, can we get to our game?”
Nicklas Backstrom names his favorite Alex Ovechkin goal
Nicklas Backstrom recently reflected on Alex Ovechkin’s historic career during a press conference last week at MedStar Capitals Iceplex.
Backstrom revealed during the chat that he would begin traveling with the Capitals when Ovi nears breaking Wayne Gretzky’s goals record. He also shared insight on what it was like playing with The Great 8.
“Biggest takeaway was probably explaining to him that he wasn’t always open, but he wanted the puck the whole time,” he joked.
Backstrom named some of his favorite things about playing with the legendary left wing. Winning the Stanley Cup and sharing a hug on the ice with Ovechkin afterward in 2018 was his favorite moment. He also named his favorite Ovechkin goal.
“Favorite Ovi goal was probably the one he did against Montreal when he banked it and spun around, and then I think he was scoring laying down,” Backstrom said. “I mean, that’s when I was a part of the team.”
The specific Ovechkin tally that Backstrom refers to came in a Washington Capitals’ 4-3 shootout win over the Montreal Canadiens on February 18, 2009.
The goal was Ovechkin’s 42nd of the 2008-09 season — in what would become his second-best campaign in the NHL, where he tallied 56 goals and 110 points. Backstrom would score a power-play goal and the game-clinching shootout goal in the victory. Other notable players suiting up in that game for the Capitals included Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Semin, Mike Green, and José Théodore.
Backstrom was also a fan of Ovechkin’s most viral scoar of his career, The Goal, but it didn’t make his list for good reason.
“He obviously scored an incredible goal against Phoenix, too, but I wasn’t part of the team,” Backstrom said. “So it doesn’t count.”
