Capitals get vintage Backstrom-to-Ovechkin magic in wild second period

When you get a hunter this close to his pray, you know he’s coming out firing.

With the Capitals one win away from a Stanley Cup and their captain smelling the blood in the water during a power play in the second period of Game 5, Ovechkin lit the lamp from his favourite spot to give Washington the lead.

The feed from Backstrom was absolutely glorious, too, feathering a dime of a saucer pass through a sea of Golden Knights defenders and landing it right on Ovi’s tape. It helped Ovechkin establish a new franchise record for goals in a single postseason. He’s the first to hit the 15-goal mark in a single playoff run since 2009 and only the second since 2005.

Backstrom, meanwhile, now has career-best 23 points this postseason (his pervious high was 15 back in 2009) including 18 assists and trails only teammate Evgeny Kuznetsov in that department.

Unfortunately for the Capitals, their lead was short-lived as Vegas scored twice to take a 3-2 advantage heading into the third.