WASHINGTON — For all of Alexander Ovechkin’s accomplishments with the Washington Capitals, it is hard to mention him without including Nicklas Backstrom in the same breath.
Backstrom, a 27-year-old center from Sweden, has set up 137 of Ovechkin’s 377 goals (36 percent) in the past eight years, including 33 of 53 (62 percent) this year.
“He is really our quarterback,” Capitals forward Brooks Laich said. “A lot of Ovie’s success runs off Nicklas’s ability to carry the puck through the middle of the ice and make plays. If another team says, ‘We need to control Ovie,’ it needs to control Backstrom as well.