The Washington Capitals have a new villain in Anders Lee.
Less than three minutes into Wednesday’s Game 1 between the Washington Capitals and New York Islanders, there was a late hit by Anders Lee that injured Nicklas Backstrom.
Backstrom left the game and didn’t return and now his status for tomorrow’s Game 2 is uncertain. Lee was called for interference but that is likely the only discipline he’s gonna get.
No discipline is expected from the NHL Department of Player Safety because they deemed the hit not predatory enough. Caps head coach Todd Reirden strongly disagrees.
More from Capitals News
- Breaking down the Rookie Camp roster
- Hear what Magic Johnson said about Alex Ovechkin
- Capitals announce Rookie Camp schedule
- Breaking down the 2023-24 Capitals national TV schedule
- Capitals Alumni Weekend is coming back
“(Backstrom’s) going to get looked at. Obviously, he couldn’t finish the game. It was a late hit on an unexpected player that was in a spot (where) he was extremely vulnerable. So those are some things we saw there. It’s as simple as that. Like I said, late hit, the player wasn’t expecting it and it’s predatory,” said Reirden.
John Carlson responded by fighting and Tom Wilson fought shortly after.
“It looked real dirty to me. I think when a guy is kind of coming up and kind of looking back at the pass, I’ve heard it a lot over the years that they’re trying to take that out of the game. More than anything, as a player that’s been around, you kind of sense the impact. Nicky doesn’t get hit very often, so that should tell you all you need to know. He’s probably one of the most aware players in the league. That was my reaction to what happened,” said Carlson.
Lee’s hit came on the chest of Backstrom with the puck not being played in the area, showing all the more evidence that the hit was late. Backstrom did not see it coming either.
#Capitals Brooks Orpik was suspended by #NHL for late hit on Olli Maatta in 2016, this Anders Lee late hit should fall under same category at 1.1 seconds late on unsuspecting Backstrom...?? pic.twitter.com/BswiIP9tIB
— Alan May (@AlanMay_16) August 12, 2020
“It looked extremely late. In the frame I saw there wasn’t even a puck, and it still looked late. It’s hard seeing a leader and a player like Backy is not only for our team, but a pretty good role model as far as in the NHL, go down like that on a late, cheap play. It’s out of our hands,” added T.J. Oshie.
Unsurprisingly, Barry Trotz and the New York Islanders saw the play differently. Trotz himself even called it a “hockey play”. The Caps tried their retaliation with the two fights and the early two goal lead but weren’t able to hang on. They look to redeem themselves tomorrow night even if it means they have to do it without their center.