Nicklas Backstrom played with a grotesquely broken hand in Stanley Cup Final
Nicklas Backstrom is finally a Stanley Cup champion, but he had to fight through the pain of a severely fractured finger in order to get there.
Washington Capitals center Nicklas Backstrom finally achieved his dream of winning a Stanley Cup this June against the Vegas Golden Knights, but it didn’t come without having to grit his way through some pain and pushing himself the extra mile to get to that next level.
Backstrom himself revealed on Wednesday to reporters during closing interviews that he fractured his right index finger in two places, but the injury will not require any surgery and won’t affect him for next season.
It was no secret that Backstrom was injured after he missed four games following blocking a shot with his hand in Game 5 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the Capitals were cryptic about the details of his “upper body injury.”
Backstrom missed the clinching Game 6 against Pittsburgh and the first three games of the Eastern Conference Final against Tampa Bay, but returned for Game 4. Lars Eller filled his spot in the meantime and was a huge reason why the Capitals went up 2-0 over the Lightning in the Conference Finals before Backstrom’s return.
Confirmation of the injury came when Backstrom took his glove off during an interview after his return to the line up and revealed a swollen right index finger.
Look at Nicklas Backstrom's giant, gross finger. https://t.co/b0ZxMwaUDF pic.twitter.com/vuexxIpkHu
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) May 25, 2018
Despite the gross injury, Backstrom still finished third on the Stanley Cup champion Capitals in points with 23 and scored nine of those points in the final ten games of the postseason against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Vegas Golden Knights.
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But in the end it was all worth it when it came time to lift the Stanley Cup after beating the Golden Knights in five games, though Backstrom needed a bit of help from his partner in crime Alex Ovechkin to hold it for a long period of time. No amount of fractured bones was going to stop that duo from finally getting their moment with the Stanley Cup.