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Backstrom will travel with the Capitals to
Tampa Bay for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals against
the Lightning on Friday. Backstrom didn't practice Wednesday,
and Trotz did not say whether the 30-year-old would practice
Thursday.
If Backstrom is unable to play Friday, Trotz said the team would
use the same approach it did in beating the Penguins in Game 6
to advance to the conference finals. Lars Eller centered the
second line and played on the top power-play unit in place of
Backstrom in that contest.
"Everybody playing the right way. I thought we checked really
well. We played a game that we needed to play," Trotz said. "We
knew that we had to be very compact in our game, precise, and we
needed four lines, and that's what we did.
"We knew we couldn't do it with one line or two lines, we needed
all four. We went down that path. I think there was a big
buy-in. There was no drama. In (Backstrom's) case, if he was in
or not, we were ready to go."
Backstrom injured his hand in Game 5 of the series against the
Penguins. He has 13 points (three goals, 10 assists) in 11
playoff games after tallying 21 goals and 50 assists during the
regular season.
Capitals forward Andre Burakovsky (upper body) is also
day-to-day and will travel to Tampa. Burakovsky, recovering from
surgery after being hit by Columbus Blue Jackets forward Boone
Jenner during Game 2 of the first round, was previously listed
as week-to-week. Burakovsky practiced for the first time since
the injury Wednesday in a non-contact jersey.
--Field Level Media
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