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In a game against the New York Islanders that already saw Washington Capitals captain Alex Ovechkin record his 1,300th career point and pass the great Phil Esposito for sixth all-time in goals scored, Caps defenseman John Carlson continued to make his way up another historical ladder by recording an assist on Nicklas Backstrom’s third period goal, which also pushed Backstrom further into historical greatness.

With the Capitals already up 2-0, Backstrom scored 28 seconds into the final frame of play on assists from Jakub Vrana and Carlson. Carlson’s assist marked the 392nd of his NHL/Capitals career.

So sick, Nick! pic.twitter.com/YtVozMxJIL

— Washington Capitals (@Capitals) March 17, 2021

With the assist, Carlson tied Capitals great Mike Gartner for fourth all-time in franchise Assists.

With an assist on Backstrom’s goal, John Carlson has tied Mike Gartner (392a) for the fourth-most assists in franchise history.

— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) March 17, 2021

With a goal and an assist in the game, Backstrom tied Detroit Red Wings great Henrik Zetterberg for the sixth-most points by a Swedish-born player with 960.

Backstrom trails only Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Nicklas Lidstrom, Daniel Alfredsson, and Mats Sundin in NHL history among Swedish-born players.

With 1G-1A tonight for his @Capitals vs NYI, Nicklas Backstrom has tied Henrik Zetterberg’s 960 for the 6th most career points by a Swedish NHL’er. He now trails only Mats Sundin (1349), Daniel Alfredsson (1157), Nicklas Lidstrom (1142), Henrik Sedin (1070) & Daniel Sedin (1041) pic.twitter.com/3ZU5VidMmD

— StatsCentre (@StatsCentre) March 17, 2021

By Michael Fleetwood

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