Nicklas Backstrom’s game-winner puts Capitals a win away from eliminating Blue Jackets

The 0-2 hole has become a 3-2 lead.

After Nicklas Backstrom went scoreless in the first four games of the Washington Capitals’ first-round Stanley Cup Playoff series, he came up clutch in Game 5 Saturday at Capital One Arena.

Backstrom recorded two goals and an assist, including the game-winning tip-in goal in overtime that handed Washington the 4-3 win and a 3-2 series lead over the Columbus Blue Jackets.

Evgeny Kuznetsov and T.J. Oshie also scored, Dmitry Orlov and Chandler Stephenson each had two assists and Braden Holtby saved 39 shots. Matt Calvert scored twice to lead Columbus.

After each team grabbed a flukey goal in the first period, Washington’s power play resumed its dominant form and briefly gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead. But the Blue Jackets outshot the Capitals 16-1 in the third period, tied the game and forced the series’s fourth overtime game.

Capitals coach Barry Trotz said “maybe a little bit of experience kicked in” between the dismal third period and overtime.

“We just said, ’Hey, let’s get on our toes and let’s go for it.’ That’s what we’ve wanted to do when we got in the playoffs,” Trotz said. “Good leadership in the room. As I was leaving the room after the period I could hear guys, the right guys, all saying the right things.

Backstrom won it by slightly redirecting a long Orlov shot from the point, which Stephenson set up. The goal meant Washington fans were the first home crowd to see their team win this series.

The Capitals have experienced a wide range of emotions these last 10 days, from falling down 0-2 by losing consecutive home games in overtime, to pulling off three straight to take charge of the series for the first time.

“The whole team felt like we played better (in Games 1 and 2) than the results,” Backstrom said. “That’s the way it is in the playoffs. It’s gonna go up and down. It’s best out of seven, so you just gotta keep grinding.”

The Blue Jackets opened the scoring for the first time of the series, ironically while they were short-handed. Alex Ovechkin lost control of the puck near the blue line and gave it away to Calvert, who took it on a 2-on-1 breakaway to score.

Only three minutes went by before the Capitals’ second line evened the score with its first even-strength goal of the postseason. Backstrom shot toward the crease from behind the left pipe, and a few flukey bounces — off David Savard’s skate, then off Sergei Bobrosvky’s stick — sent it over Bobrovsky’s shoulder and in.

Backstrom later said he was not trying to create the ricochet shot.

“No, I was trying to make a pass,” he said. “Honestly, got lucky. I think I don’t know who came back-door there but I was trying for him. I’ll take it.”

Backstrom added he had never had a goal like that before, “but usually those are the ones that feels the best.”

The Capitals killed three penalties in the first period, including back-to-back calls when Stephenson took a cross-checking just as Oshie came out of the box. They went on to kill all five of Columbus’s power plays, extending their consecutive kill streak to 13 dating back to the end of Game 2.

Orlov’s stretch pass to Kuznetsov during a slow Blue Jacket line change created a 3-on-1 opportunity early in the second. But rather than electing to pass (as he often might have done), Kuznetsov buried a goal through Bobrovsky’s five-hole.

Calvert had a breakaway just two minutes later and either faked a close-range slap shot or whiffed on one. Putting his stick back on the puck, he pulled off a 360-degree spin to the right side of the crease to curl the puck past Holtby, who had no way to defend the move. In fact, the goal was briefly reviewed for interference, but upheld.

After killing their fourth penalty of the game, the Capitals were rewarded with an advantage of their own when Josh Anderson slashed Kuznetsov. With less than four minutes left in the second, John Carlson sent a dart to the net and Oshie tipped it in for his third power-play goal of the series.

Oliver Bjorkstrand redirected an Ian Cole shot 2:30 into the third to re-tie the game. It seemed to freeze the Capitals’ offense. The Blue Jackets took the first 12 shots of the third period before Jakub Vrana finally flung the puck at Bobrosvky’schest nearly 12 minutes in.

And yet, that was followed by a continued lack of good shots in the final minutes, even as Washington finally spent meaningful time in the offensive zone for the first time that period. The Blue Jackets conversely put up 16 shots in the third (on their way to outshooting Washington 42-29 for the game), leaving Holtby and the defensemen to shoulder the brunt of the work.

The Jackets got momentum after the Bjorkstrand goal and the Capitals didn’t recover, Trotz said.

“We never executed getting out of our own zone,” Trotz said. “You get caught wave after wave. We weren’t winning enough battles, weren’t winning enough walls, all those little things that you need to do to have success.”

After Holtby stopped a few Columbus chances in the first minutes of overtime, Ovechkin had a chance to win it with a one-timer from the high slot, off a pass from Kuznetsov. Although Bobrovsky denied him, it was the Capitals’ best look in about 25 minutes of hockey.

Several minutes passed before the Capitals’ next good chance, in which Carlson found himself alone in front of the net. Bobrovsky, on his way to 25 saves, swatted the shot away like it was nothing.

Holtby matched Bobrovsky play for play. He had to contend with a puck that snuck through a defenseman’s legs in the slot to set up a chance, then a solid follow-up shot seconds later.

Backstrom’s game-winner came nearly 12 minutes into the extra frame off Orlov’s wrister.

“It was just a good shot from Orlie, I thought, before (a defender) had a chance to block it,” Backstrom said. “And I got a tip on it. It’s usually what happens in the playoffs. Tip goals or rebound goals. That’s the way it is.”

Alexander Wennberg played for Columbus for the first time since Game 1, which he left with an upper-body injury, and contributed an assist. All three of the Blue Jackets’ goals came from bottom-six forwards.

Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella had precious little to say after the game, but was forceful in a prediction reminiscent of Ovechkin’s guarantee earlier in the week.

“I won’t have to say a damn word to (the team),” he said. “We’ll be back here for Game 7.”

Trotz later was asked his opinion on Tortorella’s implied guarantee the Jackets would take Game 6, to be played Monday at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio.