Saturday was a milestone night for Calgary Flames captain Mikael Backlund as he scored his 200th career NHL goal in a two-goal performance in a win against the Montreal Canadiens. Backlund has been one of the most consistent players to ever don the “Flaming C,” and while he has never been known as a noted goal scorer, he has been money in the bank for around 15 to 20 goals a year for a while now while being the team’s premiere shutdown centre.
He has scored some massive goals since he became a regular with the Flames back in 2010, and after Saturday’s milestone goal, I wanted to take a look back at some of Backlund’s best and most memorable goals as a member of the Calgary Flames.
Backlund’s first career NHL goal
It would be unwise to have a list without the goal that started it all for the captain of the Flames. The date was January 28, 2010, and the Flames were down 2–1 in the third period to the team formerly known as the Phoenix Coyotes.
While wearing #60 on his jersey, Backlund took a drop pass near the side boards from Rene Bourque and ripped a shot past Ilya Bryzgalov to tie the game at two apiece. The Flames would ultimately fall to the Coyotes in a shootout, but that shot on the low blocker side of the goaltender has become a staple in Backlund’s game, and it is pretty fitting how that is the first one that went in for him.
Goal of the year candidate against the Capitals
The 2018–19 season was truly fun—one of the best in recent memory. From Johnny Gaudreau‘s rapid scoring pace to Mark Giordano winning the Norris Trophy, that season was nothing short of spectacular (until the playoffs, but we don’t talk about that).
Backlund himself had one of the best years of his career scoring twenty-one times and being a terrific shutdown centre as part of the ever special “3M Line.”
For a guy who isn’t known for his goal-scoring—one of the nicest goals of the season came from Backlund against the Washington Capitals. Backlund picked the puck up in his own zone and went to work. He got away from the check of Tom Wilson and then managed to chip the puck between three Capitals before going one-on-one against Jonas Siegenthaler. He then beat him wide and pulled goaltender Braden Holtby all the way to the left side before bringing the puck back to one hand to slide it by him.
The Flames would end up dropping this game to the Capitals, but it could not be stated how unbelievable this goal was from Backlund, a solo effort with a sweet finish. It will go down as one of the nicest goals in Flames history.
End-to-end backbreaker against the Bruins
Like I mentioned above, Backlund has been known primarily for his two-way play throughout his career, and this goal exemplifies everything that Backlund is in just one play. The Flames were leading the Bruins late in a game right before the league-wide shutdown in 2020.
With just over ninety seconds to play, Backlund picked off a centring pass from Nick Ritchie behind his own net and made his way up the ice. He then began his charge up ice after he banked the puck off the boards and split Torey Krug and Charlie Coyle. He then made a slick right-to-left chip around David Krejci before ripping the puck by Tuukka Rask to give the Flames a two-goal lead.
The season may have got shutdown shortly after this game, but if that never happened, this is the type of goal that would rally a team to get into the playoffs. Backlund has always had a knack for scoring big goals at big times, and this was one of those goals.
(There was no video of the goal on its own, so you can skip to 9:30 to see the goal in its entirety.)
Game 5 tying goal against the Stars
Like the 2018–19 season, the 2021–22 season was just special in the eyes of all of us Flames fans. Going into that season, it was an unknown as to what the Flames were going to be, especially after missing the playoffs in 2020–21.
The Flames were incredibly fun to watch, and while this season was not one of Backlund’s best in terms of his counting stats, he was highly effective all season long. Part of a line that included himself, Blake Coleman and Andrew Mangiapane, they created one of the league’s best trios, and they took that all the way into the playoffs in 2022.
Let’s set the scene, it is Game 5 of the first round against the Dallas Stars where the series is tied at two a piece and the Flames are trailing 1–0 in the third. The Flames had not been able to generate much offensively and time is winding down. There are just over thirteen minutes to play and Coleman decides to take matters into his own hands as he rushes the puck up the ice before getting a weak shot on Jake Oettinger while pulling two Stars in with him behind the net. Mangiapane picked up the rebound and found Backlund sitting wide open in front of the Stars’ net for an easy tap-in as the Flames tied the game at one.
The Saddledome erupted, the game was back at evens and momentum then came into the Flames’ hands. Backlund would then have the assist on the game-winning goal by Mangiapane as the Flames would win the game 3–1 and take a 3–2 series lead. We know the rest—the Flames would win the series in seven.
While the Flames did not win the series in six games, if Backlund does not score this goal, who knows if they even win this series in the first place. It may be one of the biggest goals of his career, and it is one goal I know for sure I will always look back on very fondly.
Playoff overtime winner against the Ducks
The 2014–15 season, the Flames team that never said die. The Flames have not qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2009, and going into that season, it looked like another year where the Flames would finish near the bottom of the standings. Well, that certainly did not happen.
The Flames would fight and claw their way into the 2015 playoffs, even if everything was saying they shouldn’t have, and they were not going to go down without a fight. After defeating the Vancouver Canucks in six games, the Flames would take on the powerhouse Anaheim Ducks in Round Two—a team that they had many problems with.
The Flames were down 2–0 in the series heading home for game three, and it looked like they would be going down 3–0 until Johnny Gaudreau tied the game up late to send the game to overtime. This is where the Backlund show took over.
Karri Ramo had been keeping the game alive in overtime with some spectacular saves in the period, the Flames finally got some pressure, and with a Ducks delayed penalty, Backlund hopped over the boards as the extra attacker. The Flames would throw the puck around until Backlund took matters into his own hands, stepped off the boards, and fired a shot from a distance. The puck beat Frederick Andersen and the Saddledome’s roof almost came off the place as Backlund won the game.
It was the biggest moment of his career to that point in time, and it still might be. A game in which the Flames had to battle back all night long ended with the Flames getting themselves back into the series. They ultimately fell in five games to the Ducks, but was that ever a run that got all of our hopes and dreams up of what this team could be, that goal by Backlund we thought, was just the start of things to come.
Goal #200
You can’t end a list with the best Backlund goals without including the goal that counted as the big #200. The goal itself may not mean much in the context of the team or the game they’re playing, but it’s a big individual achievement that’s going to be fondly remembered by Backlund and the Flames.
King Backlund
Of course, not every goal featured here counted toward the 200-goal total for Backlund’s career, as some of his biggest goals came in the postseason. That said, 200 regular season goals is phenomenal and it’s fitting Backlund hit the milestone in his first season as the Flames’ captain.
