One day after a post-game proclamation earned him an unwanted headline, Mikael Backlund backed away from trying to become a modern-day Mark Messier.
“I didn’t guarantee anything,” said Backlund, who said after the Calgary Flames Game 5 loss in Vancouver, “there’s no way we’re losing at home.”
“All I said was that there was no way we’re going to lose, and that’s the mindset we’re going to have going into the game. There are no guarantees in life, so why would I guarantee something?”
It was a predictable and understandable follow to words that could easily be construed as dreaded “bulletin-board material” before the biggest game of the season.