Nicky celebrates his hat trick. (Photo credit: KHL.ru)

Fresh off their week-long break for national team competition, Alex Ovechkin, Nicklas Backstsrom, and the rest of Dynamo Moscow crew returned to action Wednesday against infamous Vityaz Chekhov. It was worth the wait. Backstrom, who finally switched his number during the Karjala Cup break, went APE NUTS in his new 69 jersey, registering his first career KHL hat trick and scoring the game’s decisive goal – an overtime game-winner.

While Backstrom was dominant, registering six shots during 22:04 of ice time, his BFF Ovi was no slouch either, assisting on one of Nicky’s goals and firing nine shots on net in 27:05 of game action.

Now let’s see these goals.

Backstrom’s goals can be seen at the 0:34, 3:00, and 5:00 marks.

In the middle of the first period, Backstrom began his reign of terror, tying the game at one with some nifty passing from teammates Alex Ovechkin and Richard Gynge. Former Capital and Hershey Bears defenseman Brian “Mr. Excitement” Fahey put Vityaz back on top, scoring on the power play with a two-man advantage. Five minutes into the second period, Anton Korolev made the score 3-1. Vityaz took a two-goal lead into the second intermission.

But Dynamo was ready to fight. Two minutes after the break, Nicky scored his second of the night. Then with less than six minutes to go, Konstantin Volkov tied the game up for the Muscovites. The overtime session was scoreless for four and a half minutes until Nick sealed the win for the visitors with a wraparound tally, making it three goals on the night and four during his six-game-long KHL campaign.

The stud in the 69 jersey.

Photo credit: khl.ru