Round I goes to Ovechkin

Friday, January 22, 2010
By Ron Cook, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/

Much of America will celebrate Feb. 7 as a national holiday. Super Bowl Sunday. I'm looking forward to it for a different reason. Round II, Penguins-Washington Capitals. It figures to be even better than the first game between the clubs last night at Mellon Arena. In other words, it should be terrific.

PITTSBURGH - JANUARY 21: Alex Ovechkin controls the puck in front of Brooks Orpik on January 21, 2010 at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Ovechkin had two goals and an assist in Washington's 6-3 win over Pittsburgh. (Photo by Jamie Sabau/Getty Images)

OK, the end result in game one wasn't so pleasing. The Capitals scored two goals in the first 3:25 of the third period and rolled to a 6-3 win. But that was the only disappointing aspect of this cold winter night. The old building throbbed with energy, at least until the Capitals scored those two quick goals. The 143rd consecutive sellout crowd came to see the two best teams in the Eastern Conference, apologies to the good people of New Jersey and upstate New York. It came to see hockey's two brightest stars -- the Penguins' Sidney Crosby and the Capitals' Alex Ovechkin. No one could have possibly gone home feeling cheated despite that final score.

Here's the best part:

The fun created by the two clubs has only just begun.

The 16 days between now and Super Sunday can't go by quickly enough.

Ovechkin got the best of Crosby last night with two goals and an assist. His big night hardly made up for the Penguins taking him and his team out in seven games in the playoffs last spring on their way to the Stanley Cup, but it certainly made for an enjoyable evening. It also meant that Crosby will be among the most eager to count down those 16 days. If there's one thing he hates more than just about anything, it's being outshined by Ovechkin.

That's the way it works in the Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry, the NHL's version of Kobe-LeBron or even Larry-Magic.

The stars play a series of games of Can You Top This? and take us along for a wonderful ride.

"It was a pretty intense game out there, pretty emotional," Crosby said afterward. "It was a fun game to be a part of. You don't like to lose 'em, but games like that are why you play."

Crosby was ready from the start of this one. His goal just 4:22 in gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead. They'll probably argue in D.C. that it was a lucky score -- Capitals goaltender Jose Theodore mishandled the puck in front of his net -- but it's never an accident that the great players end up in the right spot at the right time to tap the puck into an empty net. It's certainly no accident that Crosby did his best to set the tone and got the first goal. That makes eight for him this season.

Only one man has more.

Ovechkin, of course, with 10.

His best work came a little later. It's hard to say what was more impressive -- the way he powered through Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and made him look like a boy against a man to set up a goal for teammate Mike Knuble in the first period or his wrist shot just inside the left post from the point on the power play in the second period. I'll say it was the goal because that pulled the Capitals into a 3-3 tie at 16:25 of the period, the first of three they would score in a seven-minute span. Center Tomas Fleischmann scored the winner on a breakaway and center Nicklas Backstrom made it 5-3 with a power-play goal. Their power play -- the best in the league -- went 2 for 2, scoring two goals on just two shots. It probably didn't help the Penguins that they were without two of their top penalty-killers -- injured Pascal Dupuis and Max Talbot.

Then again, the Capitals are very, very good.

"They're not first in the league for nothing," Crosby said. "They're really, really dangerous. They really make the most of their opportunities."

Don't ask about the Penguins' power play.

OK, if you insist: It went 0 for 4.

It didn't go into last night ranked 26th in the league for nothing.

"We at least got to tie them in that category," Crosby said.

So Round I went to the Capitals.

The good news is that Feb. 7 game at the Verizon Center is just ahead. Two more regular-season matchups come after that. Then, hopefully, another series in the playoffs.

If we're all lucky -- the NHL, the two teams and those of us who love watching them -- that series will go seven games, too.

Evgeni Malkin recorded three assists against the Capitals last night at Mellon Arena.


Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com.
First published on January 22, 2010 at 12:00 am