Sunday, March 9th, 2008 by Adam Wagner
Nick Backstrom’s breakdown begins now
Sunday’s game between the Washington Capitals and the Penguins received a massive amount of hype due to the fact that three of the brightest young stars in hockey were set to take the ice at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby did not fail to thrill the crowd, dominating the game and receiving the first, second and third stars, respectively.
The game was not, however, decided by one of the Big Three, but instead by one of the vital members of Ovechkins supporting cast, rookie center Nicklas Backstrom, who threw the puck past goalie Cristobal Huet who promptly spent the next couple of seconds lying facebown on the ice. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau described the incident as “officially heartbreaking,” meaning that it was not just heartbreaking, but that it was a recordable incident of official heartbreak because Boudreau labeled it as such.
Marc-Andre Fleury was very good in the goal on Sunday, bouncing back from a disappointing game against Florida to hold the Capitals to two goals, one by Brooks Laich and the other by Alexander Semin. In order for the Penguins to advance into the playoffs, they are going to need performances such as the one Fleury provided today, where he made the saves he is supposed to, made some he isn’t supposed to and was not caught out of position very much if at all.
Both teams were taking liberties with the other, with the most interesting battle occurring between Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin, both of whom seemed to want to destroy the other one every time they set eyes on him. The battle between these two teams is officially no longer about Crosby and Ovechkin, but is instead about Malkin and Ovechkin as the two countrymen attempt to establish dominance over the other both in the scoring race and on the ice.
Perhaps the most telling moment of the game came at the very end, on the empty net goal. Evgeni Malkin, who is currently leading the league with five empty-netters, was bearing down on the net and had three guys on him. He chose to dish the puck to Jordan Staal, who promptly shot it into the net, putting the Penguins ahead 4-2 and sealing the victory. The moment was indicative of the type of team that the Penguins need to become in order to be successful, as Malkin probably could have taken the goal, but instead chose to give it to a teammate with a slightly better chance of scoring, demonstrating the type of team-first philosophy that is necessary in order to win in the pressure cooker of the playoffs.
Today’s win was a very good, very exciting one. Hopefully it is indicative of better things to come.
Leave a Reply