PHILADELPHIA — So much has transpired in seven years.
So many goals – 349, to be exact, in regular-season and playoff competition – for Alex Ovechkin. Man, that’s a huge number to go with a Hart Trophy and four Rocket Richard trophies.
For Sidney Crosby, meanwhile, it’s been two Olympic golds, an Art Ross, a Rocket Richard and a Hart Trophy. Plus, let’s not forget a serious head injury that threatened to end it all for No. 87.
Now, for the first time since 2009, back when Ovechkin was 23 years old and Crosby just 21, the two NHL titans will collide in a playoff series, with the opportunity to rekindle the head-to-head dynamic that once made this the NHL’s most watchable and compelling individual rivalry.
Back then, this seemed like something we were going to be treated to every spring, or in many springs at least. Instead, these two have gone separate paths for the most part since then, their careers intersecting for a few regular-season games and some international tussles, only to be reunited now with both playing excellent hockey in hot pursuit of the Stanley Cup this spring.
The Washington Capitals, and Ovechkin, eliminated the stubborn Philadelphia Flyers on Sunday by a tight 1-0 score.
With Pittsburgh, and Crosby, having routed the New York Rangers in five quick games, we’ve now got a matchup that could light up the post-season.
In a year in which all seven Canadian teams missed the playoffs and all but one Original Six team has been eliminated, this is a series that could generate the fireworks and excitement that most hockey fans associate with this time of the year.
It was in that ’09 series, you may recall, that the two young stars matched each other hat trick for hat trick in Game 2. The Caps won that to lead the series 2-0, then saw the Pens win three straight. Washington won Game 6, but it was Pittsburgh in a 6-2 rout in the deciding Game 7.
“Nothing,” was Ovechkin’s blunt response on Sunday when asked what he remembered about that series, one in which he had 14 points to 13 for Crosby. “It’s going to be an interesting series. It’s going to be a hard series, and we’ll see what’s going to happen.
“But I don’t want to compare to what’s happened before. We’ll see what’s going to happen next.”
Few Pens or Caps were part of the last playoff tussle. It feels like ancient history. Both teams would tell you that the passage of time has done more than just alter their rosters.
The Penguins went on to win the Cup after beating the Caps that spring, but have bitterly underachieved in not winning another since.
This season, they’ve gone through a campaign that went so badly at the start that head coach Mike Johnston was fired and had many around the hockey world wondered what had happened to Crosby’s game that had caused him to be so unproductive.
But the Pens, under new head coach Mike Sullivan, turned their season around in dramatic, sizzling fashion. With in-season additions like Carl Hagelin and Trevor Daley, they finished 14-2 and now have won 18 of their past 21 games.
“They’re on fire right now,” said Washington defenceman Karl Alzner. “They score a ton of goals. I’m curious to see how aggressive it’s going to be, if it’s going to be just a hockey series, or more of a physical battle.”
Washington, meanwhile, rolled through the regular season, finishing first overall, but not in the same swashbuckling style of previous years. While they had some wobbles against the Flyers, losing Games 4 and 5 after winning the first three, they won the decisive game with a shutout and wound up holding the Flyers to only six goals in the entire series.
“It gets back to what we’ve been trying to preach the entire year,” said goaltender Braden Holtby. “We’re a completely different team. We’re not buying into any of the past histories about Washington’s playoffs. We’re our own team. We’re trying to write our own history.
“Sure, (the Penguins) are playing well. But if you look at any team still in the playoffs, they’re all scary, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. We believe we’ve been building our game all year long to have very few weaknesses, and to play against any style, any team.”
In Game 6 on Sunday, the Caps started out in the same dominant fashion as they’d displayed in the fifth game when they outshot the Flyers 44-11 but couldn’t beat Michal Neuvirth.
When they couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 advantage in the first period and then found themselves down two men early in the second on a pair of suspect calls, you started to wonder if a Game 7 was almost inevitable.
One of those calls was a double minor to Nicklas Backstrom for high-sticking Ryan White, although it was actually White’s teammate, Chris VandeVelde, who clipped him.
“We were mature enough as a group that we didn’t get fazed by the calls,” said Holtby.
The Caps killed that Philly chance, then soon after finally got a goal, a pretty one. Ovechkin danced around a stationary Radko Gudas at the Philly blue line and fed the puck to Marcus Johansson in the slot.
Johansson then moved the puck to his right to a wide-open Backstrom, who fired a perfect shot high into the net to get the Caps the goal and the lead they craved.
With fans holding signs up reading “You’ll Choke!” behind Holtby, the Caps confidently carried that margin to the end.
“Once we got through that 5-on-3, I thought we’d find a way to win the hockey game,” said Washington head coach Barry Trotz.
That Backstrom got the winner was fitting, for it was his dominance in a head-to-head clash with Flyer centre Claude Giroux that really set the tone for the series. Giroux didn’t score, his linemate Jakub Voracek got one goal in six games and slick blue-liner Shayne Gostisbehere was held under control for the most part.
“I think we’ve just kind of reassured ourselves that we can stay focused, that we can battle through some adversity,” said Alzner, a rock on the Washington blue line with partner Matt Niskanen. “Probably our calling card this season has been to be able to fight back in games no matter the situation. We showed that in this series.
“In the past, we haven’t had that killer instinct. We’ve played a little too tentative, and I don’t think we did that at all in this series. That’s a good sign for this squad.”
Now, it will be Crosby – eight points against the Rangers – Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Phil Kessel, a much tougher assignment.
“I don’t know when we’re going to play next,” said Ovechkin, a physical beast against the Flyers. “We have some bruises. Just mentally, we have to forget about this series and start focussing on the next one.”
Ovechkin’s now 30. Crosby is 28. The last noteworthy collision between the two was at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010, when Canada swamped the Russians and Crosby scored the golden goal to beat the United States.
It’s like after years of dormancy, an acclaimed author has delivered a new manuscript.
The hockey world has been waiting. It will, you can bet, eagerly devour this new chapter.
