Put away for a moment the seemingly endless debate about "big hits" vs. "dirty hits."
Set aside, at least for the time being, the argument that hockey might consider tinkering with its overtime period.
Brian Burke wants John Tavares? Call me in June. The Minnesota Wild has a general manager short list longer than the roll call in Parliament? I don’t care, at least not now.
There’s something special going on in the second-round playoff series between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins and if you’re not watching you’re a fool because this isn’t as good as it gets, it’s better. It’s better than better, it’s marvelous, breath taking, spell bindingly brilliant and take-your-breath-away great.
Game 1 was a classic, but Game 2 was, as Washington Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin explained, a "sick game".
I didn’t think it was possible for this series to match its outrageous expectations, but just two games in it has exceeded them with the prospect of more to come.
The series moves to Pittsburgh on Wednesday but even after the Capitals won both at home, there’s no reason to think the Capitals are in command and there’s every reason to suspect it’s only going to go to another level.
And if you didn’t see Monday’s game you will regret it, quite possibly forever.
Am I over the top yet? I don’t think so.
Name any sporting event you can remember; Ali-Fraser? It had elements of that. Two superb athletes with very different styles going head-to-head and neither man would fall. Ovechkin, playing the role of the over-the-top Ali with as-advertized individual brilliance, three goals, two of them within two minutes of each other in the third period, and all of them of the kind of dynamic, eye-catching style that only he can provide.
But then there was Crosby, a diminutive but overpowering force at the net, pounding away relentlessly from the inside, banging in all of his team’s goals from an area where many players fear to go and finishing off his hat-trick with a four-shot try that finally found the net via a spectacular mid-air redirection of his own rebound that he picked out of the air (with the shaft of his stick no less), banked off the goalie’s mask and into the top of the net at a time when most any other player would have simply conceded defeat.
“When Crosby gets one, then Ovie comes back with a couple, and then Crosby gets another, and Ovie gets another,” Capitals forward Brooks Laich told reporters. “It’s unbelievable to see two of the best going at it like that… In the biggest moments, usually your biggest guys step to the front. That’s what Alex did tonight.”
True, but then consider this from the other Brooks in the other camp.
“A guy can’t do more than he’s doing,” Penguins defenceman Brooks Orpik said of Crosby “When he’s playing like that, the other guys usually follow his lead. We need more playing like him.”
More on that part of the game later, but there was so much more.
In the physical aspects of the game both players were Magic Johnson-Larry Bird like in determination. Ovechkin hit anything in white that moved and he was a relentless force in his skating as well, but Crosby was nothing less, finding his way inside to score with power as well as his usual finesse and playing along the boards like a player with twice his size. He didn’t match Ovechkin in hits, but he did make smart plays and blocked some shots. A bit more subtle but no less effective.
But the game went beyond those two.
In the showdown between two emerging goalies, rookie Simeon Varlamov just did edge Marc-Andre Fleury, making his mark early in the game when the Capitals, including Ovechkin, seemed to have difficulty finding their way. He was at his best with a series of stunning saves when the Penguins had a five-on-three man advantage, blanking the Pittsburgh power play when his team needed him most.
Fleury was no slacker, however. With the two super powers canceling each other out despite their offensive might, Fleury’s only misstep was allowing a goal by David Steckel who was alone to the side of the net. It was pretty much a no-fault goal on the goalie as Steckel was alone and just a tad quicker than the goalie who had to come across the crease to try and stop him.
Think of it, six goals from two immensely talented players against two superb goaltenders and yet you get the feeling there may still be more to come.
After all, Evgeni Malkin, who just happened to lead the NHL in scoring in the regular season, and just happens to be the player that has kept Crosby out of a top-three finish in balloting for the Hart Trophy this season, has yet to be heard from as a goal-scorer in this series.
He is the most noteworthy player Orpik left unnamed when he said his team needed more players playing like Crosby.
Malkin went goalless in the game and in Game 1 as well. Worse, he took a needless penalty in the third period, a penalty that produced Ovechkin’s game-winning goal.
Malkin and Ovechkin are long-time rivals both in the NHL and in their youthful days in Russia and it’s almost impossible to imagine that he wasn’t personally stung by his lack of performance against his rival on Monday. It’s even more impossible to imagine that he won’t at least try to respond when the series returns to Pittsburgh with what amounts to a must-win for the Pens in the series.
There are a number of players who aren’t contributing in this series for the Penguins, but a meaningful performance by the player who is supposed to be even better than Crosby in terms of scoring ability can be a difference maker.
If he rises to the occasion, the series goes to even another level, a kind of Hockey Star Trek for the next generation.
And if that happens we go perhaps where no series has ever gone before.
Heck, it will be hockey so good we’ll need a third Brooks just to comment on it.
