Caps down Pens in Game 1 OT thriller
It has been billed as Crosby-Ovechkin II with good reason, given that the NHL’s two poster boys are clashing in the post-season for only the second time in their careers.
Of course, when an event is hyped like this, it often does not live up to expectations, instead disappointing with a resounding plop.
Think many heavyweight fights. Think many Super Bowl blowouts.
That wasn’t the case on Thursday night in Washington, however.
On a drama-filled evening full of storylines, it was one of Ovechkin’s understudies — T.J. Oshie — who stole the show.
In a script right off the pages of a Hollywood screenwriter, Oshie completed his hat trick with a wraparound goal at 9:33 of overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 1 of this best-of-seven second round series at Washington’s raucous Verizon Center.
The goal needed to go to video review, where it was determined that the puck had crossed the line by the width of a stick blade.
That’s how close these two teams are.
“The way their ’tender plays, he’s a big guy and plays aggressive, we thought we might have a chance if we tried to go to the far post,” Oshie said, referring to Penguins rookie goalie Matt Murray.
Game 2, which goes Saturday night in Washington, will be shown to a national TV audience south of the border on NBC.
And if it proves to be anywhere near as riveting as the opener, it will be an outstanding selling point for the league of just how outstanding the product can be at this level.
While Crosby and Ovechkin both played solid games, they were overshadowed by a couple of their understudies — Oshie for the Caps and Nick Bonino for the Penguins.
With both players having been acquired via the trade route by their respective teams in the past 12 months, they were the stars of the show.
Andre Burakovsky scored the other Capitals goal while Bonino, Ben Lovejoy and Evgeni Malkin replied for the Penguins.
Bonino also had an assist to complete his two-point night.
Murray appeared to favour his right leg after stopping an Ovechkin breakaway in the third period but was able to continue.