Caps 3, Penguins 0
Another Super Bowl Sunday matinee and another win for the Caps, who are 14-3-1 in these game since 1988. Wasn’t as entertaining as last year’s wild post-blizzard victory over Pittsburgh. But the players didn’t care. Any win over the Penguins – even without stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin – is a good one. Read all the details in our game story here.
“I think without them, the two best players on the team, two [of the] best players in the league, they lost them and tried to play a more physical game,” said Caps forward Alex Ovechkin.
He wasn’t kidding. We expected there could be some fireworks considering it was David Steckel who first sent Crosby to the sidelines with a controversial hit/collision – depending on what colors you wear – during the Winter Classic. We have no idea when Crosby will be back and the Penguins obviously felt Steckel had to answer for it. They sent AHL recall Tim Wallace out for a faceoff in the third period and he and Steckel dropped the gloves immediately. Steckel held his own with both players getting in a few shots, but for the most part it was just grappling.
Bruce Boudreau and Steckel have insisted for weeks that the run-in with Crosby was completely incidental, emphasizing Steckel’s lack of a track record as a dirty player. And, to be fair, even the most outspoken Pittsburgh players have backed off their initial comments when Crosby was first diagnosed with a concussion. But every sport has its code and it was followed this afternoon.
“I’ve coached [Steckel] for eight years now and he’s never done it once. So if they want to use it as a motivating tool go ahead,” Boudreau said. “But then you send out a guy you call up. [And] Mike Rupp, whose a fighter, knowing Dave’s never fought, challenging him. To me, it was crap.”
Okay, then. One thing I thought of during the game: Down 2-0 with about 12 minutes left to play the Penguins managed to get one of the best faceoff men in the NHL – 64.6% entering the game – off the ice for five minutes and protect Crosby’s name in the process. Two birds, one stone. The Caps won 32-of-49 faceoffs on the night (65%) with Steckel 4-for-6. But Boyd Gordon isn’t so bad himself. He went 14-for-17 in the circle.
Later in the third period Matt Cooke tripped Ovechkin on a questionable play in Washington’s defensive zone. Ovechkin had just made a move to elude the oncoming Cooke and appeared to have his left leg taken out. Cooke, a former Cap for a short time at the end of the 2007-08 season, and Ovechkin actually get along. But Ovechkin wasn’t happy with that move. He and Nicklas Backstrom both got shots in on Cooke as a scrum ensued. But officials looked the other way and handed Cooke the lone penalty – a little version of NHL frontier justice.
“I don’t know. It’s what happened, but I think he was frustrated,” Ovechkin said. “He wants to do something. But it’s his game. He kind of plays like that. So it’s okay…It’s a game. We don’t have friends on the ice.”
Boudreau wasn’t as kind. Cooke does have a reputation around the league as a dirty player, after all. This would be far from the first time the opposition has taken exception to his antics. And remember, Boudreau coached the guy for a couple of months. He’s been on the other side of the Matt Cooke experience.
“It’s Matt Cooke. Need we say more. It’s not like his first rodeo,” Boudreau said. “He’s done it to everybody and then he goes to the [referee] and says ‘What did I do?’ He knows damn well what he did. There’s no doubt in my mind that he’s good at it and he knows how to do it. He knows how to pick this stuff. And we as a league we still buy into this that ‘Oh, it was an accidental thing.’”
Needless to say, Bruce was on fire in his post-game press conference. But he also calmed down when talking about the Caps putting together two strong, 60-minute performances in a row. He lauded the play of goalie Michal Neuvirth, who only learned he was playing late Saturday night when Semyon Varlamov took ill. Rookie center Marcus Johansson was excellent all night, scoring a pretty short-handed goal, but also setting up his linemates – Matt Hendricks and Mike Knuble – all afternoon.
Defenseman Mike Green didn’t make it past the first period after taking a Brooks Orpik shot off the right side of his face as the 20 minutes expired. It was a scary scene as blood pooled on the ice and Green lay on his side. He was helped off the ice and didn’t return. Washington had to play with five defensemen the rest of the night. Not the first time that’s happened this season, either.
“Everything happened so quick,” Green said. “It was just ringing a little bit and once it went away I was fine. I was a little unbalanced when I came off the ice, but I feel fine now.”
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