A simple hand gesture by Alex Ovechkin summed up the Capitals’ 5-2 win yesterday over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
After bumping into Pens counterpart Sidney Crosby at the end of the second period, the two briefly scuffled before Ovechkin gave him the hand signal for “yackety-yack.”
Bye bye, black birds.
The Russian phenom’s English is pretty good nowadays. He’s become the showman of the NHL, the post-goal performances akin to an NFL receiver in the end zone. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau admitted not watching anymore for fear of laughing.
Some hockey fans don’t like Ovechkin’s celebrations. The old-school crowd that wishes it was a six-team league again and Montreal or Detroit never lost the title.
“If it ticks off the old purists, then boo-hoo on them,” Boudreau said. “He’s great for hockey. … It’s great to show how excited you are.”
Ironically, Crosby is one of those purists. He doesn’t like Ovechkin. The incidental meeting before the second break might not have been accidental after all.
“I don’t like [Ovechkin’s showmanship] personally, but that’s him. That’s what he does,” Crosby said. “Some people like it, some people don’t. Personally I don’t like it, but you know what — he’s a good player.”
Back at you, said Ovechkin.
“[Crosby’s] a good player, but he talks too much,” Ovechkin said. “If he wants to do something like hit me again, try to hit me, we’ll play it cheap. We’ll play it dirty.”
Added Boudreau, jokingly, “[Crosby] started it.”
Crosby was recently named the league’s best player by Sports Illustrated despite Ovechkin’s statistical advantage. Maybe the Pens’ early success with Crosby while the Caps struggled with Ovechkin created the image.
“[Crosby’s] top three, top two. He’s a tremendous player,” Ovechkin said.
The afternoon was a grudge match. Washington is now 3-0 versus its perennial nemsis. Boudreau seems the Pens antidote. Washington is 4-1-1 versus Pittsburgh after a 1-7-1 run prior to his 2007 arrival. That says so much when thinking about the postseason. Pittsburgh tormented this franchise for so long that every victory over the Pens is sweet for Caps fans.
Indeed, it’s a sweet time for the Caps (38-17-5), who have their best record at 60 games in team history. They’re more than 20 games over .500 for the first time in 23 years.
Wonder what Crosby has to say about that?
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or e-mail [email protected].
