New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal turned in a fine season. He and partner Dan Girardi formed a solid No. 1 combination, facing the opposition’s top players night in and night out. And they didn’t have a ton of depth behind them, relying instead on promising younger defensemen and journeymen veterans.
But Staal, as good as he is at just age 24, had no chance against Caps forward Alex Ovechkin in full flight during Saturday’s Game 5 victory at Verizon Center. A play that started in the far corner next to Washington’s goal turned into a scoring chance for the 25-year-old Russian. He didn’t miss, driving hard around Staal and flipping a backhand shot past Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist at 7:04 of the second period. That staked Washington to a 2-0 lead and put offensively-challenged New York in a deep hole en route to a 3-1 loss.
“It’s impossible to stop that guy when he drives wide. I’ve tried in practice. And he’s just so strong,” Caps defenseman Karl Alzner said. “If he can go out there and do that all the time that’s going to be pretty good. And that’s a good player that he went around there, too, so that’s Ovi and we need him to do that all the time.”
That’s the Ovechkin they got in the New York series, which the Caps won 4-1. Ovechkin finished with three goals and three assists. He was a dynamic presence all over the ice in the third period and overtime of Wednesday dramatic Game 4 victory – even though he didn’t register on the score sheet.
“I thought it was his best game of the series, easily,” Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I mean, complete. In the other games he’s had flashes of brilliance and he’s been not so visible. I thought he was very visible on the ice and doing the right things. I thought his goal was spectacular.”
Ovechkin’s goal started with the puck in the far defensive corner. Nicklas Backstrom flipped the puck out of danger to teammate Brooks Laich, who then tipped it to defenseman Scott Hannan in the neutral zone. He quickly got the puck to a streaking Ovechkin, who blew past Staal. Lundqvist got the better of Ovechkin in overtime of Game 4, stoning a breakaway chance that would have won the game. He lunged this time, but came up empty as the puck nestled behind him.
“You always want your big players and your best players to step up and be the guys,” veteran center Jason Arnott said. “And Alex did it tonight. Huge game for us and he played solid not only offensively, but defensively. And you know his game is coming around that way. And when he does that other guys see it and he just showed his talent on that goal. That’s Ovechkin-style right there. And if he keeps doing that and leading us hopefully good things will happen.”
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