Sidney who? Alexander Ovechkin (two goals) and friends outclassed the Pens at the Igloolast night, completing a regular season series sweep. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
Capitals 6, Penguins 3: Never has deja vu been so exciting. The Caps beat the Penguins 6-3 for the second time this year on Mellon Arena ice and completed a four-game regular season sweep of the Pens. Though most will say it really doesn’t mean much until the Caps prove they can beat Pittsburgh four times in this postseason, the sweep should help the Caps’ mindset as they head to the playoffs, which, as we all know, ended last year in a Game 7 nightmare against Crosby & Co.
The teams’ last regular season matchup had a little of everything, starting with the “drama” of an Evgeni Malkin scratch during pregame warm-ups due to the always-mysterious “undisclosed illness.” A flashy goal by Alex Semin and one each from Mike Knuble (who scored the game winner during the last Caps-Pens matchup) and Tomas Fleischmann led to Pens goalie Marc-Andre Fleury being pulled in favor of former Capital Brent Johnson in the second period. Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin exhibited their usual anything-you-can-do-I-can-do-better gamesmanship, with Crosby scoring first but Ovechkin scoring twice. Ovie’s second goal came on an empty net with less than one second left in the game (with a great assist by Nicklas Backstrom). With the tally, Ovechkin tied Crosby for the lead in the race for the Rocket Richard Trophy, awarded to the player who scores for most goals scored during the season. Seriously, even Hollywood can’t write these endings.
