Ironically, both of the incidents occurred while playing opposite Buffalo at the Verizon Center (last time was after he hit Daniel Briere from behind on December 2, 2006 – almost the exact same time of year too!).

image: TSN

“I just go take a hit and (Kaleta) just fell into the boards. … Max, it’s got to be 2 minutes,” Ovechkin said.  Uh huh…

In case you missed it, here’s a video of the hit.  Some people want him to get a suspension but I’m not sure it warrants all of that.  I think being ejected was good enough but you can decide for yourselves:

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image: TSN

He still leads the league with 14 goals in 14 games and also has nine assists.

I’m sure the Caps, and their fans, are trying not to panic too much but they lost to the New Jersey Devils this past weekend and are now 1-4-0 without Ovie (since the 2005-2006 season).

It was bound to happen, though.  Almost every player has suffered some sort of injury in their career and this could be the first major setback that the Russian star has experienced.

Hopefully, it’s nothing serious and he’ll be back on the ice in no time but I don’t actually think his absence is a bad thing either.  Sometimes it’s good for a team to be without their “superstar” since they really can rely too heavily on a single guy.  Looking at their stats without him, I can’t help but think they need to develop the rest of the team a little more so maybe they will do that as Ovie recuperates.

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image: Zuma Press

Russian interviewer, Sophie Shevardnadze, asked him “How do you prepare for the game? Is it true that you can’t have sex before the match?” and he answered “sex really helps, actually.”  So she followed up by asking “is that before or after the match?” and he said “before and after.”  Ha ha ha ha!  He also said that he misses “Russian beauties” and said that American girls can’t compare to them.  Wow!

He also said that he doesn’t care when people call him “Alexander the Great,” he found it flattering when President Barack Obama said that he was happy to share a city with Ovechkin (Washington) and how Russian hockey is different from Canadian hockey (he says the Russians are more technical and more lucky).

It’s an interesting interview.  You gotta watch it:

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The game will be released this fall for Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 2 and PC.  Aside from that, there aren’t many details about the game floating around although I can pretty much promise that it will be about hockey…

image: 2K Sports

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Of course, he also had a fantastic season, finishing with 56 goals which is 10 better than any other player in the league.   Ever humble, Ovechkin said: "I’m proud of my country. It’s always nice to be No. 1."

While he was accepting the Pearson trophy, he mentioned that it was a tough year for his family after the loss of his grandfather.  Watch the acceptance speech:

image: NHL.com

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image: Zuma Press

To say that I was shocked by tonight’s game would be an understatement.  I wanted the Penguins to win but not like this.  I wanted it to be gritty and tough but, instead, the Pens dominated that Caps but I will concede that much of the shift was due to the surprisingly shoddy goaltender displayed by Simeon Varlamov.  After playing so spectacularly, the young netminder picked the most important game of the series to completely fall apart and was pulled and replaced by Jose Theodore who had not been seen between the pipes since early (game 1?) of the quarterfinals.

I’ve got to give credit to Sidney Crosby for earning the hype throughout the series and especially in tonight’s game.  He led his team and opened scoring in the first period and then again in the third (both on a power play).  He also registered an assist.  His rival, Alexander Ovechkin, didn’t leave the ice empty handed – he did score a nice wrap-around goal late in the second.  In the end, though, Crosby and his team skated away with a huge 6-2 victory over the Capitals.

The Penguins will have to wait and see who wins the Boston Bruins/Carolina Hurricanes series tomorrow night to find out who they will face in the Eastern Conference Finals.

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I know that a lot of critics and commentators had discounted the Caps but I knew better – I may not be a fan of the team but I do knew that Alexander Ovechkin was going to fight to stay in the playoffs and, regardless of what he says, that drive is intensified by his rivalry with Sidney Crosby.

This is it, folks.  These two teams (and star players) are going to Game 7.  It’s do-or-die time and I can’t wait to see what these clubs are really made of.  “I think it’s going to be great game,” Ovechkin said. “I think the league wants us to play Game 7 (on Wednesday).”

I couldn’t agree more.  A matchup between Alex the Great and Sid the Kid is just what the league wants and, as I’ve said since the beginning, I’m sure NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman, is literally drooling over this turn of events.

I can’t predict what’s going to happen because this series has been filled with all kinds of twists and turns (plus, I’m not a psychic) but I do hope the Penguins get to continue on to the next round.  I can’t lie, though.  The Capitals are slowly winning me over and Ovechkin is a heck of a player but I gotta go with Crosby.

Game 7 takes place on Wednesday, May 13 at 7pm ET.  I can barely stand the wait…

image: TSN

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image: Newscom

Incredibly, though, the Pens will have to admit that they are ahead due, in part, to some “assistance” they’ve received from the Capitals themselves.  Tonight’s overtime win was courtesy of a goal that was deflected into the back of the net by Capitals defenceman, Tom Poti.  I’m sure Evgeni Malkin couldn’t predict that Poti would be the one to help him score the goal but no one was complaining.  “These games come down to mistakes and bounces,” Crosby said. “And we got a good bounce there on the last goal.”

Of course, if you’ve been watching the series, you will remember that, back in Game 3, a shot by Kris Letang was deflected in by defenceman Shaone Morrisonn.  “It’s always hard when you play in overtime and you allow a silly goal like this,” said goaltender, Simeon Varlamov. “That’s twice now. … But winners make their own luck.”

Yeah… if I was him, I’d be pretty pissed off.

Meanwhile, over in the Western Conference, the Vancouver Canucks are facing a fate similar to that of the Capitals.

The Chicago Blackhawks struck first but then the Canucks quickly tied the game in the first period.  They came on strong in the second with the Sedin twins and Mats Sundin teaming up on Chicago goaltender, Nikolai Khabibulin, and scoring a really nice goal.  In the end it just wasn’t enough.

The teams were tied at 2-2 late in the third period when the Hawks scored on a power play.  They put another one into the empty net and secured a 4-2 victory.

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As you would expect in a series with some serious talent, there were some great goals scored last night.  Alexander Ovechkin scored a crazy goal after he grabbed a bad bounce off the glass, clunked along toward the net (I can’t even described how weirdly he was skating) and then launched the puck into the net (and it looked like he was airborne at the time).  Poor Pens goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury, didn’t stand a chance since he was out of the net thinking he was going to collect the puck but, as I said, it bounced off the glass and right into Ovie’s hands.

The Ovechkin/Sidney Crosby pairing continued to heat up with Ovechkin pushing Crosby in the back (and right into the Capitals net) and incurred a two-minute interference penalty.  It was pretty lame and I’m surprised he did it.

As if to silence his doubters, Evgeni Malkin appeared to come to life last night and scored the second goal of the night for Pittsburgh (Ruslan Fedetenko scored the first) and I believe that this goal gave his team the chance to win.  His parents were in the stands and I just have to say that he looks EXACTLY like his mother.  It gave me the creeps…

Game 4 is bound to be very interesting.  It takes place on Friday in Pittsburgh.

image: TSN

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image: TSN

There’s so little more that I could have asked from tonight’s game.  It was an intensely battled match and I was positively stunned to see both Crosby and Ovechkin finish the night with a hat trick.

Crosby scored first, again, but it didn’t lead his team to victory.  Instead, the Capitals ended up winning 4-3 but it looked like they would defeat the Pens by a two-goal margin until Crosby scored with about 30 seconds left in the game.  It was a remarkable goal which showed the player’s determination since he launched not one but four rebounds back at Washington’s net.

Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh) was non-existent, really, in the game and I’m pretty disappointed by how he’s playing against the Capitals overall.  I’ve heard some people theorize that he’s not as aggressive against his fellow kinsman, Ovechkin, since they became friends during the All-Star break.  I don’t know if that’s true but something is definitely up.

I also want to make mention of the fact that Chris Kunitz (Pittsburgh) nailed Washington goalie, Simeon Varlamov, in the throat right before Crosby scored his final goal.  I hadn’t seen it at first because it was so fast but I spotted it in the replays.  There was no call on the cross-check and I don’t really think it was right.  There were other missed penalties as well, of course, but this one was just not cool to me.

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