Quote:
Originally Posted by Suburban Rhythm
I am sure I'll get label a Penguins apologist or Crosby fan-boy...but Ovechkin proved out while he is a superior goalscorer, I don't think he's a better overall player than Crosby (or maybe Malkin even). He spent half his night on his side of the redline-great when the Caps have the puck, not great when he's cherry-picking.
The running around after Malkin...I read over and over last season how he's so improved defensively, I don't get how targeting one guy and trying to plow into him all night is great defensive play-- especially when the hit Malkin avoided along the wall, for any 3rd line player on any team in the league, would be an automatic charging call.
But the most selfish thing I saw all night was him shoot for the empty net from 70 feet away, miss, and give the Pens another faceoff. Nothing would have been better than to see them score directly from that faceoff.
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I'd attribute a lot of that to Ovechkin starting off really slowly. He has a lot of pressure on him, and unlike Crosby, he doesn't have as much talent surrounding him. Still, his lapses this year have been pretty inexcusable, though the empty netter I don't mind as much because a lot of goal scorers need that first one to get rolling. He probably saw his chance and took it. I mean outside of his game vs Chicago, he has been pretty meh.
I still don't know who is better between he or Crosby. I like AO more, but Crosby does a lot for his team which gives him a slight edge. I think Ovechkin has shown he can be great defensivley if he can harness his intensity, but like you said last night, he still obviously can't.
I think in 2-3 years we'll know for sure, but for now I'll give it to Crosby since his team has played (and ahem lost) for a Cup.