Crosby foiled by rookie goalie
WASHINGTON -- In the end, it wasn't Alex Ovechkin who was the biggest thorn in the side of Sidney Crosby; it was the rookie goalie who practically stole the game.
Crosby did everything he could in attempting to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to victory in Game 1 of this Eastern Conference Semifinal showdown with the Washington Capitals, but his best just wasn't quite good enough against the Capitals' 21-year-old goalie, Simeon Varlamov.
Varlamov's denial of Crosby with 1:59 remaining in the second period of Washington's 3-2 win on Saturday is the front-runner for the save of Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Crosby thought he had given the Penguins their second lead of the game when he redirected a pass from Chris Kunitz off a 2-on-1 down low. But the Russian rookie kept the puck from crossing the goal line when he reached behind his body with his stick, deflecting it just as it was about to cross the line. Crosby raised his arms as if to celebrate the goal but, upon further review after returning to his bench, realized he had been turned away.
"Kunie (Kunitz) was going wide and he just put the puck out there and I reached for it and didn't get a whole lot on it because I just tried to direct it on the net," Crosby said. "Their goalie makes that stick save there. I raised my arms because I wanted to make sure they checked it because I knew it was close. I just wanted to make sure they checked it."
Despite the fact Varlamov undoubtedly will be the talk of the town, Crosby will try to forget about it as he and his teammates look to even this best-of-7 series in Game 2 on Monday.
"It was a good save, but I try and forget them," Crosby said. "I don't need to discuss them (the big stops). You don't want to waste those opportunities, you want to take advantage of it. You end up losing the game 3-2, and you don't want to look back and say, 'What if?' The fact is, that happens in the game. As a player, you have to forget that quickly."
Crosby wasn't the only one who was stunned to see the puck not in the net.
"I was in shock when he made the save," Kunitz said. "Maybe I should have stopped in front instead of swinging behind the net like I did. I was skating behind the net when I saw the goalie reach back and get it with his stick."
Crosby began Game 1 like a house of fire, winning the opening faceoff against Nicklas Backstrom before generating the first of his team-high six shots off a backhand from the left circle just eight seconds into the contest. Sid was ready and his team appeared to be following suite as the Pens dictated much of the play over the opening 11 minutes.
Their territorial advantage was rewarded 4:09 into the game when the Penguins captain ripped a wrist shot from prime scoring position between the circles that eluded Varlamov to his glove side.
"We wanted to come in and knew they have a great crowd here and they build off of that, but we were happy to set the tone by getting the first one on the road," Crosby said. "We'll look back and try to do that again next game as well."
Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik agreed with his captain.
"Sid came out and set the tone for us right away and I thought all day he stayed out of the nonsense after the whistles even when they tried to get him off of his game," Orpik said. "He's a pretty focused guy and played well all game."
The Penguins had five power-play opportunities in the game and Crosby, who totaled 7:14 of ice time with the man advantage, desperately tried for that elusive opening each time. The Caps, who entered the game with an 87.1 penalty-killing percentage in the playoffs, stifled the Pens on every occasion.
"We just have to do a better job on the power play," Crosby said. "I think if you look at the guys on our power play, there's no reason why we shouldn't do well and be confident. We had some chances and couldn't put it in, and there were times where we didn't quit battle enough to generate enough pressure. We'll go over it but, at the end of the day, it comes down to wining the one-on-one battles."
-- Mike G. Morreale
The circus surrounds Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby, but even the Caps' No. 8 knows 21-year-old rookie goalie Simeon Varlamov stole the show in Game 1 Saturday with his marvelous save on Crosby with 1:59 to play in the second period of a 2-2 game.
"He made lots of good saves, but that was pretty important and pretty cool," Ovechkin said when NHL.com asked him if that was the best save he has ever seen. "It was probably Top 10. No. 1. Highlight."
It was definitely the highlight of Game 1, but Ovechkin also gave the 18,277 red-clad fans at Verizon Center what they hoped to scream about.
Delivering on his superstar cred, Ovechkin scored a big goal for the Capitals with 2:57 to play in the first period. His 5-on-3 goal after nifty passing from Nicklas Backstrom (he's always in the middle of great passing) to Alexander Semin and eventually to Ovechkin gave Washington a 2-1 lead.
Sergei Gonchar (delay of game) and Matt Cooke (hooking Ovechkin) were in the penalty box when Ovechkin scored his goal. It was the only two penalties the Penguins were called for all afternoon.
"Both teams have skill guys, and especially on a 5-on-3 we have to score goals," said Ovechkin, who now has 4 goals and 4 assists in eight playoff games. "It was a great chance to get the lead and get the goal."
Backstrom sent the puck from the corner up to Semin, who was just below the Stanley Cup Playoffs logo. Semin wound up as the puck was coming to him from Backstrom, giving Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury an idea that he was going to shoot.
"I thought (Semin) was going to take the one-timer from up top," Fleury confirmed.
Instead, Semin slowed his wind up down and one-touched a pass to Ovechkin in the lower left circle. Fleury was out high above his crease and Penguins' penalty killer Craig Adams had his back to Ovechkin, so No. 8 easily deposited the puck into the empty net with no challenge from anyone on the ice.
"I like to play on the point but I switched positions with Sasha (Semin)," Ovechkin said. "It was probably an accident, but it worked. I was shocked actually when he gave me the puck. I almost missed the net."
Ovechkin finished Game 1 with the one goal on nine shots over a rather light 21:13 of ice time. He averaged about 23 minutes of ice time against the Rangers, including a playoff-high 28:47 in Game 4. He also had five shots blocked on Saturday afternoon and he missed the net three times, including hitting the post twice.
"On our side Varly (Varlamov) played well and on their side (Fleury) played well," Ovechkin said. "And, the posts played well."
Ovechkin also had two hits, two blocks and he won both of the faceoffs he took, including an in-zone draw against Evgeni Malkin with 2:06 to play in the game where he just whacked the puck right on Fleury. Mark Eaton blocked it, though.
Overall it was a highly effective game for the Capitals' superstar, but he was happy to get some help from his friends, including the third-line trio of David Steckel, Matt Bradley and Brooks Laich, who teamed up to tie the game at 1-1 with 6:10 to play in the first.
Steckel got the goal on a hard rush toward Fleury after the goalie left a rebound in front from Bradley's tough-angle shot from just above the goal line.
"They played great against New York and they scored a great-looking goal," Ovechkin said. "I don't think we played well in the first 10 minutes, but only one line played well and that was Steckel, Matt Bradley and Brooks Laich. They scored a goal, gave us life on the bench and we started moving our legs, forced some penalties and scored the second."
Pittsburgh made it 2-2 when Eaton's point shot found a way past Varlamov, who appeared to flub it with his glove. However, even though Crosby had a phenomenal chance at an open net, the Penguins never got the third, a fact that had Ovechkin raving. "It was huge, you know," Ovechkin said of Varlamov's ridiculous save on Crosby. "It was a 2-2 game…He made a mistake when they scored the second goal, but he made an unbelievable save there to give us a chance to win the game."
Contact Dan Rosen at [email protected]
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