Best Series Ever??? No Way
Wednesday, May 13th, 2009Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s
Before they dropped the puck for Game Seven on Wednesday evening between the Penguins and the Capitals, NHL.com had been running a poll, asking fans to choose the greatest seven-game playoff series in NHL history.
The 2009 Pens and Caps were leading, by a considerable margin, over the Red Wings and Avalanche brawl earlier this decade. All the seven-game classics that occurred before the year 2000 received less and less of the vote as they got smaller in the rear-view mirror. Guess most of us oldtimers either don’t know how to switch on a computer, or were too busy being six feet under (personally, I voted for the Boston Bruins-Montreal Canadiens series from 1979, the infamous Too Many Men On The Ice series. That entire series was top-notch hockey).
Well, casting a vote for the current Pens-Caps series before Game Seven was even played was like opening your Christmas presents early. Not on December 24th, but on December 19th.
In order for this to truly be considered the “Greatest Seven-Game Series in NHL History”, it had to deliver when it mattered most…Game Seven.
Well, so much for that.
What a let-down, unless, of course, you bleed Penguin blue, or whatever it is Penguins bleed. A 6-2 romp by Pittsburgh in the deciding game immediately puts this series near the bottom of the five or six previous series that were in that NHL.com poll.
Yes, it was a great buildup, through the first six games, thanks to high-tempo play and three overtimes, and lead changes, and Crosby and Ovechkin, and the young goaltenders, and the history of hate between these two franchises.
But it was, in the end, not to be. The Ron McLean’s and Don Cherry’s can whine on and on about the slashing call on Shaone Morrisonn that led to the powerplay that led to the first Pittsburgh goal, but here’s the thing boys.
Whether you personally like it or not, the officials have been calling that call all season. No, not every time. But that’s the tricky thing about the NHL. By now, the players know that it might be called a penalty, so they can’t plead ignorance of the law when it is called. You take a chance delivering a slash. No matter how light, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, you take your chances. And tonight, the Caps got burned.
What really sunk their boat was the second goal only eight seconds after the first. The Craig Adams shot the kid should have had.
Still, the fire-wagon Capitals, the most exciting team in hockey, as we’re told over and over and over again, had plenty of time to respond, and failed to do so. Sure, the team they were facing are a very good, and deep team. It wasn’t going to be easy. But here’s where legends are born, forged from the fire of adversity.
All that was forged were the bad cheques that promised that this was the greatest series ever.
You can’t hang this series loss on Varlamov. Without his goaltending, the Capitals don’t get this far. Probably they lose, in five, to the stinkin’ New York Rangers. Sure, the kid should have had at least that second goal, but he picked up the Caps a number of times in the past month. It was time for his teammates to return that favour.
So whine all you want about the officiating. Chant “Crosby Sucks” until you’re rockin’ the red in the face. The fact remains, the better team won.
And, for now, Crosby got the better of Ovechkin. Both are world class players. Both are already superstars at such an early age. Both performed, for the most part, at an elevated level throughout this series, which was the number one reason why it was a delight to watch. Yet, to me, Crosby delivered a bit more than Ovechkin. That may be the result of the team systems employed, but Crosby always looked like he’d plow through a wall, the goaltender, the Zamboni and his grandmother to score a goal.
Crosby at times looks like the world’s most skilled and determined plumber. Ovechkin is a painter of immense talent, a true artist. Both possess rare skills that can be breathtaking to behold. Yet, so far, Crosby has gone further in the playoffs than Ovechkin. And until one of these dudes hoists the big mug, you can have all your Art Ross and Hart Trophies. They are nice, but it’s the playoffs that truly matter, probably something that might be lost on the non-hockey sports journalists that suddenly found themselves covering the Capitals this spring.
Until the Capitals win the Stanley Cup, and with their two young goaltenders only getting better all the time, that is a distinct possibility in the next few years, I’ll take Sidney Crosby over Alexander Ovechkin.
Though really, no-one loses with either selection.
- Mick Kern
Mick Kern appears courtesy of Live From Wayne Gretzky’s