Round 2 Game 4 Results

Washington Capitals at Pittsburgh Penguins

Series Tied 2-2

Lets start with the Ovechkin/Gonchar hit.  First off it is definetly a knee on knee collision.  The question comes down to whether or not Ovie stuck his knee out to force the contact.  Was intent to injure there, probably not but he did stick his leg out to force the contact.  The leagues response should depend on the status of Gonchar.  If Gonchar is injured then Ovechkin should receive at least a one game suspension.  If Gonchar is able to play tomorrow night, well then a fine as in the case of Kunitz should be given.  Either way, no response by the league shows that special treatment that superstars get and fans should absolutely be outraged.  I think in this is case the league could step up and show even though players like Ovechkin and Crosby are the spokesman for the NHL, they too have to follow the rules or risk severe punishment.  Now back to the game.

The game started off nice but then the Caps scored as a puck deflected off Letang and was just enough to evade Fleury.  A short time later Gonchar skates the puck into the slot area late in a Power Play and fires a laser five hole to beat Varlamov.  Pittsburgh started to take over at this point, that is until Ovechkin took out Gonchar.  The Pens did end the first period with a 3-1 lead.  Then in the second both teams where able to generate little chances but Washington came out with a goal and 30+ seconds on the Power Play.  With the score 3-2, Pittsburgh again picked up the play as Satan fed Crosby on a 2-1 to make it 4-2.  Then as Matt Bradley decided to hit anyone, whether with or without the puck, Washington scored as the Pens where standing around asking why there were no penalties.  That goal didn’t matter as a little latter Talbot picked up the puck rushing into the zone and fired a puck short side to beat Varlamov.  Although some additional chances came for both teams, neither could again find the twine as the final score was 5-3 Pittsburgh.  Now the stats…

Washington showed that if they are out of the game they will result to dirty play.  No they didn’t play extremely dirty but obviously the referees stopped calling the game.  It’s always interesting when clear penalties occur and yet no response from the black and white posts on the ice.  Someone please tell me why these guys are getting paid?  If I performed this poorly at my job I would surely get fired.  Anyway back to the post game thoughts.

Washington needs to find what they had at home on Saturday.  They need to hope that Varlamov gets his composure back or they will really be struggling to push for a game 7.  If Ovechkin does get to play, he needs to find a way to get some open ice but he also needs support.  Semin, Federov, Backstrom and Green need to step it up and put some more pucks in the net.

Pittsburgh just has to continue to play their game.  If Gonchar has a serious injury then they need Letang to step up and relieve some pressure.  Fleury will need to step it up as he looked a little shaky tonight.  That is it though.  Just keep up the attack.

Next Game Tomorrow @ 7 on FSN