Oh My Ovechkin

The NBA has the battle between Lebron James and Kobe Bryant. The NHL has the battle between Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby. The difference? Well, right now the difference is the latter are actually battling out in a grueling seven game series in the NHL's Stanley Cup Playoffs, while NBA brass anxiously await the fate of their NBA Finals matchup.

In a game where NHL's poster boy, Crosby, scored his first ever post-season hat trick, it was Ovechkin who got the last laugh with a hat trick of his own.

With the scored tied 2-2 late in the third period, Mike Green found Ovechkin alone on the left point and feathered a perfect pass for what has become the signature move for the Great 8. A wicked one-timer that beat Marc-Andre Fleury to the short side to give the Capitals a 3-2 lead. Just two and a half minutes later, Ovechkin raced down the right side on a one-on-one with Penguins defender Sergei Gonchar. Ovechkin cut to the middle, dragging the puck behind his stride and unleashed an out of this world wrist shot that beat Fleury and set the Verizon Center into a frenzy. Can you hear me now? Good.

Crosby scored an impressive goal of his own, batting the puck out of mid-air past the Caps' impressive rookie goaltender Simeon Varlamov, but it was too little too late.

The NHL got this dream matchup and the star players are living up to the hype. Celtics-Bulls? Thanks, but I'll take this series instead. If Evgeni Malkin gets his game going, the Penguins will be right back in this series, but it's hard to imagine the Penguins having an answer for Ovechkin right now.

He can beat teams in so many ways. Both of his late goals defied hockey logic. The one-timer came less than three seconds after an offensive zone draw. A coverage mistake by Matt Cooke that he'd certainly like back.

The final goal came on a one-on-one play which typically requires an amazing move past or around the defenseman. Any shot scored in this type of situation is considered a bad goal to give up. But can Fleury or Gonchar be faulted? Not really. And therein lies the beauty of the Great 8's game. The argument can be made for Crosby or Malkin, but Ovechkin will do whatever he can to erase any doubts of him being the best player in the NHL.

It's hard to believe he won't succeed.