Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry ends with Sid on top once again
Canadians remain perfect through 4 games of tournament to reach final
Another act in the Sidney Crosby-Alex Ovechkin rivalry played out in the World Cup of Hockey semifinals on Saturday evening, and once again the concluding scene saw No. 87 enjoy the thrill of victory and the Great Eight suffer the agony of defeat.
Crosby continued his tournament brilliance in Canada's 5-3 win against Russia. He scored the game's first goal on a theft of Russian defender Dmitry Kulikov and when Canada fell behind Crosby set up linemate Brad Marchand for the game-tying and go-ahead goals.
Ovechkin, on the other hand, was not a factor. He only had one shot on goal, and wasn't noticeable with the exception of an opening-shift bodycheck on Canadian defenceman Marc-Edouard Vlasic and diving to block a shot from Canadian blueliner Drew Doughty in the second period.
Crosby and Ovechkin have been tethered since they were identified as can't miss prospects more than a decade ago. And if you're scoring at home, Crosby now has gotten the better of Ovechkin on each of the six occasions they have met in critical games.
Crosby and Canada defeated Ovechkin and Russia at the 2005 world junior gold-medal final, 2010 Olympic quarter-finals, 2015 IIHF World Championship gold-medal game and now this game.
In the NHL, Crosby has two Stanley Cup championships to none for Ovechkin and in each championship march for Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins they defeated Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals in the second round.
Ovi silenced
The line of Jonathan Toews, Corey Perry and Logan Couture with the defence pairing of Vlasic and Shea Weber, did an outstanding job taking away Ovechkin's speed in the neutral zone. This Canadian five-player unit also was reliable in retrieving pucks in their own end to snuff out Ovechkin from establishing time in the offensive zone.
"Johnny won all the faceoffs and the guys are good defensively," Canadian coach Mike Babcock said. "Ovie's a big, big man and can wear you down. Web doesn't get worn down, he's too big.
"I thought it was a good stable pair and a good group. Corey Perry, I never thought at the start would ever play in that situation. I just talked to him and just said a number of times, this is what we need you to do for us to have success and so he's all in and is doing a good job. He's a winner, he's won everywhere he's been, so he's done a good job."
There was a fleeting moment in the second period that maybe this time would be different for Ovechkin and Russia. Canada had dominated, but the score was only 1-0 on Crosby's goal.
Russia had not fired a shot on Canadian goalie Carey Price in the second period until Nikita Kucherov goal 8:47 in. Eight minutes later, Russia had a 2-1 lead.
But the Canadians did not panic. They held an advantage territorially, but Russian goalie Sergei Bobrovsky kept his club in the game.
Crosby shows up when it counts
That was until Crosby went to work. First, he lifted the stick of Russian defenceman Andrei Markov for Marchand's first goal. Then, Crosby dropped a pass to Marchand for the go-ahead 3-2 goal early in the third period.
"One thing that makes him such a good player is his determination and he always comes up big in the big games," Marchand said, when asked about the game-tying goal. "You see plays like that, that's where the leadership comes in. And when you're able to lead at this level, of a group of leaders, then you're able to take control.
"That just shows how special of a player he is and he created that whole goal and ultimately, that did lead to turning the game around."
When Russia snatched its brief lead, it only was the second time the Canadians have fallen behind in this tournament. The United States early 1-0 advantage in the round-robin game last Tuesday lasted only 89 seconds. Russia's 2-1 advantage ended after 1:12.
The win, Canada's fourth in four games in this tournament, send the Canadians to the best-of-three final, which begins Tuesday, against the Sweden-Team Europe semifinal winner on Sunday afternoon.