Note This One

If the Caps make their long-awaited run in the playoffs with or without the refs interference this year, remember the game in Toronto last night. In what it is going to take to win, probably the prettiest Caps goal of the year this far was scored by Matt Hendricks, a grinder who was bludgeoned in a fight earlier in the game. And overall, it was about the fifth most important highlight of the game.

OV of course was the catalyst, but not because of his hat trick, but because of his stellar defensive play. On a team that is emphasizing defense, it is great to have a hat trick, but even more important to finish the night with a +3 rating. I wish the game was at home, because when OV dove on the ice to block a shot that was held back by the Leafs, picked himself up and adjusted, then threw himself back to the ice to block a late 3rd period attempt, he should have gotten one of the loudest cheers in his great career from grateful Caps fans. That is what it is going to take for this team to win, and his team understood that, mauling him when he returned to the bench more than they did for any of his three goals. That one defensive effort was just as important as any of his goals, in a night when the Caps finished with 27 blocked shots.

Every time OV goes Toronto, it is like he wants to exact revenge for every bad call that has gone against the Caps since he has arrived here. He relishes in going into the heart of a country that seems to dislike him so much simply for where he was born, and sticking it right to the crowd that always seems to begrudgingly eat him up. (Look at the picture above. The Leafs fans are smiling smugly as he notched yet another goal against their team. They don't want to like him, but they are after all hockey fan, and have to acknowledge if just to themselves that he is one of the best to have ever played, and are lucky to see him. But they will never tell you that.)

OV said his three goals were "lucky," which may be true, but overall I would consider the whole Cap effort plucky. This January last year, the team would have been celebrating a 5,6, or 7 goal night collectively, and coasting to extend a ridiculously long winning streak that in the end would have meant nothing. This January they finished a 3 game road trip with 5 out of 6 points, mostly with their third string goalie and a group of guys surrounding him that now get more excited over blocked shots than hat tricks. For that attitude alone, the demise of Bruce Boudreau has been much more exaggerated than the demise of Alexander Ovechkin.

With the league's "most marketable player" still out with a major whine, I mean minor concussion, the league's best player is stepping back up to the forefront, but this time playing defense first and letting "luck" and his talent get him the occasional hat trick on the "other" part of the ice. Most importantly for Caps fans, this attitude is rubbing off on the Captain's teammates. As the Caps get the "Penguin Treatment" with Pitt's "die-hard fans" tuning out with Crosby gone, the nation that hates the Great 8 got to see this close-up on Hockey Night in Canada. The US will get to see it Monday on the NHL network as the Caps take revenge on the Rangers for the first time since their 7-0 drubbing on HBO and the regular-season low point for their Caps team. With the all-star game coming up next weekend, the Caps are slowly building towards their high point, and hopefully won't hit it until June.

An Addendum: I wanted to include this video clip for two reasons. One, I want you to show it to any of your friends who believe the mainstream hockey media and the Canadian Wilbons consisting of guys like Mike Milbury and Toronto's own Damien Cox who say that OV is just some self-absorbed, self-serving punk from another country. Secondly, show it to anyone that ever says that sports is trivial, means nothing, and is taken way too seriously. It is a quick look into how it is anything but, done in a typically understated way that flies beneath the radar for guys like OV that do it just because.