HockeyRetire the Ovechkin vs. Crosby debate

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On Monday night in Washington, Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin pushed one another to the highest of levels, raising their games to places only the best can reach. Maybe it wasn’t a Game 7. Maybe it wasn’t the Stanley Cup final. But it was something special, something spectacular, something we can only hope to see again.

When it was over, the home crowd booed as Crosby, who did not appear, was named the second star. I was disappointed in that, and hope those people reconsider. Crosby deserved respect for his brilliance in defeat, as much respect as Ovechkin deserved for his greatness in victory.

The Crosby vs. Ovechkin debate should be retired after this one. If you love sports, you can like both. You can recognize that these are the best young players since Gretzky and Lemieux. There is room for both at the top. Even Ovechkin graciously credited Crosby in his post-game interview with CBC's Hockey Night in Canada.

Ovechkin's best game ever?

After it was over, I asked Marc-Andre Fleury if he had any chance on the Great Eight’s three goals. He said, “You always have a chance.” Greg Millen said later that a goalie must believe that, but I’m not sure anyone could have intentionally stopped them. Twice, Ovechkin blasted slapshots while wide open. The third was a pinpoint wrist shot with Sergei Gonchar as a screen.

Sergei Fedorov called it the best game he’s seen Ovechkin play, and compared it to watching Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Steve Yzerman battle each other during those great Detroit-Colorado series.

Meanwhile, Crosby scored all of his goals from a combined 20 feet, unafraid to stick his nose in close. The final one came on his fourth consecutive smack at a flying puck, a ridiculous feat of hand-eye co-ordination that had to be seen in slow motion to be completely understood.

There are a lot of other questions surrounding this series: Is Evgeni Malkin going to elevate his game to the level of the other two superstars? Did Kris Letang suffer a season-ending injury? Can the Penguins recover at home? Will the Capitals continue to win despite being the inferior team for most of the first two games? Does anything bother Simeon Varlamov?

But the biggest one should be: What do Crosby and Ovechkin do for an encore? Can’t imagine how they can outdo Game 2.

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