Bruce Boudreau gave the keynote at the AHL Hall of Fame induction ceremony this past weekend. His speech covered the prevalent cursing in HBO’s 24/7 (both his and Sidney Crosby’s), misadventures in Christmas shopping, and his unrelenting love for Hershey. Boudreau seems to be having a lot more fun here than he has been at recent media scrums.
“I wouldn’t spend that on a burger!”
Special thanks to ABC27 for the video.
Ovi swings with the knob of his stick during the Breakaway Challenge. (Photo credit: Kevin C. Cox)
Alex Ovechkin won his third straight Breakaway Challenge title tonight at the 2010-11 NHL SuperSkills Competition. How did he win it? With an unbelievable series of moves in his second and fourth attempts. In his second breakaway, Ovechkin smoothly juggled the puck in mid-air from center ice. He then knocked the puck up high up to himself, switched the position of his twig, and then swung with butt end of his stick. In his fourth and final attempt, Ovi dribbled the puck down the ice with the knob of his stick, went to his knees, got back up, and then went backhand on Marc-Andre Fleury. After he scored, Ovi sheathed his stick Chi Chi Rodriquez style as players from both benches laughed and banged their sticks against the ice. Ovechkin had a giant smile on his face the entire time.
When asked about his moves, Ovechkin replied, “I’m so excited right now, I can’t remember.” Fair enough.
Ovi and Green’s Team Staal defeated Team Lidstrom tonight 33 to 22. Below the jump, we have video of Ovechkin’s breakaway attempts and the other most noteable Capital moments of the night.
A playful Alex Ovechkin hit up the red carpet before tonight’s 2011 NHL SuperSkills competition and spoke briefly with NHL Network’s Heidi Androl. Heidi, who seemed preoccupied with Ovechkin’s lax wardrobe, pointed out to the Russian Machine that he was missing a tie and cufflinks. Ovechkin, beaming with pride, encouraged her to check out his cuffs saying, “Look. I didn’t even do my button.” Oh man, vintage Ovi.
Though they missed their scheduled morning flight out to Raleigh, Capitals’ All-Stars Mike Green and Alex Ovechkin arrived just in the knick of time for the NHL’s first ever All-Star Fantasy Draft. For Caps’ fans, the most notable moment of the draft occurred in the second round, when MG52 announced Team Staal’s selection of Ovechkin with the third overall pick. With a big grin, the Russian Machine made his way up to the stage, embraced Green, and proudly put on the fourth all-star jersey of his young career. Photos of the night can be seen below.
GROUP HUG! (Photo credit: Abelimages)
Braden Holtby stones Tyler Bozak on a breakaway. (Photo credit: Graig Abel)
The last time the Capitals played on Hockey Night in Canada, they destroyed the Calgary Flames 7-2 on October 30th, 2010. Coincidentally, it was also the last time that The Great Eight had a multi-goal game.
Eighty-four days and thirty-eight NHL games later, that streak would finally end for Ovechkin against a team he consistently has success against: the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Tonight, the Capitals managed to get on the board first for the second consecutive game. Jeff Schultz unleashed a howitzer from the point, and a hard-charging Russian Machine tipped Sarge’s shot past Maple Leafs’ goaltender, Jean-Sebastien Giguere. Despite both teams combining for forty shots through the games first two periods, scoring would not resume until the third.
One minute into the games final’s frame, Ovechkin would strike again, as he set up shop in his new home in front of the net. Unfortunately, the two-goal lead would only last a minute and a half. Leafs’ fourth-liner Tim Brent ended Braden Holtby’s shutout bid, going five-hole after Jay Rosehill’s shot from the point was muffled. The Leafs then astutely seized the momentum and came at the Caps in waves for the next several minutes. That is until Bruce Boudreau wisely called time-out after an icing call.
Matt Hendricks then scored the most beautiful goal of his career on a breakaway and Ovi’s ENHTG (empty net hat-trick goal) sealed the deal. Caps win 4-1.
Come on, Steve Levy. Ovi’s no Russian Spy!
Thanks to Kathryn H. for sharing!
By Ian Oland 12 years ago
Ovi tackles his teammates after Mike Knuble's second period goal. (Photo credit: Dave Sandford)
Photo credit: Gregory Shamus
After a year of build-up and three glorious episodes of HBO’s 24/7, the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins finally met at Heinz Field in front of 68,111 loud, screaming fans to compete in the 2011 Winter Classic. Much like the 39 games before and the 42 games to follow, this game counted the exact same amount in the standings: two points.
But both you and I know it meant waaaaaay more than that. You could see it in how the Caps played, celebrated and spoke after the game. This was the biggest game they had ever played in their NHL careers. And it showed.
At 8:17pm the first puck dropped. It would then take over twenty-two compelling game minutes to see the 2011 Classic’s first goal. In the second period, Marc-Andre Fleury made a routine stick save along the ice on Alex Ovechkin. Kris Letang then took the rebound and alertly flung the puck up ice where he found a streaking Evgeny Malkin. The Capitals’ defense, caught on a bad change, allowed Malkin to go in all alone on Semyon Varlamov. Malkin went five-hole and the the Penguins took a 1-0 lead.
Featuring friend of the blog, Wes Johnson, and RMNB readers as extras! Enjoy!
Rachel Cohen, RMNB’s resident illustrator, made this awesome sign for tonight’s game. Please make sure to keep a look out for her during the national broadcast. She will be holding this sign proudly all night. Most importantly, now that we’re less than an hour away from the game…
