Poor Ovechkin

From the Washington Post:

[Dan] Boyle, who flipped the puck over Kolzig as he was sprawled, scored while left wing Alexander Semin sat in the penalty box for inexplicably picking up — and throwing — the puck from near the blueline into the corner after being knocked to the ice. Officially called “closing hand on puck,” it was easily the strangest infraction called on a Washington player this season. Capitals Coach Glen Hanlon responded by benching Semin, the team’s second-leading scorer, for the entire third period.

Afterward the players met for about 15 minutes behind closed doors. Although no one would divulge exactly what was said, when the meeting ended, all-star left wing Alex Ovechkin emerged from the locker room and smashed his stick repeatedly against the wall and a trash can until it broke into four pieces, according to those who witnessed the episode. Ovechkin’s iPod and headphones also were destroyed, crumpled in the hallway.

Ovechkin and Semin, who are close friends and who were linemates on Saturday, left without speaking to the media. Asked why he thought Ovechkin was so angry, Kolzig said: “I’m sure he’s probably frustrated with what happened and in the meeting. And that’s really all I’m going to say. It wasn’t targeted at Ovie. He’s obviously our guy. But it was something he didn’t want to hear.”

Johnson Sprung a ‘Lik

I came up with that title after Holik’s goal in hopes that he would score some more, but he didn’t. Those of you who were at the game know why I would be thinking of headlines after such a goal. Holik scored the best goal I have ever seen live and didn’t even get one of the three stars of the game. I guess it goes to show you how well everyone else played. Eric Boulton definately deserved the first star with two assists and his first multi-point game ever. He is definately fighting hard for a regular spot in the line-up. Slater is going to have to fight even harder if he wants to earn his spot back after last night.

The other two stars of the game were Kari and Alex Ovechkin, in that order. I guess you can’t deny Alex his third star when he had both opposing goals. Kari deserved second star as well facing more than one situation in which our defense couldn’t keep up with AO and Semin, and they got some nice shots off (a few posts).

The four Thrashers goals were scored by Kozlov, Holik, Tkachuk, and Kovalchuk. It is great to see so many players stepping up and playing so well. Sim played well again getting a point last night with an assist to Kovalchuk’s goal. Hossa kept up his point streak (11 games) with an assist to Kozlov’s goal. Overall, he seemed to be having a hard time last night and couldn’t seem to hold on to the puck. I don’t think it is as much a reflection on him as it is a reflection of the respect other teams’ defense have for Hossa’s abilities. They know they have to shut him down which in the past might have shut down the Thrashers offense, but not any more.

I almost forgot to congratulate Slava on his 300th goal and 700th career point.

Lightning vs. Capitals

Ovechkin gets another chance for me to like him for a short period of time tonight. If he can just pull his team to victory over the Lightning, that would be great. Somewhat good news for Thrasher fans that the Lightning are beginning a 6 game road trip, their longest of the season so far. Lets hope they have a result nearly as bad or worse than the recent Thrashers’ road trip.

And the Ovechkin conceited quote of the day, when asked about recent trades Ovechkin replied, “I still think we have a great team. It doesn’t matter who we lost or who comes here.” (NHL.com preview). So in other words, as long as he is there, they will have a great team. He might not have meant it in that way, but having heard many Ovechkin quotes before, that is how I took that quote.