WASHINGTON, D.C. – For anyone who was concerned that the Alex Ovechkin versus Sidney Crosby matchup in the Eastern Conference Semifinal series couldn't possibly live up to the hype and anticipation: You've been served notice.

 

Both young superstars scored hat tricks in Monday night's Game Two between the Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins, but only Washington could claim victory. With a 4-3 win, the Caps will take a 2-0 series lead to Pittsburgh for Games Three and Four.

"It was a battle of the two best players in the league tonight," Caps defenseman Mike Green said in the locker room after the game. "Sidney [Crosby] played outstanding. It's incredible how good he is around the net and ... he was carrying his team, but tonight we had the top gun."

All three of Crosby's goals were grinder's goals, as he found bouncing pucks and rebounds in front of the net and poked, swatted and pounded them home. Ovechkin, on the other hand, was playing his usual role as the sniper, scoring on long drives and one-timers with marksman-like precision.

With the game tied at two in the latter half of the third period, the Capitals killed a critical Milan Jurcina interference penalty and ended up with a power play of their own. With Penguins center Evgeni Malkin sent off for tripping, the Caps needed just four seconds to convert on the opportunity.

On the ensuing faceoff after the penalty call, Nicklas Backstrom won possession back to Green, who faked a shot and then pushed the puck across to Ovechkin. The MVP finalist then unloaded a low, booming slap shot past Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and into the net to give Washington a 3-2 lead with just over seven minutes left in regulation.

"I was surprised they were going down to block my shot and leaving [Ovechkin] wide open," Green said after the game. "I just had to put it in his wheelhouse. I mean, he gets a shot like that – it's going to go in."

Green's assist was his fifth of the playoffs and Backstrom's was his 10th, moving him into a tie for the league lead with Anaheim's Ryan Getzlaf. But the story was Ovechkin, who needed just 2:29 more to finish off the hat trick and seal the Capitals win.

With less than five minutes left in the game and Pittsburgh still reeling from the previous goal, Ovechkin got a pass in the neutral zone from Viktor Kozlov, skated into the Penguins zone one-on-one against Sergei Gonchar and made a couple of lateral moves to put the former Capitals defender off balance before firing a top-shelf wrist shot past Fleury. Ovechkin's seventh goal of the playoffs sent hats pouring out of the stands and onto the ice in celebration and gave the Caps a 4-2 lead with 4:38 remaining.

Ovechkin downplayed his personal achievements in the game, saying: "I don't care about my personal stats. It's not important right now."

"I just try to do my best and you can see how I score goals," Ovechkin said. "My partners do a great job. They give me puck to empty space and that's all I need to score goals."

The goal read Ovechkin from Kozlov and Fedorov for the second time of the night. Kozlov's assist was his second of the playoffs and Fedorov's was his fifth of this postseason and his 174th career playoff point. With the two-point night, Fedorov moved ahead of Mario Lemieux for 15th all-time in postseason scoring, and he now stands just one point behind Jaromir Jagr for 14th.

The game wouldn't be without last-minute drama, though, as Crosby completed his own hat trick with 30.4 seconds remaining to bring the Penguins back within one.

With Fleury pulled for the extra attacker and already on the power play after another Jurcina penalty, Crosby connected with a waist-high, bouncing puck, batting it over Caps goalie Simeon Varlamov's shoulder and into the net.

Crosby's third of the game was his eighth of the playoffs to lead the NHL. Ovechkin and Crosby both have four goals in two games this series.

Just seconds before Crosby's third goal, Penguins forward Chris Kunitz gave Varlamov a hard crosscheck to the head and neck area while the loose puck was around the crease, a play that Capitals Head Coach Bruce Boudreau said was worthy of review from the league.

"It was pretty vicious," Boudreau said in his post-game press conference. "It's a direct crosscheck to his throat just before Crosby scored. If you didn't see it, there's no puck there, nothing. You know, we hope the league takes a long look at that."

The NHL would announce any disciplinary intentions on Tuesday, but the referees on the ice didn't think the play warranted a penalty.

The Penguins left Fleury on the bench for a sixth skater after Crosby's third goal, but they didn't have another late goal in them, as the Caps were able to kill the clock and get the victory.

"It's unbelievable feelings when you see how fans react, how fans go crazy. You know, the atmosphere right now is unbelievable in town," Ovechkin said. "Probably I'm afraid to go home right now," he joked.

Pittsburgh controlled the pace early in the game, striking first on the power play 6:38 into the first period.

With Alexander Semin in the box serving two minutes for high-sticking on top of coincidental roughing minors shared with Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik, Pittsburgh capitalized and took a 1-0 lead. Controlling the puck in the Capitals' zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang sent the puck to the point to Gonchar, who fired a low shot on net that was stopped by Varlamov. But Varlamov couldn't cover the rebound that dropped right in front of him and Crosby was there to swat the puck through the rookie goalie's legs and into the net.

With less than 2 minutes left in the first period and the Caps trying to kill a 5-on-3, Varlamov would redeem himself, coming up huge with a pair of monster saves on Crosby and Gonchar. First, Crosby got a crossing pass to the doorstep only to find the door slammed shut by Varlamov's left leg pad, then Gonchar took a long shot from the point on the rebound that Varlamov was able to bat away with a quick glove hand. The Capitals killed the 5-on-3 and stayed within one goal heading into the first intermission.

"That was the turning point," said Capitals penalty killer Dave Steckel. "If they score there it could be different."

Semin had a seemingly easy goal a little over a minute into the second period when Backstrom found him wide open in front of the net with Fleury scrambling, but his shot was blocked by a diving Mark Eaton to keep the Caps off the board.

But about a minute later, Ovechkin would not be denied. Fedorov brought the puck into the zone, slammed on the brakes near the blue line and sent a centering pass to Kozlov. Kozlov then found Ovechkin open on the left side, and Ovechkin hammered a shot through the smallest of openings between Fleury's right leg pad and the post to tie the game at one.

The Penguins regained the lead 11 minutes into the second period when Kunitz held in a high clearing attempt by the Caps and sent the puck toward Varlamov and the Washington net. The puck rattled around in front and eventually fell right to Crosby's stick, and Crosby was able to whack it into the net as Varlamov reached across with his catching glove and stick hoping to make a desperation save.

Late in the second period, the Penguins were able to keep sustained pressure in the Caps zone but had nothing to show for it except for several highlight reel saves by Varlamov. After finally getting a stoppage, the Caps were able to turn the pressure back on the Penguins, and Steckel tied the game at two.

Cycling the puck in the Pittsburgh zone, Caps defender Brian Pothier moved the puck across to Tyler Sloan at the opposite point. Sloan threw the puck toward the net and it bounced off a Penguins defender and went right to Steckel on the right doorstep. Steckel quickly turned and whipped the puck through Fleury's legs as the Penguins netminder went into the splits in an attempt to get across for the save.

It was Steckel's second goal of the playoffs, as well as Pothier's second assist. Sloan, who was an emergency call-up in the lineup for injured John Erskine, got his first NHL playoff point with the primary assist on the play.

Sloan played 26 games with the Caps this season, scoring a goal and adding four assists while skating to a plus-4 rating, but he was making his first NHL playoff appearance.

In net, Varlamov finished the night with 33 saves on 36 Penguins shots, including multiple stellar saves. He's now 6-2 in the playoffs with a .945 save percentage and 1.51 goals against average.

"He battles and he competes, and there's times where he's out of position but he finds a way to get a piece of his body on it," Crosby said after the game.

"He competes really hard," Boudreau said of his young goalie. "He doesn't get down if a goal goes in against him, which is really good. I think he can let it go, so far anyway, from what I've seen."

On the other side, Fleury stopped 29 of 33 Capitals shots. After allowing three goals on 26 shots on Saturday, Fleury's save percentage this series is a mediocre .881.

The Capitals can't feel confident with a two-game lead over the Penguins, though, as twice they've lost series to Pittsburgh after leading 2-0 (1992 and 1996). The Caps will look to keep history from repeating itself again when the series shifts to Pittsburgh for Game Three on Wednesday night.

"The one thing we've learned from experience is that you can't take for granted that you're going to be successful," Boudreau said. "When you're playing good teams with a lot of character, like Pittsburgh, it doesn't get any easier," he added. "All we've really accomplished [is that] if this was a game of tennis, we've held serve."