(My Sportsbook) - One of the most anticipated conference semifinal matchups in recent memory will get underway this afternoon, as Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins visit Alexander Ovechkin's Washington Capitals for Game 1 at Verizon Center.
After needing all seven games to eliminate the New York Rangers in the opening round, the second-seeded Capitals now switch their focus to the fourth-seeded Penguins.
The Capitals boast Ovechkin, arguably the best player in the world, while Pittsburgh has the dynamic duo of Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on its side. Even though Malkin led the NHL in scoring this year, the hype surrounding this series is all about Crosby and Ovechkin, whose abilities have been compared and contrasted since they both entered the NHL as rookies for the 2005-06 campaign. In just four years time, they have each won the Hart Trophy as league MVP and both picked up a scoring title.
The rivalry between the NHL's two biggest stars also grew to another level this season when Crosby took offense to Ovechkin's penchant for exuberant goal celebrations. The Penguins captain criticized Ovechkin in a post-game interview to set off a war of words between the superstars.
Over-the-top celebrator or not, Ovechkin had another superb season for the Capitals in 2008-09. The Russian sniper picked up his second straight Rocket Richard Trophy by leading the NHL with 56 goals and was second to only Malkin in the league with 110 points on the year.
Ovechkin also helped his club win a playoff series for the first time since 1998 by registering seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in the seven games against the Rangers.
A big surprise in the opening round series against the Rangers was the fact that Jose Theodore started just one game in goal for the Capitals. Theodore, who was signed this past offseason to be the club's No. 1 netminder, yielded four goals on 21 shots in Game 1 and that was enough for head coach Bruce Boudreau to make a gutsy goaltending switch.
With Theodore in the doghouse, the Caps turned to Simeon Varlamov to start Game 2 and, as it turns out, that was the beginning of an excellent series for the largely untested rookie netminder.
Varlamov had just six games of NHL experience prior to the playoffs and matched that number in the series against New York. The 21-year-old Russian netminder went 4-2 against the Rangers and posted a stellar 1.17 goals against average and .952 save percentage in the series.
Pittsburgh struggled through the first half of the season and is one of five teams to qualify for this year's playoffs that fired its coach during the course of the 2008-09 campaign. The Pens made their coaching change after 57 games when Michel Therrien was axed and replaced by Dan Bylsma.
The rest is history, as they say. Including the first round of the playoffs, Pittsburgh has won 22 out of 31 games under Bylsma and, following the playoff win over Philadelphia, the club decided to remove the interim tag from his title and sign the new coach to a multi-year deal.
It should come as no surprise who led the Pens to their opening-round win over the Flyers. Malkin led all NHL players with nine points in the first round of the playoffs after torching Philly for four goals and five assists. Crosby was right behind his Russian teammate, as he notched four goals and four assists against the Orange & Black.
Turning in a strong series for the Penguins in the conference quarterfinals was goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who recorded a 2.39 GAA and .922 save percentage over the six games. He more-or-less stole Game 4 in Philadelphia, stopping 45-of-46 shots to will Pittsburgh to a 3-1 decision.
Fleury has played in 31 career postseason games and is 19-12 with a 2.32 GAA and three shutouts in those outings.
This series represents the start of a new playoff rivalry between two of the NHL's most marketable teams. In fact, anticipation for a postseason battle between Crosby's Pens and Ovechkin's Caps has been building since the two set the league ablaze as rookies in 2005-06.
Historically, Pittsburgh has dominated the Capitals in the postseason, winning six out of seven all-time playoff meetings between the clubs. They last met in the opening round of the 2001 playoffs and the Pens skated away with a six- game series victory.
Washington's only playoff triumph over the Pens came in six games during the 1994 conference quarterfinals.
The Caps, however, won three out of four regular-season matchups against Pittsburgh this year. The Penguins did pick up a win in a 4-3 shootout the last time the clubs met on March 8 in D.C.
Washington was 29-9-3 as the home team this season and will also host Game 2 of this series on Monday. Pittsburgh was 20-15-6 as the visiting team during the regular season.
