Yes, even hockey players receive death threats.

Pittsburgh police are now investigating after the Washington Capitals gave them the call concerning a death threat to their star, Alexander Ovechkin.

On a hockey message board, a poster bragged about how he was going to kill Ovechkin and would not care if he got jail time.

“We became aware of an inappropriate comment on a message board and referred it to the appropriate authorities,” according to a statement issued Thursday by the Capitals. “We appreciate their diligence and have every confidence in our club’s safety.”

As the situation is dealt with accordingly, the Capitals/ Penguins series still rages on with game 4 in Pittsburgh on Friday night.

The Ovechkin/Crosby rivalry heated up on Tuesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins took on the Washington Capitals at Verizon Center for Game 2 of their playoff series. Alexander Ovechkin’s hat trick was answered by Sidney Crosby’s hat trick. However, the difference-maker turned out to be Capitals forward David Steckel, whose second goal of the playoffs helped the Capitals take a two games to none lead in the series.

Crosby scored a goal in each period of regulation, but Ovechkin netted two goals in less than three minutes to break a 2-2 tie in the third period. Crosby now has a league-leading eight postseason goals while Ovechkin is close behind with seven.

Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 33 Washington shots while Washington’s Simeon Varlamov made 33 saves on 36 shots.

Sergei Fedorov and Viktor Kozlov each assisted on two of Ovechkin’s goals. Tyler Sloan and Brian Pothier both assisted on Steckel’s goal.

Game 3 will be played on Wednesday in Pittsburgh.

Check out the highlights of the game:

Behind two goals from Matt Bradley, the Washington Capitals extended their season with a 4-0 victory over the New York Rangers. Bradley scored the first two goals of the game to help the Capitals force a Game 6 in Madison Square Garden.

Bradley had not scored a goal in the playoffs prior to today’s game against New York.

Alexander Semin also scored for the Capitals as Semin netted his 4th goal of the postseason.

However, the goal of the game came from none other than Alexander Ovechkin, who swept past Chris Drury, curled around Derek Morris, and lifted a backhanded shot past Henrik Lundqvist while falling to the ice. The goal was Ovechkin’s second of the postseason.

As for the Capitals’ netminder, Simeon Varlamov stopped 20 of 20 Ranger shots to earn him his second shutout of the postseason.

Henrik Lundqvist was pulled from the net after two periods, giving up 4 goals on 14 shots. Steve Valiquette stood between the pipes during the third period, stopping all seven shots faced.

Check out the highlights of the game:

Mike Green has further proven himself a Norris Trophy finalist after scoring two power-play goals to lead the Washington Capitals to a 5-3 victory over the New York Islanders in front of 18,277 at Verizon Center. Green’s goals, scored just 83 seconds apart from one another, give him a total of 30 on the year.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, “When he’s on, he’s pretty good to watch.”

Kyle Okposo started off the scoring with his 18th goal of the year on the power play in the first period. In the second period, Frans Nielsen, who assisted on Okposo’s goal, scored a goal of his own to put the Islanders ahead 2 to 0.

It was Alexander Ovechkin’s 54th goal that started off the scoring for Washington. Keith Aucoin scored his first goal since March 2008 to tie the game at two after period two.

Richard Park scored an unassisted goal to give the Islanders a 3-2 lead. However, Mike Green tied the game with his 29th goal of the year midway through the third period.

The Islanders scored what they thought was the go-ahead goal, but it was waived off because of Tim Jackman interfering with Capitals goalie Jose Theodore.

Islanders coach Scott Gordon said, “I didn’t think Jacks did anything wrong. It’s a huge momentum swing.” A huge momentum swing it was as just twelve seconds after Jackman took the penalty, Green scored his 30th goal of the year to give the Capitals their first lead of the night.

Nicklas Backstrom added an empty net goal at the end of the game to seal Washington’s victory over New York; the Capitals have swept the Islanders for the first time since the 2002-03 season.

With this win, the Capitals improved their record to 47-23-7 while the Islanders fell to 25-42-9. Their 47 wins is the most in franchise history since 1983-84, and their 101 points is the most since 1999-00 when they garnered 102.

The Capitals are inching towards their second consecutive division title; a Hurricanes loss or a Capitals win/overtime loss would clinch the division for Washington.

Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom each scored two goals for Washington, but the night belonged to Brian Pothier as he scored his first goal since coming back from his career-threatening concussion. With a 5-3 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning, the Washington Capitals improved to 46-23-7 and inched closer to their second consecutive Southeast Division title. As for Tampa Bay, they fell to 24-34-17 on the season.

The 18,277 at Verizon Center saw Alexander Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom score power play goals to give the Capitals a 2-0 lead. Martin St. Louis cut the Capitals’ lead in half with his 29th goal of the year, but Backstrom restored the 2-goal lead with another power play goal. After the first period, Washington led 3 to 1.

With less than a minute left in the second period, Steven Stamkos netted his 19th goal of the year to cut the Washington lead to one heading into the final period.

Vaclav Prospal also netted his 19th goal of the year to tie the game at three, but Brian Pothier became the new hero for Washington as his first goal in over a year gave Washington a 4-3 lead with 15 minutes left in regulation. Alexander Ovechkin’s empty net goal sealed the win for Washington; Ovechkin now has 53 goals and 100 points on the year.

After the game, Pothier said, “It’s been a while and really feels good. I had to hold back the emotion a little bit, but I feel like I’m contributing. To put one in and an important goal was pretty special.”

Alexander Semin and Alexander Ovechkin scored in the shootout as their Washington Capitals defeated the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 5 to 4. With this win, the Capitals improved to 43-21-6 while the Hurricanes fell to 36-28-7. The win also snapped a 4-game home losing streak for Washington.

“We’re a good team,” said Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau. “Good teams don’t lose forever.”

Erik Cole scored the first goal of the game in front of 18,277 at Verizon Center midway through the first period. However, 66 seconds later, Mike Green scored the equalizer to tie the game at 1. Alexander Ovechkin would then score his league-leading 49th goal of the year to give Washington a 2-1 lead heading into the second period.

In the second period, Semin scored on the power play to give the Capitals a 3-1 lead. Erik Staal cut the Washington lead in half, but Nicklas Backstrom restored the 2-goal lead with a power play goal of his own. However, with less than 8 seconds left in the second period, Ray Whitney’s 23rd goal of the season put Carolina to within one goal heading into the third period.

Only one goal was scored in the final period of regulation, and it was scored by Carolina defenseman Niclas Wallin; Wallin’s second goal of the year sent the game into overtime. Unfortunately, for Carolina, it was not enough as the Capitals ended up winning the extra point in the playoff race.

Wachovia Center played host to the fourth and final chapter of a rematch of last year’s Eastern Conference Quarterfinals between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals. Today, it was the Washington Capitals who emerged victorious; with a 2-1 victory over the Flyers, the Capitals improved to 42-21-6 while the Flyers fell to 36-20-10 on the season.

Brooks Laich started off the scoring with a power play goal in the first period. However, Mike Knuble answered back with an equalizer midway through the second period.

But when it was all said and done, the day belonged to Alexander Ovechkin, who scored his league-leading 48th goal of the season, which ended up being the game-winner. Ovechkin, who also assisted on Laich’s power play goal in the first period, had only found the Philadelphia net once this season prior to today’s game.

The Flyers thought they tied the game when Kimmo Timonen blasted a slap shot past Jose Theodore, but the referees waived off the goal because Knuble was called for goalie interference. Theodore would end the day making 35 stops on 36 Flyers shots.

Philadelphia’s Martin Biron made 28 saves on 30 Washington shots; despite the loss, Biron has proven himself to be the #1 goalie in the City of Brotherly Love.

With this win, Washington has now won five straight road games for the first time since the 2001 season.

Alexander Semin’s 80-foot slap shot in overtime found the net as his Washington Capitals defeated the Boston Bruins by a score of 4 to 3. With this win, the Capitals improved to 40-18-5 while the Bruins fell to 42-12-9. In four Capitals/Bruins matchups this year, the Capitals have ended up on top three times.

The 17,565 at TD Banknorth Garden witnessed each team score a goal in each period of regulation. In the first period, Nicklas Backstrom scored for Washington while Matt Hunwick scored for Boston. In the second, Alexander Ovechkin netted his 45th goal of the year while Phil Kessel answered back with an equalizer. In the third period, Tomas Fleischmann gave the Capitals a 3-2 lead with a power play goal. However, Zdeno Chara scored a power play goal of his own with less than five minutes left in regulation; the goal was Chara’s 100th in his career.

Nevertheless, Alexander Semin proved to be the hero as he cut the Boston lead in the Eastern Conference standings to just eight points.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, “I don’t think it gives us any advantage, but it does give us the thought that over four games so far we’ve been able to compete with maybe the best team in the league. If it gets down to it in the [conference] finals … then it would probably be a good series.”

Boston goalie Tim Thomas, who allowed the last goal of the game to Semin, said, “It’s very frustrating. I feel bad for the team that that’s the way it had to end. He who laughs last laughs hardest. We’ll see what happens.” Thomas ended the day making 28 saves on 32 shots.

Alexander Ovechkin said, “We still have 19 games so anything can happen. Every game against them we got at least one point, so it’s good for our mentality that we can beat them, and it doesn’t matter if first or second. I think it’s all about us. If we play our game and our system we can beat everybody.”

Marc Savard was listed as Day-to-Day with a shoulder problem, but finished the game with three assists. Milan Lucic did not play because of an upper-body injury.

Sergei Fedorov, Alexander Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Shaone Morrisonn each scored one goal and one assist to lead the Washington Capitals to a 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The 18,277 fans at Verizon Center witnessed their Capitals defeat the Penguins for the third time this season; in the last five head-to-head matchups, Washington has come out on top in four of them.

Alexander Ovechkin scored the first goal of the game on a power play in the first period. Maxime Talbot scored the equalizer five minutes after Ovechkin netted goal #43 of the season. However, the Capitals quickly jumped back on top when Alexander Semin scored a power play goal of his own. After the first period, the Capitals led 2 to 1.

56 seconds into the second period, Sergei Fedorov scored Washington’s third goal with Alexander Semin getting the assist. Sergei Gonchar would then score his second goal of the season to put the Penguins back to within one. However, Shaone Morrisonn and Brooks Laich scored 25 seconds apart to put the Capitals up by a field goal. After the second period, the Capitals led 5 to 2.

One scoreless third period later, the Capitals improved to 38-17-5 while the Penguins fell to 29-26-6.

Capitals goalie Jose Theodore stopped 31 of 33 Penguin shots while Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was yanked from the net after giving up five goals on twenty shots. Mathieu Garon played the last 26:39 of the game in front of the Pittsburgh goal, making 14 saves on 14 shots.

Here is a short clip of some of the highlights from the game:

Here is a video from my friend ovechkinator portraying the intensity of the Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry:

When asked about Sidney Crosby, Ovechkin said, “What I can say about him? He is a good player, but he talks too much.”

When asked about Alexander Ovechkin, Crosby said, “Like it or lump it, that’s what he does. Some people like it, some people don’t. Personally, I don’t like it.

“I was just skating to the bench and he pushed me from behind. So I just gave him a shot back. That’s hockey, and he likes to run around these days, so that was it.”

“I play hard,” said Ovechkin. “If he wants to do something like hit me again, try to hit me again — and I’ll talk to you guys [about] who plays dirty. That’s my game. It’s not cheap shots, it’s a game moment. But he doesn’t like it, it’s his problem.”

When asked about the rivalry, Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau stated the following: “He [Crosby] started it…I think he got frustrated because he wasn’t getting the freedom he’s had in this building before. It adds spice. It’s entertainment. It gets your blood boiling a bit. And every time Alex gets a little more excitable, it can be good for us.”

The Colorado Avalanche held Alexander Ovechkin to zero points as they defeated the Washington Capitals by a score of 4 to 1 in front of 18,277 at Verizon Center.

Ryan Smyth scored the first goal of the game midway through the first period to give the Avalanche a 1-0 lead. Howevr, with 14 seconds left in the first period, Nicklas Backstrom scored his 15th goal of the year to tie the game at 1 heading into the middle period.

The lone goal of the second period was scored by Adam Foote, who hadn’t scored a goal this season prior to this game.

In the third period, Tyler Arnason scored his 5th goal of the year to give Colorado a 2-goal lead. The Avalanche would find the net once more when Wojtek Wolski scored for the 13th time this season.

Colorado goalie Andrew Raycroft made 28 saves on 29 shots while former Colorado goalie Jose Theodore stopped 21 of 25 Colorado shots.