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:

After dropping their last four games at home, the Washington Capitals began their road trip with an overtime victory over the Nashville Predators. Sergei Fedorov’s goal 2:20 into the extra period gave Washington a 2-1 come-from-behind win in front of 16,064 at Sommet Center in Tennessee.

Ryan Suter scored the only goal for the Predators just fifty seconds into the first period when his wrist shot from above the left circle beat Jose Theodore stick side through traffic. However, Nicklas Backstrom found the net with 1:21 left in the middle period to tie the game at 1 heading into the final period.

With this victory, Washington improves to 41-21-6 while Nashville falls to 33-29-5. In their last 16 road games, the Capitals are 11-3-2.

Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said, “I thought we played as good of a game we have played in a long time. We should have won in regulation, but didn’t. We got the two points anyway.”

For Nashville, they have lost two consecutive games after having won six in a row. Dan Ellis got the start in net after Pekka Rinne was diagnosed with flu-like symptoms. Ellis, nevertheless, had a strong day, stopping 42 of 44 shots.

“In a fun way, it was a real challenge,” said Ellis. “When you don’t play for seven or eight games, to jump back in there against the best player in the world is something that I look forward to and try to make the most of it, enjoy the moment, and show them I can still play.”

Predators coach Barry Trotz said, “Danny was really good, but I thought we gave up too many chances obviously against a very good offensive team.”

Here are the highlights from the game:

Here is a short clip of a fight between Wade Belak and Donald Brashear:

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.”

Despite Alexander Ovechkin not scoring a goal, the Washington Capitals still used him on all three of their goals to defeat the Carolina Hurricanes by a score of 3 to 2. Ovechkin assisted on all three Capitals goals: one was scored by Sergei Fedorov, and two were scored by Alexander Semin.

Scott Walker scored the first goal of the game for Carolina 2:59 into the game to put the Hurricanes up by a score of 1-0 after 1 period.

In the second period, Sergei Fedorov scored the equalizer to tie the game at 1. 9 minutes after Fedorov’s goal, Tuomo Ruutu scored to get his Hurricanes their one-goal lead back.

However, Alexander Semin scored two goals inside the last three minutes of the game, propelling the Capitals to their first win since October 28.

Carolina goalie Cam Ward made 30 saves on 33 shots. Washington goalie Brent Johnson faced one shot more than Ward, but made two saves more.