Crosby Should Get More Blame than Ovechkin

[Doc Holliday 1,888]

Every time I see "**** McGee", I think of that line in Anchorman.

"I'm Veronica Corningstone, **** McGee is on assignment."

"And I'm ****....Ron Burgundy."

[Mr.Macphisto 2]

Crosby didn't exactly adapt either, as his numbers show. Ovechkin adapted well enough to put up good numbers in the series.

I think the fact that Ovechkin is a foreign born superstar had something to do with it also. The hockey media seems afraid to say anything bad about Crosby. I hope that changes eventually.

Couldn't agree more!

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I hate Crosby and Ovechkin. Sidney is a whiny little diver who performs in the easy Eastern offensive hockey, but when he meets a defensive team like Montreal or a Western team... chokes. Ovechkin is a loose cannon who's gonna get his ass kicked one day if he doesnt clean up his act with dirty hits.

How about the blame should go on the sieve in Pittsburghs net? .891 sv pct for a Stanley Cup winning goalie? How about the fact that even when he won the cup he only had a .908 sv pct, Fleury is an overated douchebag.

But you know whats really great? Pens are out! Stop clawing at each others throats and rejoice

[Yzerfan1999 81]

Crosby was awesome in game 7. He took a bad penalty right off the bat which put his team down a goal, played 29 minutes and was ONLY a -2 with no points!

CLUTCH I tell you! CLUTCH like no one has ever been!

.....

Lame.

Crosby wont get the blame Ovechkin got because he has actually achieved something in his career already. Back to back cup finals, Stanley Cup ring, Olympic Gold. You don't hear people saying Zetterberg and Datsyuk choked in the San Jose series because of all the team success they've already had. Crosby gets a longer leash because the Pens, just like the Wings, have played more hockey than anyone else in the last three years and won the Cup last year. Ovechkin and the Caps have now choked three years in a row, and Ovechkin and the Russian's choked at the Olympics as well. A lot more to point at Ovechkin than Crosby. Plus it was a second round loss, not a first with a 3-1 series lead.

Not even comparable in my mind.

[Datsasuk 2]

People weren't really disseminated in Ovechkin's series performance, just the most important game of the series

[RedLightGoesOn 81]

Both of them are leaders of a team that got beat by the number 8th seed. Did they underperform? Maybe they got outperformed. I mean Halak made numerous robberies throughout the series. Ovechkin was not the sole reason they lost to the Canadiens and probably among the least of the reasons why they lost (Mike Green!). Crosby and Malkin both got shut down by Halak. They had golden opportunities but Halak had answers. The endless Crosby vs. Ovie debate is starting to get old and useless. They are both great players, they both have "choked", and everyone always expects the best from them. Just remember who got the Conn Smythe award when the Pens won it.

[MulesWillFly93 199]

I think people are harder on Ovechkin for the simple reason that the current incarnation of the Caps hasn't won a Cup. It's the Curse of the Sharks; you don't win a Cup for a few years, and everybody starts breathing down your neck. Sid & co. won it last year, so they get a free pass for the time being, just like we're not freaking out because we've won it twice this decade.

I mean, you can argue about which of the two played worse in the playoffs (I'm gonna go with Sid), but as for why the media is jumping all over Ovy more than Sid, I think the above has something to do with it.

Edit: Gah, Yzerfan beat me to all of this! Good point about the Olympics, too. Even if Sid played crappy in the Olympics (which is apparently debatable), the gold medal hanging around his neck sure looks good to the media, and even though you can't blame the early Russian exit entirely on Alex, the words "early exit" don't look so great on his resume. Not really fair, but that's the picture it ends up painting once the media gets a hold of it.

Edited May 14, 2010 by MulesWillFly93

[rick zombo 3,739]

Either way, TSN are getting invloved in this exact dialogue:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=321443

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

Any news is good news. Therefore the less news sid gets (good or bad) the better.

Edit: Keeping in mind I believe him to be way overplayed. Especially (as I have stated many times before) when compared to many of the other great players.

Edited May 14, 2010 by CaliWingsNut

[esteef 2,679]

Either way, TSN are getting invloved in this exact dialogue:

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=321443

OMFG! ANOTHER CROSBY ARTICLE!!! LET IT GO ALREADY TSN!!! WHAT A BUNCH OF WHINING INTERNET DOUCHEBAGS!@@!!~! BLAH BLAH BLAH!!!

esteef

[Guest Detroit Hockey]

Only reason washington lost- Halak

Reason pittsburgh lost- Halak

[wings1110 184]

Sooooooo who is gonna take the BLAME for the Wings losing, Lidstrom?

welll....the refs?

but really our whole team played sub par imo.......................................................................................................................................... and the refs sucked

Edited May 15, 2010 by wings1110

[Guest Detroit Hockey]

welll....the refs?

but really our whole team played sub par imo.......................................................................................................................................... and the refs sucked

We all know the turning point was howard letting in that disgusting goal. We could definately have forced game 7 if it was 3-2 the series but howie will learn off it.

[titanium2 867]

Sooooooo who is gonna take the BLAME for the Wings losing, Lidstrom?

I don't want to call it blame but I think you could definitely point to the Red Wings mini youth movement. The stars for the most part did their jobs. Guys like Howard, Helm, Eaves, Miller, Abdelkader, etc., needed the playoff learning experience.

[eva unit zero 271]

.....

Lame.

Crosby wont get the blame Ovechkin got because he has actually achieved something in his career already. Back to back cup finals, Stanley Cup ring, Olympic Gold. You don't hear people saying Zetterberg and Datsyuk choked in the San Jose series because of all the team success they've already had. Crosby gets a longer leash because the Pens, just like the Wings, have played more hockey than anyone else in the last three years and won the Cup last year. Ovechkin and the Caps have now choked three years in a row, and Ovechkin and the Russian's choked at the Olympics as well. A lot more to point at Ovechkin than Crosby. Plus it was a second round loss, not a first with a 3-1 series lead.

Not even comparable in my mind.

What has Crosby achieved that Ovechkin hasn't?

Conn Smythe?

Olympic MVP?

Playoff scoring leader? (goals, assists, or points)

Olympic Goal is a team achievement, and yes Crosby scored the winning OT goal, but despite being the "face of the team" he was ultimately a supporting player at best, more likely an invisible offensive player who occasionally pitched in.

Stanley Cup is a team achievement, and Crosby was ineffective in both Finals he played in. Malkin led the team to their Finals comeback and eventual win, and he led them to the Finals in both years. Fleury wasn't unstoppable, but he made the saves he needed to make at the right times. Crosby was maybe the seventh most important player in either Finals run yet gets credit for "his achievement" as a Cup winner. He was about as important to the Pens as Slava Kozlov was to the 97 and 98 Wings. Is Kozlov better than Ovechkin too?

Marcel Dionne never won a Cup. Pat LaFontaine never won a Cup. Dino Ciccarelli never won a Cup. Curtis Joseph never won a Cup. Eric Lindros never won a Cup. Pavel Bure never won a Cup. Phil Housley never won a Cup. Cam Neely never won a Cup. Adam Oates never won a Cup.

Who here is going to tell me that Cups are the single measure of success in a player's career? Or that Gold medals in any international competition is the same?

Sorry, if you say so you are way off. Team sport, team accomplishment. Yes, some players mean more than others... but if a lot of the team plays poorly one or two players can only rarely overcome that. Especially against an opponent playing extremely well. Washington was not playing well, and Montreal was hitting on all cylinders. Pittsburgh could be put in the same boat, but Ovechkin was definitely much more effective than Crosby.

[Carman 387]

Hey Eva.

Crosby's career PPG is better than Ovechkin's career PPG and Ovechkin's had a much better offensive supporting cast.

/endhudlerdefense