The Hockey Stop

Félicitations! Congratulations to the Montreal Canadiens! As this legendary franchise revives the Montreal Magic on its 100th anniversary by defeating the Washington Capitals in the first round and Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round -- both in Game 7 -- the question must be asked: How did this team sneak into the playoffs as an eighth seed?

Montreal's mediocre regular season left nearly every sane person on the planet believing that the No. 1 seed Caps would destroy the Habs in four games in the first round. It must have been one of the biggest spreads in the history of Vegas odds makers.

But the Canadiens and their Super Slovakian goaltending wonder Jaroslav Halak and heavy hitter Hal Gill frustrated and confounded Alex Ovechkin and his band of scoring machine gunners to claim the series and become the first eighth seed to come back from a 3-1 deficit to beat a No. 1 seed.

So they upset the Caps and moved on to face the defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins. So every sane person on the planet said, OK, so they beat the Caps, but Washington was horrendous on the power play, relies too much on its offense and there is no way Halak can stand on his head for another series, especially against the playoff-built Pens.

So when Pittsburgh scored four times on the power play in four tries in Game 1 and brought Halak down to earth, it seemed to vindicate all those pundits and critics who blamed the Caps' "system" for the epic fail.

And so Sports Illustrated in their latest issue decided that Sidney Crosby is the better player than Ovechkin, after all he has a Stanley Cup and a Gold Medal. Of course everyone conveniently forgets that team Canada and team Pittsburgh won those championships. Ovechkin has collected tons more individual awards than Crosby has. So I ask you -- to all those Pens fans who jumped on Ovechkin after the Caps lost to Montreal, where was Crosby tonight besides watching Montreal score from the penalty box? I hear crickets chirping. Only silence.

Sorry but Sid the Kid could not save the Pens from Les Habs. Not tonight in Game 7. So let history be the final judge. When their careers are finished, let's see who has more individual and team triumphs and I'll bet it will be Ovechkin.

But again, congratulations to the Montreal Canadiens on their unbelievable run in these Stanley Cup playoffs.

Vive les Canadiens de Montreal!