Sidney Crosby Has Escaped Ovie's Criticisms

After Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals were upset in the first round by the upstart Montreal Canadiens, there was no shortage of criticism for the D.C. captain. "He didn't score clutch goals," "He wasn't a team player," "He's proven this year that Crosby has surpassed him as the world's greatest player." Fast forward a few weeks, and Sidney Crosby's Penguins have now lost to the Montreal Canadiens in seven game, with their captain scoring one goal all series. Yet where are his detractors? No one questions Crosby's ability after this loss, but why?

I'm not saying that Crosby's ability as a player should be questioned, he's one of the world's best, unfortunately. However, look at the the way the two performed in their respective series against the Habs. Ovie's criticism was well deserved, he didn't score when he needed to, and he tried to everything himself in game seven. However, Ovie still went 5-5-10 in the series. Not the performance that the Caps needed necessarily, but by no means bad in any regard. Crosby was 1-4-5 and a minus 2 for the series, after putting up 5-9-14 in their series against Ottowa, which was a whole game shorter. Comparably, Crosby performed worse against the Canadiens than Ovechkin did. Additionally, Ovechkin's on a team that shouldn't need him to score goals every game. Without him in the line up this season, the Caps were 7-2-1, and the Capitals scored over three hundred goals this season. If you subtract Ovechkin's total for goals this season from the team total, the Capitals would still be the highest scoring team in the league. Crosby on the other hand, is on a team where if he doesn't score, there isn't a lot of depth to help him out. Yes, there's Malkin and Staal, but Staal gets matched up as a defensive forward, and Malkin just isn't having the best year. Aside from their three centers, who's there to score goals? Matt Cooke? Max Talbot? Craig Adams? The Penguins aren't deep enough to have their captain not score goals. The Capitals are.

Yet Crosby has nothing left to prove to the world. Yes, he didn't perform up to the moment, but he has the luxury of crying about it to his Olympic Gold Medal and Stanley Cup Ring. Ovechkin has none of those things, he's the Lebron of the sport, and Crosby's the Kobe. Ovechkin has the greater skill, but Crosby has the bling to prove otherwise. And that's why he hasn't be bombarded with criticism. Crosby's reputation is one of a leader, and a champion (if not a whiner as well). Ovechkin's is that of a talented player who plays a reckless game of sheer passion, brute force, and overwhelming speed, yet a talented player who has not won a Cup, and led his team to an early exit in the Olympics. When it comes down to it, Crosby's history speaks for itself. It doesn't matter that he didn't do what was expected of him this one time, because he's done it in the past. Ovechkin's history speaks otherwise. They're both enormously talented players, yet Ovechkin's skill comes from his hands, and Crosby's comes from his head. One of them has the bling to show which is more valuable.