Posted by Scott Burnside
PITTSBURGH -- Sad commentary on our wired world when a screwed-up teenager with angry fingers can, at least momentarily, hijack an NHL playoff series. But that's what happened with Thursday's revelation that a fan posting a message on a Pittsburgh Penguins fan board threatened to kill Alexander Ovechkin.
The issue has been investigated by police and NHL security officials, and the matter is believed to be closed. Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said he hadn't spoken to Ovechkin about the threat.
"Not at all, actually," Boudreau said Friday morning in advance of Game 4. "I said one thing to Alex on Monday when we arrived, but I didn't mention anything about the threat.
"I don't even know if Alex knew about it last game or if he didn't know about it. I'm pretty sure that the rest of the team didn't know about it, so it was business as usual. It should be done today, so I don't think it poses an issue."
Ovechkin said he didn't think the issue would be a distraction.
"No, I understand him," Ovechkin said. "He's a big fan and he just want to, I don't know, [scare] me or give me a little [scare]."
The star forward said he knew about the threat before Game 3 and doesn't fear for his safety. "But let's talk about hockey," Ovechkin said.
The Penguins, not surprisingly, took a dim view of the threat.
"Even though I appreciate all the support of our home fans, I think it goes beyond the tasteful boundaries of being a fan," Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi said. "You want your place to be loud, you want them to cheer you on, but you don't want it to be of a violent nature or mean spirited."
Captain Sidney Crosby often is given a rough ride by opposing fans when visiting arenas, but he called the Ovechkin threat "scary."
"That's serious stuff," he said. "We play this game & as competitive as it is, that's scary to hear. I don't know everything about it. I heard like everyone else. It's a scary situation. From what I've heard, they've taken care of it. So that's a good thing."
Does Crosby worry about his own safety sometimes?
"Try not to," he said. "There's always situations that can happen, but for the most part, you try to just live a normal, regular life as much as you can, and if those things come up, you have no choice but to deal with them. But you don't want to see it happen for sure."
The hurtin' kind?
Speaking of Ovechkin, he was pretty hard on himself for his play in Game 3, a 3-2 Penguins victory, in spite of opening the scoring with his fifth goal of the series.
"I just didn't play well," he said. "I watch my shifts and that goal, like when I scored, it was lucky. And after that, I just didn't skate. I didn't move my legs.
"It's not them -- it's all about me; it's my fault. My legs just didn't run, and I don't know why. I feel pretty good last game, but I don't know why, I just didn't skate well."
A possible health issue for Ovechkin, who logged more minutes during the regular season than any other forward? Not according to Boudreau.
"His health? I wish I was as healthy as him," Boudreau said. "As to bothering him, he still plays 22, 23-plus minutes a game and wishes he could play more. I think he's just very focused on what he's doing, and there's not such thing as fatigue in his mind."
Back-to-back bummer?
One of the interesting subplots heading into Game 4 is the fact that Game 5 will be played just 24 hours later in Washington. The Penguins haven't played back-to-back games in the postseason since the 2007 playoffs against Ottawa. The Caps, meanwhile, played Games 6 and 7 on back-to-back nights in the first round last year.
"Yeah, we didn't fare well in [Game 7]," Boudreau said, referring to the overtime loss that eliminated the Capitals.
Are there things they learned from that experience?
"I'm sure there are," Boudreau said. "You don't have a lot of time to refocus on anything, but we haven't broached that yet. We're into Game 4, and then at 10:30 tonight, we'll think of Game 5."
One of the challenges for the players will be the dramatic break from routines that often are fiercely guarded out of superstition.
"I think it's real strange," Scuderi said. "I can only speak for myself, but you kind of have a routine in your head that you get the off day, you have time to just do some treatment or get a light skate. You have that in your head that tomorrow's going to be an off day, and now you have to kind of ramp it back up and try to get your mind right because it's going to be a big game, one way or another."
Turning the page
Critical of the officiating in Game 3, Boudreau opted not to revisit that topic Friday morning.
"I'm usually not a whiner and I think I've exhausted my bad officiating comments," he said, "so let's just let it go from what it was yesterday and let's move on and let's hope that the better team is the better team."
Beagle brought up
The Washington Capitals recalled forward Jay Beagle, who might take Michael Nylander's place in the lineup. Nylander played in Game 3 for the injured Eric Fehr but wasn't particularly effective.
Boudreau was circumspect about the reasons for bringing in Beagle.
"I have my reasons," he said. "Sorry I can't divulge it."
Defenseman John Erskine remains questionable for Game 4. Boudreau said he gave his team an entire day off Thursday as a kind of mental-health break.
"You play seven games, and then you're into a very intense series again," he said. "You know, we've watched video and had meetings every day since the end of the season, so I just told them to take a rest -- no meetings, no video. And unfortunately, we'll probably watch too much today."
ESPN.com Stanley Cup playoffs blog
