PITTSBURGH -- Not being the shy type, Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin was more than willing to offer his prognostication for tomorrow's Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinal.
"Right now we feel more energy and more excited than Pittsburgh," the flamboyant Russian said after last night's 5-4 overtime win at Mellon Arena.
"It's going to be hard for (the Penguins) to come back because those fans (at Washington's Verizon Center) are going to be crazy and we're going to be flying out there."
It's never wise to question Ovechkin, who has seven goals and six assists in the six games of this series, but given the swing in momentum thus far, don't place too much stock in it either.
The vast majority of the series has seen the teams glued to within a goal of each other, three have gone to overtime and only one has had a winning margin of more than one goal.
This one is too tough to call.
The Caps certainly showed their resiliency last night, however.
Despite having lost three games in a row and being outshot in every game of the series -- including 42-24 last night -- they didn't fold.
"Before the game I said it's time to play our hardest," Ovechkin said. "This group of guys never gives up. It doesn't matter who scores. It just matters that we get back to our building and our fans."
Boudreau was happy in the aftermath, but not late in the third when he could be seen mouthing some foul commentary in the direction of referee Dennis LaRue.
The coach was incensed at a marginal slashing penalty levelled at Brooks Laich with 2:02 remaining in regulation.
"He has got one hand on the stick and he's reaching for the puck with two minutes to go in an elimination game (and the call comes) from the (trailing) ref?" Boudreau said. "I wasn't happy at all.
"They had scored on the two previous power plays so I was obviously very worried."
Turns out there was no need to be worried, but that doesn't mean there won't be tomorrow night when the series is decided.
