By STU ARL
Blog on the Run columnist
With the NBA playoffs, the Kentucky Derby and boxing’s pound-for-pound clash between Ricky Hatton and Manny Pacquiao on the docket, Saturday sets up as a huge sports day.
There is also the best thing that’s happened to the NHL in about five years, the start of a second round playoff series featuring the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals.
Superstars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Alexander Ovechkin take the ice at 1 p.m. on NBC.
The dream series promises to be full of intensity as all three great players are not afraid to mix it up, in addition to their high skill level.
Ovechkin compares in some ways to former New York Islanders great Mike Bossy. Bossy is one of the more underrated athletes of all-time.
His career was cut short by injuries but during his prime in the early to mid 80s, he was a prolific offensive force, scoring over 50 goals for nine straight seasons.
Ovechkin is similar in his shooting ability and the fact that he’s offensive-minded and not a two-way player. He does bring bigger size and uses it to his advantage.
Ovechkin has developed a rock-star attitude and it brings a flare to the sport.
If you watch Crosby to see amazing finishes in front of the net, you’ll be disappointed. He doesn’t provide that element as much as some of the past greats. His elite skills are in creating for teammates, similarly to a point guard in basketball or a midfielder in soccer. Crosby also works hard on the defensive end and scraps in the context of the game.
Malkin is a hybrid of both Crosby and Ovechkin. He brings more qualities of a power forward than Crosby in terms of shooting and finishing but plays the center position for the Pens and has evolved into a better distributor and two-way player.
The knock on Malkin is that there are some games when he’s not into it as much and then others he flies around and dominates shift after shift.
The NHL needs to return to ESPN instead of Versus for weekday games. This series will suffer and lose appeal after Saturday because of that, but the opener on NBC will be a good show.
Stu Arl lives in South Florida.
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