Ovechkin and Crosby Get Hat Tricks, but Varlamov Wins Second Game

It's Ali-Frazier, Bird-Magic, Borg-McEnroe, it's Alex Ovechkin Sidney Crosby facing off against each other as the Washington Capitals meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Quarter Finals of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

In the second game of the second round of the playoffs, the two superstars scored hat-tricks. That's theatre! The Great 8 and Sid the Kid put on a great show.

The debate about Ovechkin versus Crosby appears to be over. Now the debate is about Ovechkin being like Charles Barkley or Michael Jordan.

Ovechkin and Crosby both had their first career playoff hat tricks last night. They've both got four goals in a series in which they've both been routinely spectacular.

Crosby has scored seven goals in his last five games; Ovechkin has seven in his last six. Ovechkin has victories in his last five, including the last two at home in Washington, where the Capitals fans went wild, throwing hats on the ice for his hat-trick.

Ovechkin scored twice in the third period for his hat-trick. Crosby completed his hat trick with a power-play goal with 30.4 seconds left with Evgeni Malkin standing right beside him in front of the Capitals net.

The Penguins looked like they would be the winners for most of the game, and split the first two games of the quarterfinals in Washington, until Ovechkin's heroics in the third period.

They were making a statement about what would be waiting for Washington when they went on the road to play the next two games against the Penguins. Malkin has not yet shown what he can do in this series.

The third star of the game, after Ovechkin and Crosby, was the Caps' goalie, Simeon Varlamov, who had his best game yet.

The Caps won 4-3 to take a 2-0 lead in the second-round NHL playoff series thanks to three goals from Ovechkin. The Eastern Conference semi-final now moves to Pittsburgh for Games 3 and 4.