Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei Gonchar was left with an unspecified injury on Friday when he was felled by a hit by Washington’s Alex Ovechkin in a National Hockey League playoff game.
The Penguins gave no details about the injury to one of their key players, but several Pittsburgh players weren’t shy about saying that Ovechkin purposely tried to hurt his onetime Russian Olympic teammate.
“It’s kind of the same thing he [Ovechkin] did with me last game,” Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik said. “I mean, you can run guys, guys are fair game, but the guy takes strides every time and leaves his feet a lot of times, too. To us, we got the feeling he’s really trying to hurt guys at times.”
PHOTO: REUTERS
Ovechkin insisted that wasn’t the case, but admitted he didn’t know if he might be suspended over the incident, which occurred in the first period of game four of their Eastern Conference semi-final playoff series.
Gonchar was skating out from behind the Pittsburgh net during a Washington power play when Ovechkin appeared to poke his right knee out just before they collided.
Gonchar tried in vain to rise from the ice before play was stopped and he was helped off, unable to put weight on his right leg.
Ovechkin received a minor minute penalty for kneeing.
Ten minutes earlier, Gonchar scored the first of the three straight goals that gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead en route to their 5-3 victory that knotted the series at two games apiece.
“I just tried to move him and I hit him, he turned to move to his left and, I don’t know, I don’t have time to realize what’s going on and he hit my knee,” Ovechkin said. “I think it was an accident. I’m not the kind of player who wants to injure guys, especially ones I know like Gonch.”
The Penguins have a chance to do what they did against the Capitals in 1992 and 1996, when they trailed 2-0 in both series only to rally to win. Washington trailed the New York Rangers 3-1 in the first round before winning the next three games.
“We’re right back in it and we have momentum on our side and we’ll try to keep it going,” said Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 19 saves.
HURRICANES 4, BRUINS 1
At Raleigh, North Carolina, Eric Staal scored twice to break the club career playoff scoring record as the Carolina Hurricanes pushed top-seeded Boston to the brink of elimination.
Carolina leads their Eastern Conference semifinals 3-1. Game five is today in Boston.
Jussi Jokinen broke a 1-1 tie with his third game-winner of the playoffs at 2:52 of the third.
The Finn then set up Sergei Samsonov for a backhander with 5:29 left and had one of the assists on Staal’s second goal just 70 seconds later.
That was Staal’s 40th career point in the playoffs, breaking the record of 39 set by current associate head coach Ron Francis.
Marc Savard scored for the Bruins, who have lost three straight since sweeping Montreal in the first round and winning the opener against Carolina.
If history is any guide, the Hurricanes can start making travel plans for either Pittsburgh or Washington.
They’ve taken 3-1 series leads twice before in franchise history and have advanced both times. Meanwhile, the Bruins haven’t won any of the 21 series in which they’ve faced such a deficit.
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