Boudreau: It's 10 friggin days since it happened

 

Washington Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau figures if the Tampa Bay Lightning want to get back at his star Alex Ovechkin for his on-ice celebration last week, the best way is to beat the Capitals when the two teams play Friday night in Washington.

Boudreau told reporters in Washington he's sick and tired of talk about retribution for Ovechkin's act, which saw him mime warming his hands over his burning stick after scoring his 50th goal of the season in a 5-2 Capitals win on March 13 in Tampa.



"It's 10 friggin days since it happened," Boudrea said when asked about the incident at Capitals practice. "We have talked to Tampa's coaches, we have said our speech. The people that are bringing the crap up are you guys (the media). Nobody cares about it anymore. You guys want to bring it up because you want to see a riot, then you want to talk about retribution. It's the dumbest thing in the world.



"Alex has not had a fight in four years in the NHL. Do you think he's going to go out there and people are just going to jump him for something that happened?”

Boudreau said he thinks Tampa's players are smarter and more professional than to seek retribution for what he said was a harmless, personal celebration.

"They'll probably try really, really hard to beat us and that would be the best retribution for Tampa, to work their rear ends off and beat us."

DC Sports Bog, Mar. 26, 2009:

As for TSN, Wallace said D.C. is one of their top-three U.S. destinations, along with Pittsburgh and Buffalo, and that "the reason we come here is because of Alex...It's because the best player in the game is playing here, and he's by far the most exciting and entertaining guy around. I mean, people love him in Canada."

(Ovechkin on the Tampa game? "If somebody wants to hit me, always pleasure," he said. "I'm ready. I don't care what's gonna happen. I'm ready. But I don't think it's gonna be some war, fights, hits.")

I asked Ovechkin whether he keeps track of his SportsCenter and SportsCentre exploits: "No,"he said, "I just go to Internet and watch over there some highlights or talking about something. On YouTube? "Always," he said.

As for the extended hype-front moving down from the North, "I think we deserve it," Ovechkin said. "I think we deserve the attention. We play well, we in the playoff spots, we first in our division, third in our conference, and it's a big step so I think our team need more, how you say, PR? So we deserve it, we have great players, so why not?"

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