Pacioretty did appear to give Ovi's jersey a bit of a tug, but when Ovechkin went down, he immediately looked over to the officials to waive off a penalty, essentially admitting that he was off balance and that the bit of a jersey tug didn't really factor in.
Ovechkin catches a lot of flak, especially after the conflict in Europe, and his support of a certain tyrant, but politics aside, when it comes to his on-ice persona, Ovi is a competitor and one who plays the game as fairly as anyone.
This one is a bit of an odd one for sure, but an admirable play from Ovechkin, though I'm sure that his head coach might disagree. The Caps came up on the losing end of this one, thanks to an OT goal from Golden Knights defender Shea Theodore.
POLL | ||
21 AVRIL | 146 ANSWERS Alex Ovechkin gets taken down in the neutral zone, but waives off a penalty himself If you were Ovechkin's coach and he pulled something like this, how would you react? | ||
I'd applaud his honesty | 51 | 34.9 % |
I'd bench him for a couple of shifts | 21 | 14.4 % |
I'd be pissed that he costs us a power play | 29 | 19.9 % |
I wouldn't care. It's Ovechkin.. | 45 | 30.8 % |
List of polls |