backstrom that is stopped by fleury, who has been the busier of the goaltenders so far. the shots are 7-1 in favor of the capitals. here's malkin leading it back. a drive ricocheted off the netminder, varlamov. kept alive by malkin. slipped in front. varlamov got a piece of that. pinching along is paul martin. that skips to the hero of the world junior championship team, carlson. he tried to clear and could not. angled on back and down, where fleury will grab it and fling ahead to kris letang. more caps are pouring over the boards in a change. chris kunitz brought it on, dealt it back around. malkin tried to kick to crosby. the shot kicked out by varlamov. big jam-up in front of the net. it squirts on to the back and is gotten by letang. led it back across. given back to him by martin. a drive into the catching glove of varlamov. >> eddie: odd man situation, shorthanded for the capitals. then the penguins come right

back, chance for crosby. didn't get a lot of it. bouncing puck. kunitz there as well. crosby coming in looking for any kind of rebound. the capitals doing a good job of battling in front. >> pierre: very good job. especially brooks laich, number 21, one of the forwards coming down to help out the big defenseman, schultz. is there enough presence by the penguins right now? >> mike: goligoski, a shot. that one is held by varlamov. >> eddie: the last chance off the face-off, they had a chance to go right off of that face-off, set up matt cooke got right to the front of varlamov. you see the numbers for the capitals. the last handful of games. >> pierre: that's something bruce boudreau needs to improve from last year and they have done that. their penalty killing has improved a ton. evason and woods have done a nice job retooling the penalty killing. >> mike: off this face-off win, taken along to the outside by tyler kennedy. kennedy just holding now. fed one in front that's punched

away by the defense and lifted back down. 35 left on the kill. fleury out to handle. we've gotten to know a lot about bruce boudreau as well as dan bylsma, the coaches. that wonderful hbo series "24/7" that's been going on. kicked around behind. jammed at by jeff schultz. puck kicked around in front. can be played further by goligoski. michalek handed to goligoski again. grand rapids, minnesota, native holding there and dealing it back in deep. kennedy walks to the front. tried to stash one in. it is held by varlamov again. >> eddie: slight hesitation by tyler kennedy coming out of the corner. he was waiting for a little bit of pressure. watch kennedy, wait, wait, now he goes. quick little stick -- you see the stick handling there? he tries to stick handle and the puck automatically goes on edge. so if you are pushing, less

stick handling. >> mike: wonderful chaos in front of the net, isn't it? that's one of the frantic things that makes hockey fans is the fact they're sitting in their chair and they just want to do something, and all of this is happening, the puck's changing hands in front of the goaltender. led on to the back, dealt on by orpik. stopped by carlson. then led back on for the pass across that can be controlled by alzner and deflected back for michalek. so the arm wrestling contest finance. both teams have had a power play. no one has scored in the game. the shots are 8-7 in favor of the capitals. marc-andre fleury jabbed it away from traffic. remarkably, right back up the wing. dupuis holds and led it across. staal with it. staal tucked one in front. the chance would not go that time for max talbot. >> eddie: nice defensive play by backstrom, stick on stick.

>> mike: led back in again and the caps recoil. fed back along by mike green but stopped by dupuis. another stop had to be made by varlamov. another jam-up play at the front. the penguins are seeing the caps take the play to them early. spurred on by the power play and the resulting play, they've done very well since. ovechkin threw it back in. 40,000 think that ovechkin is not the player that crosby is. 30,000 would argue. we don't care. we're just glad they're on the same ice tonight in the same solar system at this time and place. brought back ahead and thrown in by rupp. jabbed back along. big hit on the big man and now erskine and rupp are going to go. two big men who have fought a lot in their careers. rupp landing a right. erskine coming back with one. right back to his feet to receive more and give more.

roundhouse rights by rupp and erskine. more. they are landing. they are stunning. but nobody goes down. the officials are in. tance ] ♪ [ guitar: power chord ] ♪ [ hard rock ] [ snarls ] ♪ [ continues ] [ thunderclaps ] [ announcer ] the van beckons like no van before. the technology-packed, all-new honda odyssey. ♪ [ continues ] ♪ [ ends ]

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>> mike: time now for edward jones face time. pierre is with coach dan bylsma. >> pierre: you're a stanley cup winning coach, you've been through a lot of big things in your career. ever seen anything like this? >> no, i have not seen anything like this. the atmosphere, playing outdoors, just every play feels like a new play out here, with this game, this atmosphere. it's awesome. >> pierre: new piece of artillery, jordan staal back. hasn't played all year. how does that change your approach as a coach? >> it gives us a little bit extra after a power play, gives us a little bit extra after 87 and 71 go out there. he's already been a factor on the penalty kill, driving to net and another time driving there. nice to see him out there. >> pierre: keep smiling. >> thank you. >> mike: you see jordan staal, the man dan bylsma was talking about. certainly a lot more options with staal at the center ice position. he can put malkin on the wing as he is on this line right now. quick shot in front is blocked down.

a try there from matt cooke. carried back ahead by hendricks. offside is called. expand your hockey experience with the progressive insurance star cams on nbcsports.com and nhl.com. star players like sidney crosby and alex ovechkin plus live area and cable cam isos as well, all available right now at nbcsports.com and nhl.com. >> eddie: there's the cable cam. we just saw a great chance off that face-off won by jordan staal and matt cooke with a real good opportunity. >> pierre: just had a chance to talk to sidney crosby during that last tv time-out, and he said the ice is not an issue at all for the players, it's not affecting their puck handling at all. >> mike: chipped around and sent further for a quick shot by staal that's blocked down. and played back down the ice. yesterday, sidney crosby determined that the ice was so soft, he wanted to skate,

sharpen to a different hollow, so the equipment manager did that for him. felt that because the ice was soft, he was going down deeper in the ice, so it just needed to be a little flatter, hollow, than he had done with the skate sharpener. all kinds of things they're thinking about here, including the sticks as well. malkin lets this shot go. it's over the glove hand of the netminder, varlamov. kicked out for carlson. he can lead it back ahead. another of the concerns was how the lights for football would shine off the glass. here's a forehand shot and that deflected away. a try by marcus johansson. there seems to be no problem now. another one rang off the post. good attack by the capitals right now. it's flung back out and it is pascal dupuis to go get this one. >> eddie: nice tip shot by carlson to ring it off the post. native of new jersey. >> mike: carlson holds this one. metuchen, new jersey. he said he heard enough jokes about exit 12 of the turnpike, even though he was born in massachusetts.

played back ahead for a little pass across that can be regathered and thrown ahead by kunitz. intercepted and marched right back again. waffle-boarded away by marc-andre fleury. the try coming from backstrom. ovechkin is out there but it's thrown by mike green and went up high on the glass, not out of play. brought ahead by kunitz. outletted across for dupuis. the only meeting this year was a shootout and dupuis was the guy who got the last in the seventh inning in washington. across it comes for a shot by talbot that's blocked down. another try rang off the pipes. when a shot from letestu. letestu steps into backstrom. the defense lifts and hopes but paul martin kept it in for the penguins. 5:30 to go, first period. the penguins and the capitals are even at 10-10 in shots. carried right back and hit was adams. couple of players down.

we get a hand pass ruled. light beer. more taste, or less taste? i don't care. kinda how your girlfriend doesn't care that you're borrowing her pants? they're called skinny jeans. they're kinda in right now. they're kinda not. [ male announcer ] man up, and choose a light beer with more taste. grab a triple hops brewed miller lite with that great pilsner taste. hey! is the score still 21, 32? ya, just like your jean size. [ laughter ] [ laughs sarcastically ] >> man: getting across town to a job interview is stressful enough without being late. i want guidance that takes me where i need to be, without any problems along the way. i feel the same way when i do taxes. turbotax has a unique gps feature that guides me step-by-step.

and calculations are guaranteed 100% accurate, so i know it's done right. they even offer representation in case of an audit. which helps me reach my maximum refund, guaranteed. >> try turbotax online now. you don't pay unless you're satisfied with the results. ( announcer ) ovechkin moving up ice... score ! the 9th goal of the game for alex ovechkin ! a triple hat trick ! ( man ) what would you call this ? i will call it the ovechtrick. ovechtrick ! ovechtrick ! ovechtrick ! "ovechtrick." o... nine, nine, nine, nine, nine ! he's going for the ovechtrick... and there it is ! if it's happening in hockey, it's on nhl gamecenter live. real-time stats, highlights and over 1,000 live games. another ovechtrick ! don't just rule the ice, rule the air. nhl gamecenter live, only from verizon. >> mike: the bridgestone nhl winter classic is brought to you

by -- new bleachers were added to the end zone under the scoreboard. atop the scoreboard are a couple of enormous ketchup bottles. when the red zone occurs for the steelers, those things tip and pour. i don't know if they've got any ideas for the penguins here tonight or not. those two had ketchup in it, it had be 1.6 million ounces. here is michalek with a shot. that deflected wide. lifted on by crosby but taken right back and started out by the caps. this careened across where it can be lifted on by derek

engelland. they said that would be enough for everybody to leave with a 14-ounce bottle. followed up now and worked in traffic for beagle. this has been the most effective line, i think, tonight. here's beagle there, lifting one that he hoped would come to carlson and did. the shot is blocked down and covered by fleury. goaltender darren pang is right near there. darren? >> darren: marc-andre fleury, i was behind varlamov earlier and pierre, you said something about the lack of traffic in front of the net. you were absolutely correct about that. you can tell that he can see the puck and has confidence right now, but as far as the side-to-side movement of marc-andre fleury, no matter what the conditions, he looks outstanding going post-to-post. they're not beating him down there. >> pierre: he really works hard with the goaltending coach on that. at the start of the season it wasn't that easy for marc-andre fleury. he really picked up the pace of his game because he worked hard.

>> mike: gil played in a game yesterday. >> eddie: i would imagine marc-andre fleury probably talked to meloche about his side-to-side play. >> mike: that's right. very entertaining alumni game that was 5-5. >> eddie: were you in that game? >> pierre: no, i was not. full body injury. general soreness. >> mike: flipped around behind. brooks laich after that but lifted on further and down, where it will go for john carlson to handle for icing. the nhl and u.s. army are proud to bring you hockey's finest. a weekly series celebrating the game's leaders and biggest stars. to see the winter classic debut edition, log on to nhl.com/army. lifted along behind by chimera. he played in the frozen game in

edmonton, 2003, minus 22 fahrenheit. shot by green. that ricocheted high and flopped out of play. >> eddie: green did a nice job there of walking across the blue line and wristing the puck at the net. anything low, panger talked about pucks down low. i think some of the shots that have been probably about four feet and higher, those are the shots that i was judging in warmups that i was having a tough time picking up, especially coming off the side at either end of the rink. >> mike: see if we can get a little more from darren on that as we go on here. >> eddie: the higher the shot, the more effective it might be. doesn't necessarily need to be that hard but just finding it and seeing it as far as the goaltender. >> mike: back across for a nice move by brooks orpik. led back ahead near crosby. thrown on back. that was kunitz stepping into a man right in front of the washington bench.

set up now for the carry back. led too far for kunitz. stopped by varlamov. under three minutes to go, first period. drive by letang is turned back out by varlamov. >> eddie: knuble had ovechkin looking for a breakaway. >> mike: here he comes. fell down as he wanted to let the shot go, and fleury sails one back out. letestu for pittsburgh. careened back up the boards and settled down for goligoski's shot. that was deflected wide. played back along by carlson. lifted on further but they rule it was just outside. puck has to be the first thing across that line, and you need to move back out if that happens. >> eddie: alexander ovechkin trying to take that shot and

once he got back to that bench, somebody said you tripped over the blue line. i don't know if he catches a dry spot on the ice. it seems like his skates got kind of spread apart a little bit and threw him off. i think you saw pascal dupuis coming, too. >> mike: good hit by max talbot. carried back up by alexander semin. dangerous right winger for the capitals, wanted to lead it ahead. turned back the other way. kennedy slipped it on across. walked back for the shot but snagged and held by varlamov. >> eddie: how about letestu, one year western michigan university, a bronco. just been unbelievable, like found money. when ronnie francis was here, he wears francis' old number 10. at the beginning of the year i had a tough time dealing with that but not anymore. mark letestu has done a terrific

job for the pittsburgh penguins. >> pierre: one of the great players in the history of the national hockey league and one of the top players to play in pittsburgh, ronnie francis. he's really endeared himself to the coaching staff here in pittsburgh. >> mike: matt cooke banged into by mike green. reaching in is malkin. trying to take it away is cooke. fed on to the back, paul martin. off the boards for michalek. backhander floated in front and varlamov got that one. jim cantore with an appraisal of our weather. where are you, jim? >> jim: we're up here on the weather roof. no question, it's cooled down. we have dropped about eight degrees from our high today of 56 degrees. that may be a reason why the ice is a little soft. the key about having a front come through is not only does the air cool down but it also takes the moisture out of the air. if you're thinking about moist and soft ice, that should help take care of it as we go through

the evening. >> mike: good point. because there was concern that if the air was really moist, it might cloud up the visors. sergei gonchar in buffalo actually removed his, took it away because he couldn't see, it would fog up all the time. puck chipped loose and worked along by jay beagle. david steckel out of ohio state, turned back over to the penguins but then overskated and no luck there for engelland. lifted on to steckel again. >> eddie: big hit, dupuis on schultz. >> mike: pad stop and cover by fleury on that shot. >> pierre: this game is not for the faint of heart. we have already had a fight with rupp and erskine, we have huge hits, ovechkin went after michalek and marc-andre fleury with a nice save. got a little bit of everything. >> eddie: rolling puck. puck was probably going to go wide but fleury sticks that left pad out. i think that has been part of the build-up, as you know, pierre, being an assistant coach

with the penguins, the nastiness between the two teams. both teams are really getting after it. >> mike: another shot deflected wide. crosby fed it across. marched back on. clipped by letang and held by varlamov. occasionally crosby is out there with evgeni malkin. that's usually what they try to do when they want more offense, to just put the two penguins together. come up in the subway intermission report, how does the crosby/ovechkin rivalry compare to other great sports rivalries? the nhl has a fresh take on how to choose up sides for the nhl all-star game coming up on the subway intermission report. from this face-off, it's malkin. led across by letestu. a shot is grabbed out of the air again by the very busy varlamov. >> pierre: that's a great save. even the penguins bench said oh,

brooks orpik, nice release, bodies getting to the front of the net. you see tyler kennedy getting over. shot block attempt by hendricks. varlamov just grabs that right through the traffic. he makes himself look big. >> mike: boy, that shot really shows how marvelous a goaltender has to be, because that's coming out of the dark, it seems to me, with all of those fans in the stands that are way back there. darren pang is located behind one of the nets. pierre mcguire is in between the benches. this is driven by karl alzner. eddie and i are located about a rink's length away at the top of the lower tier of stands. carried back ahead now by kennedy. flipped one on and the backhander caught varlamov and play again is stopped. the period has ended. what a busy period in shots, 16-12 in favor of the penguins.

this last chance was significant. good strong backhander stopped by varlamov. >> eddie: looked like john carlson batted that puck right out in front of his goaltender. >> mike: pierre mcguire, sidney crosby. >> pierre: you're talking to kris letang right now but how has the ice been for you? >> it's okay. as good as it can be. we had rain and stuff today so it's actually pretty good considering everything it's gone through. >> pierre: what's the biggest difference in terms of preparation from a normal nhl game? >> it's pretty similar. we had a pretty typical game day. it's been pretty easy to adjust. >> pierre: surprised rupp went at it with erskine? >> not at all. that's what those guys do. they're really good at it. two big guys going at it. good fight. >> pierre: last year in the olympics you had the golden goal. you have been part of unbelievable moments. what's it like to stand out here with 70,000 people watching you? >> aiz maing. it's the type of game you dream about and want to be part of. we all feel pretty fortunate to be in it. >> pierre: thanks for helping out. >> thank you. >> mike: 0-0 at the end of one.

on the lake in coal harbor, he said you had to put on the brakes pretty fast because the ice would crack underneath you. in the subway intermission report, great sports rivalries and choosing up sides for the all-star game. ♪ [ passenger 1 ] c'mon, bobby. we can do this, man! [ passenger 2 ] you're gonna be ok, you're gonna be ok. [ both screaming ] it's in my mouth! [ tires screech ] [ screaming ] [ tires screech ] [ screaming ] [ whale squeaks ] now that... was a bachelor party! [ male announcer ] for drivers who want to get the most out of their cars, it's bridgestone or nothing. especially now,to people. in this recession, [ male announcer ] for drivers who want to get the most out of their cars, people are losing their jobs.

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welcome to the subway intermission report brought to you by subway restaurants. >> mike: 28 total shots, a fight, no goals at the end of one. beyond tonight's game, in the big picture with the two best players in the sport, sidney crosby and alex ovechkin playing on two of the best teams in hockey, there has been talk that the elements of a classic sports rivalry are taking root. that, of course, would put this pair in some pretty lofty company. bob costas has the story. >> a killer in manila.

>> bob: great rivals draw out of one another what no one else can. take mohammed ali, supposedly the greatest. but it was once written the only way we knew for sure was because of joe frazier's nearly equivalent greatness. ali and frazier fought three times. each match-up a blend of artistry and brutality, testing how much punishment each man could sustain. while ali/frazier was about a test of wills, it was also about stark differences in personality and style. and that sort of contrast was also part of the great tennis rivalry between brash hot tempered john mcenroe and cool, even icy bjorn borg. sometimes a rivalry can elevate the profile of an entire sport. in the 1960s, arnold palmer and jack nicklas staged a series of memorable duels that captivated viewers as the centuries-old

game entered the television age. two decades later, larry bird and magic johnson began their rivalry at the 1979 ncaa finals, and then as the faces of the nba's premier franchises, they lifted pro basketball to new heights, meeting three times in the nba finals. in hockey, back in the original six days, the sport was dominated by the rivalry of maurice "rocket" richard of the canadiens and gordie howe. the breath-taking richard and the intimidating howe. the teams faced off in the stanley cup final three straight years in the 1950s. which brings us back to crosby and ovechkin. crosby so far has the edge in a matchup that began when the pair were playing junior hockey. as the competition between these two supremely skilled individuals and