The NHL shoots and scores with the Penguins/Capitals series (and the origin of the hat trick)

Ovechkin and Crosby – New Best Friends Forever by clydeorama, on Flickr

Are you watching the NHL Playoffs this year? Because you should be, especially the Washington Capitals vs. Pittsburgh Penguins series. Last night’s game was epic, with Alex Ovechkin picking up the Caps and carrying them past the Sidney Crosby and the Pens for a win. Both Ovechkin and Crosby tallied hat tricks, which is crazy. You’ve got the three best players in the NHL playing this series, with Evgeni Malkin naturally being up there, too (and the probably MVP this year). Go watch the video in the link above to better understand what is happening. Some unbelievable hockey happening.

This is everything the NHL needs to try to regain market share lost from the recent lockout. I’m sure most every fan is hoping to see this go seven tightly contested games. But so are the NHL, Versus and NBC executives, who are still trying to replace the viewership (and revenue) lost from the lockout a few years back. And to be honest, I miss the NHL on ESPN (having multiple channels that could broadcast multiple games at the same time could avoid dumb shit like this. But I’m sure ESPN would rather broadcast some NBA games, as they currently do. More people watch, and there are probably lots more ad dollars to be had. It appears to me that the NHL is going to be on Versus for a long time, which is sort of a bummer (although I will say their broadcasts have been much better this year compared to last).

While talking about the game, Ryan asked about the origins of the term hat trick, and I had no idea (for shame). Check out the awesome history about hat tricks.