Stan's Take on Ovechkin

Yesterday on "Savran on Sportsbeat," someone called in and asked Stan why he felt that none of the Penguins went after Alex Ovechkin after he spent the entire game taking hits at Evgeni Malkin.

Stan told the caller that he had no problem with Ovechkin doing it because it takes him out of the game by concerning himself with searching for Malkin and makes him less of a goal-scoring threat.

He really didn't have an answer as to why none of the Penguins retaliated against Ovechkin, but he felt that it was a good decision as they didn't want to take any unnecessary penalties because of the situation they were in.

This explanation makes sense and I agree with Ovechkin preoccupying himself with Malkin and taking himself out of the game as a scoring threat; however, I'm still not sold on the Penguins not going after him. They absolutely didn't want to take any unnecessary penalities, but what about in the first 2 periods and sending "Ovie" a message. That's my main gripe - the team needed to send him a strong message. Malkin is one of our top team players and, just like Crosby, we should be protecting him just as well.