A Steckel of Flouride

David Steckel.

Doesn't quite flow off of the tongue as well as say Alex Ovechkin or Simeon Varlamov.

On Monday night, David Steckel added one more NHL Playoff goal to his resume, upping his career total to two... both scored in this best of seven Pittsburgh Penguins series (Washington up 2 games to none on Pittsburgh).

All anyone is talking about this morning is Ovechkin vs. Sidney Crosby. Both had a hat trick in Game 2, only the second time such a thing has happened in Capitals Playoff history (the Caps Al Iafrate and the Islanders Ray Ferraro did it back in 1993, a Caps 6-4 Game 5 first round win). Unfortunately for Crosby, his three goals were the only goals scored by his Penguins, and fortunately for Ovechkin, his three goals were somewhat sandwiched around Steckel's one goal.

Tyler Sloan, a call up from the minor leagues to fill in for John Erskine, received the puck at the point and flung it at the net deep into the second period with his team trailing 2-1. The puck struck a Penguin and bounced to Steckel who was planted to the left of Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (what do you know... a puck actually bounced in our favor!). Steckel collected the bounce, and took a wrist shot five hole to knot the game up at 2-2.

Steckel was a huge part of Coach Bruce Boudreau's Calder Cup winning Hershey Bears in 2006-2007 notching 15 points (6 G, 9 A) and finising a plus-10 in 19 games. As a Washington Capital, his faceoff abilities and defensive skills (mainly when killing a penalty) have always stuck out. Yes, he chips in goals every now and then, but that is not what he is relied upon to do. So far though, in this Pittsburgh series, he has two goals in two games.

And, that was the difference last night. Yes, Ovechkin got the game-winning goal, en route to a hat trick, and Varlamov remains BRILLIANT in net. But, the grinders also continue to play their roll. Like I pointed out in the last post, the unlikeliest of names have been chipping in when it counts this Playoff season.

Perhaps David Steckel will roll off of the tongue a little easier when all is said and done.