The criticism against Alex Ovechkin has always been that he falls down on the biggest stages. Typically, that's not meant in the literal sense. Tonight it was.
Blame the bad ice. Blame Ovechkin's aggression for trying to take a long shot from outside the blue line with two Penguins players in front of him and almost no shooting lane. Blame whatever you want. Ovechkin was just doing everything he could to help his team, and the Capitals won, so we can feel no shame in laughing about it.
Ovechkin had six shots on goal in 18:26 of ice time in tonight's NHL Winter Classic, finishing with a plus-minus of -1 as some other players with less starpower like Eric Fehr and Mike Knuble stole the show for the Capitals. It wasn't a great game by Ovechkin's standards, but he played hard, setting an example for his teammates as the captain.
The video might be embarrassing, but the Capitals left Heinz Field with their heads held high and two-points in hand, which is more than we can say for Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.