Crosby gets one over Ovechkin as Canada thump Russia

From Sportsbeat, in Vancouver

 IT was billed as the clash of the Titans but in truth the two NHL deities were relatively quiet as the Big Red Machine snapped Russian steel at Canada Hockey Place on Wednesday.

TOE-TO-TOE: Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby are the two marquee names of the NHL but there is little doubting who came out on top on Wednesday (Getty Images)

Canada's Sidney Crosby and Russia's Alexander Ovechkin are probably the two best players in the NHL and what's more, they don't like each other.

So ahead of their countries' quarter-final meeting they unsurprisingly drew the media glare.

But Washington Capitals' Ovechkin, the winner of the Hart Memorial Trophy for the past two seasons, after Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguin captain had held it in 2007, was nullified by Canada while Crosby was not his side's stand-out performer.

Not that Crosby was bothered in the slightest. He still played his part in what was easily Canada's best performance of the Olympic competition to date.

Canada blitzed to a 7-3 victory over world champions Russia and but for easing their foot off the pedal in the third period it could have been more.

Ryan Getzlaf and Dan Boyle, both outstanding throughout, found the net as did Shea Weber, Corey Perry [2], Brenden Morrow and Rick Nash to take Canada's tournament tally to 29 - by far the highest in the competition.

Canada have been freed from the fear of failure after their 5-3 defeat at the hands of the USA. The shackles are now off are there is a new found confidence among the 2002 Olympic champions.

"We gained a lot of confidence in this game, obviously. This is the second elimination game we've played and that is only going to help.

"It was a great battle for us and now we move forward. It was a pretty amazing atmosphere. We always talk about the Canada-Russia rivalry. We feel it more than ever in this building.

"You don't really look at the score. They're so dangerous and so explosive."