Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby celebrates scoring his second goal of the game against Washington goalie Simeon Varlamov during the second period of Game 2 of their NHL playoff series Monday. Crosby scored three goals, but so did Alexander Ovechkin as the Penguins fell 4-3 to the Capitals.

WASHINGTON — The matchup between Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby has turned out to be every bit as good as expected.

The only problem is, Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals are playing so well, this captivating duel between NHL stars may not come close to lasting a full seven games.

Ovechkin recorded his first career playoff hat trick Monday night to lead the Capitals to a 4-3 victory and a 2-0 lead over Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Crosby also notched his first hat trick in the postseason, but his final tally came in the closing seconds and couldn't prevent Pittsburgh from absorbing its second straight one-goal defeat.

"The good news it should be pretty clear what we need to get better at and what we need to focus on," Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma said.

Mostly, the Penguins need to stop Ovechkin from terrorizing goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. Ovechkin, the regular season goal-scoring leader, already has victimized Pittsburgh four times in two games.

The waterfall of caps following his hat trick forced the game to be stopped for nearly five minutes. Crosby wasn't exactly enamored with the show of support for his Russian rival, and he asked the referee to make an announcement to stop the fans from throwing the hats.

"I'm sure it's entertaining for people to watch, if I were to look at it from a fan's point of view," he said. "As a player, you don't like seeing the guy on the other team get a hat trick. That's usually not a good sign."

Ovechkin scored early in the second period, put Washington up 3-2 with a power-play goal with 7:07 left and added the clincher with 4:38 to go.

Crosby had one goal in each period, and now leads the NHL with eight in the postseason. The Ovechkin vs. Crosby confrontation was billed as a matchup of the last two MVPs, and neither has disappointed.

"They apparently heard the hype and are living up to it. It's interesting to watch the two battle and watch the story unfold," Bylsma said. "They were both very good tonight and obviously huge factors in the game. They're rising to the occasion."

Capitals defenseman Mike Green added, "It's exactly what the media made it out to be. It's a battle of the two best players in the league, and tonight both of them carried their teams. We were fortunate we had Alex at the top of his game."

The only guy to put the puck in the net whose last name wasn't Ovechkin or Crosby was Washington's David Steckel, whose second goal of the series knotted the score at 2 in the second period. The final 20 minutes belonged to Ovechkin, then Crosby.

"I think it's great for our sport. When you build up hype of superstars playing against each other, and then the superstars play like superstars, it's a neat thing," Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau said. "It's fun to talk about that."

The big question now is, how much longer can the Penguins make the series last? If history is an indication, Pittsburgh's position may not be as bad as it seems. From 1991-2001, the Capitals lost five series in which they led the Penguins, including 2-0 leads in 1992 and 1996.

"We can't panic," Fleury said. "It's a tough start, be we're going back home and we can get back in this."

Unfortunately for the Penguins, it's quite possible they haven't yet seen the best of Ovechkin.

"The best thing about Alex is that he takes the level so high, and there's another night that he takes it higher," Capitals center Brooks Laich said. "I was on the bench for all his goals, and it's unbelievable. You look up and watch the replay and you're just stunned. The kid's just awesome."

Thanks to Ovechkin, Crosby's memory of his first NHL hat trick in the playoffs will always be tainted.

"It was nice to score," Crosby said, "but it's better to win."