Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin may be getting old, but when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals play it's a spectacle of an event.
It’s no secret that there is a new era in the NHL. The new discussion is pinned around Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, and Nathan MacKinnon as the faces of the league.
In the not so distant past, a game between the Washington Capitals and the Pittsburgh Penguins would be appointment viewing for NHL fans. The chance to see Sidney Crosby vs. Alex Ovechkin, two stars that broke into the league at the same time, couldn’t be passed up.
While I personally still feel that way, the younger stars have taken the public eye and left Crosby and Ovechkin in the rearview.
However, Crosby and Ovechkin, even in year 18, are still two of the league’s best players even if they couldn’t be more opposite.
Crosby is a complete, two-way player and likely will go down as one of the top-five greatest players to ever play the game. Ovechkin, while not nearly the defensive player Crosby is, will be remembered as possibly the best goal scorer to ever play the game. They’re generational talents in their own right and still are performing at an incredibly elite level.
This will be the 63rd regular season meeting between the two with four playoff series sandwiched in between. Ironically, each team has had to beat the other to win their Stanley Cups during their stars’ times in their respective cities. Forget the Philadelphia Flyers, New York Islanders or the New York Rangers, the Capitals are the top Penguins’ rivalry during the Sid-Ovi era.
Crosby has 23 more points than Ovechkin across those regular season games coupled with 36 victories against his biggest foe.
For Penguins fans, the Capitals have always been a tough out, whether in the playoffs or a regular season game. For Capitals fans, the Penguins present their biggest hurdle and one they certainly will admit went a long way in allowing Ovechkin to finally get his championship in 2018.
Who can forget the save Marc-Andre Fleury made on Ovechkin in game seven of the 2009 playoffs? What about when Ovcehkin and Crosby put on a show in that same playoff series with dueling hat tricks in Game 2? Even the famous “BONINO! BONINO! BONINO! NICK BONINOOOOOOOO!” call was created from this epic head-to-head matchup.
Ironically enough, in year 18 of this matchup, Ovechkin and Crosby go into this game dead even in career points at 1,423. Ovechkin has played 168 more games than Crosby due to Crosby’s various health issues but it still adds to the intrigue of the matchup.
Both guys are still performing at an elite rate while their teams are off to slow starts and pundits have them missing the playoffs already. Ovechkin has only missed the playoffs one time in the last 17 years. Crosby has made it 16 consecutive seasons himself. Until proven otherwise, it’s a safe bet to say they’ll be in the dance when it begins in the spring.
Who knows how many more times we’ll get to see this matchup with these guys playing at such a high level. If we’re lucky, we might get another three or four seasons of it and I hope that’s the case. But cherishing this game tonight along with the other two matchups this season is something we should really do.
It’ll go down as one of the best rivalries in the history of hockey between two stars and them breaking into the league at the exact same time makes it that much cooler. At some point though, every storybook has an ending.
For hockey fans sake, let’s hope this rivalry continues well into the future.
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