PITTSBURGH (AP) — It might be a stretch to say that the rivalry between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin saved the NHL. There is no doubt their arrival ushered in a new era for a league desperately in need of a jolt after losing the 2004-05 season to a lockout.
Separated by a year in the NHL draft and by far more than that in temperament — Ovechkin all fire and fury, Crosby all calculated cool — they have spent the last two decades defining their franchises
and redefining their sport in the process. They are the rarest breed of stars: the select class who entered with massive expectations and somehow surpassed them all.
Five combined Hart Trophies, four Stanley Cup championships, over 3,400 points and countless memories later, their legacies are secure.
Ovechkin, the NHL's all-time leading goal scorer and Crosby, the only player ever to average a point a game for 21 straight years (and counting), will meet twice more this weekend when the Capitals and Penguins wrap up the final weekend of the regular season with a home-and-home series.
Whether the 100th and 101st all-time meeting between the two icons will also be the last is anyone's guess.
While the 38-year-old Crosby — whose Pittsburgh Penguins are heading toward a somewhat surprising playoff berth — is signed through next year and shows no signs of slowing down, the 40-year-old Ovechkin has been more coy about his future beyond the end of a forgettable season for the Washington Capitals.
Maybe this is it. If it's not, it's close. So before the rivalry enters its “remember when” phase, here is a look back at some of the highs (and, in one case, the lows) of two players who placed a league wounded by infighting on their respective backs and carried it into the 21st century:
Score: Penguins 5, Capitals 4
Where: Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh
Points: Crosby 1 goal, 1 assist; Ovechkin 1 assist.
The details: The first meeting between Ovechkin and Crosby is also the only game that also included Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux, Ovechkin's idol. Lemieux retired two months later, though by then he had passed the torch on to Crosby. “Sid the Kid,” then all of 18, provided a glimpse of what was to come, splitting a pair of Capitals before roofing the backhand shot that would become his signature.
Score: Capitals 5, Penguins 2
Where: Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Points: Crosby 1A, Ovechkin 1G, 1A.
The details: A somewhat ho-hum result in the middle of a season offered one of the rare glimpses when the contempt Ovechkin and Crosby held for each other at the time. They got tangled up in the second period, leading to a clench that ended with Crosby's helmet getting knocked off and more than a little jawing afterward. From the AP story that night:
"What I can say about him?” Ovechkin said. “He is a good player, but he talks too much.”
And what does Crosby make of Ovechkin’s showmanship?
“Like it or lump it, that’s what he does,” Crosby said. “Some people like it, some people don’t. Personally, I don’t like it.”
Score: Capitals 4, Penguins 3
Where: Verizon Center, Washington, D.C.
Points: Crosby 3Gs, Ovechkin 3Gs.
The details: Meeting in the playoffs for the first time, the two stars in the nascent stages of their prime did not disappoint. Each provided a hat trick in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals, with Ovechkin netting the goal that would become the game-winner with 4:38 left in regulation.
Crosby got the last laugh. The series went a full seven games. Ovechkin was robbed on a breakaway early by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and Crosby scored minutes later, setting the stage for a 6-2 romp. Crosby would raise the Cup for the first time a month later.
Score: Capitals 5, Penguins 4
Where: Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh
Points: Crosby 2G; Ovechkin 3G, 1A.
The details: During a snowstorm on Super Bowl Sunday, Ovechkin sparked a comeback from a 4-1 deficit. His hat trick included a pair of third-period goals that tied the game and he earned the primary assist on Mike Knuble's power-play score 2:49 into overtime.
Days later, Crosby and Team Canada dominated Ovechkin and Team Russia in the quarterfinals at the Olympics in a 7-3 victory. Crosby then provided perhaps the biggest moment of his career, scoring in overtime to lift Canada to Olympic gold on home soil.
Score: Penguins 2, Capitals 0
Where: Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
Points: Crosby 1A, Ovechkin 0.
The details: The third playoff meeting between the Penguins and Capitals during the Crosby/Ovechkin era ended the same way they have so often when the two rivals have met. Crosby earned the secondary assist on Bryan Rust's goal midway through the second period that put the Penguins in front. Ovechkin responded by blistering a one-timer toward Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, only for Fleury to manage to get the handle of his stick on the puck, the biggest of his 29 saves as the Penguins went on to win a second straight Stanley Cup.
Score: Capitals 4, Penguins 3
Where: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh
Points: Crosby 1G, 1A; Ovechkin 1G, 1A.
The details: Pittsburgh's bid for a third straight Cup was off to a solid start in 2018. The Penguins breezed into the second round against Washington and split a pair of games in the nation's capital to start the Eastern Conference semifinals. Crosby gave the Penguins the lead late in the second period before former Penguin Matt Niskanen pulled Washington even early in the third.
The game appeared headed for overtime before Ovechkin and Nicklas Backstrom broke loose for a 2-on-1 break. Backstrom slid the puck to Ovechkin, whose initial shot was denied by goalie Matt Murray. Ovechkin, in one fluid motion that played in stark contrast to his usual power game, batted the rebound out of the air and into the open net to put the Capitals in front of the series.
Six nights later in the same building, Ovechkin set up Evgeny Kuznetsov’s overtime winner in Game 6 as the Capitals exorcised their playoff demons and went on to win the franchise's first and only Stanley Cup.
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