PITTSBURGH –- The fans might have missed out on Alex Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby going head-to-head at PPG Paints Arena one more time, but Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals left town with pretty much everything they could’ve hoped for Saturday.
That the Pittsburgh Penguins sat out Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and five other regulars to give them time off to heal some minor injuries before the Stanley Cup Playoffs turned out to be a good thing for the Capitals, who are battling to stay alive in the playoff race.
Washington (41-30-9) assured itself of playing at least one more meaningful game with its 6-3 victory, with Ovechkin clinching an empty-net goal, and climbed temporarily within one point of the Philadelphia Flyers for third in the Metropolitan Division with two games remaining, pending the result of the Flyers game at the Winnipeg Jets on Saturday night.
The Capitals will try to stay alive again in a rematch with the Penguins at Capital One Arena in Washington on Sunday (3 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, MNMT, truTV, TNT, SN360, TVAS).
“We’re going to take (it) game by game and we’ll see what happens,” Ovechkin said. “Obviously, I don’t know what’s the score in the different (games), but we just have to get two points tomorrow and we’re still in. So, it’s a good thing.”
The game Sunday could also be Ovechkin’s last at Capital One Arena, his home for 21 NHL seasons. The 40-year-old left wing is in the final season of a five-year, $47.5 million contract he signed in 2021. He said earlier this week that he will wait until the offseason to decide whether he’ll play in the NHL again next season.
So, many will be coming to Capital One Arena in case it’s their last chance to see Ovechkin, the NHL’s all-time leader with 929 career goals, play there before Washington closes out the regular season at the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday. Whether they’ll see Crosby too remains to be seen.
Locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division, Pittsburgh (41-23-16) has little to play for standings-wise, so Crosby (lower body), Malkin (upper body), Erik Karlsson (lower body), Kris Letang (upper body), Bryan Rust (lower body), Ben Kindel (lower body) and Parker Wotherspoon (upper body) didn’t play Saturday and were designated as day-to-day.
Penguins coach Dan Muse was noncommittal about whether any of them will play Sunday or in the team’s regular-season finale at the St. Louis Blues on Tuesday.
“I'll have conversations with our medical staff, and we'll make determinations going into tomorrow,” Muse said.
With the Capitals season hanging in the balance, Ovechkin didn’t seem to mind that Crosby, Malkin and Co. sat out Saturday, but seemed to think there’s a decent chance at least Crosby will play Sunday.
“I don’t care who’s playing,” Ovechkin, who leads the Capitals with 32 goals and 62 points this season, said. “We just need the big win and, obviously, tomorrow he’s probably going to play.”
If Crosby does play, it will be the 100th game between him and Ovechkin, including the playoffs. Together, Ovechkin, the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, and Crosby, the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, have written many memorable chapters in a storied rivalry that’s included four postseason series.
Crosby and the Penguins won the first three (2009, 2016, 2017) and went on to win the Stanley Cup each time. The Capitals finally broke through to defeat the Penguins in the second round in 2018 and went on to win the Cup for the first time.
“There’s been so many great battles here that they've been a part of obviously, Sid and Ovi,” Capitals forward Tom Wilson said. “They’re two legends.”
There is still a longshot chance that they could meet again in the Eastern Conference First Round this season, but the Capitals will need a lot of help for that to happen and can’t afford to lose either of their two remaining games.
In case this was Ovechkin’s final game in Pittsburgh, the Penguins and their fans paid tribute to him with a video on the center ice scoreboard screen and a standing ovation during a media time-out with 5:43 remaining in the second period. Following the video of Ovechkin and Crosby talking about their rivalry and becoming friendly over the years, Penguins public address announcer Ryan Mill said, “Ovi, thank you for 21 years of the greatest rivalry in hockey. It has been a pleasure.”
After a pause for the cheers, Mill said, “And if you want, we’ll let you go for 22.”
A smiling Ovechkin stood and waved to the crowd. When the cheers continued, Ovechkin waved again and applauded the fans for their support in a city where he wasn’t often so warmly received.
“It was nice,” Ovechkin said. “It was a show of respect to all the time that we spend in the rivalries, playoffs, regular season. It shows respect.”
Players on both teams joined the salute by banging their sticks.
“Whether it's your home crowd or your away crowd, what makes hockey great is the blood, sweat, and tears, and ‘O's’ done a ton of that in this building,” Wilson said. “And I think it's awesome to see the Pittsburgh crowd give him that respect.”
“Being able to play with Sid, and get to know Sid and kind of just watching Ovi from afar, hearing some stories from 'Geno' (Malkin) about him, it's a cool moment,” Penguins forward Kevin Hayes said. “I hope it's not the last weekend where they play against each other. Both still elite players. Elite, elite players. And I think they both should keep playing.”
Ovechkin isn’t ruling that out. He made that clear when asked what he’ll remember most about playing in Pittsburgh.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be my last year or not,” Ovechkin said. “So, we will talk if I’m going to say I’m retired. I didn’t say that, so we’ll see.”
