ARLINGTON, Va. — The spotlight will be on again Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin when the Pittsburgh Penguins and Washington Capitals renew their rivalry for the first time this season at Capital One Arena on Wednesday (7:30 pm ET; TNT, TVAS).
Although Crosby and Ovechkin each remains at the top of his game and a centerpiece player, this 63rd regular-season meeting between them will have a different tone with each of their teams battling through early-season adversity.
The Penguins (4-6-2) have lost seven in a row (0-6-1) following a 4-0-1 start. It’s the first time they’ve dropped seven straight games since Jan 26-Feb. 8, 2006, during Crosby’s rookie season.
“Right now, it’s a tough trek,” the Pittsburgh captain said. “… We’re making a few mistakes. When you’re losing, that’s magnified even more. That’s the situation we’re in and we’ve just got to try to build off it, continue to play good hockey and trust that we’ll get rewarded.”
The Capitals (6-6-2) have had their own struggles while missing a host of key players due to injuries, including center. Nicklas Backstrom (hip surgery), forwards Tom Wilson (torn ACL), TJ Oshie (lower body), Connor Brown (torn ACL) and Carl Hagelin (hip surgery) and defensemen John Carlson (lower body) and Dmitry Orlov (lower body).
Washington had lost four in a row (0-2-2) before a 5-4 win against the Edmonton Oilers on Monday.
“No excuses, obviously,” Ovechkin said. “It starts from our leaders and we can’t blame [injuries] on it. Every player who plays in the NHL has some level to play and obviously, we miss those guys, but right now the situation is we have to pull on the rope with all our hands and don’t panic and don’t think it’s over. “
The Capitals captain helped Washington end its slide Monday by scoring a goal and setting up center Yevgeny Kuznetsov‘s winning power-play goal with a highlight-reel, between-the-legs backhand pass. Crosby has been trying to do the same. He had a goal and an assist in Pittsburgh’s most recent game, a 3-2 loss to the Seattle Kraken on Saturday.
“Obviously, it’s been a little tough here recently,” the Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “But Sid’s just a guy who’s always going. He’s always working. He’s always trying to get himself and our team to the next level.”
Crosby, selected by Pittsburgh with the No. 1 pick in the 2005 NHL Draft, and Ovechkin, selected by Washington with the No. 1 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft, have been inextricably linked since each made his League debut on the opening night of the 2005-06 season. Remarkably, a month into their 18th NHL season, they are tied for 18th in NHL history with 1,423 points, two behind Bryan Trottier (1,425) for 17th.
Ovechkin has 788 goals and 635 assists in 1,288 regular-season games. Crosby has 523 goals and 900 assists in 1,120 games.
Ovechkin leads Washington with 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in 14 games this season. Crosby leads Pittsburgh with 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in 12 games this season.
“Crosby’s still going strong,” Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane said. “What’s going to make that guy slow down? I don’t know what’s going to make him slow down. Same thing with Ovechkin, right? Still skating well, still shooting the puck extremely hard.
He’s in a good position there where he’s playing with good playmakers. He’s getting set up on the power play, things like that. I don’t know when either of them is going to slow down.”
After being selected among the 100 Greatest NHL Players as part of the League’s centennial celebration in 2017, each continues to cement his place among the greats in the game.
Ovechkin passed Gordie Howe for the most goals with one NHL team when he scored his 787th in a 3-2 loss to the Arizona Coyotes on Saturday. The 37-year-old is 13 goals behind Howe (801 goals) for second on the League all-time goals list and 106 goals behind Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record of 894 goals.
Crosby became the 20th NHL player to reach 900 assists, against the Kraken on Saturday. The 35-year-old is one assist behind Trottier (901) for 19th in League history.
“You look at a guy like Sid, who I think has changed his game a little bit here and there a few times over, it’s so incredible to see,” Oilers center Connor McDavid said. “And obviously ‘Ovi,’ you know what you’re going to get every single night. I’m so impressed with what those two have done for how long they’ve done it and will continue to do it. It’s amazing to watch “
We will watch them again Wednesday to see what they do next. In the first 65 regular-season games between them, Crosby had 84 points (28 goals, 56 assists) in the first 62 games and Ovechkin had 61 points (32 goals, 29 assists), according to NHL Stats.
But given the recent struggles of their teams, adding to their individual statistics will take a backseat to getting a much-needed win.
“We’ve talked a lot about what Sid means to this team, both on the ice and off the ice,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “When he’s leading through his example day in and day out, I think that’s the type of leadership that we need in order to get our team going in the right direction.”
NHL.com staff writer Tracey Myers and independent correspondent Wes Crosby contributed to this report
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