For more than 20 years, the NHL has been defined by two players: Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals.
The two players have been linked together since they face each other. Whether it’s in the World Youth Championship or the World Championship, again in the National Hockey League and the Olympic Stage, you can’t mention one without another.
Should we doubt Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin?
We have seen this in men’s tennis matches with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal over the years. You can say the same thing to Nadal and Djokovic. However, Federer and Nadal are well-loved tennis figures like Crosby and Ovechkin, who are loved in the NHL. The latter statement may be somewhat divergent, but in reality, people want to see top players succeed, but maybe not that much.
If you look at what happened on Long Island in UBS Arena on Sunday, and Ovechkin chased Gretzky’s NHL goal, that’s the same feeling people get when chasing his first Stanley Cup. NHL and hockey fans generally want to see it happen. Once Alex Ovechkin scored 895 goals, it was the most in NHL history after Wayne Gretzky (894).
Alex Ovechkin is the greatest shooter in NHL history! ??? #gr8ness pic.twitter.com/nkef3vvnnj
– NHL (@NHL) April 6, 2025
Just look at the excitement on his face. The swans dive into the ice for a goal celebration, similar to the swans entering the fountain after winning the Stanley Cup. At Wayne Gretzky, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and others who attended UBS Arena, fans want to see this happen. Ovechkin’s teammates were there and saw him breaking the record.
It’s a great moment for hockey. No one, not even Ovickin himself, thinks such a record will be broken. Whether you watch on TV or pay to enter a building, this is history. Whether it’s New York Islanders fans or Washington Capitals fans driving, everyone is on the edge of the seat, waiting for him to score for a record goal.
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His long-time rival and friend Sidney Crosby is watching. As mentioned earlier, these guys are the NHL’s federal and Nadal versions. You can debate who is in the NHL who is, but these guys respect each other very much. After the lockdown on 04-05, they all entered the league in 2005-06. Ovechkin won the NHL rookie of that year, and Crosby won the Calder Trophy behind him.
“I mean, there are very few head-to-heads like this. Ultimately being in the same department, bringing these expectations and the playoff series and everything that comes with it… It’s unique and I definitely want to appreciate it, and it’s very useful for hockey games,” Crosby said in the media on Sunday. “But that’s something I think there’s also mutual respect there.”
Crosby just respects along the way. He has such respect for the game, but Ovechkin broke the record.
“It’s hard to talk,” Sidney Crosby said, told the media Sunday after the Penguins lost to the Blackhawks. “He fought against each other for 20 years during that time, he accomplished something great, but thought it was impossible to achieve, he found a way. So it was incredible. It was an amazing moment for him, his family, his teammates and obviously the league as a whole.”
Sidney Crosby
Ovechkin isn’t the only group to break Gretzky’s record this season. Maybe not as sexy as the goal record, but the sure achievement is Crosby’s average score per game in his 20th season. Crosby and Gretzky averaged tied for each match. There are two historically great figures in NHL history that are losing both records.
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Alex Ovechkin achieves historic goal 895 #allcaps #isles #NHL #gr8chase pic.twitter.com/bkwafz5ciy
— Jim Burlinger (@jimbiringer) April 6, 2025
Consider these two achievements. Ovechkin, 39, broke 16 games this season, tore off with 27 goals in the last 42 games, including 20 in the last 27 games. He scored five consecutive goals to break the record. He had already caught fire in his first 18 games before his injury, starting with 15 goals in the year. If he wasn’t injured, Ovechkin wouldn’t have won his 10th goal season, while Gretzky and Mike Bossy broke nine 50-goal seasons.
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Crosby, 37, has two seasons left on his new contract on July 1. He continued to put the penguin on his backpack. He just won another 30 seasons and continues to be a model of NHL consistency. Ovechkin has one year left for the deal. We know what he said after breaking the record and completing the contract. He is going to retire.
But if these guys are going to play at this high level, they can score into their 40s. Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin violated the odds again when you say this can’t be done. Whether it’s a season or coming back from injury, who would have thought they would have joints on their hips for such a long time?
Whether fans like it or not, the NHL will choose wisely to make Crosby and Ovechkin the faces of the game for nearly two decades, because there is no one, no other.
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