EDMONTON -- Connor McDavid appreciates what Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin mean to the NHL, facing the two stars in back-to-back games.
McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers host Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals at Rogers Place on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; TVAS, SN1, SNW, TNT, truTV, MAX), coming off a 4-0 win at the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday.
“The two of them, obviously, it’s been a great rivalry to watch from afar,” McDavid said Tuesday. “Sid with his game and everything he’s accomplished, and ‘Ovi’ still doing his thing, it’s two absolute legends of the game and it’s always cool when you get a chance to line up against them.”
McDavid has helped lead Edmonton (39-21-3) to second place in the Pacific Division with 103 points (24 goals, 79 assists) this season.
Washington (30-24-9) has worked its way back into the Stanley Cup playoff race in part due to Ovechkin regaining his scoring touch. The Capitals captain has 18 goals and 48 points (30 assists) in 60 games this season. He has 10 of those goals in his past 17 games after getting off to a slow start.
The 38-year-old has 840 career goals in 1,407 games and is trying to catch Wayne Gretzky (894) for the NHL record.
“Of course he’s got a shot, he’s certainly the greatest goal-scorer of our generation, maybe of all-time,” McDavid said. “He’s definitely got a shot. When you shoot the puck like he does, when you’re big and strong like he is, you can play for a long time and score a lot of goals.”
While Ovechkin does have an eye on the record, his focus is helping the Capitals try to qualify for the playoffs. Washington is battling with the Tampa Bay Lightning, New York Islanders and Detroit Red Wings for a wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Capitals failed to keep pace with the Islanders on Monday, losing 3-0 at the Winnipeg Jets in the first of a five-game road trip to remain three points behind for the second wild card.
“We’re still in the mix, we’re still battling,” Ovechkin said Tuesday. “It’s a big challenge and we’re battling. If you look at our last 10 games, we were on a winning streak. We lost yesterday but we’re going to try and win tomorrow.
“I try to do my best. If I score it’s nice, but right now, the most important thing is still fighting for playoffs, and we hope to be there.”
Considering his propensity to score, 54 goals to the record does not seem insurmountable for Ovechkin, who has at least 40 goals in 13 of his 19 NHL seasons.
Father Time may be catching up, but similar to Crosby, who leads Pittsburgh in scoring with 64 points (32 goals, 32 assists) in 64 games, Ovechkin is still among the top producing players on his team.
“It truly is amazing and sometimes when you’re around it for a long time, you almost have to sit back and pull yourself away to really realize how special a player he is and how many amazing plays he makes, and how good he is at scoring goals,” Capitals forward T.J. Oshie said. “When you’re here a long time, you just say, ‘Ovi scored two more last night,’ but it’s hard to score goals in the National Hockey League and it’s a special thing. And he’s very modest about it and sometimes he celebrates harder when other guys score.
“So, for a goal-scorer to be like that it kind of shows his character, and anyone that’s played with him will have a story and will mention it to their kids, and everyone will know that you played with Alex Ovechkin and it’s no different for me.”
Much like McDavid when he was selected No. 1 in the 2015 NHL Draft, expectations were high for Ovechkin, who went No. 1 in 2004, followed by Crosby at No. 1 in 2005. All three exceeded those expectations.
Ovechkin and Crosby will be heading to the Hockey Hall of Fame once they retire, and McDavid is likely to follow.
“For any player to come into the NHL and become one of the best is quite a feat, and to be doing it for 20 years, that’s something else,” Oilers coach Kris Knoblauch said. “For us, it’s always exciting for the fans to see a player like that and it’s also exciting for our team, especially the younger players who haven’t had the opportunity to line up and play against them.”
Crosby, who won three Stanley Cup championships with the Penguins (2009, 2016, 2017) is trying to drag Pittsburgh back into the playoffs this season. Ovechkin won the Stanley Cup with Washington (2018), and it remains to been whether he breaks the goal-scoring record.
“I told everyone that I think he was going to do it, he’s just too good at scoring goals,” Oshie said. “You hope the body holds up. Even this year, he’s not having a typical year and yet in the last month and a half, he’s scoring a bunch of goals. Everyone always says he’s going to slow down and is not going to make it, but he seems to keep proving people wrong.”
