Pittsburgh’s game at Washington on Saturday night will be the 71st regular-season meeting of the team’s superstar captains, the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby and the Capitals’ Alex Ovechkin.
The pair have developed an intense rivalry and at the same time become good friends since both began their NHL careers in 2005-06.
With 874 career goals, Ovechkin is 21 away from surpassing Wayne Gretzky as the greatest goal-scorer in NHL history. Gordie Howe and Ovechkin are the only players to reach 20 goals in at least 20 consecutive seasons.
Crosby recently moved into ninth place on the all-time points list, passing Joe Sakic. Crosby has 1,644 for his career (604 goals, 1,040 assists).
Ovechkin scored the only goal in the Capitals’ 1-0 win over the host Ottawa Senators on Thursday night, tallying 3:07 into overtime.
“Just the accolades and, like, the different parts of this record are going to just be about a 10-page essay,” Washington coach Spencer Carbery said of Ovechkin’s pursuit of Gretzky. “You just continue to check boxes on his remarkable career, scoring on different guys and in different buildings and against every team. It’s remarkable what he’s doing.”
Washington logged its third straight win as Logan Thompson made 24 saves for his second consecutive shutout. He and the Capitals blanked the Anaheim Ducks 3-0 in Washington on Tuesday. Thompson owns an 8-0-0 record with a 1.48 goals-against average and a .948 save percentage over his past eight starts.
Penguins goalie Alex Nedeljkovic not only made 40 saves in Pittsburgh’s 5-2 victory over the host Buffalo Sabres on Friday night, but he also scored an empty-net goal and had an assist. He became the first goaltender in NHL history with a goal and an assist in a game.
Nedeljkovic, who scored with 2:42 left, is the 16th goalie credited with a goal and the 11th to shoot the puck in. Nedeljkovic assisted on Cody Glass’ goal in the second period.
Nedeljkovic scored two goals in the American Hockey League and one in the East Coast Hockey League. He is the second Penguins goalie to score a goal, joining Tristan Jarry (Nov. 30, 2023). Jarry was waived on Wednesday and was sent to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Thursday.
“It’s a team game, and we’re all really close in here. Everybody’s rooting for each other to score,” Nedeljkovic said. “… It’s nice to receive some of that excitement on my end.”
Teammate Rikard Rakell said of Nedeljkovic, according to NHL.com, “He played great for us in every area of the game. “They had a lot of good looks, and he saved us there, then a couple points for him. Nice to see.”
Pittsburgh snapped its five-game road losing streak (0-3-2) despite having to make defenseman Kris Letang (illness) a late scratch.
Crosby was held without a point, and he has no goals and one assist in his past four games.
In the 70 previous regular-season contests between the two superstars, Crosby has 91 points (31 goals, 60 assists) and Ovechkin has 67 points (37 goals, 30 assists). Pittsburgh has a 41-25-4 record in those games, and Washington is 29-31-10.
The Penguins won the previous matchup between the teams this season, 4-2 in Washington on Nov. 8. Crosby had an assist and Ovechkin was pointless.
For the season, Crosby, 37, has 48 points (12 goals, 36 assists) in 47 games. Ovechkin, 39, has 33 points (21 goals, 12 assists) in 29 games after missing 16 contests with a broken leg.
