COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dan Bylsma will never forget the spectacle, the sheer number of media members present for a second-round playoff series and how many of them asked variations of the same question:
What should the hockey world expect from the first playoff showdown between Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin?
It was May of 2009 in Pittsburgh, and Bylsma, the Penguins’ first-year coach, was dealing with the most hyped on-ice drama since Tonya Harding, Nancy Kerrigan and the slash heard round the world. Bylsma attempted to steer conversations toward Penguins-Capitals. Crosby and Ovechkin, who gave the NHL a double shot of dynamism coming out of the 2004-05 lockout, also focused on the importance of team and downplayed any individual rivalry.
“That was the biggest production, dramatization, media circus (attached) to a playoff series that wasn’t a final,” Bylsma said. “It was this massive Ovie-versus-Sid storyline.”
In retrospect, the press might have undersold it. The brilliance of Crosby and Ovechkin dominated a seven-game thriller that produced three overtimes and was won by the Penguins en route to a Stanley Cup title. Crosby recorded eight goals and five assists. Ovechkin registered eight goals and six assists. Both players notched Game 2 hat tricks.
The Penguins’ captain scored the opening goal in three games, including the clincher after Ovechkin was denied on a glorious chance by Marc-Andre Fleury.
“As the series played out, it was almost punch-for-punch, play-for-play, goal-for-goal,” Bylsma recalled. “You had the hat trick game for Ovie and Sid. . . . There was all the emotion and the hits and bumps. You had Game 7, where they had their chance and we had our chance and Sid scores and we ended up kind of walking away with it. Two of the game’s greats going at it for seven games.”
In fact, Crosby and Ovechkin have been going at it for 16 seasons — two generational talents, usually in the same division, fighting for the same goals while serving as ambassadors for the league.
As the Penguins and Capitals meet again for a critical two-game set starting Thursday night in Washington, there’s little question the head-to-head matchup has been hockey’s best since they entered the NHL. Remarkably, only one regular-season point separates Ovechkin (1,320) from Crosby (1,319), although the Penguins’ center has played 162 fewer games due to injury. He's also won two more Cups.
With the passing of another decade, DK Pittsburgh Sports posed two questions to a sampling of sources from the hockey community and those who cover sports on a national level.
What other individual rivalries within team sports are on the level of Crosby and Ovechkin in this century? What makes the one between the two future hockey Hall-of-Famers so unique?
The decision to limit the time frame is based on the era in which Crosby and Ovechkin compete and the changes to the fabric of sport that have accompanied it. For instance, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, whose 1980s rivalry revived the NBA, played the majority of their careers before unrestricted free agency allowed the likes of LeBron James and Kevin Durant to form super teams.
“It was the perfect storm that the game of hockey needed,” said Penguins assistant Todd Reirden, who’s coached both Crosby and Ovechkin. “The league was in need of star power and along came two dynamic superstars at virtually the same time. Those two together have brought hockey to a whole different level.”
Ovechkin has never missed a Penguins-Capitals game, but that streak appears in jeopardy due to a lower-body injury.
The division rivals had a storied playoff history before the arrivals of Sid and Ovie in the same way the Celtics and Lakers did prior to the injection of Bird and Magic. In each case, it was taken to a different strata with the magisterial presence and willpower of transcendent figures.
All three of Crosby’s titles have included playoff series wins over the Capitals. Ovechkin’s lone Stanley Cup included a 2018 second-round win over the Penguins, denying them a shot at a three-peat.
“Having been a part of the rivalry on both sides, it’s been special,” said Capitals winger Carl Hagelin, who won two Cups with the Penguins. Those are games you really get up for. The feeling in the building is as close to a playoff feel during the regular season as it comes. It all starts with the two captains. They are the ones driving it. They always want to come out victorious. The media buys into the rivalry, and it helps create the interest.”
THE CONTENDERS
Kevin Clark, of The Ringer, offers a simple yet undeniable measure for gauging the hold great head-to-head matchups have on public perception. The mere mention of marquee players can alter viewing habits.
Ovechkin vs. Crosby. Peyton Manning vs. Tom Brady. Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo. Phil Mickelson vs. Tiger Woods. Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer.
“The Manning-Brady regular-season and playoff games are some of the most watched games in the history of football, and there’s a reason for that,” Clark said. “That’s probably where there’s a similarity with Crosby and Ovechkin. All you have to say is ‘Manning-Brady’ or ‘Crosby-Ovechkin’ and everyone knows to watch.”
Individual rivalries are the lifeblood of sports such as golf, tennis, boxing and mixed martial arts. It’s more difficult to sell them in team sports. Not that the media and leagues don't try.
For years, the NHL attempted to hype games featuring Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky, two of the five greatest players to grace frozen ponds. But it was more of a conceptual rivalry than an actual one. The two legends rarely played against each other and never met in a playoff series. It was similar with Joe Montana and Dan Marino, who at least squared off in a Super Bowl.
Thus, the arguments for one side or the other were waged in saloons, on message boards and sports talk shows.
That’s never been an issue with Ovechkin and Crosby, who have met 58 times in the regular season — the Penguins winning 35 games — and 25 more times in the playoffs, where Pittsburgh holds a 3-1 series edge. The same is true of Manning and Brady, who tangled 17 times, not counting their celebrity golf matches with Woods and Mickelson. Brady went 11-6 overall, but Manning enjoyed a 3-2 edge in the postseason.
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Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
“What’s interesting about those guys is how many times they reinvented themselves over the course of their careers,” Clark said. “The best rivalries in football are the ones that evolve over time, and with Brady and Manning you got to see that.
“It didn’t matter who the supporting casts were or who the coaches were or what helmet Manning was wearing. All that mattered was the two best quarterbacks of a generation had a rivalry and when they played, it was time for the entire world to watch.”
The NBA playoffs have been a ratings monster for much of the past two decades, yet they have failed to produce a longstanding rivalry matching stars in their original markets.
Consider the following: James and Durant have met in three NBA Finals representing four teams. James has won championship rings with the Heat, Cavaliers and Lakers.
While James and Steph Curry played in four consecutive Finals, that’s a blip when compared with Crosby’s and Ovechkin’s oeuvre.
“Stars change teams so much now that it’s hard to (create one),” ESPN basketball writer Brian Windhorst said. “Even with the Cavs and Warriors, their series weren’t that close except for the one (in 2016) to be considered a real rivalry.”
What about legendary Kobe Bryant, who searched for any slight to ignite hatred for an opponent?
“Yeah, it was Shaq,” Windhorst said of Shaquille O’Neal, who was Bryant’s teammate and nemesis.
Baseball analysts interviewed for this story struggled to find a worthy candidate. Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire didn’t fit the timetable. Hall-of-Fame writer Sheldon Ocker, formerly of the Akron Beacon-Journal, volunteered pitchers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer because of their open contempt for each other dating to their time as UCLA teammates.
The only other rivalry that approaches and perhaps exceeds Ovechkin-Crosby and Manning-Brady exists on another continent.
Messi and Ronaldo are their generation’s greatest soccer players. For nine seasons, they went head-to-head in La Liga (Spain’s top-flight league) and made every Barcelona versus Real Madrid match appointment TV for a worldwide audience.
“That’s a great comparison,” Hagelin said. “Those two are certainly on that level, 100 percent.”
OPPOSITES ATTRACT
Ovechkin and Crosby. Crosby and Ovechkin. It’s hard to think of one without the other.
Similarities between the two players obviously exist: Superior offensive skills, leadership qualities, the willingness to serve as standard bearers for the league.
“I don’t think either guy is afraid of the spotlight and I think that’s what makes it special,” former NHL coach Ken Hitchcock said. “It’s what happens when your leaders are your most competitive players. They pull the others into the fight.”
It’s the differences, however, that set the rivalry apart. Steve Yzerman and Joe Sakic were the respective captains for Red Wings and Avalanche teams that pummeled each other for Western Conference supremacy. But it was hard to distinguish one soft-spoken Canadian star from the other.
That’s never been a problem with Crosby and Ovechkin. One is Canadian, the other Russian. One is the game’s preeminent playmaker and 200-foot difference maker. The other rates among hockey’s greatest goal-scorers and most rugged power forwards.
Their personalties, routines, Stanley Cup celebrations and even their grooming habits stand in stark contrast.
“Ovechkin was out there doing local commercials right away, with almost a bit of a Jaromir Jagr personality,” ESPN hockey maven John Buccigross said. “He loved America and everything it had to offer, and he was going to jump right in. Crosby has been ultra protective of what he puts out there. He’s more guarded and reserved.
“There’s never a hair out of place with Crosby. With Ovechkin, it’s all over the place — premature gray, he doesn’t care. Russia is this kind of Wild West place and Ovechkin is kind of a Wild West character. There is a nice dichotomy here because of the cultures and personalities. It’s really interesting from that standpoint.”
Reirden said the routines of the players around the rink could not be more different, and yet each has found something that works for him. What Reirden most appreciates is the genuine nature of both players. They have never tried to pass themselves off as anything other than what they are.
Crosby has enjoyed more success in collecting trophies and medals on the NHL and international circuits, but NHL Network analyst and former Devils defenseman Ken Daneyko said the ultimate winner is the fans.
“A lot of times the media makes more of individual rivalries, and it puts pressure on guys, especially superstars who came into the league around the same time,” Daneyko said. “I’m just amazed at these two. Crosby puts up 102 f- - - ing points as an 18 year-old, excuse my language, on a team that won 22 games and Ovechkin scores 52 goals as a rookie on a 29-win team. The rivalry was right there from the start.”
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Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin.
OLD-SCHOOL APPROACH
Several of the most memorable NBA flareups in recent years have involved James and Draymond Green, the Warriors’ tenacious and loquacious firebrand.
“Those guys are represented by the same agent and business partners,” said Windhorst of two players who frequently socialize away from the game and appear on television programs together.
The fact they can be so competitive on the court and chummy when the final whistle blows speaks to the nature of modern sports.
Two years ago, Blue Jackets defenseman Zach Werenski and Bruins defenseman Charlie McAvoy, who play online video games together, admitted they had agreed not to speak during a playoff series involving their teams. Not exactly the sacrifices that conjure images of Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard.
“The difference now is if you’re an elite NBA or NFL player, you’ve probably known your rivals since you were (age) 12,” Clark said. “You were in a camp together or you were at a Nike function when you were entering high school. That has made the sports world smaller, and that’s what has made guys a lot friendlier.
“You saw that in the Super Bowl where Tom Brady got in Tyrann Mathieu’s face and texted him an apology the next day. I don’t think Sidney Crosby would text an apology to Alex Ovechkin.”
The respect between Crosby and Ovechkin is real. They have an appreciation for what each other has meant to the game and their own legacies. Crosby, 33, said two years ago that Ovechkin has a shot at breaking Gretzky’s all-time record for goals (894) and that, “I don’t think we’ll see anyone quite like him again.”
But neither enjoys talking about the individual rivalry, unavoidable as it is when their teams meet.
Given the high stakes of so many Capitals-Penguins games, Crosby and Ovechkin have exchanged ample heavy hits and heated words, neither backpedaling in the moment. Ovechkin is not considered as dastardly as Tom Wilson, but he’s a feared checker with no allegiances to anyone not wearing Capitals red. Just ask fellow countryman Evgeni Malkin, who was frequently targeted by Ovechkin several years ago.
It’s why the Sid-and-Ovie saga has throwback appeal.
“It’s more old-school,” Bylsma said. “You hear the stories of when the league was six teams and how guys just hated each other. It was even to the point that when guys got traded, they didn’t necessarily like you because they had such a strong hatred for you. I’m not making comparisons to that time, but it was more steely-eyed looks than conversations between our teams and those two players. I know there were some hits and run-ins that carried a lot of emotion with that matchup in 2009.”
Hagelin said little has changed over the years.
“They don’t want to give the other guy anything for free,” he said. “You look around the league and in other sports and there are a lot of those type of things where guys are good friends. But if are trying to hit a guy and beat him, there has to be a competitive spirit. It’s hard to be really close friends and get to that place you need to go year in and year out.”
The next two games could determine the East Division regular-season title, and few would be surprised if the Penguins and Capitals met again in the playoffs.
Buccigross marvels at the longevity of both players. Crosby rebounded from serious concussion issues that jeopardized his career to win two more Cups in 2016-17. Ovechkin recovered from years of postseason heartache to finally breakthrough with his 2018 title.
Even in their mid-30s, Crosby and Ovechkin remain two of the game’s elite players, relentlessly pushing their franchises to chase greatness. Most athletes don’t get a second act. Buccigross believes a third one is not out of the question for either star.
“Brady won three Super Bowls early in his career and then really had to wait,” Buccigross said. “He’s won three more since he was 37. Crosby and Ovechkin are still in that window where they could add another Cup. It’s probably less than a 50 percent chance, but I would never count out either one of them.”
