Penguins Perspectives: A rivalry worth cherishing

Welcome to Penguins Perspectives, a weekly column by KDKA-TV Digital Producer Patrick Damp. Each Friday, Patrick will talk about the week that was, the week to come, what to watch for, and more.

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Last year, I wrote a column on this very site about Sidney Crosby once again recording a point-per-game season, chasing a record held only by Wayne Gretzky. 

I called it "Never take greatness for granted." 

Tonight, we have another chance to do just that. 

For the 66th time since they entered the league more than a decade ago, Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin will go head-to-head. 

A large portion of this column since it began last season has been to keep things, for lack of a better term, in perspective. 

A lot of that means that since 2005, we've been firsthand witnesses to history, championships, greatness, and a whole lot more. 

To understand it, we've got to go back to that time. 

If you recall, when Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin entered the National Hockey League, things were bleak. 

A season-long lockout took the league out of the spotlight. A league that was suffering from declining ratings, declining revenues, and a serious lack of relevance. 

The NHL went from ESPN National Hockey Night, NHL2Nite on ESPN 2, and Sports Illustrated covers saying it was hotter than the NBA, to being so far removed from the national sports conversation that once they returned in 2005 their national broadcast partner was…Outdoor Life Network. 

While it may be difficult to remember now in 2023, in 2005, the NHL was on life support. 

So much so that a decades-long mission from the NHL's Board of Governors was accomplished - a hard salary cap. Not because of better negotiation skills (although there is something to be said for the NHLPA at the time caving to owners) but because several teams found themselves in dire financial straits due to a lost season. 

That included the Pittsburgh Penguins. 

In order to compete with larger market teams like New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and others, a cap on player salaries was needed to spread revenue along the league and keep teams viable. 

Then, enter two electric young stars. 

The Canadian Sidney Crosby, deemed "The Next One" a kid from Nova Scotia who had been the apple of hockey's eye since about age 14. He had it all, great vision, speed, and strength, and was set to become one of the best all-around players the sport had ever seen. 

Coming in along with him was this electric Russian star. Alexander Ovechkin. A kid with a powerful shot and a game that existed on brute strength and goal-scoring. 

Whether they wanted it or not, the two would be linked for the entirety of their NHL careers. 

One of them was a clean-cut superstar, the other was a rebel. 

The NHL took a gamble that these two, mixed with rules that favored scoring, skill, and speed would bring the league out of its malaise. 

Boy, did they ever deliver. 

For the next nearly 20 years they lived up to all the hype - and more. 

It began just years after they entered the league with a seven-game epic in 2009 that saw the Penguins and Crosby triumph over the Capitals and Ovechkin in the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Two years later in 2011, the two teams met in the first primetime Winter Classic in Pittsburgh at then Heinz Field. 

It looked like, for a time, that it would be Ovechkin who would carry the torch as Crosby began a two-year recovery process from a concussion and a broken neck. 

Then, not long after returning, the teams clashed three straight years in 2016, 2017, and 2018, again, all in the second round. 

The Penguins would triumph twice, in 2016 and 2017, en route to a Stanley Cup. 

For the first time in a long time, in 2018, with the Penguins on top of the hockey world, Ovechkin's Capitals would finally slay the dragon, beating the Penguins in six games and then going on to hoist the franchise's first Stanley Cup. 

In the early years, their rivalry burned hot and bright. It appeared that while they may not have hated one another, they had a begrudging respect for the other. The on-ice battles proved it with the two superstars constantly tussling. 

Now, with four Stanley Cups between them, scoring titles, MVPs, and a lot more gray in their hair than 20-some years ago, something of a friendship has emerged as they approach the end of the line. 

I always maintained that these two knew the burden placed upon them when they entered the league and Crosby was skipping All-Star Games because he knew he'd develop a friendship with Ovechkin and that would interfere with his legendary competitiveness. 

Now, with the stars in their late 30s and getting ready to pass the torch off to another generation of stars that grew up idolizing these two, the passion is still there, but the perspective has begun. 

However, we're not done yet. 

Both franchises are having retrospectives written about how great their times in the league were, but they're still here. 

Tonight, and for at least the next couple of seasons, we still get one of the best rivalries in all of sports. 

So, while we all still have that visceral reaction to "rocking the red" and hearing that loud goal siren they have in DC, take a moment - however brief - to remember…without these two, the NHL wouldn't be back in a position of prominence. 

In:
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• NHL
• Penguins Perspectives
• Washington Capitals
• Sidney Crosby