Joe Starkey: Crosby-Ovechkin has become the most enduring individual rivalry in American sports history

Joe Starkey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Nov 6, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — Like Magic and Bird, or Nicklaus and Palmer, or even Jim and Dwight on "The Office," the once bitter Sidney Crosby-Alex Ovechkin rivalry softened over time.

And yet it endures.

It's still active.

They're both still playing!

It's almost comical at this point. Penguins rookie Ben Kindel was minus-2 years old when Ovi and Sid first faced off 21 years ago. They were children then. They are nearing AARP status now. Thursday night's game at PPG Paints Arena will mark their 99th matchup across these 21 years, including playoffs, and it feels like there is nothing new to say.

Except maybe this: Ovi-Sid has become the most enduring of all iconic individual rivalries in American sports history. It won't achieve the mythological national status of others because the NHL still operates on the margins, but that makes it no less remarkable.

Most of the great individual rivalries lasted barely a decade, if that — Magic-Bird, Ali-Frazier, Russell-Chamberlain. Some went slightly longer — Nadal-Federer, Brady-Manning, Evert-Navratilova, Williams-DiMaggio. Palmer-Nicklaus was hot for about a decade but began to fade.

If this one has faded, it's because the Penguins and the Washington Capitals have receded from championship contention, although the Capitals had a resurgence last season and the Penguins are off to an unexpectedly good start this season.

The individual resumes are ridiculous. Ovechkin scored his 900th career goal Wednesday night against the St. Louis Blues. Crosby notched his 1,700th point (ninth all time) 10 days ago.

Across time, and against each other, Crosby has the edge. He is probably Russell to Ovechkin's Chamberlain — the latter a physical marvel accomplishing more sensational feats in more sensational fashion, the former winning more and helping his team win in countless ways.

Crosby has three Stanley Cups and two Olympic gold medals. Ovechkin has one Stanley Cup. Crosby's Penguins have a 3-1 playoff edge over Ovechkin's Capitals — and each time the winner of the series went on to win the Cup. Each series was spectacular. They went the distance three times and to overtime of Game 6 the other.

In 73 regular-season matchups, Crosby has 95 points to Ovechkin's 68, and the Penguins are 42-27-4 in those games. In 25 playoff games, Ovechkin has 33 points to Crosby's 30.

Throw in all the awards, and Crosby has two Hart Trophies, two Art Ross Trophies, two Rocket Richard Trophies and two Conn Smythes. Ovechkin beat out Crosby for the Calder Trophy in 2005-06, has three Harts, nine Rocket Richard Trophies and a Conn Smythe.

Ovechkin also has the highest-profile record in hockey history: most goals.

In some ways, though, it's pointless to compare. It seems more pertinent to acknowledge each man's legacy has been bolstered by the other man's presence. It's kind of like what Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam wrote of Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier long after their three epic bouts in the 1970s, and I'd call Ovechkin the Ali-style jokester in this case and Crosby the dead-serious Frazier:

"In the end, there was no real difference between the two of them as fighters, and when sports fans and historians think back, they will think of the fights as classics, with no identifiable winner or loser. These are men who, like it or not, have become prisoners of each other and those three nights."

It's 99 nights for these two, and it's not like Ovi and Sid are Johnny Unitas on the San Diego Chargers, damaged beyond repair and playing out the string. Ovechkin might be struggling through 13 games, but he had 44 goals last season. Crosby's tied for third in the NHL in goals with nine.

It's easy to picture Crosby, 38, playing several more seasons. Ovechkin, 40, is in the final year of his contract and has not said whether he will continue.

That uncertainty makes it more imperative to savor nights like Thursday because who knows how many more remain? Evgeni Malkin should not be forgotten here, either. Drafted one pick after Ovechkin, he also qualifies as a generational player — and he's tied for third in the NHL in points this season.

But the reality is we don't don't talk much about Kevin McHale or even Kareem Abdul-Jabbar when we remember Lakers-Celtics of the 1980s. It was Bird and Magic, and it's Sid and Ovi. Still. Twenty-one years and 99 matchups later.