{"id":921765,"date":"2026-10-05T17:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921765\/"},"modified":"2026-10-05T17:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T17:44:10","slug":"nhl-must-watch-the-crosby-ovechkin-rivalry-wasnt-over-after-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/921765\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Must Watch: The Crosby-Ovechkin rivalry wasn\u2019t over after all"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">With 32 teams, games every night and ceaseless narratives emerging, the NHL season can make one\u2019s head spin, and it\u2019s easy to fall behind on the weekly storylines. Every Monday from October to April, I\u2019ll map out the major events, games, plotlines and milestones on tap for the next seven days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">So what\u2019s happening the week of Oct. 5-11?<\/p>\n<p>Oct. 7: Crosby, Ovechkin face off in 22nd season<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/teams\/pittsburgh-penguins\/line-combinations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pittsburgh Penguins<\/a> @ <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/teams\/washington-capitals\/line-combinations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Washington Capitals<\/a>, 7:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">Why is this matchup, the first of four meetings between Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin, significant? Because Crosby legitimately didn\u2019t know if he\u2019d ever get to play against \u2018Ovi\u2019 again when they last faced each other in 2025-26.<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">\u201cWhen we played them that last game, I had no idea at that point,\u201d Crosby said at the NHL Player Media Tour in September. \u201cSo in my head, I was kind of preparing, like, \u2018Oh, this could be last time. We took the faceoff together. So yeah, it was one of those [games] that, if it was the case, you\u2019re going to try to enjoy it. And if it\u2019s not, it would be great to see him back playing again. So I wasn\u2019t sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">Ovechkin is in fact back for another year at 41 years old, and his Caps will meet Crosby\u2019s Pens four times this season, starting Wednesday at Capital One Arena.<\/p>\n<p>Oct. 10: McDavid, Celebrini meet in matinee<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" href=\"https:\/\/oilersnation.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" hreflang=\"en\">Edmonton Oilers<\/a> @ <a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" hreflang=\"en\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyfaceoff.com\/teams\/san-jose-sharks\/line-combinations\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">San Jose Sharks<\/a>, 4:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">Connor McDavid\u2019s Oilers are badly banged up and merely trying to survive October minus a significant number of their top players, including forwards Zach Hyman, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Matt Savoie and Jason Dickinson and goaltender Frederik Andersen. Macklin Celebrini\u2019s Sharks know every divisional game matters, and Saturday offers a key opportunity to snatch two points from a weakened opponent. Will we see fireworks from two of the game\u2019s top superstars?<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\">_____<\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"684\" height=\"385\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" style=\"color:transparent\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1791222250_77_image.png\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-4 text-lg\"><a class=\"text-secondary underline underline-offset-2\" href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/dailyfaceoff.com\/daily-faceoff-newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" hreflang=\"en\">Your daily hockey fix, delivered straight to your inbox. Get connected to every NHL storyline with breaking news, lineup updates, trade buzz, and expert analysis\u2014delivered every morning. Sign up for the Daily Faceoff newsletter and don\u2019t miss a beat!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With 32 teams, games every night and ceaseless narratives emerging, the NHL season can make one\u2019s head spin,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":921766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[433],"tags":[49,48,448,82],"class_list":["post-921765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=921765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/921765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/921766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=921765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=921765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=921765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}