PITTSBURGH (AP) — Sidney Crosby has been doing this for longer than Ben Kindel has been alive. Alex Ovechkin has, too, for that matter.

So yeah, it was maybe a little surreal for the Pittsburgh Penguins rookie forward, all of 18, to be on the ice Thursday night alongside the two players who have defined their franchises and in many ways the NHL for two decades and counting.

The calendar says it's 2025. Yet watching the 39-year-old Crosby score two goals to boost his season total to an NHL-leading 11 and have the 40-year-old Ovechkin collect two assists to fuel a second-period Washington rally in what eventually became a 5-3 Penguins victory, it was hard to tell.

“Kind of like the old Sid and Ovi rivalry there,” Kindel said after picking up the first two assists of his still very young c

See Full Page