Capitals Top Penguins 5-3 in Ovechkin's Final Home Opener Against Crosby

WASHINGTON — The night belonged to Alex Ovechkin long before the puck dropped. The Capitals introduced their roster one by one before the home opener Wednesday night, saving their 41-year-old captain for last — and the introduction came from his two sons, Sergei and Ilya, who drew a standing ovation from the Capital One Arena crowd. Then Washington went out and gave Ovechkin the result it wanted on a significant night: a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first game of the final season of the Ovechkin-Crosby rivalry.

Tom Wilson had a goal and two assists, Logan Thompson made 27 saves, and Washington held off a second-period Pittsburgh push to win its home opener after a 1-1-0 road start. Anthony Beauvillier, Pierre-Luc Dubois, Alex Tuch and Ryan Leonard also scored for the Capitals, while Arturs Silovs stopped 22 shots for the Penguins, who lost their second straight.

A goal 23 seconds in, answered 56 seconds later

Beauvillier needed all of 23 seconds to get Washington on the board, beating Silovs on a breakaway. The Penguins needed less than a minute to answer: Bryan Rust, making his season debut after being activated from injured reserve, drove in off the left wing on his first shift of the season and stuffed a shot through Thompson to tie it 1-1. The goals came on each team's first shot of the night, as Reuters noted.

Wilson takes over

Wilson broke the tie with 8:09 left in the first period, scoring from the slot after taking a pass from Dubois. The chance came from a Pittsburgh mistake: veteran defenseman Kris Letang played a blind pass in his own zone that went straight to Dubois behind the net, and one pass later Wilson was alone in front for a 2-1 lead.

The same two players combined again 4:42 into the second period. Silovs went behind his net to play the puck along the boards, but Wilson was right there to collect it and found Dubois in front to make it 3-1. Then Tuch intercepted a pass at his own blue line, and suddenly he and Wilson were bearing down alone on Silovs. After two quick passes back and forth on the 2-on-0, Tuch scored to put Washington up by three with 6:46 left in the second.

The rally, and the answer

The Penguins nearly made it interesting. Tommy Novak deposited a loose puck with 5:55 left in the second, and Nick Robertson tipped in a shot with 1:59 remaining in the period to pull Pittsburgh within 4-3 heading into the third.

But Leonard restored the two-goal cushion 3:55 into the third, scoring on the power play from the top of the left circle off the rush for the 5-3 final. When the Penguins pulled Silovs for an extra skater with less than four minutes left, Thompson — at his best in the third as Pittsburgh pressed — turned aside Blake Lizotte on a breakaway to help seal it.

One more chapter for No. 8 and No. 87

The result was the headline; the subplot was the rivalry. Wednesday was the 76th regular-season meeting between Ovechkin and Crosby — the 101st matchup overall — and the first since Ovechkin announced Monday that this season would be the last of his NHL career. It is the 22nd straight season the two have faced each other, a run of consecutive-season clashes matched in NHL history by only one forward duo: Mark Messier and Ron Francis, who met in 23 straight seasons, according to the Associated Press.

Neither superstar figured in the scoring Wednesday. Ovechkin had two shots and no points; coach Spencer Carbery continued to limit the 41-year-old's ice time, playing him 14:05 and keeping him off the ice for a 5-on-3 and with the Penguins' net empty late in the game. The league's career goals leader remains at 1,016 combined regular-season and playoff goals, 10 behind Wayne Gretzky's record, USA Today reported in its live coverage of the game. Crosby had the kind of night he'd rather forget: a minus-4 with two shots and no points, on the ice for every Washington even-strength goal. According to TNT, Crosby has finished a game minus-4 with no points only six times in his career.

Before the game, the spotlight was on family. Ovechkin's two children introduced him as the final player announced, and the captain said afterward that having his sons handle the moment was "pretty cool" — and that they were nervous beforehand. "I told them don't be worried about it, just say it and it's going to be OK," Ovechkin told reporters after the game. When it ended, he fist-bumped his sons through the glass before skating off.

Earlier Wednesday, Pittsburgh acquired defenseman Spencer Stastney from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for Filip Hallander. Stastney did not dress against Washington.

The Capitals moved to 2-1-0 with the win. The bigger story, though, is the calendar: every remaining Ovechkin-Crosby meeting this season is now a farewell, and Wednesday's opener at Capital One Arena set the tone — the kids introduced their father, the crowd stood, and Washington's supporting cast made sure the night ended the way he wanted.