Alex Ovechkin isn’t leaving Pittsburgh empty-handed despite the Capitals’ 5-2 loss to the Penguins. In addition to scoring career goal number 897, The Great 8 received a special gift from Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin postgame.
The two Penguins stars, still dressed in their uniforms from the game, met a fully-suit’d Ovechkin outside the locker rooms inside PPG Paints Arena to present him with a Rolex watch for breaking Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. They posed for photos, and then Ovechkin hugged his two fellow future first-ballot Hall of Famers.
The Rolex is the second in the last week that Ovechkin has been gifted, as Capitals owner Ted Leonsis gave Ovechkin and his mom Rolex watches, and Ovi’s wife Nastya a Cartier watch during the “Gr8ness Pre-Game Ceremony” at Capital One Arena on April 10.
“How many watches is this guy gonna want?” former Caps head coach Bruce Boudreau said on Monumental Sports Network.
The Penguins also captured video of Crosby and Malkin handing Ovechkin the gift.
“From us to congratulate you for the record,” Malkin said in Russian.
“Wow, nice,” Ovechkin said as he opened the box. “Thank you, guys.”
Malkin could be seen walking into the arena carrying a Rolex bag before the Metropolitan Division rivalry matchup.
Malkin recently called Ovechkin his “best friend” and has been rooting for Ovechkin to break Gretzky’s record despite playing for the Capitals’ bitter rivals. Crosby also spoke about his relationship with Ovechkin ahead of Thursday night’s game, and was looking forward to congratulating the Caps captain in person.
The 5-2 Capitals loss was the 73rd game that Ovechkin played against Crosby in his career and the 66th that he played against Malkin.
