Some Things: Ovechkin Making Sure All The Capitals Players Stayed On The Ice To Shake Marc-Andre Fleury's Hand Was A Legendary Touch Of Class
For the longest time, the NHL was solely centered around the Pittsburgh Penguins vs the Washington Capitals. The league may not have done a great job of marketing all their star players, but they marketed the shit out of Crosby vs Ovechkin. It helped that they were both generational superstars who came into the league at the same time playing in the same division. And the rivalry always lived up to the hype. While Crosby vs Ovechkin was always the main focus of the rivalry, right underneath of that was Ovechkin vs Marc-Andre Fleury.
You think about all the battles these guys had against one another throughout the years. From 2005-2017 while Flower was in Pittsburgh. The Penguins beat Ovechkin and the Caps in the playoffs all 3 times they won the Stanley Cup in that stretch. 7 games in the conference semifinals in 2009. 6 games in the 2nd round in 2016. 7 games in the 2nd round in 2017. Then Fleury leaves Pittsburgh, goes to Vegas, and faces Ovechkin and the Caps once more in the Stanley Cup Final. Obviously Ovi finally got over the hump and won his first Cup that year.
Alexander Ovechkin is just days away at this point from becoming the greatest goal scorer in the history of the NHL. The goalie he's scored the most goals against is Marc-Andre Fleury with 28. When you think about how often these two guys have played against each other, you realize how insane it is that he was only able to get 28 past him. Marc-Andre Fleury has the 2nd most all-time wins in NHL history among goalies. They have 4 Stanley Cups between the two of them. They both helped carry the league for close to 2 decades. And last night was the last time we'd ever see the two of them play against each other unless we get a Caps vs Wild matchup in the Stanley Cup Final.
So for Ovi to make sure every guy wearing a Capitals jersey stayed on the ice to show some respect to a legend like that who he's had so many battles with over the last 20 years? Well fuck, man, that's just awesome. Just as classy of a send off as you can get for an incredible era of hockey. Give Ovi the Lady Byng for that one.