Alex Ovechkin, Wayne Gretzky to square off in ‘NHL 20’ for charity

“The Great One vs. The Great Eight” matchup, to be held next Wednesday night, will consist of a best-of-three showdown. The event will be livestreamed on the Capitals’ Twitch channel.

Fans will be able to make charitable contributions during the “NHL 20” series, with all proceeds benefiting the Edmonton Food Bank and D.C.’s Monumental Sports & Entertainment’s Feeding the Frontlines fund to provide much-needed relief amid the coronavirus pandemic.

It turns out the virtual showdown was the brainchild of Gretzky, who of course is the NHL’s all-time goals leader with 894. Ovechkin lags behind Gretkzy’s record by 188 goals.

“There’s been so much talk about the goal record, so there’s a nice link between Alex and myself,” Gretzky recently told The Washington Post. “I thought we could do something that people could watch and help raise money for those who need it.”

Gretzky apparently was inspired to arrange the video game tourney after seeing Ovechkin playing “NHL 20” with toddler son Sergei.

“We always stay in touch,” Ovechkin said of Gretzky, via Russian Machine Never Breaks. “It doesn’t matter if there’s a milestone coming up, he’s always reaching out to me and saying congrats. Before my 700th goal, I was a little down and he texted me and said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it will come.’ It’s nice of him. He’s a great person, and to have a relationship like that with The Great One, it means a lot to me.”