Alex Ovechkin may have dropped hints at plans for NHL future

The Washington Capitals' 3-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday afternoon was significant for two big reasons. The first is that it kept their slim Stanley Cup Playoff hopes going into the final week of the 2025-26 NHL regular season. They still need to win their final game on Tuesday night against the Columbus Blue Jackets, while also getting a lot of help in the form of a couple of Philadelphia Flyers losses. It is a long shot, but they are in it. 

The second is that there was a possibility that it was not only the final home game in the career of all-time leading goal-scorer Alex Ovechkin.

If it is, Ovechkin has done a great job hiding it. 

If it is not, there was a lot of pre-game pomp and circumstance that will need to be redone next season. 

Alex Ovechkin still not offering much insight into future plans

The Penguins and Capitals have been fierce rivals throughout the past two decades, with Sidney Crosby and Ovechkin playing a starring role at the center of it. They have not only been the faces of their respective franchises, but they have been the two faces of the NHL since the start of the 2005-06 season. 

They have played four playoff series against one another, with the winner of each of those series going on to win the Stanley Cup (the Penguins in 2009, 2016 and 2017; the Capitals in 2018). 

Sunday was the 100th head-to-head game between Crosby and Ovechkin, with the Penguins captain (along with fellow stars Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang) all dressing for the game despite it being a meaningless contest for a Penguins team that has already clinched its playoff spot (none of them played in Saturday's game against the Capitals in Pittsburgh, despite it being the Penguins regular season home finale). 

All four players posed for a pre-game picture at center ice, while Capitals center Dylan Strome intentionally got himself kicked out of the face-off circle to force Ovechkin in to take the draw against Crosby.