{"id":682022,"date":"2026-10-08T20:27:46","date_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:27:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/682022\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T20:27:46","modified_gmt":"2026-10-08T20:27:46","slug":"alex-ovechkins-sons-introduce-him-at-washington-capitals-home-opener-in-his-final-nhl-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/682022\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Ovechkin\u2019s sons introduce him at Washington Capitals\u2019 home opener in his final NHL season"},"content":{"rendered":"

A lot has changed for Alex Ovechkin in 22 seasons.<\/p>\n

That was clear when he was introduced for his final home opener<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ovechkin\u2019s sons Sergei and Ilya handled the task of\u00a0announcing their father onto the ice, and the Russian star received a standing ovation before the Washington Capitals\u00a0beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3\u00a0on Wednesday night. <\/p>\n

The 41-year-old Ovechkin announced\u00a0earlier this week\u00a0this would be his final season<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was pretty cool moment,\u201d Ovechkin said. \u201cHuge crowd, kids announce my name. It was a special moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NHL\u2019s career leader in goals did not add to his total of 929 on Wednesday. In fact, Ovechkin wasn\u2019t even on the ice during an extended period at the end when the Penguins had their goalie pulled. This was the 101st meeting between Ovechkin and Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby, including playoffs. Neither managed a point, only the 11th time that\u2019s happened, according to Sportradar.<\/p>\n

Crosby actually finished with a minus-4 after being on the ice for all four of Washington\u2019s even-strength goals.<\/p>\n

The Capitals have assembled a roster with plenty of depth, to the point where Ovechkin no longer needs to play every second of Washington\u2019s power-play time.<\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Ovechkin\u2019s sons Sergei and Ilya introduced him at his final home opener before the Washington Capitals beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to say that he doesn\u2019t want to be out there,\u201d coach Spencer Carbery said. <\/p>\n

\u201cBut he also is understanding of what we\u2019re trying to accomplish as a team, and the great players that he has around him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Washington\u2019s one power-play goal on the night was scored by Ryan Leonard \u2014 from the left circle where Ovechkin so often sets up.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe 41-year-old Ovechkin announced\u00a0earlier this week that\u00a0this would be his final season. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, though. Ovechkin was still the center of attention. When the whole roster was introduced one by one, he was last, with his kids doing the honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no idea any of that was happening,\u201d Carbery said. \u201cI think they nailed that moment. Special for I think everybody in the building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ovechkin had two shots on goal, and he was on the ice when Anthony Beauvillier gave Washington a 1-0 lead 23 seconds into the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been such an incredible journey. Cool to see his kids down there,\u201d said Tom Wilson, who had a goal and two assists for the Caps. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a legend in this city, so I think everyone had a big smile. You get chills watching him come out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A lot has changed for Alex Ovechkin in 22 seasons. That was clear when he was introduced for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":682023,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[426,5,614,4,100,43,109],"class_list":["post-682022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-alex-ovechkin","tag-hockey","tag-hockey-hall-of-fame","tag-nhl","tag-pittsburgh-penguins","tag-sports","tag-washington-capitals"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/117407177040776815","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=682022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/682022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/682023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=682022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=682022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=682022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}