The Kid is Back – Can the Crosby-Ovechkin Rivalry Return Too?

Frank Doyle celebrates the Return of the Kid, and previews St Louis at Pittsburgh and Winnipeg at Washington.

All sports fans you know that sports are graced by the greatest players, no matter where they play. The guy might break your heart every year but if he’s great you can see it and you have to tip your hat to him.

As such, sports fans all over the world cheered when Sidney Crosby returned to the ice on Monday. Games need their heroes.

Everybody wanted Crosby to be well above anything else. Our understanding of concussion is getting better, and we realise now, like we didn’t realise before, that “getting your bell rung” isn’t as funny as it sounds. It’s not funny at all.

But for Crosby to return to the game, and to play as gloriously as if he’d never been away, if only for a quarter of an hour or whatever it was – well, that’s the sort of thing that makes you well up a little inside, when you think nobody is looking.

Crosby and his Penguins are back on the ice tonight, when St Louis visits Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is a big sports betting home favorite, but St Louis will present the Penguins with a bigger challenge than the hapless Islanders were able to muster on Monday night.

The Blues have improved since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach – their record is 4-1-2 since he’s been in charge. But St Louis played last night and now they have to go to a town whose king has returned to his people. The best result for Pittsburgh might be a loss, as it’ll calm down the Crosby-mania that’s already building but come on – the Penguins will bury St Louis.

At the height of Crosby’s powers, the NHL was looking forward to having a hockey equivalent of basketball’s Magic Johnson v Larry Bird rivalry of the 1980s between The Kid and Washington’s Alex Ovechkin. But the charismatic Russian hasn’t been himself so far this season, and there are people wondering if he can ever return to the form that made him the Joint Best Player in the World.

Ovechkin gets the chance to respond to Crosby’s return tonight when Winnipeg visits Washington. The Jets beat the Caps 4-1 last Thursday and are playing to a very high standard, in contrast to the Caps, who are playing to a very low one.

Washington has gone 3-7-1 since the seven game winning streak that opened the season, but the Caps are a warm home favorite and talent doesn’t just evaporate. Besides; would the Joker stay in a slump if he heard Batman was back in Gotham city?

Follow Sports Interaction on Twitter!