Jim Kelley

Jim Kelley writes regularly on the NHL for Sportsnet.ca and can be heard on Primetime Sports on the FAN590.

The last Crosby-Ovechkin meeting fizzled out as the Pens won Game 7 on the Eastern Conference semi-finals 6-2.

It only happens a few times per year, which is what makes Crosby vs. Ovechkin truly great.

Unless you were there the night Wayne Gretzky surpassed Phil Esposito's 76 goals for the single-season scoring record (a ridiculously early point in the season, Feb. 24, 1982) it's difficult to summon up the drama of that event.

It was a foregone conclusion that Gretzky would break the mark. Gretzky, that season had already surpassed the milestone of 50 goals in 50 games and had done it so quickly that talk of him posting a 100 goal season was not only contemplated, but people had created charts to try and predict the date when it could happen.

He finished with 92.

If there was pressure on Gretzky it wasn't obvious. Sure Esposito, ever the good sport, had been following him around for a few games so that was out there. The fact that The Great One and the Edmonton Oilers were playing in Buffalo was a factor given that Buffalo is the closest NHL market to the Toronto area, essentially Gretzky's home town. There was a celebrity factor involved in that two movie stars of that time - Goldie Hawn and Burt Reynolds - were in Buffalo at the time filming a movie and had (very publically) announced they would be taking in the game in hopes of witnessing a bit of hockey history.

But all in all, Gretzky was the show. The Sabres were not exactly having a banner season, and were regarded as little more than the Washington Generals to Edmonton's Harlem Globetrotters -- something akin to stage dressing in a play designed for a singular performance.

Then the game started and Gilbert Perreault, a one-time icon turned fading superstar and one of young Gretzky's all-time favorite players, reached back to his glory days. Before Gretzky even managed a legitimate scoring chance Perreault began a brilliant one-man show that included one of the more spectacular hat tricks of his Hall of Fame career. Gretzky responded with the record breaker with just under seven minutes remaining and then went on to score two more to match, but in many ways outshine, Perreault's performance.

I mention all this because on Thursday Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby will meet for the first time since their epic showdown in the 2009 Eastern Conference playoff semi-final. But lost in the 'Who will do what?' talk is the sheer drama of the event.

This is Gretzky vs. Perreault -- but more Gretzky vs. Lemieux -- for a new generation of hockey fans. This is not about Ovechkin's hitting game overshadowing Crosby's passing game; or Crosby's goal-scoring game rising to the level of Ovechkin. It's about the two best players in the game going head to head. It's about putting on a show with arguably the most exciting and dynamic player in the game, Ovechkin, doing what he does best while arguably the most complete player in the game, Crosby, doing what he does best.

May the best man and team win.

Sidney Crosby's best season: 2006
GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
79	36	84	120	10
Extra stat: Hart Trophy (MVP)

Crosby seemed to get that this week by deftly avoiding a flat-out comparison to the Gretzky-Lemieux games of old, but making it clear he appreciated the heightened sense of anticipation whenever the two had a chance to put on a show.

"When you look at Mario and Wayne; the way I have kind of interpreted it was that it was more celebrating the fact that they were playing against each other and it wasn't about who was going to go after who and who was going to hit the other guy," Crosby told NHL.com earlier this week. "It was let's see three and three (goals) from these guys tonight; let's see them put on a show. "

Indeed; with many more - including the prospect of an Olympic final for the gold medal in Vancouver-- to follow.

In terms of "as good as it gets" this is the here and now for these two.

They are both, in their separate ways, fully established and experienced in the NHL's current firmament of stars. They have both risen to the level of captain for their respective teams. Crosby matched Ovechkin goal for goal and point for point while displaying a more responsible defensive game en route to a seventh game win on Ovechkin's home ice. The momentum of beating his closest rival was then parlayed that into a Stanley Cup triumph over the Detroit Red Wings in another seven-game thriller.

He also has the ring Ovechkin covets, but given Ovechkin's play this season and the development of the cast that surrounds him it's not unreasonable to think that this spring could well be Washington's year.

Alex Ovechkin's best season: 2007
GP	G	A	PTS	+/-
82	65	47	112	28
Extra stat: Hart Trophy (MVP)

The Caps, due in large part to Ovechkin's recent play, have almost locked up the Southeast Division crown. As of Wednesday evening its lead atop the conference stands at five-points over the Penguins and may finish first overall in the East despite the strong play of the Buffalo Sabres and the New Jersey Devils.

To do so would be not just an accomplishment, but the incremental step that signals that the Caps have arrived to a point where they compliment the singular exploits of Ovechkin, much the way the Penguins were constructed to revolve around, but not be completely dependent upon the contributions of Crosby.

Never was that more obvious than last spring when, with Crosby on the bench because of a late-game hit to his knee, the Penguins kept the Red Wings at bay and won the first Cup of the Crosby era.

Until Ovechkin experiences that moment, the personal battle rages on.

Ovechkin has 65 points in 41 games and has been on a tear of late with 15 in his last seven. He is almost Gretzky-like in his production (taking into consideration that it is a different era) and is close to moving past Vancouver's Henrik Sedin in the point's race despite having played seven fewer games.

Crosby, who once appeared more interested in setting up goals than scoring them has now taken his rightful spot in both the scoring and the goal scoring race. He has 63 points in 50 games. Thirty two of those points have come off goals and he's put up 14 points in his last seven games. Coincidentally, that output has moved the Penguins up in the standings, so much so that a win over Washington would put the Pens within three points of the Caps in the push for first in the East.

Ovechkin grew up in Russia and likely never even saw tapes of Perreault. He likely didn't get a regular dose dose of Gretzky and Lemieux like every hockey-playing kid in North America, but that doesn't mean he doesn't understand the heightened expectations that come from a match up of best on best albeit via a more worldly view.

"It's the same with the Lakers and Cavaliers (of NBA fame). Two players play against each other and the media say who is better and who deserves to win," Ovechkin told NHL.com. It was a reference to the two best players in that league, Kobe Bryant (Lakers) and LeBron James (Cavaliers). "It's the same in soccer, like when Real and Barcelona play. The top players play against each other and everybody says, 'Wow, this is going to be a sick game' and they can't wait for it. It's the same."

Only better.

Kobe and James don't play in the same conference and don't wage any every-night battle to get to or stay at the top of one. Neither one of them carry 253 nights of wondering exactly what happened in that seventh game in Washington where the Caps fell apart and the Penguins coasted to a 6-2 win. That's more of a burden to the Caps than the Pens, but it does add to the drama of the game.

Added to that and the scoring and playoff positioning races is the simple fact that there is a rivalry here that is extraordinary in that unlike Gretzky and Perreault or Gretzky and Lemieux, these two came to the NHL in the same year (2005) and their personal battle has been one both for the ages and from the get go.

Thursday's game is not the playoffs and it won't decide any of the scoring races, but it is a game that matters to both teams and to both men and the drama of that is not wasted on either.

Perreault understood that every bit as much as Gretzky; years later Gretzky would again understand it every bit as much as Lemieux. It's that kind of knowledge, that sense of drama that takes great players to a whole other level.