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Shining stars: Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid all score OT winners on same night

Crosby Ovechkin McDavid

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - JANUARY 30: Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his game winning goal against Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers at 2:27 of overtime at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2021 in New York City. The Penguins defeated the Rangers 5-4 in overtime. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

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Saturday was a notable night in the NHL for the simple fact that three of the game’s biggest stars -- Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, and Connor McDavid -- not only all scored goals, but all scored overtime goals to give their respective teams a win.

All three goals came within 15 minutes of each other in real time.

The overtime fun started in New York where Crosby scored his fourth goal of the season (and his second overtime winner against the Rangers) to lift the Penguins to yet another comeback win. It came on a night where an already battered Penguins defense lost another player (Kris Letang) to injury, leaving them without pretty much the entire defense that they opened the season with.

Even with all of the injuries, and even though they have barely held a lead this season, and even though they have not consistently played well the Penguins are still 5-3-1 on the season.

Literally one minute later in the nation’s capital, Ovechkin was moving into a tie with Mike Gartner for seventh place on the NHL’s all-time goal scoring list with his second goal of the season (read more about that game here).

This game was Ovechkin’s first after missing the Capitals’ past four games due to having to quarantine.

Then, just 14 minutes after Ovechkin’s goal, McDavid capped off another brilliant night in Edmonton with his second goal of the game to lift the Oilers to a 4-3 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

He also scored another incredible goal earlier in the game (see it here).

Obviously there is a lot of randomness to this, but how often are you going to see three players of that caliber (two literal NHL legends, and the player that is going to take the torch from them as the face of the league) score overtime winners, on the same day, that close together? Big night for the NHL’s biggest names.

Adam Gretz is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @AGretz.