NHL greats Wayne Gretzky and Alex Ovechkin might not be the greatest when it comes to virtual hockey, but their deadlock Wednesday night left plenty of winners as they helped raise more than $40,000 for relief efforts related to the coronavirus pandemic.
With more than 300,000 watching their EA Sports NHL 20 showdown via a livestream on the Washington Capitals' Twitch channel, Gretzky won the first game 5-4 in overtime before Ovechkin rebounded with a 4-1 victory. While it was initially going to be a best-of-three series, they elected to end things after the two games.
"We both are not very good at this game, but what a great cause, right, when everybody's so down and out," Gretzky said, according to NHL.com. "So, a fun night, and hopefully everybody's having a little bit of enjoyment laughing at us."
With Gretzky's family and Ovechkin combining to match donations from fans watching the livestream, more than $40,000 will be split between the Edmonton Food Bank and MSE Foundation's Feeding the Frontlines fund.
With neither Gretzky nor Ovechkin having much previous experience playing NHL 20, both had assistance. Gretzky's son Ty assisted in the first game, with son Trevor helping in the second. Ovechkin teamed with John "JohnWayne" Casagranda of the Capitals' esports brand, Caps Gaming.