Towels bearing Alex Ovechkin’s face lined the seats of Capital One Arena on Sunday.

“Ovi!” chants rang out periodically throughout the game.

Fans sported every imaginable hockey sweater with Ovechkin’s name on it.

When the puck dropped, center Dylan Strome got himself kicked out of the circle so Ovechkin could take the faceoff against Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins, an idea he said the ref gave him.

And, when Ovechkin laid down a big hit six minutes in, everybody in the arena jumped to their feet.

The entire game was a celebration of Ovechkin, the greatest Capital to play the game and one of the greatest hockey players of all time.

But it was carefully curated , focused on thanking Ovechkin for the memories he’s given Capitals fans rather than congratulating him on a great career. Because no one — including Ovechkin — knows whether he will retire when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Sunday was the final regular-season game at Capital One Arena. The Capitals still had a slim shot to make the playoffs at the time but a shootout win by the Philadelphia Flyers eliminated them Monday night.

That’s why Ovechkin tossed his two sons pucks in warmups, something he doesn’t do every game, and brought them to the news conference so they could remember the moment.

“Remember the atmosphere that was tonight,” Ovechkin said. “Honestly, it’s a good thing we have lots of video cameras, cellphones, and they can watch when they’re grown up, and they can remember it.”

It’s also why he waved off the Penguins when they tried to wait on the ice to shake his hand.

“Because I haven’t decided yet,” Ovechkin said. “I don’t know. Thanks for them to wait out there.”

When asked about it, the Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin declared Ovechkin will come back. The fans certainly want him to, as does teammate Tom Wilson, who joked he still needs to set the hits record. They sent him off with a chant of “one more year,” to which Ovechkin responded, “I will think about it.”

It’s been a “really, really challenging” balance for the Capitals, coach Spencer Carberry said, as they try to respect his wishes of focusing on getting the team to the playoffs instead of celebrating him.

No one wants to risk missing the chance to fête a man who has left such an impact on every level of the sport in Maryland and beyond.

Capitals reborn

When Jeff Longsworth moved to Maryland, his father had to buy a short-wave radio so they could tune in to Boston Bruins games because there was no local team to cheer on.

When the Caps arrived in 1974, he and his family were quick to buy season tickets. Longsworth describes himself as a diehard fan but admitted that for years it was a struggle.

“It was hard to be a Caps fan for many years as they were evolving,” he said.

Even when the team went to the Stanley Cup Finals in 1998, losing to the Detroit Red Wings, the stands were barren unless the Philadelphia Flyers, Penguins or New York Rangers brought their fans to town.

“It was embarrassing,” Mike Weiss said.

Like Longsworth, Weiss played hockey and came from a family of Caps season ticket holders. Although hockey was the first sport he can remember in his life and he grew up in Reisterstown playing, his case was a rarity. D.C. and Maryland were not a hockey hotbed.

When Longsworth played, he had to be on a junior team in a men’s league. The sport had grown a bit by the time Weiss got involved, but he had to travel all over the state to the handful of rinks for games. He remembers only one other kid in his class playing hockey.

The Rodricks siblings were years behind Weiss, playing for Baltimore Youth Hockey across the state, but older brother Nick said it felt like a “niche” thing. Julia, who is two years younger, had to play on boys teams because girls hockey wasn’t readily available.

Maryland’s hockey scene was sparse, and Capitals hockey was struggling.

But Alex Ovechkin was coming.

Ahead of the 2004 NHL draft, the hockey world was buzzing about two young Russian players. There was debate over whether Ovechkin or Malkin was better, but the consensus was Ovechkin.

The Capitals drafted Ovechkin with the No. 1 overall pick in 2004, a year after Florida Panthers general manager Rick Dudley tried to draft him in the seventh round, arguing he was eligible if you added in leap year days.

But Ovechkin’s debut was delayed. That year, the NHL season was canceled due to a lockout. Ovechkin went back to Russia to play for Moscow Dynamo.

In 2006, Ovechkin finally made his NHL debut. It coincided with 2005 first overall pick Crosby’s debut for the Penguins.

The two made an immediate splash, especially among young fans.

“I was like, wow, this guy’s the coolest thing we’ve seen on ice,” Nick Rodricks recalled of Ovechkin.

But, while Crosby was entering a hockey town built by the great Mario Lemieux, Ovechkin arrived in a city where interest was low. It took longer for the hype to reach those not already tuned in. Weiss remembers going to a game in his first season at which he estimates there were only 6,000 fans.

“Like, it was pathetic. Nobody cared,” Weiss said.

But management did a good job building around him, Longsworth said, and marketing did a great job with local outreach. They put together the “young guns,” giving Ovechkin a center to help create plays in Nicklas Bäckström, and they hired coach Bruce Boudreau.

In his third year, the team went to the playoffs and Ovechkin collected a handful of awards, including league MVP and top goal scorer. That’s when Weiss remembers Ovechkin becoming a household name and the Capitals becoming the “hottest ticket in town.”

Julia Rodricks recalls her dad buying cereal boxes with Ovechkin on them. And, whenever people asked her about playing hockey, they always asked about Ovechkin.

“That was sort of the low-hanging-fruit information that they knew,” she said. “So it was always sort of the main question amongst family and friends when they didn’t know anything else about hockey.”

With his swagger and his joy for the game, Ovechkin began pulling people into the sport. Weiss, now the executive director of Team Maryland and the lead instructor for the Caps’ Learn To Play initiative, said there was an “explosion” of interest.

Adults weren’t immune. Matt Leone, a lifelong Rangers fan who moved to Baltimore for work, said he plays in an adult league alongside guys who taught themselves to skate during the 2018 Cup run. Leone now coaches the Baltimore Banners and said, while his players’ fandoms are diverse based on favorite players, current success and other random factors, all of them love Ovechkin.

Since Ovechkin’s rookie year, participation in USA Hockey’s Potomac Valley region (D.C., Maryland and Virginia) has seen an increase of 28% among boys and 184% among girls. Adult hockey has also grown, with men seeing a 119% increase and women a 134% increase.

It has been dubbed the “Ovechkin effect.”

Although the Caps’ team success played a part, you could tell how many were inspired by Ovechkin by the way they emulated him. Ovechkin’s playing style is hard to copy, the youth coaches said, but it was evident in different ways. Kids always want to take shots from Ovechkin’s office — an area to the goaltender’s right where he set up for one-timers on the power play — the Rodrickses and Leone said (local rinks even marked the spot with an 8 so young players would know where to go). In those first years, many showed up with his signature reflective visor. And, of course, they all mimic his celebrations.

“Prime Ovechkin just seemed like hockey was the most joyous thing you could do,” Nick Rodricks said. “And that’s a pretty big gift to give a kid — that pressure’s off. Just go out and have a good time.”

Hockey without borders

Four hundred miles from America’s capital, a young Connor McMichael, growing up in Ajax, Ontario, watched Ovechkin play.

“I remember, every morning in Toronto, hockey’s so big that he would be on the TV every morning, showing his highlights,” McMichael said. “He was a guy that I looked up to and a guy that I aspired to be.”

Ovechkin fandom surpassed Capitals boundaries, national pride and even rivalries.

Crosby, who has been cast as his archrival for over two decades, recently reflected on Ovechkin’s career with respect and gratitude.

Coming out of the lockout year, the NHL’s momentum was low. But the excitement of the Crosby-Ovechkin duo — with their different playing styles, contrasting personalities and rival teams — easily manufactured excitement. Many people credit them with saving the NHL.

The two inspired youth players beyond the boundaries of Pittsburgh and D.C.

“I think, growing up, I was always a fan of him and Sid and what they were doing for the game as young guys coming into the league and producing and kind of changing the way the game was played,” Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim said. “And to be able to share the same ice as him, just stepping on it and being able to play against him, you dream of that as a kid.”

But sharing the ice with Ovechkin can be punishing.

Popping the metal in his shoulder out, Sanheim’s teammate Sean Couturier showed off the memento of Ovechkin he will carry with him for the rest of his life.

In 2016, Ovechkin slammed Couturier into the boards with his signature speed and force as he made a play for the puck,

“I was ready, but he was just so big, so heavy,” said Couturier, who needed shoulder surgery. “I’ve got a little memory from Ovi now.”

Beyond his brutal hits, Ovechkin can also inflict physical and mental anguish with the speed and accuracy of his shot.

“You try different tactics,” Sanheim said. “We’ve tried ones where you’re just shadowing him and letting the other guys play in the ice. It’s so hard to fully shut him down.”

Getting bulldozed or outshot by Ovechkin was a shared nightmare around the league.

“I got to play against him a ton,” former Flyer and Penguin Mark Recchi said. “It was always a lot of fun. Well, I shouldn’t say it was always a lot of fun because he rocked me a couple of times pretty good.”

Ovechkin’s skill was sure to earn him fans. But there was something more to his game that captured their hearts.

“I think everyone talks about his shot, but his passion for the game?” Couturier said. “I remember as a kid, when he would celebrate goals and then be extra hyped up for any kind of goal, it’s pretty fun to watch his celebration.”

Some of the older generation didn’t appreciate his enthusiasm. In what has become known as the “hot stick” controversy, commentator Don Cherry criticized Ovechkin’s celebrations and Ovechkin snapped back with the way he celebrated the following game. Crosby, his contemporary, even had things to say about his celebrations.

While Cherry complained on broadcasts with thousands of listeners, in rinks around the country, kids were jumping into the boards and pumping their fists.

“Especially when he was younger, he had some pretty good celebrations that I liked to mimic when I was playing street hockey or even in my own game,” McMichael said.

McMichael is now Ovechkin’s teammate and has a long list of memories. But, when he thinks about favorite Ovechkin moments before he knew him, the “hot stick” celebration is up there.

“Jumping into the glass, nobody used to do that,” Weiss said. “... And now, yeah, you’ll see it all the time. Like even today, you’ll see little 8-year-olds, they score a goal, they’ll jump into the glass.”

You see NHL players doing it, too.

Authentic appeal

Weiss’ family had gotten to know Bäckström’s family, and one year, his mother invited the former Cap for Thanksgiving.

Backstrom accepted the invitation with the request to bring a friend.

He walked in with Ovechkin.

Over dinner and board games, Weiss learned Ovechkin is exactly who he always thought he was. Although Ovechkin was known for his extravagant celebrations, it always seemed like he celebrated just as hard, if not harder, for his teammates.

“We wound up playing Catch Phrase,” Weiss said. “[His] English was not fantastic at the time, but he got super into it. His Catch Phrase style kind of matched his hockey style. Like he’s jumping up and down for his team if they got it.”

His genuine enthusiasm remained even in potentially uncomfortable social situations.

In 2014, the American Special Hockey Association held its first skate with the Capitals. Executive Director Jen O’Brien said former coach Barry Trotz introduced Ovechkin to ASHA, and he immediately said yes to attending an event.

Her instructions to Ovechkin, who had little experience with people with disabilities, were to be himself and “let it happen.” But she also let him know, if he was uncomfortable or didn’t know what to do, she would be at his back.

Ovechkin never needed her help.

“I don’t think he understood, or even comprehends right now, that that sincerity and authenticity, how meaningful that is,” O’Brien said.

Ovechkin returned after that first skate, and he has showed up ever since.

Ovechkin became an official ambassador of ASHA. He hosted events. He contributed money. The organization has expanded from 45 programs to 140.

One athlete from New Jersey who is adamantly NOT a Caps fan still wanted to share his gratitude with Ovechkin, but he didn’t want to make a big deal about it, O’Brien said. He went to a Caps game at the Prudential Center (wearing Devils gear, of course) and got there early with a sign saying thank you. O’Brien asked Ovechkin to skate by and give him a nod. He did exactly that.

The Baltimore Banners got to meet Ovechkin at an event. Their goalie, Larry Shanks-Leas, has an autism diagnosis and embraces it, but Ovechkin didn’t know that. When Larry asked him a question, he gave him a response about being himself.

“For someone like Larry, who owns the fact that he’s on the spectrum and is proud of it and is an incredible human being because of it, for him to hear one of the greatest hockey players ever say, just be yourself, man, it’s just impactful beyond words,” Leone said.

And his tone was perfect for the teenager.

“He had a little humor in there when he talked about his younger self … but mostly he has that motivational tone inside his voice,” Larry said. “... I see that all he did was put his mind to it. He kept his motivation going to do what he wanted to do one day.”

Ovechkin then took a picture with and spoke to each of Larry’s teammates. Larry said that, although he is a goalie, he wants to be like Ovechkin in the way he lifts up his teammates and gives back to his community.

Since becoming Ovechkin’s teammate, McMichael has seen how his role model is not just a hockey hero but a community hero.

“They had that night where they brought out all these kids that all said they started playing hockey all because of him,” McMichael said. “So I think, when you look back at his career, like what he did on the ice is super important, but I think, off the ice, he really helped the community grow and introduced the game of hockey to so many kids.”

Nobody knows

Tuesday might be Ovechkin’s last game as a Capital. It might not be.

Ovechkin will be 41 in September. He has two teammates who were born after he made his NHL debut.

“I’m a few years younger than Ovi,” Leone said he tells his players. “So it’s like, can you believe this guy’s older than Coach Matt? And they’re like, I didn’t know they made people older than Coach Matt.”

Recchi played until 43, but he said his decision to walk away was made easier because his last team, the Bruins, won a Cup in the final year of his contract.

Recchi also said his teammates helped keep him young, and Ovechkin still looks like he’s having fun. Ovechkin’s physical style wears on the body faster. Leone said, if Ovechkin decides not to retire, his reaction would be, “Oh man, this guy’s actually nuts,” but he could see it happening. Caps fans don’t seem like they’d be mad.

“I enjoyed watching him two weeks ago, and I’ll continue to enjoy watching him [if he doesn’t retire],” Nick Rodricks said. “And just like I said, even if he’s only out there a few minutes, watching him celebrate somebody else’s goal is a gift I hope he keeps giving people.”

Weiss and Longsworth think this is it for Ovechkin, based on years of following his career.

“If you kind of piece it together, he had indicated that he liked how [Wayne] Gretzky just kind of announced his retirement,” Longsworth said. “... I think he didn’t want to have a spectacle in every arena, in his last game in those arenas, where the other team shakes his hand and everything else.”

Every era comes to an end. Gretzky retired. Lemieux did, too. Someday, Crosby, whose hair is starting to feature silver threads, will as well.

The Capitals have a strong locker room, even with the recent losses of veterans John Carlson and Nic Dowd. But they would be losing more than a captain. They’d be losing the face of the franchise.

“It’s hard to find guys like that who have the charisma like he has and who build cities up to the point where he’s gotten it,” Recchi said.

“He’s literally changed the game,” Wilson said. “He’s changed the game of hockey. He’s changed everything in the city from that. What he’s done may not ever be done again for a franchise.”