Evgeny Malkin: "It will be great to play against Sidney Crosby in Pittsburgh"

After the Russian national team's first training session in Pittsburgh, the USA, Evgeny Malkin answered some questions:

Evgeny Malkin, Russian national team forward:

- It will be great to play against Sidney Crosby here in Pittsburgh. However, for me, it will be strange to be on the visiting team's bench. Hopefully, the fans will support us.

- When on the ice with Sidney Crosby, do you ever speak to each other? You will have this opportunity on Wednesday.

- Sid talks a lot on the ice, too much. When he gets angry, he speaks too fast for me, and I have trouble understanding what he's saying.

- What impressions do you have from the training session after a long flight?

- We needed to skate. We didn't work out that hard, we simply worked over some tactics.

We have a good team, and the World Cup is a new challenge. It's a great feeling to be in my second hometown with the national team, I didn't think that this would ever happen. I'm happy that we will play against Canada here. This training arena was only built a year ago, and it's ideal for match preparation.

Russian Ice Hockey Federation