On Sunday, Team Russia arrived at the Pittsburgh Penguins’ practice facility in Cranberry Township, Pennsylvania, to train for several days ahead of their game Thursday against Team Canada.
The bizarreness of the situation was not lost on Alex Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov, and Dmitry Orlov, whose Caps team was eliminated by rival Pittsburgh during the 2015-16 playoffs. While the teammates practiced, there was a giant Mario Lemieux banner hanging at the south end of the rink. According to CSN Mid-Atlantic’s Tarik El-Bashir, Ovechkin’s temporary locker was placed right beside where Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby normally dresses too.
“Yeah, it’s kind of weird,” Ovechkin cracked. “The guys joke around.”
“I think Sid is sitting here,” he added, gesturing toward an empty locker between his stall and Evgeni Malkin’s. “They put my here next to his stall, so it’s kind of weird.”
“We’re friends,” Malkin said to El-Bashir when asked about the Russian Caps. “They’re good guys. It’s very funny. Lots of joking around. It’s a great time.”
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Judging the below GIFs, it sure was.
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