The Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins matched up on Saturday afternoon in the first of back-to-back games against each other.
Washington took the first of the two rivalry meetings on the road, 6-3, with many of Pittsburgh’s key players sitting out due to day-to-day injuries. One of those players was star Russian center Evgeni Malkin, who we now know has traveled to DC for the two-game series finale, as shown in an Instagram Story posted by Nastya Ovechkina, Alex Ovechkin’s wife.
In the video, Malkin is seen playing hallway hockey with Ovechkin’s kids, Sergei and Ilya. Two other hockey-playing brothers, Aliaksei Protas and Ilya Protas, then arrive at the Ovechkin household to join the fun.
Ovechkin hosting Malkin returns the favor from Friday night in Pittsburgh. Before the two teams became mutual combatants again, a large contingent of their Russian and Belarusian players met to break bread.
The Capitals made the short trip up on Friday after practicing at home, allowing Ovechkin, the Protas siblings, and Ivan Miroshnichenko to hang out with Malkin and Ilya Solovyov. The cross-rivalry meeting was posted on Instagram by George Makricostas, a Greek national team player and marketing agent for Malkin and other Penguins players.
Malkin has regularly hosted Capitals-Penguins hangouts over the years, most notably a dinner at his house in 2023 that brought in Ovechkin, the elder Protas, Alex Alexeyev, and Evgeny Kuznetsov.
The veteran center has formed a great friendship with Ovechkin, his one-time bitter rival, which has particularly blossomed as the two have gotten older. The two exchanged jerseys after a Caps-Pens game in November.
