View on Instagram from @rsportru: Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar with the Stanley Cup in Moscow
Malkin and Gonchar were at the Hockey Museum in Moscow for a public ceremony. The moment moved Malkin, who has been a member of three championship teams with the Penguins, to reminisce about bringing the Cup to Russia for the first time in 2009.
"When I took the Cup to Magnitogorsk (where he was born), I still remember tearing up when I lifted the Cup over my head there," Malkin said. "Every day you get to spend with it is so special."
Malkin will turn 31 on Monday and said he scaled back his celebration this year. After winning the Cup in 2016, Malkin put his newborn son Nikita, who was born between Games 1 and 2 of the Final, in the trophy and took pictures before drinking champagne out of the Cup.
"We found out the Cup
Malkin sustained a facial injury celebrating the championship after Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final on June 1, but was able to laugh off the still-evident scar.
"Scars only decorate a man," Malkin said. "The cut was pretty deep; the doctor tried to take me to the locker room, but I really wanted to stay on the ice, so I just kept skating around with a towel and wiping the blood off."
Gonchar also had the trophy Wednesday and shared it with his family.
