Burgh Proud

After nearly two decades of playing professional sports, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang don’t often get nervous when taking the ice.

But taking the field is a different story.

The Penguins franchise cornerstones led the Terrible Towel Twirl ahead of Sunday’s home opener for the Pittsburgh Steelers at Acrisure Stadium, tasked with hyping up the crowd of 66,734 fans in attendance.

“It was a great experience. Me and Tanger were a little bit nervous before, but we just relaxed and tried to show that we were relaxed, and try to cheer to fans,” Malkin said. “I think it's good. Good idea, and a great experience for me. People love.”

“Obviously, it was their own home opener, everybody was pretty excited,” Letang added. “So, it got really loud when we stepped on. Like, I got jacked up. My job was to hype them up. But I think I got hyped up, so it was pretty cool.”

Drew O’Connor joined his teammates at the game, taking in warmups from the sideline and serving as their cheerleader while they sprinted onto the grass.

“They did well yesterday, so it was fun to see,” O’Connor said before adding, “I think they didn't know what they were gonna do, but they just let the crowd get to them, and they got them pumped up.

“It was pretty funny, I thought they were going to get security to pull them off the field. They stayed on a little past their welcome, I think [laughs]. I think they were supposed to stop at the 10, I think Geno got up to the 20. It was awesome.”

O’Connor was wearing a T.J. Watt jersey, while Letang went more old-school, repping Hall of Fame linebacker Jack Lambert – who also wears 58. And of course, Malkin stuck with his trusty Troy Polamalu jersey he’s been rocking for years.

“He give it to me probably, like, 15 years ago. I know him as a person a little bit, and he's a great guy, and I think he's the best defensive (player) ever,” Malkin said. “I watched how they played in 2009, he dominated. I love this guy, and I love his jersey.”

Malkin joked that they had waited for the third member of the Big Three, Sidney Crosby, “but he did not come. Little bit tired,” he laughed. “I love that they win, for sure. Maybe we do it again next year.”

Especially since the Steelers came away with a 20-10 win over the Los Angeles Chargers, so if football players are anywhere near as superstitious as hockey players, there's a good chance Malkin and Letang will be invited back. In the meantime, Alex Nedeljkovic thinks they should bring that sort of energy into the Penguins dressing room this season.

“Pretty funny seeing Tanger and Geno doing that,” the goaltender grinned. “Tanger can have a pretty calm demeanor. Same thing with G. So, seeing them jumping up and down like that, I think we’ll have to get them going in the locker room this year a little bit.”