With the NHL’s marquee event outside(no pun intended) of the Stanley Cup just a day away, NHL.com followed both Alexander Ovechkin and Evgeni Malkin onto the ice at Heinz Field ahead of the team’s first skate outdoors. Thanks to some fantastic editing both players walked onto the ice set to the same music as they made their way outside. Ovechkin would also speak to Alyonka Larionov about the importance of the game in both Russian and English.

Ovi would later give a young skater an atomic wedgie that the young man wont soon forget. Washington’s other Alex gave a rare interview where he would be asked questions in English, answer in Russian, and have them translated thanks to Larionov Semyon Varlamov has been tipped to start the game after coming off back-to-back impressive wins.

A reminder for some, the Winter Classic has been pushed back in time due to the weather and will now have a 8pm start instead of it’s usual 1 o’clock start. All videos can be found below courtesy of the NHL and NHL.com and also, we’d like to wish you all a Happy New Year and С Новым годом thank you for your continued love and support. 2010 was a great year for FRWG and we hope to make ever 2011 better.