SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Evgeni Malkin is a child.
Let the official ledger of the Stanley Cup Final record for posterity that this immensely accomplished individual, in the immediate aftermath of an exhaustive effort amid the highest-stakes hockey in the world, skated off the SAP Center slush late Monday night right into a rabid, relentlessly noisy pack of Pittsburgh fans hanging over the runway railings who'd been cheering and chanting ... and he essentially joined them.
As a certain local icon is fond of observing, you had to be here to believe it.
Because this alleged adult of allegedly 29 years not only paused to high-five dozens of hanging hands, not only punched his stick into the air to acknowledge those fans he couldn't reach but also, in a moment that probably ought to be the opening scene of his biopic someday, let out the equivalent of a lengthy primal scream.
"Ya! Ya!" he exclaimed up into the seats. "We gonna do it! Ya!"
There were other random syllables in there, too. Sorry, I couldn't make them all out.
To continue reading, log into your account:
