Forward Evgeni Malkin and defender Sergei Gonchar of the Pittsburgh Penguins will play on Sunday against Denmark in Russia's second game of the qualification round at the 2010 World Ice Hockey Championship.
Malkin and Gonchar arrived in Cologne on May 15 shortly after the Penguins had been eliminated from the Stanley Cup finals by the Montreal Canadiens. They will be put on the Russian roster sometime on Sunday.
"It is 100% that Sergei Gonchar and Yevgeni Malkin will play in the game [against Denmark]," Russian coach Vyacheslav Bykov said at a new conference after a tough game against host Germany on Saturday, which Russia won 3-2.
Bykov confirmed that with Gonchar's arrival the Russian side would play on Sunday with four full pairs of defenders.
Denmark, which stunned the hockey world by beating the United States, Finland and Slovakia at the current tournament, will most likely offer stiff resistance to the star-studded Russian team.
"The Danish team is a very serious opponent," Bykov said.
Defending champion Russia remains unbeaten after four games of the tournament with wins over Belarus, Slovakia, Kazakhstan and Germany.
COLOGNE (Germany), May 16 (RIA Novosti)