Every year, I try to take time out of the festive season to visit the city of Pittsburgh. I have fallen in love with the city over the last decade-plus of visiting it, going back to my very first live Penguins game in January 2007 at which I asked Toronto fans around me the meaning of the “sixty-seven” chant, witnessed a Mark Recchi hat trick, and fell in love with a cramped, charming inverted steel bowl of an arena and a franchise.
This December was no different, as I attended Pittsburgh’s recent games against Boston, Los Angeles, and Anaheim and saw the return of Matt Murray, the surge of Bryan Rust, a Jake Guentzel milkshake goal, and Pittsburgh taking four out of six points.