Sean Gentile

Yeah, how about that?

Did you guys do anything special?

Did Crowley give him a gift?

No gifts were exchanged, so we just wished him a happy birthday and moved on.

Wonderful.

Well, good to be with you, and happy birthday to Doran Dickerson.

Last night's game, going into it for me, was make or break.

It was the one that was going to tip the scales on whether your 2025-26 Pittsburgh Penguins made the playoffs.

And that game, the way they won it, the way that they responded after giving up two goals in the first three minutes of the second period, after no goals were scored in the first period,

is why my confidence level in this team is at an all-time high this season.

At the start of the year, my expectation was this was going to be a team finishing in the bottom five of the NHL standings, and you better hope the ping-pong ball 20-plus years later after hitting on Sid works again with Gavin McKenna.

Those...

any dashing hopes of that or any thoughts of that actually being a reality, pretty much around Christmas time, we're gone.

When the true gift underneath the tree, the hockey stick that arrived at your doorstep, was a competitive hockey team that brought in Justin Brezeau and Anthony Amantha and some guy named Parker Wotherspoon.

And yeah, those are three of the biggest contributors and most surprising players in the NHL this season.

So much that Anthony Mantha, of all people, scored two goals in two and a half minutes to close out the second period.

He leads the team.

Leads a team that has Sidney Crosby, sure he missed a month.

Evgeny Malkin, sure he was suspended five games.

Ricard Raquel, 30-plus goal scorer in his career.