It was the morning of Oct. 16, 2024, and I was a week into my 42nd season of covering the Penguins. At that point in my career, I figured I had seen – and done – just about everything the game (and all that surrounds it) had to offer. Between exhibition, regular-season, neutral-site and playoff games, I had worked in at least 100 arenas across North America. I had watched the legendary likes of Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, among others, perform on a daily basis.