Hi guys, welcome to double shot of penguins.

I'm Dan Kovachovich of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports.

I've covered the penguins for many a moon.

Actually, the first year that I was put on the penguins beat,

this was at the local newspaper, was 1997.

So I'm approaching some kind of anniversary of covering the team

through Mario and Yager and Sid and Alexei Kovalev was in there too

and Gino and all kinds of great players

and it used to be once upon a time

that the hockey

playoffs when they were clinched

they would be not at all a big deal.

It would be something that would be kind of an afterthought.

In some cases, the players didn't even realize they had done it.

And it wasn't until reporters had entered the room.

And they would tell them, hey, by the way, how does it feel to make the

playoffs?

And I'd like to make the what?

Because they were in first place or second place and you would just, they didn't even

think about it.

Well, I'm heading out to Newark, New Jersey tonight to cover the game tomorrow.

And in that game,

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