Remember that time in the distant past when Pittsburgh had 5,000 fans a night and almost moved to Kansas City? Neither do any of their bandwagon fans.

Congrats on packing the building to see Crosby and Malkin; you'd only be able to do that in every city in Canada with a population over 18,000.

Imagine when the NHL finally, formally returns to Pittsburgh on this fittingly wintry Wednesday night, with the Penguins playing host to the Maple Leafs amid the game‘s two brightest stars, 18,387 of its most dedicated fans and about a half-million more near local TV sets.

If you ask me, it‘ll look like hockey‘s coming home. - Dejan Kovacevic

Not just our home.

The sport‘s new home.

See, with all due respect to our Ontarian visitors in town, I dare say it‘s now plenty safe to posit that this golden little triangle, this most fortunate magnet to four of the greatest talents in NHL history … this is hockey‘s new Mecca.

Toronto?

Well, that‘s the consensus choice across Canada, but let‘s be real: It‘s based on black-and-white footage. The Leafs haven‘t won the Cup since 1967, the sport‘s longest such streak, or even reached a final. Just one division title in all that time, too. No playoffs since 2004.

Personal favorite: No scoring champion since Gordie Drillon in 1938.

Yes, that Gordie Drillon.

Yeah, I can hear the uninformed cynics repeating the same tired refrain about how they had the NHL‘s worst record and lowest home attendance in 2003-04.

Save it.

Using "facts" to point out blatant hypocrisy is "uninformed".

Even then, Pittsburgh never stopped loving its Penguins.

You know unless you count the 13,000 unsold seats every night. Boo hoo the team is bad. Leafs fans still show up. Montreal fans still show up. Edmonton fans still show up.