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PITTSBURGH -- The best time to record a hat trick is on giveaway night. It doesn't matter what the giveaway is, just so it's something fans can throw on the ice.

Sunday night, the Penguins gave away something called a sock monkey to the 18,000-plus in attendance for their game against the New York Islanders. What exactly is a sock monkey? It's this ... um ... thing pictured right here.

Yeah. Weird, right?

Well, many of them ended up hitting the ice when Penguins forward Chris Kunitz completed his second hat trick of the season late in the second period to give Pittsburgh a 4-1 lead.

See all the dots on the ice in this pic via the Post-Gazette's Seth Rorabaugh? Those aren't hats. They're sock monkeys 

For Kunitz, it's just another huge night in what has been a huge season for him. He now has 17 goals and 35 points and finds himself in the top-five of both categories league wide. 

Pretty amazing season.

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