Patriotic gesture helps two Pittsburgh Penguins fans land Stanley Cup Finals tickets

Pittsburgh Penguins fan Nick Comito of Greensburg, PA poses outside of Consol Energy Center prior to Game One of the 2016 NHL Stanley Cup Final between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the San Jose Sharks on May 30, 2016 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Two lucky Pittsburgh area fans landed a free pair of the hottest tickets in the city thanks to a minor gesture of patriotism on Monday.

Penguins fans Nick Comito and Mitch Bell spent the morning of Memorial Day as part of a band playing "Taps" at a memorial service in a nearby town. The two college students then headed to the outdoor watch party outside of Consol Energy Center for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Comito and Bell brought an American flag to the watch party with them and secured it to a hockey stick. Getty Images photographer Bruce Bennett spotted the pair and their flag and took what was an iconic photo for Memorial Day and an important hockey game.

Naturally, the NHL posted the photo to their Instagram account. According to the Sporting News, Comito and Bell's friends started bombarding the Instagram account with comments, NHL representatives were able to locate the pair and came outside to offer them two seats in Section 224 for the game. The friends made what was likely an easy decision to ditch Bell's sister and girlfriend outside and take the NHL up on their offer.

Via Sporting News:

"I saw (Comito) come back with the two tickets in his hand, like 'We're going in,'" Bell said. "So, two free tickets, a puck signed by (Penguins player Chris Kunitz), and we're here. For zero dollars."

As the popular saying goes, a picture can be worth a thousand words. But in this case, a picture was worth two seats to Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals. That's a pretty good deal.