Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can the Penguins find a way to win without Erik Karlsson?
Episode Date: January 13, 2026The Penguins will be without the services of defenseman Erik Karlsson for at least two weeks, striking a massive blow to their blue line. Hunter and Patrick begin the show previewing tonight’s match...up against the RED HOT Tampa Bay Lightning, who come to town on a 10-game win streak (1:00). What can the Penguins do to get a win against the NHL’s hottest team? Then, the Penguins announced on Tuesday morning that Karlsson will be out for “at least” two weeks with a lower-body injury (13:14). Who needs to step up, and could this be the thing that derails this season? Finally, Blake Lizotte signed a three-year extension on Monday, and it is a very deserved one. (23:00).Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern. A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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Penguins will look to slow down the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning on Tuesday night,
and Pat and I are going to preview that game for you all right after this.
You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins,
part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes.
You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp.
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Pat, the Penguins welcome in the red hot Tampa Bay Lightning to PBG paints arena on Tuesday night,
the Lightning.
They played on Monday a 5 to 1 beat down of the Philadelphia Flyers.
they are now heading across the state of Pennsylvania to come play.
Penguins and the Lightning, they have won 10 in a row.
They are looking like the best team in the Eastern Conference.
So this is going to be quite the challenge,
even if the Lightning are on the second half of a back-to-back.
Oh, yeah, Penguins are also going to see Andre Vasselowski in this game
because the Lightning decided to save him for the Penguins
and not play him on Monday against the Flyers.
Vasilevsky.
You all know it.
Top five goaltender in the league, top three.
Honestly, you can still make an argument that he is.
is the best go-tender in hockey.
I still lean a little bit towards Igor Shostork in New York,
but Basilevsky is still one of those dudes.
He is fantastic having another great season.
The Lightning do have a big injury concern right now with Braden Point.
Pat, you saw it last night, I sent it to you.
Did not look good leaving the ice.
He is making the trip to Pittsburgh.
His status is up in the air.
Personally, I would be a bit surprised if he played just because it did not look good
as he was leaving the ice, did not return.
turn to the game after scoring.
If he's out, that is a massive loss, considering how good he has been for Tampa Bay this
year.
11 goals, 30 points, and 37 games.
He has been banged up a little bit, but when this player is on, he is one of their best
players.
Outside of that, you still have Nikita Kutrov, who's doing his thing, 23 goals, 67 points
and 40 games.
Jake Gensel, 20 goals and 47 points.
He had a nice little whack on Travis Kinect me last night.
I was watching the game a little bit.
He has not like Travis Kahnsell.
for a long time going back to his time here in Pittsburgh, Brandon Hagle. He has been great.
We already just at us point. Anthony Sorrelli, you know what you're going to get from him
defensively, but he can still also score. Victor Hedman, of course. They have Darren Radish,
who has 12 goals and 39 points in 38 games here. This is a team man. They're firing on all
cylinders. They score a lot. They get great goal tending from Vasilevsky. They play well in their own
zone. They're going up against a true juggernaut in the lightning tonight. If there were
ever a chance for the penguins to slow them down. It's tonight because they're on the second
half of a back to back. And I know that they did pretty much boat race the Flyers last night,
but it was a chippy game. It was a emotional game for both clubs. And don't discount that.
That takes it out of you. When you play games like that, there's oftentimes a let down the next
game, especially when you have to play back to back. But at the end of the day, this is a Tampa Bay
team that is just rolling right now. And they don't seem to have many, if any, weaknesses right now.
So if you're the Penguins, you've got to really hope that that game against the Flyers on
Monday night took it out of them a little bit. The travel is going to take it out of them a little bit.
but it's, I'm not doom and glooming this.
I think the penguins historically, even through this struggle that's been the past few seasons,
always seem to play well against the Tampa Bay Lightning for whatever reason.
They are genuinely good against them.
And I'll say this about this Penguins team before we get into any X's and O's and stats
and everything like that.
If there's one thing I've enjoyed about this Penguins,
one's team this year on the whole is it kind of feels like when their backs are against the wall,
they're almost at their best. And I don't want to pretend like, oh, they lost a back to back
situation over the weekend and everybody's counting them out. That's not the case at all.
There's still a lot of positivity around this club. But between what we're going to talk about
in a little bit with Eric Carlson coming off of two, not awful, but definitely disheartening
losses over the weekend.
Then you welcome in a Tampa Bay team
that everybody is talking up is one of the best.
A lot of things setting up for the Penguins to surprise some people tonight.
I hope so.
And you mentioned the past history against the Lightning and how good they have been.
I do have some numbers here for you in my notes.
Penguins have points in eight of their last 11 games against Lightning.
They have wins in seven of those games,
three regulation losses and only one overtime loss.
Also, the Penguins have points in nine of their last 13 against Lightning with
eight of those being wins, and in their last five home games against the lightning,
Penguins have wins in three of those games.
So yes, penguins usually do play Tampa Bay very well.
They won that very wild and chaotic back and forth a fair a little over a month ago.
I will say, though, you cannot play like that in this game.
That was very much a track meet where you're trying to go blow for blow with a team that
is very happy to do so.
You cannot do that tonight.
You have to keep things very simple, especially against the team on the second half of a back
back with travel. I did have this in my notes. Totally forgot to mention it.
Victor Edmund is on injured reserve so the penguins won't be seeing him tonight.
What I said earlier usually stands where you know what you're going to get from
Edmund, but again, he is hurt right now. He is not playing tonight, Ryan McDonough. He is also
on injury reserve. And as I said, right in point, status is very up in the air that injury
did not look good. But again, Pat, going back to my original point, got to keep things simple,
keep them into the outside. You can't let Nikita Kutrov really burn you with his playmaking ability.
I mean, they were giving him, especially in that last matchup, way too much time to do his thing,
whether it's on the power play or at five on five.
We all know how great his vision is, how he can fit pucks in the slimmest of margins.
You cannot give him really any time tonight at all.
I just thought even though they won that last game in Tampa, it was more of a survive and
advanced game, just the way the penguins are playing has to be much better in this one.
That's what I was originally going to push back on about that last game is,
It wasn't so much of a track meet as it was.
The penguins went up 3-0 and just kind of took their foot off the gas.
Tampa deserves credit because they pushed really hard in that game.
And we spent the better part of five minutes here talking up how good Tampa Bay is because they are.
So they deserve credit for emptying the tank and coming back after the penguins in that game.
And the penguins got extraordinarily lucky to get out of there with a win.
But tonight, if you're the penguins, you nailed it.
You kind of have to play simple.
You've got to really just almost, I know we kind of went after the Bruins for this over the weekend,
but you almost have to play a Bruins type game tonight,
not that you have to take a lead, go into a shell,
and just play nothing but defense.
Turn it into a slog.
But you are going to have to play a little bit more of a boring defensive
style against a team like the Lightning because you did say this, which is correct overall,
you don't want to get into a track meet with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
This isn't just a comparison to the Penguins.
It's a comparison to most of the league.
There are not many teams that have the talent level that the Tampa Bay Lightning have.
So if you try to go blow for blow with them, very good chance you come out on the losing end.
So if you're the penguins, you've got to keep it simple.
You've got to, this to me is a perfect Justin Brzoe Anthony Mantha game.
They need to live in front of Andre Vazolevsky.
And as we've seen with him, like many elite goaltenders, you get in their face a little bit,
you poke them a little bit, you make their lives a little bit difficult.
He starts to get frustrated.
So the penguins do have to make his life miserable when they get the chance.
And in the defensive zone, you have to lock it down where this team is really, really going to make you pay.
Defensively, they have to do a lot of the same things they were doing this past week.
I mean, they only gave up three goals in two games.
Yeah, the goal tending I felt was very strong with Sheelovs and Skinner.
But I also liked the way the penguins were defending outside of Ryan Shea giving the flames a goal.
But otherwise, felt like they defended very well.
the offense just wasn't there as weekend.
Speaking of that, it looks like Dam Ews is over his little brain fart
because the lines were changed on Tuesday morning during the morning skate.
And also speaking of Manta and Brzo, they're getting some help back because Ben Kendall
is back to being the third line center, centering Manta and Brzo.
That is the right call.
You got to get those two guys some help.
Second line, Malkin with Novak and Chinakov.
So Novak is still the second line center.
I'm kind of curious if Malkin is still at wing because maybe he's still not 100%
and healthy, pure speculation on my part, but I still want Malkin back at center at some point
here.
I do think though, and I agree with that point.
I do like Novak playing with Malkin because I do think they have chemistry.
I would just want it reverse Malkin centering him.
And what I was going to say to that point, Hunter, is I think this is actually a little
less Malkin still getting up to speed and more rewarding Novak.
He has been really good this season.
And we talked about it in the preseason.
Kyle Dubas talked about it in the preseason that they're going to reward young or younger players who play well.
And Novak has been good this year.
So I think it's a both and situation here where I think they're getting Gino back up to speed and they're rewarding Novak for playing well.
And at the end of the day, we talk about this all the time.
this can change like that.
If the line doesn't work well or Novak's not really up to snuff at center,
they can just go, all right, you know, take the middle here.
And we'll see what happens.
But at the end of the day, I think it's both and I just think that they're rewarding
Novak and maybe they're getting Gino back up to speed.
Yeah, I could also see that.
I just do want to see Gino back at center here at some point just because, again,
I still like him way better at that position.
The top line, Raquel Crosby and welcome back Brian Russey.
He was a field full participant, excuse me, at the morning.
skate and then Russ confirmed after that he is set to return tonight.
So that is big news.
And then Connor Duer, Blake Lazan, and Nollachari, Tristan Brose, one of the extras.
Also, Kevin Hayes, an extra.
Hayes will be scratched.
And then defensively, Kulak with Latang, Watherspoon, St. Ivany, Shane Clifton.
And then Ryan Graves will be a healthy scratch after being recalled from Wilkesbury.
And then Archer Shilov, he was the first goalie off the morning skate.
So he will start in this game.
And I think that's going to do it for this first segment, because coming up in the second
segment, you all noticed a certain Penguins defenseman was not mentioned in the opening lineup for
tonight. Eric Carlson, he is set to be out for a little bit, and Pat and are going to give our thoughts
on that injury coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about
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All right, we're back here on this episode of the locked on Penguins podcast.
I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes.
That's my good friend and host, Patronham, and Pat.
Eric Carlson is set to be out for at least two weeks before he gets re-evaluated by the Penguins.
it appears that he was hurt during that game in Boston on Sunday.
And there is no way around it.
That sucks for this team.
They simply cannot afford to lose Eric Carlson.
He does it all in the blue line.
He especially does it all offensively.
I shudder to think what this blue line is going to look like
when in terms of going from defense to offense out of their own zone,
carrying the play from the blue line.
It's going to be tough sliding just because of the way he has played this season.
Again, man, this isn't.
good. He's been the Penguins best player not named Sidney Crosby this year.
There's really no way around that. It's a massive loss. And it's to the point where we'll see
what happens. Neither of us have a crystal ball and can tell the future. Or for my favorite
reference, neither of us have a Delorean that can travel through time. So we don't know
exactly what the repercussions of this will be. But the biggest risk,
and the biggest thing that is going to be detrimental in the absence of Carlson is that you look at this blue line and it's thin outside of him.
The top pairing is now at least quote unquote top pairing is Kulak and Latang, which is a pairing I've really liked since it's been brought together.
I think Kulak has done a really good job stabilizing Chris Latang and getting him back to at least a passable level outside of some brain farts here.
and there by Chris LaTang.
On the whole, that pairing's been solid.
I want to see what this means for Parker Watherspoon,
because he has been a revelation this season.
If you had him penciled in as their number two defensemen this year,
step forward, collect your prize because you hit the lottery on that one.
But we'll see if he can actually be a stabilizing force
because he's now with Jack St. Ivany,
who has been pretty rough this season.
Him in a top four role, that's scary, man.
That's really scary considering that I haven't liked a lot of his work on the bottom pair this season.
Nor have I.
I think that it's been a little bit too much of a microscope on the third pairing,
and that includes both of us because you're famous for saying it.
The third pair at this point is deck chairs just being rearranged because there's not a lot there.
but I'm interested to see can Watherspoon kind of work the same magic that he did with Eric Carlson with Jack St. Ivany. No, dear listener, I am not comparing Jack St. Ivany and Chris, or Eric Carlson, excuse me, they are very much not the same player. I'm more discussing the fact that Watherspoon really deserves a lot of credit for the way Carlson has played this year as his right-hand man, so to speak. So we'll see. But,
there's no way around it.
This could be an extremely massive blow to the Penguins' playoff hopes in their season moving forward.
Yeah, I just really hope the wheels don't fully come off just with Carlson being out for at least two weeks.
And help out, as I said, it could be longer because he's only set to be re-evaluated in a couple of weeks.
So none of this is good.
Again, his elite ability to walk the blue line, generate offense from the blue line with a lot of the Penguins top players.
out there is second to none.
His play on the power play this season has been extraordinary.
His play on the penalty kill has also been really good this season.
That's another loss that we really haven't discussed yet.
He has been really good on the penalty kill for this team.
And I think his loss is going to be felt there.
I don't think it's going to be to the level of Blake Luzotte because he has been
a revelation for that unit.
But I have really liked the way that Carlson has played on the PK, his ability to get to
lose pucks in the corners.
his ability to really get clears when other players haven't been able to.
It's all been really good this season.
So they're going to miss him in a wide variety of ways.
As you said, outside of Sydney Crosby,
this is the player that the Penguins really can't afford to lose, man.
This is also a big moment for Chris LaTang.
I know that we have been rightfully tough on him up to this point this season
because it's been deserved.
But if there were ever a moment,
for Chris LaTang to rediscover his form.
It's right now.
I don't have any unrealistic expectations.
I'm not sitting here telling you that Chris LaTang is going to get himself back to 2016 levels
because believe it or not, that was a decade ago.
So it's been quite a while.
But he has to raise his level.
He has to become the Penguins number one defenseman for at least two weeks.
I don't think that's a monumental ask of him.
We have seen it in flashes this year.
We have seen it in moments this year where we get a little bit of the old Chris LaTang back.
And a lot of it is going to be very connected to what we said about what the Penguins game plan has to be against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It just has to be simple.
When Chris Latang plays a simple game, he is really at his best because he has good vision.
He still, we have seen it in flashes this season, he still has the foot speed.
It's just cutting out those little bit of mistakes.
It's just cutting out trying to do a little too much, trying to play above your level.
Just keep everything simple.
Take what the game gives you and just hold on for these two weeks.
And the good news is when you look at their schedule for the next two weeks,
other than Tampa Bay tonight,
they're not going up against a ton of juggernauts
save for maybe the oilers,
and even them, they're struggling a little bit still.
But at the end of the day,
you need Chris LaTang to come back.
And the other good news is your schedule over the next two weeks
is not chock full of Stanley Cup contenders.
So if you can tread water through this,
you might be okay.
Part of that schedule is the Western Canada trip,
which I know a lot of those teams, Pat,
aren't very good. I mean, the flames aren't good, even though the penguins just lost to them.
You know, Seattle is not very good. They're also going to be on that road trip. Vancouver is,
we all know. They stink. You brought up Edmonton. They're by far the best team on that trip,
but it's still a tough trip just because you're going so far away,
completely different time zone. It's just, it's a lot on that type of trip. But I do agree over
the next couple of weeks, the schedule does ease up, but points are so out of premium.
You are in the race, and now you have to try and bank these points without your
second best player this season. So it's going to be tough sledding. Let's see if they can do it.
I agree with you about Letang. It's time for him to really step up, especially on the top powerful
unit. He's going to be replacing Carlson there. He's going to get all the assignments with the
Crosby line. Carlson had been getting a lot of those. Now it's going to be Latang. How does he respond?
I don't want to see him get overly aggressive with some of those pinches. I don't want to see him,
you know, try to do too much. As you said, keep things simple, take what the game gives you. And also,
just get back to his roots a little bit.
He doesn't have the foot speed that he used to have.
It can come out there in spurts,
but I just still want to see him get back to where he used to be with this team.
So, hey, it's a big test.
Let's see how he does with Brett Kulak on the top here.
But again, people make no mistake,
this is a really tough loss for the Penguins.
But I think that's going to do it for this second segment coming up to end the show.
you got some big news on Monday. Blake LaZont has re-signed with the penguins on a new
three-year extension, and Pat and I are going to give our thoughts on that news coming up right after
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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.
I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host, Patrick Damp and Pat.
Penguins announced some big news on Monday, resigning Blake LaZont to a three-year deal,
2.25 million per year.
I am totally good with this contract.
I'll say it right there.
The only thing I was surprised at Pat, and I tweeted this, was that,
They didn't take this up to the deadline and maybe get a few calls on him just because I think teams could have really given them some pretty good offers.
I'm not saying they would have traded him or anything, but I think Kyle Davis definitely could have at least explored that.
I was just surprised they got it out of the way early.
Again, people, I am not saying this deal is bad or anything.
I think it is totally fine.
And I think it is a deserved deal for Lazot, considering the way that he has played on the fourth line,
considering how great he has been on the penalty kill.
He has been fantastic all season.
and he's been exactly what the penguins have needed on the fourth line,
and it's a deserved contract.
What I've liked it to be, you know, a two-year term, sure,
just because sometimes I don't really like giving out a lot of term to fourth-liners,
but the third year, I think, brings down the AAV.
So in the end, it's totally fine.
They have a lot of caps space to spend,
and he's still only 28 years old.
If anyone is really mad about this,
I think you're just really missing the forest for the trees.
So those are really my main thoughts.
what say you. Fun fact, there are two players on the Penguins right now who are signed past
the 2027, 2028 season. It is Blake Lazot and Ryan Graves. So just something to keep in mind there.
But overall, I agree. I think that this is a richly deserved extension for Blake Lazot.
He has been incredible this season. He has really been,
a catalyst for this team.
When he's in the lineup, they win a whole hell of a lot more than they lose.
And yes, I know causation isn't correlation.
It's not that Blake Lizott is putting this team on his back and carrying him through,
but he's a big piece of their success.
He's exactly what we talked about when they acquired him a couple of years ago,
is that he is the kind of player that over the past few years,
the penguins have kind of missed.
He's a player that drags you into the fight.
He's a player that goes out, plays at a million miles an hour,
is a bastard to play against,
and is just all gas, no breaks, 100% of the time.
And 2.25 for a fourth line center in our rising cap world
is about the going rate.
So it's not like they overpaid.
and you still have so much flexibility.
Oh, yeah.
With that contract.
I'm with you in the sense that I'm surprised they announced this in January.
Like I figured this would be a March or April announcement.
I figured it would be after the trade deadline after they at least take some calls.
That's at least my thinking on it.
But the thing is you look at the way his game has progressed the last couple of seasons,
both with the Kings and now with the Penguins.
this is a player who's gotten a lot better
relatively a lot better.
I'm not pretending like he was a fringe guy
who turned into a regular,
but his game has improved with each passing season.
And if you get to a point in the next two to three years
where you need to push yourself over the line,
you might not be where you want to be,
if it goes that way,
there's a lot of teams that'll be very happy
to take on 2.25 million for Blake.
Lizotte for two or three years. So he deserves every penny of this extension. And I know you don't
love to fall in love with bottom six forwards, but he has really been worth his weight in gold
since becoming a penguin. Yeah, he's been great, especially with the way that he four checks in the
offensive zone, the way that he's also just a hound. He's a lot of fun to watch. He's great on the
penalty kill, blocks a lot of shots, gets into the shooting lanes, gets to lose.
Pucks gets to clears. Again, at a higher level that Eric Carlson, but still different position,
but I think Blake Lizott, he is the glue, in my opinion, that really makes that unit go
with the way that he has played, especially this year. Now the question turns to, what do they
do with Connor Dewer? He's also a free agent after the year. I don't think they're going to bring back
Nolachari. He's into his mid-30s now. Just doesn't make sense for a team that's really trying to, you know,
reset, still rebuild as quickly as possible. I don't think they're going to bring him back.
or should they, in my opinion, just,
I know Patty's been better this year,
but that's not someone I'm really giving,
you know, a little bit of term to really at all.
But hey,
I am totally good with this extension,
very deserved with the way that he has played this year
and throughout his entire penguin's tenure as a whole.
You also have a lot of young guys on the way up
that can fill in those fourth line wing roles with Blake Lazot.
So I do think you look at the rest of the NHL roster
as we sit here on January.
13th. And I think they identified that Blake Lazott is a, I don't want to say building
block, but he's at the very least a piece you want to hold on to for the next few years as
part of your, I found the word foundation as part of your foundation moving forward.
And then you'll fill in around him. So totally good with this.
Right. I also just don't think, even though they have some more young forwards on the way,
I don't think they have a lot of those guys that can do what he does on a nightly basis.
I know that sounds weird just because he's a fourth line center,
but the way that he plays,
the way that he impacts the game,
I just don't think a lot of the young players that are still up and coming can really do what he does.
So the penguins were probably also just like,
hey,
we're going to give you this three-year extension.
You easily fill a role.
You're not coming out of the lineup.
And they did that.
So again, totally good with this.
I think he has been.
great since becoming a penguin and, you know, really good news on Monday that he's going to be
sticking around. Again, I think the third year really brings down the AAV a little bit. I think
if it was a two-year contract, Pat, I think the AAV would have been closer to $2.5 million personally,
but that's just my opinion. I think that's going to do it, though, for Tuesday's episode
of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to
slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you guys on Wednesday,
recamping this game against Tampa Bay.
Obviously, it'll be Warrior Helmet Wednesday, giving out our weekly MVP,
and then getting you all set for the rest of the week as well.
So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes.
Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.
We'll be back on Wednesday.
