Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Crosby's Columbus dominance gives Penguins 5th straight win!

Episode Date: November 15, 2023

It's another Victory Pod on Wednesday as Hunter and Pat recap the Penguins' 5-3 win over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Tuesday night. They dive into how this was a vintage Sidney Crosby performance and he wasn't letting them lose this game. They marvel at how he continues to do this despite being in his late 30s and how he was all over the ice. They then get into the play of Erik Karlsson and just how good he's been in this game and this season. They marvel at his mammoth slapshot in this game and how he and Geno continue to have amazing chemistry. After that, they look at the play from Tristan Jarry and how he performed, plus gush about the third line as it continues to perform well. After that, they finish the show with Warrior Helmet on Wednesday!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit is only available to US customers.Parkview AdvanceFor more than 25 years, Parkview Advance has helped businesses secure working capital. We Invite the many entrepreneurs who are Locked On NHL to learn more by calling us at 203-675-0071 or going to parkviewadvance.com. If your business needs working capital, call Parkview Advance today!SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Columbus was welcome to the Sydney Crosby show on Tuesday night and for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to go over that, plus everything about this massive win for the Pittsburgh Penguins. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day.

Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. you can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-o's Patrick Camp. You can follow him on Twitter at Send him for Wet. And you can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Ernstle Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this.

Your first list in slash watch of the day. Penguins 5, Blue Jackets 3. Big Brother is better than Little Brother. Yet again, the Penguins are 9 and 0 and 1 to start the season. And it looks like you have something to say right about now. That's not the biggest story of the day. The biggest story of the day is not the victory. What is it?

It is Hunter Hodey's birthday. Can we have some snaps and claps for it, people? I appreciate that. Thank you. I know 26. It's nothing really to celebrate. I'll be 30 and four years. It's times going by way too quick.

Appreciate that. And for everyone that's reached out so far, I really appreciate the love for today and everything. But he had no idea that was coming, by the way. I kept that as a, like, we spend like 20, 30 minutes. before we hit record to give you guys a look behind the scenes, just kind of mapping out what we're going to do. And I did not tell him I was doing that.

And it was the most difficult thing in the world because I wanted to say, I wanted to do something for his birthday. So, happy birthday, buddy. I appreciate it. Thank you. And again, thank you to everyone who has reached out so far. You know, I really, really appreciate it. But all right, enough of that stuff.

Let's get into this game. Again, penguins five, jackets three. The penguins are 9-0-1. And then the last 10 against the blue jackets, It's 19 and 3 and 2 in their last 24 games against them. As I said, Big Brother is better than Little Brother. And let's start with Sidney Crosby, continuing to show everyone why he is not only a top 10 player in the league, why he is a top five player still in the NHL despite being 36 years old.

That hat trick that he had last night was a thing of beauty. The puck was following him every time he was on the ice. You know what? I'm going to give myself some kudos because I hinted on the Tuesday episode for the preview that a big performance from him was coming. And sure enough, he owns the Blue Jackets in this one. I love the first of the three goals because it was kind of, I texted you this. It was similar to what we saw with McGee Malkon on Saturday,

where it was like, anything you can do, I can also do. And then the second one was a pure vintage play that we've seen him in Crystal Tang run numerous times. Now he got thrown with Eric Carlson. And then the empty netter, we all know, we all saw that. but Sid did not let the penguins lose in this game. I think last year this would be a game that the penguins would have lost, considering how they were the better team,

but they were also a bit sloppier compared to how they were in the previous four games. But Crosby was like, you know what, I'm not letting us lose, and I'm going to bring home the win, and he sure did that. Five in row for this team, eight and six overall. Two points out of second place in this division, and they are in a playoff spot right now. I just can't say enough good things about Cindy Crosby, almost top 10 in the league in scoring, top 10 in goals basically as well.

There are going to be future generations that have never watched it before. They're going to be like, what was it like to watch Cindy Crosby? And I'm really just going to tell them you wouldn't get it. Just because of what he's doing at age 36. But bad again, just amazing stuff from the captain. First and foremost, I will give you your props for calling it. but I'm going to put an asterisk on that. Wow, Sidney Crosby having a big game against Columbus.

He's never done that before. You really stepped on a ledge with that one. But let's make sure there is context, though. He has really looked like he has been ramping up towards a game like this for the past week and a half or so. So it was only a matter of time and you nailed when it was going to happen. So props to you for that. But you kind of said it as well.

Everybody's going to focus on the four points, three goals, one assist. It's everything else that was made this a vintage Crosby performance. He owned the puck. When it was on his stick, his passes were crisp. He was a step ahead of everybody else. He knew what was going to happen before it happened. He was an absolute menace in the defensive zone last night. Just he was, when they were in the defensive zone,

He was damn near a third defenseman. He was playing that well defensively. So that was the kind of game from Sid where he kind of takes over. And while, yes, last night it showed on the stat sheet with four points, it's games like that where you watch Sid and there will be nights where he plays like that and maybe only gets an assist, maybe only gets a goal. But that's when you know Sid's really starting to round into classic Crosby form. because he is the best player on the ice

and he's doing things that impact the game in all three zones. So last night, and like you said, that was also a moment where he kind of put that team on his back and went, we may not be at our best tonight, but we are not losing. And they definitely didn't start out playing their best hockey.

The first period, very sloppy, very just run of the mill, I should say. They woke up as the game went on. I still didn't like some of their play in the neutral zone and just overall in the defensive zone, but they still held Columbus to seven high danger chances at five on five. Only two in the final 40 minutes at five on five. I'll take that any day, even though they were a bit sloppy, but overall, you said it. I mean, Sid was an absolute force, his play on the Gensel goal.

And of course, Jake Gensel, also known player who scores against the Blue Jackets almost every game at this point. Really nice play by Sid there. but he was the main one that got in this victory, and it was, again, absolutely spectacular to see. And with Crosby as well, I also want to shout at Eric Carlson. He continues to be also a menace on the ice. That rocket of a shot that he had to give the Penguins a brief lead in the third period before Crosby gave them the lead for good later on,

that was a thing of beauty man. I mean, I loved how Riley Smith of Guinea-Malkin were kind of just toying with the blue jackets in the offensive zone, it kind of reminded me of, you know, Hendr to Daniel, back to Henrik when they were just playing catch with each other, kind of towards the right side of the ice. And then when Malkin fires that puck over to Carlson, he makes no mistake. That was just a mammoth of a shot. And he continues to play electric hockey for this team right now.

And I know we've all been spoiled by watching Chris Lattang do this type of stuff for a long time. But, man, we're even more spoiled now. watching Eric Carlson do this, but, and I mean no disrespect to Chris, but at a higher level. And we'll talk about Chris in the next segment, because we're going to talk about this win a little bit more. But yeah, to kind of further what you started with there, it was also another classic of Gennie Malkin game. Because while he had his issues last night, he was a bit sloppy. He was he was sloppy.

That second line overall was pretty sloppy last night. But at the same time, that was a game. where you saw Malkin was feeling himself. He literally would intercept passes from his own teammates just because he wanted the puck on his stick. And a lot of people will hear and see that and think that's selfish play. It's not. It's because of Gennie Malkin is feeling himself. It's because he knows he can make the play to better his team's chances to win or get a goal or keep possession or do something in the defensive zone. Because the couple of times where he intercepted a pass from his own teammate

was the shift where he made that pass to Eric Carlson. And the other thing I'll add, too, on that is one, we'll talk a little bit more about the win and what all happened against Columbus. But outside of making some tweaks to their system overall, this is how you know they're finding a stride right now. because a lot of the stuff they did last night, they've been doing this season for the most part. But, you know, start of the season, that passed to Eric Carlson for that goal either doesn't get through or Carlson's shot goes wide or he puts it in the goalie's chest. The play that Crosby made right before Gensel scored his goal that he gets intercepted or the goal he makes a save.

So when your team's hot, they're hot and everything's working. And right now, everything is working for the penguins. I agree. Yeah. I mean, when you're getting these type of bounces and just mammoth shots like that from Eric Carlson, you know your team is humming in the situation. And this was obviously a big win because of the week ahead with New Jersey, even though he showed Hughes looked like they're going to be out with Carolina who's playing

good with Vegas right after, even though Vegas just lost to Washington. That's still going to be a very tough game. Three metropolitan division games in a row, though. you have to win the games in your division and make sure that you're not giving loser points to those teams, especially with the competition the Penguins are in right now. Again, only two points behind Carolina, barely up on New Jersey. You've got to get some results in these games. We'll obviously discuss that a little later on this week,

but that would do it for this first segment of today's podcast coming up in the second segment. We're going to get into more things regarding this game, especially the play of the third line pat, because it was another great game from them, Trish and Jari's performance, the penalty kill especially, all of that good stuff. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper, the official daily fantasy app of the locked on NHL network. Sleeper is their number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey. Because with Sleeper, you can win 100 times your cash in daily fantasy hockey contest.

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Use promo code locked on NHL and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit terms and additions apply. That's locked on NHL, CLEASPERS, terms of use for details and locational availability. We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes. Join my moose, Patrick Dam. So one of I think the big turning points in the third period was late when the Penguins had to kill off one of the jackets power plays.

And man, I had a lot of power plays last night. Mike Sullivan was seething on the bench. I was honestly getting a little flustered myself because some of the calls from this officiating crew were a bit much to say the least, the Penguins just didn't get enough power plays, even though they probably should have. I thought the Blue Jackets got away with a couple blatant penalties, but Penguins got the win, whatever.

But that final. I will say it was more of the disparity for me that kind of made me annoyed. Outside of Goddrow's blatant dive on that cross check, the three other penalties were penalties and they needed to be called. It was just the fact that the Blue Jackets didn't play a game where they only had one penalty. They committed a couple infractions that went uncalled. So I don't think the Penguins outside of Goddrow's dive really took any non penalties that just got tic-y-tac calls. They all were penalties.

A couple times I think a couple of penguin players were being held. I believe one of the times was Ryan Graves behind the net, if I'm not mistaken. and I remember I was listening to the Blue Jackets broadcast and they were saying Mike Sullivan was seething on the bench. I'm like, yeah, I don't blame him because that was a blatant penalty that they just did not call for some reason. But that final PK, just great stuff from the Penguins, even when the Blue Jackets were pushing with Berensky, L'A, Gujarro,

all those guys, and especially Tristan Jari. He was excellent on the PK last night. And I feel a lot of times. I mean, we say this a lot. I know other people say this too. Your goaltender has to be your best pony killer. at times, and he sure was that last night. And overall, the penalty killers, I should say, shout out to them.

They killed all the penalties. And I think that was also a big reason why the Penguins won this game. Yeah, the penalty killing was excellent. And I can't really critique it. I will say this, though, in regards to Jari. Two of the three goals, I put a little bit on him. The first goal, kind of a busted play and a bad. turnover and everybody was at fault on that one. Ryan Shea got walked on that play. So I'm not going to

blame Tristan too much for it. All all six penguins had some kind of a fault. You'd like a save, but at the same time, you don't want it to get to that point. So the second goal, absolutely on Jari. Just he, uh, Boone Jenner's the same size as he is. And it wasn't a clean screen at all. It was very much a side screen. You got to get a save there, especially when it hits you. And then the third goal, there's absolutely nothing he could have done. It was a terrible. back check and guy wide open at the back door gets the puck clean and no goalie's making that save. You might get the hope save where they dive across and it hits the paddle. But all in all, though, the thing that worried me last night was credit when it's due, he made all 10

saves on the power play when Columbus had the power play. What worried me last night is he was fighting. He was really fighting it in my estimation. You look at the way he was making some saves they didn't look clean it wasn't him being aggressive and out on his angle it was him almost kind of reacting to the puck hitting him and when he plays like that it's worrisome because that's when we've seen him give up three or four goals where three of the four are on him directly so we dodged a bullet last night he puts a 900 save percentage up and he's good on the on the power play but last night was again, I'll get into this a little bit later,

but you're lucky you're only playing Columbus on a night like last night. Right. I mean, I think if this was against a better team, it could have been a different result, but again, you play who's on your schedule at this. Right.

You can only play who's in front of you. Right. And the save that really got me out of my seats, to be honest, was when he came out on the Penguins had a power play Carlson, kind of misplayed the puckman was in the air. I think he tried to bat it down, but it just got past him.

And it looked like the blue jackets are going to get a breakaway. Tristan's like, you know what? Nope, that's not going to happen. I'm going to come out of my net and just send the puck to the other side of the boards. And he did a little bit. He got a shot on goal.

I know. He did. I mean, sometimes in those situations, the puck will ricochet off a player and then it goes another player and then there's an empty net there waiting for an easy goal. But Jari, that not happened, thankfully. And he was able to send it the other way. Was flexing his leg a little bit. I think he was fine.

afterward. But still, that was also a big moment in the game. But overall, I think, in my opinion, he mostly had a good game, not his best, obviously, but still, good enough for the Penguins to win this game. I definitely think he has another level. To me, still, I mean, we've seen that over these last four games, I should say. But let's get to the third line now. This line continues to just flat out cook. Lars Eller was a menace again on the penalty kill last night, a menace at five on five as well. When I watched his film over the off season, I kind of kind of solid guy who didn't really skate that well anymore, but he's turned back the clock with the penguins. He's skating like he was in 2016, 2017, 2018 for the Capitals right now.

And when that line was on the ice for the Penguins, the Eller, Zohorna, and O'Connor line, it was dynamite for the Penguins. 16 shot attempts for, seven shot attempts against, 72% of the scoring chances, five high dangerous chances for one high danger. chance against. I know they didn't score, but the process again continues to be there with this line. They're hemming teams in their own zone, getting quality chances. Again, I know the goals didn't come, but that line is really humming right now and it's great to see. They're really a microcosm of what's happened this first month and a half with the penguins. And that's the process

is there and the results are going to come. Yeah. That line was great last night. Again, they were, they were tremendous. It seemed like every time they were on the ice, they were making some kind of a difference. And that's more than what you, obviously once the goals start coming, which will be nice. But that's pretty much all you ask of your third line is to go out and make a difference. They don't have to score like your top six. They have to either defend well or push the pace for the opponent. And they've been doing both. They have been very good defensively. and when they get into the offensive zone, their forecheck is very good.

They find themselves hemming the other team in their zone. And they're getting shots on goal and they're getting chances. And it's my North Star, really, with a lot of things in hockey. I'll start complaining more when chances stop coming if goals aren't there. If the chances are there and the goals don't come, hey, you know what, that's life, that's hockey. Sometimes the puck doesn't go in. It's when the chances stop coming that.

I get worried. Right. And obviously, in the early parts of the season, the chances weren't coming at all. But then you make that quick change, boom when teams of Hornah comes in, transforms that third line. And as the sample continues to get bigger, as each game goes on, I get at least a little more confident that this line could potentially work down the stretch. I still think there are maybe one more forward short, but I am really liking what

I'm seeing from this line. And, man, I could watch what Deems of Horn to play all. night honestly he is such a treat to watch with a puck on his stick and i don't think it may be weird to say considering his sample size is also a bit small but with how big he is how long his reach is he makes defenders really think about what they should do when he has the puck on his stick he is an absolute treat to watch on that line i was really had my eye on him last night small sample size or not when it keeps being consistent yeah throughout every time he's out he's on the eye or every time he plays a game, eventually you just have to say, well, I think that's just who this guy is.

So we can say small sample size. And while that is true, it just keeps being the same result. So eventually you just have to say, hey, this is who this guy is. So that's where I am with him. And I will be a little bit of the skunk at the garden party here when it comes to last night. I said it already. When your team's hot and on a wind streak, everything goes right. the thing I will say is with the week to come,

they can't play like they did last night or they are in trouble. I agree. I wanted to just say that. They weren't as good in the neutral zone. That's fine. You're playing Columbus. I think they were being like, okay,

we're playing a bad team. We can maybe get away with this. I know you're going to say, you can't get away with this against three really good teams. No, no. One of which will be on the road to at home. And you got to play at least some better defense in your own zone. It's good that you held Columbus to seven high danger chances at 5-15, eight overall,

but the way they played, especially in that first period, that's not going to work against these better teams. They got to wake up at least a little bit and get back to the formula that they had the prior four games. The thing that worried me most last night was there were a lot of moments through all 60 minutes, not just in the first period, where they were trying to play firewagon trade chance hockey and that's just not who they are anymore. And as much fun as it is to watch, if we are going to root for this team to win a Stanley

Cup, the true contenders in the East, especially New York, New Jersey, Carolina, if you try to do that against them, against even Toronto, or even teams like Ottawa, who isn't a contender, but they're young and talented, if you're going to just trade chances and odd man rushes with them, you are going to get buried. And with a team like New Jersey, even with some of their better players out coming to town tomorrow night, you try to trade chances with them.

It's not going to go your way. So they have to be more disciplined tomorrow night. They have to be more disciplined overall. And when you play the bad teams like Columbus, you can get away with it. But considering they've got a murderer's row of contenders and good teams coming to town and they're heading to them over the next two weeks, we cannot see a performance like we did last night.

Right. And the schedule even gets nasty your next week before Thanksgiving. You have Buffalo, and I know the Tej Thompson injury is really unfortunate considering he's one of the best goals scores in the league. The Rangers, obviously, you've got the Maple Leafs, which will be a fun game. The schedule is about to turn nasty. And the Penguins are going to have to go back to doing what they were doing before this game against Columbus if they want to get the results against some of the better teams in the league. But that would do it for the second segment.

Coming up to end the show, yes, I know we've somehow forgot over the last week or two because we're two idiots, but it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. We're going to get back to this for the final segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about the Jace case. We send a lot of time talking to the other you and I. We get fired up together on wins and losses. Who starts and who sits? I'm paying for that connection we have.

And today, I want our chat to be, you know, just a little more personal. I just learned that you can get a one-year supply on ED medication. You realize what that means. Bring on extended travel, bring on the next natural disaster or supply chain issue. You are covered, my friend. You don't have to worry about whether or not you can refill your prescriptions like Scalus and all this other stuff. And this is possible because of our friends at Jace Medical.

Go online right now at jacemedical.com to receive your 12-month supply on your daily medication. Remember to use promo code locked on at checkout for a discount as well. If you or someone you love would like to get some peace of mind by having a year's supply of any daily med, go to jacemedical.com to see if it's off a review. Remember to use promo code locked on for $20 off your purchase. All right. We're back here in this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes, joined by my co's Patrick Dam. So that warrior helmet Wednesday, we're getting back to it. A lot of options for this one. And I think for the previous ones, we've agreed on who we've given our warrior helmets to. But today, I don't think that's the case. I have a few people who I've had in mind for a while. You are the same. Who are you giving the Warrior Helmet to for today? The really easy option after last night would be, and deservedly so, Sidney Crosby.

Yes. But there's somebody right behind him who's playing just as well, and it's getting somehow just a little bit flying just a little bit under the radar. So for my Warrior Helmet Wednesday, I'm giving it to Eric Carlson. because in this past week, Eric Carlson, while Crosby's got the four goals, three assists for seven points, Eric Carlson nipping right at his heels, three goals, three assists, six points, and a power play goal in there as well. And he has just looked every bit like the superstar the Penguins thought they were getting, especially this past week or so throughout this wind streak.

he has been a driver behind a lot of these victories, both on the analytics and just through the eye test. I said it last night to our pal Jesse Marshall. He made the joke of, I feel really bad for people who aren't watching Sidney Crosby and of Gennie Malkin right now because they're playing some kind of hockey. I said I also feel bad for people who aren't watching

the pairing of Eric Carlson and Marcus Pedersen because this is the way I'm describing them and I'm sticking with it. They have been as smooth as a barbershop shave lately, man. It's been incredible to watch. And because points and stats aside, they're just feeding off each other perfectly. They're making passes that you look at and go, how did they see that was there?

How did they know the other guy was going to be there? And how are they doing this so efficiently, especially considering they haven't played before until this year? and they look like they've been playing together for 10 years, man. It's in just overall, Eric Carlson gets my warrior helmet because he has had himself, not just a week, but a start to the season, man.

We said heading into this season that, Evgeny Malkin was going to be even better than he was last year, because he's finally getting the chance to play with a superstar caliber defenseman. Sidney Crosby always gets the minutes from Crystal saying, it's been like that for the entirety of him, his and Gino's 10 years, excuse me. Usually, Gino gets the scraps.

He gets Jeff Petrie. He's got other players on the second pairing. And I'll mean, no disrespect to John Marino. He's a pretty good player. But him and Jeff Petrie are not Eric Carlson, to say the least. But we're seeing what Gino can do with Carlson. So that's a very good vote. I also could go for Sidney Crosby.

I almost did. But you know what? I'm going to go with Tristan Jolly for my Warrior helmet. He has been electric over this last week. You know, not the best start on Tuesday night, but made the saves. he needed to make on the penalty kill to keep the penguins in that game in the third period, was great against the sabers, was great against the ducks before he got banged up a little bit,

and was also great against the sharks. Six and five overall this season, 918 save percentage, but over the last week, week and a half, he has been a completely different goalie since that duck collapse. He gets my warrior helmet for this one because he's really starting to hopefully turn this season around and be more consistent for the penguins and net, especially for someone who's getting over five. million. So, Sid, I did want to give it to you. I wish this could be a tie because I would also maybe go half and half with him and Jari, but I'm going to give it to Tristan considering how good he's been over the last week. Again, I know how good Sid's been. He's been electric. That's the easy one.

I'm going to go with Tristan with how great and goal he's been over last week, week and half. Yeah, I don't, obviously I disagree because I said I gave Carlson mine, but I don't think that's a bad choice. I don't know if I would quite give him the helmet, but I always like to say this both in my writing and on this podcast. If fair is fair and we're going to call him out when he's not playing well, we have to give him his flowers when he does. And the past week and a half or so, he has rebounded from a very rough start. And no, he doesn't have to be Martan Brodor in his prime. He just has to not lose games. and during this win streak and a little bit before it,

he was doing just that. He might not have, at the start of the season, he was the closest thing to an active liability as he could be. In the last couple of weeks, he's either been an asset or he's done enough to put this team in a position to win. And when you're a Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender, that's all you need to be.

We've said that countless times, I think, on the show. We don't need him to be a Veznick Kaler goalie, though it would be awesome if he was. It would be nice. If he's got to, if he just has to be average to a little bit above average, the penguins can get away with that. But that'll do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. We'll be back with another episode for you all on Thursday when we preview this massive game against the New Jersey Devils.

That one will be up pretty early for you all probably around 8, 9 a.m. in the morning to get you all set for the game at 7 o'clock on Thursday night. Again, that's going to be a lot of fun. Let's see if the Penguins can finally beat the Devils after getting swept by them last year. And again, I know we don't have Nico Hesier or Jack Hughes, but this is still a very, and I mean a very dangerous Devils team. We all saw what they did last year. And so far this season, they've been still pretty decent to say the least. But we'll have you all set for that one on Thursday.

Recap that one on Friday, get you all set for the massive weekend coming up as well on that episode. But again, thank you all so much for tuning in. Really appreciate it. We'll be back on Thursday.