Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - It's time for the Penguins to get a win over the Canes...
Episode Date: December 21, 2023The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in action on Thursday night and they have a big game on tap. They're set to take on the Carolina Hurricanes and yes, Hunter is back after a one-day hiatus. They previe...w Thursday night's game and how they can finally beat the Hurricanes before discussing the Penguins' confidence in Alex Nedeljkovic. They get into how he's going to start this game and whether it's the right call by head coach Mike Sullivan before ending the show with some injury news and a fun talk about the team's top rivals.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 only available to US customers.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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
The penguins are taking on the hurricanes tonight, a team that's had their number for the better part of a year and a half.
And Hunter and I are going to break down how the penguins can end that street on this edition of the locked on penguins podcast.
Your locked on penguins.
Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Part of the Locked on podcast network.
Your team every day.
Welcome back, Penguins fans, to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast.
I am one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined once again by the illustrious Hunter Hodes.
He is back today.
I'm back.
He has returned.
You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym for Wet.
You can follow the return of Hunter Hodes on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.
You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.
We thank you for making this one of your first listens slash watch of the day.
We are free and available on YouTube as well as all other platforms where you may get your podcasts.
In today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper, download the Sleeper app and use promo code
Locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit.
Terms and conditions apply, see Sleeper's terms of use for details.
So first and foremost, let's get it out of the way.
Hunter, welcome back to the show.
It is nice to have an adult back in the room to keep me from indulging in my worst impulses.
So we are very happy to have you back on the show.
I have to make sure Pat doesn't ramble on about a bunch of nonsense for 25 to 30 minutes
when he does his solo episodes now. I'm just messing around.
But I hope all of you enjoyed Pat's first solo episode.
He had some guests on when I had to go away in September.
But Pat, I know you did a tremendous job with that episode.
I listened to it this morning.
You did great.
But it's time for another game day for the Penguins.
They take on the Carolina Hurricanes tonight.
A team that has owned the Penguins for over a year now.
They've lost, what is it, five in row against this team.
I mean, at least dating back to the first game of last year when these two teams play.
They lost all four last year.
Lost the first one this year.
and they've been such frustrating losses because they've been total coin flip games.
You've seen the penguins carry play against the hurricanes.
Then the hurricanes will push back, carry play.
And then there'll be some even play between the two teams,
but the penguins are not coming away with any result against this team.
And with how Carolina has struggled this year, especially in NEP,
they are prime for the taking in this one at home.
You need to get a big win against one of the teams that you're chasing in the Metro.
if you want to go on a run to try and make the playoffs.
This is a massive game for this team.
Yeah, this is a huge two points on the line just because let's operate under the assumption right now
that the penguins are starting to turn a corner.
They're starting to find their game.
The power plays improving.
They've won three of their last four.
They're starting to look more like the team that we expected them to be at the start of the year.
They are still, though, five points out of a playoff spot, trailing the Washington capitals
by five points who currently hold the second wildcard spot with 36 points.
Penguins only have 31.
And it's a divisional game.
So if we operate under that assumption that this team is trying to push towards the playoffs,
trying to climb the standings, you have to get these big divisional points because
if you don't, if you get to the end of the year and it starts coming down to tiebreakers
and you're just not getting interdivisional wins, it's going to cost you.
So this has to be a big two points for the penguins.
And I'm going to let you get into this here.
There's a team that's reeling a little bit in Carolina.
They've been climbing up the standings,
but the last 10 or so games have not been kind to them.
They've lost six or the last 10.
I mean, sure, they're what in the Metroleton Division?
They're fourth right now.
They have 37 points.
They're two points out of second that's held by the Flyers and the Islanders right now.
They're both tied for second place in the division.
But the Hurricanes this year, only 17 and 12 and 3,
again, they've lost six or the last 10 games.
Some of their players haven't been as good as normal,
but they are at least getting good production from Sebastian Otho,
who has 12 goals and 30 points and 29 games.
Marty Natchez has been playing well with 23 points.
Seth Jarvis has really come on this year.
Yeah, Michael Bunting, who's at least playing decent.
But, you know, Svechnokov, he's been struggling a little bit.
He's only been limited to 17 games, excuse me, this year.
Brent Burns has been definitely not as good as I thought.
He would be only 14 points in 32 games
are one of the best offensive defensemen in the league.
though you know what you're going to get from Jacob Slavin, who's great in his own zone.
There is quite a bit of talent on this team, but they haven't been able to put it together yet, right?
They're not playing Rod Brindamore type hockey where they're being very stingy in the defense zone.
They're giving up quite a few chances, quite a few goals this year.
A big problem for the Hurricanes Pat, goaltending.
They have gotten rotten goaltending from both Ansironsa and Peter Kachkov.
Kachov is going to start in this game against the Penguins tonight.
Freddie Anderson, not ready to come back yet.
He's been on IR.
He looks like he's starting to skate.
I think the latest I saw he's probably a few weeks away.
But if there's a goaltending match
where the penguins are favored this season,
this is definitely one of them.
Both could check off and Ranta have not been good.
That's where the penguins are going to have to take advantage.
And especially with a Hurricanes team,
that's again, not playing Ron Brindamore-type hockey.
It's been really weird seeing this team struggle
because I pegged them as a top three team
in the metro heading into the season.
I thought of them as a potential Stanley Cup contender for this season.
If they've been anything but that, it's time for the Penguins to show that they can play with this team and they can finally get a result instead of just losing these coin flips every game against it.
It's been so frustrating seeing those losses because it feels like they've been the better team quite a bit in some of those losses,
even though the Hurricanes push back every time, but the Penguins are never able to win one of those coin flips.
But that said, they are prime for the taking, especially with them not really playing that well.
right now. Right. It's a huge two points for the taking and to the Kachekhov point, you know,
the number, this isn't just some small sample size of a goalie who's been getting time due to injury.
He started 14 games. He's seven and six with a 265 goals against average and an 895 save
percentage. So this is a goalie with a body of work that shows he can't make a save. It's a
problem for the hurricanes. He's given up almost five goals above expected this year. He's been bad.
to say the least.
And here's how you know that this is such a problem for the Carolina Hurricanes.
You look at the top line statistics right now,
and their goal differential at all situations is still a plus three.
But then you dig into the, you go to natural statrick and look at this team's
underlines.
And they lead the league with C4 at 60.60.4%, which means this team at five on five is getting opportunities.
They just can't get a save.
and then it's the same thing with expected goals percentage.
You look at their expected goals percentage.
It's right up there.
It's right behind one of the best offensive teams in the league in Edmonton at 55%.
So this is the Carolina Hurricanes problem right now.
So I do have to push back a little bit on the whole.
This is not a Rod Brindamore team playing Rod Brindamore hockey.
They're a team playing Rod Brindamor hockey.
They just can't get a damn save.
Offensively, they're definitely playing.
more Rod Rindamore hockey than I would say defensively.
You know what you're going to get from them in the offensive zone.
They fire a lot of shots from the point.
That's just how he likes his system to go.
They pride themselves a lot on deflections, also in front of the net.
I mean, they have some very good finishers too.
We can put Stasnikov in there.
Seth Jarvis, Marney-Nagius.
I already put those names out there for you.
But they love taking those shots from the point.
And they have defensemen that can do it on a nightly basis.
And also, they don't call them the Carolina Corseys for nothing.
They've had that nickname, I feel like, for the past.
few years now. I wasn't saying so much as the offensive sign because they are, as you said,
expected goals are good. Their shot attempts per 60 are good. It's more so defensively where they're
not doing the job as well as they normally have, but as you said, too, their goaltending has
crushed them this year. And I think at some point here in the next few weeks, they're probably
going to have to go out and get a goalie. You know, you put Ranta on waivers earlier this week after
he was really bad over the weekend.
But you don't have, even with Freddie Anderson coming back,
how much can you truly rely on him to stay healthy?
He's decent when he plays,
but I feel like that's few and far between.
If they really want to make a run,
they're going to have to go get a goalie, I think.
That's their biggest weakness right now.
I still think also, even though, again,
their offensive metrics are good.
I still think they're another one to two great players away
from really being a top.
contender. I like the star players that they have. They're good players. But are any of those guys
franchise caliber? I don't think so. Not yet. And I still think they're missing one to two of those
guys to really put them over the top. Yeah, I'd agree with that. And as for the goaltending situation,
I mean, they just signed Aaron Dell to a PTO. So that's, that's just, that's desperation mode at that point.
And speaking of goalies, we're going to get into that. There was some news this morning outside of the,
what was described as an extremely optional morning skate,
but even for an extremely optional morning skate,
there did come some news from that,
and we will talk about that when we come back.
But first, we have to tell you about one of our sponsors,
and that is eBay Motors.
Passion, drive, and patience.
What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive.
eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle
and level it up to peak performance.
from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights, and more, whether you're into speed, power, or style, eBay Motors has got you covered.
With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for.
And with eBay's guaranteed fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back.
Because with eBay motors, you're burning rubber, not cash.
With 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 only available to U.S. customers.
We're back here on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Once again, I am Patrick
Damp. Welcoming back Hunter Hodes from a one-episode hiatus. He's keeping this thing on the rails as he
always does, even though I'm hosting once again. But we're glad to have you back. And we're going to
see something tonight that I don't think a lot of people expected going into tonight's game,
and that is who is going to be between the pipes for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
A lot of us probably expected this to be a Tristan Jari game.
He has had the lion's share of the starts so far this year, and that has been absolutely
deserved as his top line numbers are just absolutely fantastic in 22 starts.
He's got a 9-13 save percentage.
He's got a couple of shutouts, and he's really bounced back nicely.
the record isn't too kind to him being 9 and 11,
but we're not really going to count record against a goalie
because he has been one of the bright spots of the Penguins roster so far.
But he will be watching the game from the bench tonight
because Mike Sullivan confirmed that Alex Nadalkovich
will be the starter tonight against Carolina,
not in Carolina.
This is a home game.
But your thoughts on that.
Alex Nadolkovic, getting the call.
Or as one of the best reporters in the business,
Seth Rorba always says,
Alex Nadelcovich on the hill tonight.
I was a bit surprised when I first saw it.
I thought for a divisional matchup that they were going to go to the number one guy, Tristanjari.
And the doomsday scenario on my head that was going was, okay,
is Tristanjori nursing and injury that we don't know about him?
He's on the team.
No goalie has been recalled from Wilkesbury.
It was a bit weird, right, considering that, you know, he was off the last game.
But they believe in Alex Degovic.
It's been obvious.
Mike Sullivan even said to the media day, like, you know, why you're getting Adulkevich?
And he said, you know, he's played a R recently, and it felt like it was the right decision for this case.
And he even said, we have two really capable of guys. He's right.
The Penguins have gotten really good goaltending from both of these guys this year.
I think some revenge against his former team, Dendukovic, that is, probably played into it as well.
But he has been very good this season.
And I also do think it has partly to do with Tristan not playing that well against Carolina throughout his tenure with the Penguins.
In his last seven games, he's lost six of those starts.
Four of them in regulation.
Only has a 904 save.
percentage. So that's, you know, to say that's bad would be an understatement. So they're given this
one to know, to Delkevich, with how hot he's been, I know against Minnesota, it wasn't his best game,
but he still played good enough for the Penguins to win. Why not? This is something that
they haven't really been able to do these last few years, right? Casey DeSmith hasn't really
played much is because Jersen Jari's had to get a lot of starts. So I understand why they're giving
this wanted to Adelkevich to give Jari some more rest.
I still would have maybe lean Jari a little bit,
but I understand why they wanted to give this one to Ned.
I agree with that.
And I also think, you know, because I was with you originally,
I saw that news come out and thought, oh my God, Tristan Jari's hurt,
injury bug, undefeated, biting us once again.
But it just turns out that, you know, we're finally at a place,
at least at the present moment, because we have seen with goaltenders
and just players in general that it can turn on a dime right away and faster than we think.
But for now, we're at a place for the Penguins team, this Penguins franchise where there are
two capable goalies playing.
And Alex Nadelcovic, you look at his numbers, they're still very solid.
I mean, he's only had seven starts, but 258 goals against average, 925 save percentage.
In a little bit of time, the seven starts he's had, he has been very capable outside of the Dallas
game where he made that very bizarre choice to come so far out of the net.
But when I can only point to one moment when you're essentially starting
the year as the backup and starting to play your way into being the one B, I don't have a
ton of pushback against this because he's earned more playing time.
And with as good as Jari has been playing, I think there might be something to be said
that while he's a good starting.
goalie, he's not the kind of starting goalie that's going to play 55, 60 games a year.
You don't want to overwork him. I think that's the big thing. I mean, we've seen him,
like, you know, even last year before he got hurt, he was starting, it felt like almost
every night. The year before that, before he got his foot rammed into by Anders late in the
season, he was starting it felt like almost every game because Casey DeSmith was not giving
them good goaltending. Now you're getting competent goaltending from your backup, and it's more like
a, one B situation. So you can go.
to that one B guy, even though it's a big game.
And as you said, Adelkevich, yeah, he's been great this year.
He's 14th in the league and goals, say it above expected with six.
He has a 2.5-8 goals against average and a 925 say percentage at all situations per money puck.
Those are great numbers.
You can throw him out there against any team in the league and he'll be able to get the job
done.
He's done it so far this season.
So, you know, after being a bit surprised at first, I thought about it.
And I was like, okay, that's totally fine.
Let's see how he does.
This is a Carolina team that's also fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs, same as the Penguins.
Let's see what Ned can do as the one-be goalie, where maybe it's turning into more, I guess, right now, like a 60, 40, 50, 55-45,
compared to 70, 30 last year of Jari and Smith, 80, 20, even if you want to call it that.
This is a good thing for the Penguins, considering how both have played.
And when Jari gets back in the lineup, potentially on Saturday against Ottawa, he'll be more refreshed,
especially, you know, if the Penguins are able to win this game.
He'll be fresh, refreshed regardless, but maybe he'll have more of that confident swagger
with Nadelkovich playing well, and then he can come and do his thing.
It's almost like a mini version, very mini version, I should say, of what we saw last year
with Swayman and Allmark and Boston, how they were rotating and playing insanely good hockey.
Now, they're not going to have the numbers that Swayman and Olmark had.
No.
I get that, people.
I'm not trying to compare them with that.
But what I'm saying, it could be like a very mini version of that this year if both
they're able to continue to build off each other's performances and both get the rest that they deserve.
Agreed.
I also think, too, this is a, to build off of your mini version thing.
I think this is actually kind of similar and in line with the last two starting goalies for the Pittsburgh Penguins franchise when they were at their best.
You know, I always said that Mark Andre Fleury and Matt Murray were always at their best when there was somebody behind them who could theoretically take their job.
And right now we have that with Tristan Jari.
He's got a guy behind him in Alex Nadelcovich who could theoretically take his job.
Now, we don't want that to happen because there's nothing really behind Alex Nadelcovich.
And if Jari throws it in the tank, then we're in a bad, bad way.
But right now you have strength in goaltending.
And I also think if you can keep Tristan Jari to in the realm of 50 starts, whether, you know, somewhere between
50, 55, and you get Ned 30-ish in that area, that's a good place to be because you've gotten
Alex Nadelcovic the reps and he won't be a guy who just freezes on the bench all season
long and eventually turns into a pumpkin if you have to turn to him in the postseason,
but you've also given the lion's share of games to Tristan Jari.
and if he's not burnt out, if he keeps playing the way he's been playing,
you have a solid starter going into the postseason,
which is kind of been the Achilles heel of this team the last four or five years
when it comes to the postseason.
Because that's, if you look back at the playoff failures since 2018 and 2019,
in the bubble in 2020, 2021 and 2022,
we said the same exact things.
if this team could have just got a couple saves,
they'd probably still be playing.
And right now,
I think they're positioning themselves to make that a thought of the past.
But they got to make postseason first,
which right now is not looking too good.
Yeah, I agree overall.
And I've been saying that for,
I feel a couple weeks now,
it's past time for this team to go on or run.
You've won three out of four.
You're starting to play a bit better.
The power plays heating up.
You've been getting good goaltending.
The five on five numbers, though,
they got to improve a little bit.
They started off the season really well,
but they've kind of gone down as the injuries have mounted up.
If you can win this game tonight against Carolina in regulation,
please do not do a three-point game with this team.
You will be only four points behind them with two games in hand.
You'll be four points out of fourth in the Metro and only six points behind the Islanders
and the Flyers for time for second in the division.
You'll only be one point back to the Devils and three points back of the Capitals.
And the Capitals will play early next year.
That's another big game coming up too.
The schedule, they're not playing, I would say a lot of true Stanley Cup contenders,
but they are playing games against teams who are pretty similar.
Standings-wise, you have to take advantage in win those games against teams
who are close to you in the standings.
It's got to continue tonight to try to really get this team going.
And can't disagree with any of that.
Biggest thing here is that you got to get a clean two points and not go to overtime tonight.
And like you said, schedule is shaping up for this team to finally go.
on a run and string some wins together and climb the standings.
So will they be,
will they be able to do that?
We're going to find out a couple.
We're going to close out this segment.
But when we come back,
we're going to talk about some quick news and notes about this team.
And I've actually got something for Hunter that I didn't tell him about.
And I want to see what his reaction is.
So stay tuned to hear that.
But first,
we got to tell you about our next sponsor and that is Sleeper.
A new NHL season brings all sorts of possibilities.
I said it before.
Sidney Crosby could score 50 goals,
and the Penguins could hoist the Stanley Cup.
And you could win big by playing Daily Fantasy Hockey on Sleeper,
the official daily fantasy app of the Locked-on NHL Network.
Sleeper is our 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 contests.
Now, I've said it before.
I'm going to say it again.
If there was a player I was taken right now on Sleeper to win 100 times,
my money, it would be the one and only
Sidney Crosby. He is producing at an
unreal rate, and he is going
to outdo those projections, in my
opinion. That is not official betting advice, but
were I a betting man? That's who I'd be
taking right now. And all you have
to do is pick studs like Sidney Crosby,
Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, Connor
Bedard, whoever, and pick if they
will record more or less than their sleeper projections
for things like goals, assists, saves,
plus minus, and more in a given game.
To win 100 times your bet on Sleeper, you need to correctly predict the outcome of eight player stats.
You heard me, Penguins fans, you can win 100 times your money playing daily fantasy hockey with Sleeper.
So start paying attention and nail your picks so you can start winning big.
Use promo code Locked on NHL and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit.
Terms and conditions apply.
That's code Locked on NHL.
See Sleeper's Terms of Use for details and locational availability.
We're back here for one last segment.
on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp, joined once again by Hunter Hodes.
And not a ton, like I said at the start to go over from morning skate today.
It was a very optional skate, but it was a couple things prior to the skate that could be promising.
Jesse Poo-Yarvey, while still not signed to a deal, is still here.
He's still skating and working out with the team.
So I think that means we're trending toward him signing a deal with this.
team, but still no developments on that front. However, it was something else that Brian
Russ took his first skate that since being put on injured reserve. He's on LTIR. But also,
we got some information from Michelle Creckiolo that it was an upper body injury. We hadn't really
heard that until just now. He was pretty much just said he was out. So this is a big news. Hopefully
it's a big step for Brian Rust because Lord knows they've been missing him. Absolutely, man. I mean, this is
major news for the penguins, and the sooner he comes back, the better.
And when he does come back, the penguins will have options, especially if
Altaic Pusin keeps this up. I mean, if he continues to play well, you can maybe put
rust on your third line. You can also move him up to the cross line, move McElwell down to the
third line, even if he starts to ramp it up a little bit, hopefully, because I don't really think
he played that well against Minnesota. This will be very welcome news when he's ready to.
The fact that he's already skating, and it's only been a couple of weeks, that's good news
for this team heading into the new year.
Hopefully it's only maybe, I don't know,
a couple more weeks until he's ready to go.
Obviously, he'll have to practice with the team a couple of times
in full contact capacity before he's labeled a game time decision.
My Mike Sullivan, but this is still a big development that he's back on the ice
because they have missed him quite a bit when he's been out this season.
Yeah, it's encouraging that he's only missed the last five games
with whatever upper body injury is ailing him,
but he was able to get back onto the ice today.
Now, obviously, that could be nothing.
It could really just be conditioning.
He could just be out there to keep his legs under him.
It might not be a return to the lineup anytime soon,
but it's certainly encouraging, and I agree, you know,
the emergence of the young buck, as you called him,
and Valteri Pustinen, has actually given this forward lineup some options.
Hopefully, if you get Jesse Pooley-RV in there as well,
it also leads to some other forward.
depth that can help you out.
So before we finish up here, there is one thing I wanted to bring to the show to have a
little bit of fun before we close out and call it a day and get ready for the Cains game here.
One of the best people that you can follow on hockey Twitter is J. Fresh.
And he released a ranking and a poll today that he had been gathering for quite a while.
And it was essentially asking each team's fan base who they hate the most.
and he released the results today.
And for us Penguins fans,
I think this tracks pretty well,
but there's one on there that surprised me.
I know where you're going with it.
So go ahead.
According to his results,
the Penguins fan base hates the Rangers and the Flyers,
which totally fair.
But then the Toronto Maple Leafs were also on that list,
which was very confusing to me.
It's probably just because of Lee's fans
with the Cal Duba situation,
but I would not put them in the top three.
If I were to make one just for me personally,
I would put the Rangers in the top three, right?
It honestly depends on what time you do this, right?
Because rivalries, they rise at one time,
and then they go lower for other teams that rise up, right?
So right now, I would probably do the Rangers.
I would probably put the Islanders in the top three, to be honest.
And if I had to do a third, I would probably still go Washington.
I don't, Philadelphia, I understand,
just because it's your rival in the state,
but that rivalry just hasn't been the same for the past several years now.
I would probably put them outside the top three.
Right now, I would probably go Rangers, Islanders, and then Capitals.
That's just my opinion, though.
Yeah, I would probably go Rangers, Capitals, Flyers, not in any specific order.
As much as the rivalry has waned a little bit, I can't, I can't get over the Flyers, man.
That makes sense.
I have a visceral reaction to that orange and that stupid mascot.
But for us, here's the list of teams that we showed up on.
Columbus, no surprise there.
Little brother is very angry at us.
We also showed up on the Rangers.
We showed up on the Flyers.
And we showed up on the Capitals.
So no real surprise is there.
Everybody we, as Penguins fans, showed up on that all tracks.
It's all divisional.
It's all historical.
So, hey, you know what?
As a lot of fans like to say, we don't like you either.
So beat it.
These are always fun.
I love when Jayfresh releases these, no matter what topic it is.
And people can have their opinions on whatever rivals they want to have in their top three.
You can put other teams in there if you want.
But these are always funny.
I'm glad that you brought this up at the end of the episode because it allowed me to at least give my top three for the Penguins.
biggest rivals right now or at least the three teams that I also probably dislike the most,
at least in the league right now.
It's always fun.
It's always fun to talk rivalries, man, because I love to say this on the show.
I love to say this in general.
At the end of the day, we are still fans of this team.
And when it comes to sports, there's nothing more fun than being irrational about
rivals.
So always something cool.
I'm with you.
I love those J. Fresh poll results that are just asking about random,
of the wall topics.
So that's going to do it for us on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
We will be back tomorrow to recap this Penguins versus Hurricanes game and then get you set for the weekend.
But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp.
Thank you for listening to the Locked on Penguins podcast.
And we will talk to you tomorrow.
