Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins and Capitals set for one of their biggest showdowns!

Episode Date: April 4, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals are set to play another huge game on Thursday night with plenty of playoff implications and Hunter and Pat are here to set the stage for it. They go into how the Caps have looked as of late and how they're going to be fired up with the return of Tom Wilson. They also look at how the Penguins can strike back after two straight losses to them and who needs to step up for it to happen. They then discuss the goaltending situation and who they'd start for the game, plus what it could mean heading into next season. After that, they reminisce on some of their favorite memories from the Pens and Caps rivalry over the last several years since this could be the last "high stakes" game between the two teams.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.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.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Some call it cinema. Others call it drama. We just call it Penguins versus Capitals in April. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Penguins fans, and welcome to the Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet. joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow the show's account at L.O. underscore Penguins. And we thank you for making this your first listen or watch of the day because we're your team every day. And we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, including YouTube. And here we are.

You would not want it any other way if you are a Penguins fan. and even if you're a Capitals fan, you would not want this to be any other way. We are in the very final stretch of this year's NHL season, and both the Penguins and Capitals are fighting to get into the Stanley Cup playoffs, and tonight's game will be a huge determining factor which of these teams get in. Now, it is fun to see how far we have come, because just even a few short years ago,

this would have been a matchup to determine who might get home ice or win the Metropolitan Division. And yet, we're still here. It's still happening with Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin's teams where when it's time for them to meet, there is a lot on the line. And right now, going into tonight's game, the Penguins are just a handful of points out of a playoff spot. They're chasing the Washington Capitals,

as well as the Philadelphia Flyers. So now that I've built it up to that point, Hunter, tonight's kind of a big game, isn't it? Yeah, sources say this is a pretty monstrous game for both teams tonight. There are three certainties in life, once again, death, taxes, and the Penguins and Capitals playing a pretty big game in the month of April. If I were to tell you heading into this week that the Penguins had an opportunity to be potentially one point behind the Capitals,

if they win this game in regulation. I think you would have slapped me across the face, but that's exactly the opportunity that the penguins have going into this game. I mean, last week, they were nine points out of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They have now trimmed that down to three because of their recent hot streak and because these teams in front of them do not want that last playoff spot. Or they don't want that third spot in the Metropolitan Division either. The Flyers have been terrible as well,

and the penguins are only four games back with a game in hand. They may not be even trying to get into that second wildcard spot. They may be trying to steal that third metropolitan spot from the Flyers, and that could be a potential showdown with Jake Gensel and the Carolina Hurricanes. That's a discussion for another time, obviously. But you wouldn't have it any other way. Crosby v. Ovechkin was so much writing on it. And I said it during my Wednesday episode, I'll say it here with you again,

this might be the last big game between these two teams with so much on the line. Considering where these two teams are going in the future with how they're contending windows are basically shut at this point and how both teams are going to be in a rebuild really soon, I think this could be the last really massive game between these two teams and these two captains with so much writing on it. Yeah, we'll take another trip down memory lane here to end the show today in the third segment. but you look at where these two teams are right now. Both kind of looked like about a month or so ago,

like they were probably dead in the water. The caps were kind of having a little bit of a bounce, but they were kind of riding in the same boat as the penguins to where they couldn't get any kind of consistency. It looked like Alex Ovechkin might finally have fallen off of a cliff, but he has since woken up. Charlie Lindgren has been a revelation for the water, Washington Capitals. He's come on, and I don't want to say he's saved their season, but

he has lit a fire under this team and been a really stabilizing force in net. And here's where the two paths kind of diverge. So the last 10 games for both teams, caps have the better record at 6, 3, and 1 in their last 10, while the penguins sit at 5, 3, and 2. but penguins have won four of their last five, and the capitals have lost their last three. And now I will say this, the capitals have played some good competition. They lose to the Maple Leafs.

They lose in a shootout to the Boston Bruins, two very good teams from the Atlantic. But then they lose to Buffalo, who's really struggling lately. Then you look at the penguins. They get a win over Carolina. They beat Columbus. They have a shootout loss against,

the jackets in the second half of that home at home, then the Rangers and the Devils. So all of a sudden, the Capitals might be going into a little bit of a skid here, and the Penguins are starting to trend upward a little bit. So all that in mind, this is a huge opportunity for the Penguins with one of the teams that they're chasing kind of starting to trail off. And they're definitely going to want to get back at the Capals because the Caps have destroyed them the last two times these two teams have played. The Penguins delivered a beatdown in Washington very early on this season.

Then the Caps came to Pittsburgh and utterly embarrassed them two games in row. They jumped out to about 4-0-0 lead. The Penguins were able to push back, cut it to 4-3 before Darcy Kemper made some big saves in the third. But then in that third game, that was, you remember, the night of the Gensel trade, and you could tell the team was totally checked out in that one. They didn't even want to be playing that game. And the Caps took full advantage of it and delivered a beat down to the Penguins. The Penguins have an opportunity to kind of do a little bit of role reversal with this, though.

The Caps won't have to be dealing with a player going out. They have a player coming back. Tom Wilson is eligible to return from his six-game suspension in this game, and he has killed the Penguins in all three games this year. You know we are going to get when he's on the ice. He's a threat to score from everywhere. He's going to deliver big hits. That's just how he plays.

He's one of the best power forwards in the NHL, and the Penguins are going to have to be on high alert for him. We all know how good Alex Ovechkin is. Yeah, he did struggle during the first half of this season, but he has 10 goals in his last 16 games. And quietly, he is second on the team in points this season with 59, 26 goals in 71 games. After not being the team's leading goal scorer,

he has had a pretty nice hot streak throughout the last month and is showing why he is, in my opinion, the greatest goal score of this league has ever seen. And I do think, again, that he is going to break Wayne Gretzky's record. and I'm also hoping that he does break that record as well. Outside of those two guys, Dylan Strom, he's been one of their best players overall, too. A couple years ago, I wanted the Penguins to snack him. That's how good I think he is as a player.

And you're seeing it this year for the Capitals, 26 goals, 62 points in 74 games, and he's also on a seal of a contract, by the way. Outside of those three players, you know, there's a chance, OSHA comes back and he's been a Penguins killer at times. Look at the rest of this lineup for the Capitals. It's a lot of kids, a lot of HL players in there. I look up and down this team as a whole

and I still struggle to see how this is a playoff team, especially with the minus 35 goal differential. That's crazy to think about that. They are in a playoff spot right now with a minus 35 goal differential and only a handful of still pretty good

players. But they're getting good contributions from Ovechkin, Strom, when Wilson's in the lineup, he's contributing. John Carlson, I think is still a very solid defenseman, and you already mentioned it. Charlie Lindgren has been tremendous for the Capitals. This is a Capitals team that really struggles to score. They're in the bottom third of the league in terms of goals for per game.

Even defensively, they're not that good overall either. But Lingren, 9-09 save percentage in the top 25 for goals saved above expected this year. He has been a revelation for the Capitals, and he's going to be hard to beat in this one. It feels like every game he starts, he's standing on his head. head in making every save needed for the caps to come back just because they kind of start slow in some games. But once he's been able to make some big saves that kind of wakes the caps up a little bit more, they weren't able to do that in Buffalo on Tuesday.

But this is a team that you want to start fast against because the capitals have started slow in quite a few games so far this season. Yeah, they've timed out their one goal wins and one goal losses really well. that's kind of what has put them into this position. And I think a lot of it is just a holdover from a very rough start to the season. Now they've stabilized with a guy like Charlie Lindgren. But for me, this is a game where Michael Bunting is going to loom very large. Because you know you're going to have Tom Wilson out there.

And I'm not saying he's got to be a response. I'm not saying he's got to be a deterrent. But it's one of those, okay, you've got your guy. We've got ours. And he's got to continue to do what he's. has done for the last few games for the penguins, and that is make life miserable for one Charlie Lindgren and the Capitol's defense in the offensive zone by getting to the front of the net, owning that blue paint, and making life miserable for all involved. And finally, we have seen

Crosby and Malkin awaken in the last week and a half. That has to continue. We know that the depth has done a pretty okay job. The ESP line, the OPE line, as I was texting you about. They have to continue to contribute. But this game is going to come down to the big dogs showing up once again in the big moment in putting down an old rival who they outside of one playoff series in 2018 have owned for the entirety of this rivalry. Absolutely.

And I want a big game from Chris LaTang. It's been a while since Latang. I feel like it's had a true standout performance for this team. I'm not trying to sound like a Chris Latang hater. If you've been listening to this show for quite a while, or even for the last few episodes, I always gush about Latang. I know what he has done for this franchise.

I know how good he's been for most of the season. But for the last three to four weeks, he has not played at the level that I think you expect, that especially I expect, and I think a lot of people that follow this team expect, and it needs to change for this one especially. But, yeah, I think we really said all we've needed to say about the Capitals. If you want to add one more thing,

I do think special teams are going to play a factor here, man. I know the Capitals had a middling power play this year. It's not the beautiful unit that you saw when Nicholas Baxter was in his prime, excuse me, and you had a Genniggeny Kuznetsov below the goal line and John Carlson firing bombs from the point. But they still have Carlson doing that to a degree. and you have Alex Ovechkin in his signature spot.

Please, if you have to cherry pick over there, do it. I don't want to see you get burned by him for the gazillionth time because he's done that to the Penguins so many times. So the Penguins penalty kill has to stay diligent against a Caps power play that may not be that good anymore, but they still have some weapons on it. Absolutely. The one thing we didn't talk about,

and it's what we're going to talk about in the second segment, is who will be in net for the Pittsburgh Penguins, And we will talk about that as well as the outlook for the rest of the season, regardless of what happens tonight against the Washington Capitals. But before we do that, we got to tell you about our first sponsor, and that is eBay Motors. Passion driving patience, the formula for winning championships, is also what keeps your ride or die alive.

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playoff lives and to keep their season extended past the 82 game mark. And that is who plays in net. Is it Tristan Jari? Is it Alex Nadelcovic? Now, the two of us kind of came to a consensus last episode that you ride the hot hand of Alex Nadelcovich. And I have to agree with that point right now. I know that he's probably wearing down a little bit. I know it's a little bit of a risk because Tristan Jari has had some time off to maybe get his head right,

maybe recover and rest up a little bit. But coming off of a stomach bug, coming off of a rough few starts prior to that, I think at this point with the magnitude of this game where both teams sit in the standings, you cannot change too much. You have to keep going with what works. Yes, the penguins did not play well. for 45-ish minutes against the Devils, but you still got the win.

And that happened on the heels of a very well-played emotional win against the Rangers. So at this point, if you're asking me, if you're giving me the lineup card, it stays with Alex Nadelcovic tonight in Washington. He's been really good for the most part over his last six starts. I know that's a small sample size. I know that probably scares some people. But when he's playing better than the other goal,

under, even though he's been a bit sick, you still continue to ride that goalie. And I should say for Jari, he's been below average for the last month. He's given you way more bad starts compared to good starts. And when you look at Alex Deltkovich, he's been better overall for the last couple of weeks, and you continue to ride with that. He made plenty of timely saves against the devils on Tuesday night. and I'm not trying to dog on Jari overall, but I feel like once the Penguins tied that game

and you saw a couple of big saves when Indelkvich, I'm just not sure if Jari would have made those same saves with the form that he's playing at right now. I think if he was playing at the form we saw him play in November or December, he would have made those saves. But with the way he's playing for the most part in the month of March, I think he would have gave up a backbreaking goal, and that obviously would not have been good for the Penguins.

As long as Hindelkevich continues to, to play at this level, you keep playing him. I know there's only seven games left. It's still more unlikely than it is likely that they get in, but you're in the race and you need to ice the best possible lineup that gives you the best chance to win on a nightly basis. And that is Alex Ndilkevich in this one. And I think it's him on Saturday against Tampa Bay.

I would agree. And the one thing I do want to address is that I know if you take the 10, thousand foot view of goal tending this year for the penguins. There's not a lot of daylight between Tristan Jari and Alex Nadelcovic, and they've kind of been on similar tracks all season long. They've almost mirrored one another's performances to an extent. But right now, you are in full on do or die mode. They're not looking ahead to Saturday against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

That's not a thing. They are very much focused on tonight against the capitals. And they don't have the luxury of looking ahead. So right now you have Alex Nadelcovic who's playing very well. And you don't want to risk that Tristan Jari might regress or be worse than what you've had in Nadelcovich. Now, maybe tonight Nadelcovich goes out if he starts because full disclosure, we're recording this the day prior to the game. maybe he doesn't start tonight's and this is all for not but at this point yes you start him

tonight and maybe you bring him back next year maybe you find the next guy that you can bring on for a one year one and a half million dollar contract but right now that's not the view at all so right now you just have to go with what's working and he's working right now you can deal with that contract stuff and the position as a whole after the season, right? I mean, sure, we all know Nadelcovic is going to be a free agent. He's going to be getting a raise once this season is over. You'll have questions regarding Jari and whether you can try to get out of that contract. What happens with Blumquist? Is he ready for NHL duty? You can deal with all that stuff once these seven games are done with him once your season is done with overall. Right now,

your focus is on trying to steal one of those remaining two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference, whether it's the third spot in the Metro or the second wildcard spot, you have to deal with the present, not the future right now. And that present is starting Nadelcovich, hopefully in this game. Yes, we could look like idiots, especially if Sullivan goes, oh, we're going to start Jari in this game and maybe Nadelcovich in another game. But right now, I'm operating under the assumption that he is going to go in this game just based on the level he's played at. over these last six games.

Absolutely. But even though the penguins don't have the luxury of looking ahead, we're going to take a look ahead real quick before we head to break. And we've been saying it for the last couple of weeks, there is no rest for the wicked for this team. Because tonight you've got the Washington Capitals, do the old Noah Heinz tweet and throw the record book out the window because it doesn't matter tonight because it's Penguins Capitals and that's its own beast.

But then you look ahead for the next week after that. You've got the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday, who are to use the completely overused sports cliche peaking at the right time. They're all of a sudden looking like the Tampa Bay Lightning once again. Toronto Maple Leafs have been playing a very good brand of hockey lately, and they look like they could be something in the postseason this year. And then you have Detroit, another team that you are chasing for a playoff spot. lot that you have been jockeying with for the last month. So you look at the road ahead here.

And it makes tonight even bigger because you want to lessen this gap with the Washington capals and pull away from Detroit, from the islanders. And even if they end up getting some kind of a bounce, the devils. So you need tonight's two clean points to get right up behind the cap and start widening the gap with everybody else. the three biggest games left on the schedule, standings-wise. I mean, all are important, but I think the three biggest ones

are this one in Washington, the one against Detroit at home, and the one on the island for the final game of the season against the islanders. And you know what thought actually just occurred to me while I was saying that about the islanders? Wouldn't it be something if a playoff spot comes down to that final game

on the island against the islanders, a team that is horrified this team throughout so many years. I'm sorry. I have to put it out there to everyone, but there is a real possibility that that is the case. And I know you,

I know me, and a lot of other people that listen to slash watch this show will be frightened just because of what the islanders have done to the penguins over the last several decades. I have so much heartbreak

thanks to that franchise. I don't want it to come down to the last day against the islanders. I really don't. I hear you. I totally do. I just had to, throw it out there because that game is looming in the next couple of weeks.

But those three games are the biggest ones on this schedule where you have to take two clean points in regulation because you're chasing all three of them in the standings. But I should say this overall, you really can't drop even one game in regulation. You do that, even especially in this game against Washington, you're kind of right back where you started earlier this week where you were five points back. You have to bank points on a nightly basis. if you are going to do the unthinkable and sneak your way into the postseason. Hey, we said we wanted interesting hockey from them to finish off the season and look what we got.

They're not going quietly into the night. They're definitely not doing that, my friend. But that'll do it for this segment. And even though we said we're not going to look too far back, we are going to have some fun to close out the show and look back at some of our favorite Penguins Capitals matchup because as Hunter said, as you can see if you're watching on YouTube on the rundown. This could be one of the last huge Penguins capitals matchups of this era. But before we do that, we got to tell you about our next sponsor, and that is Robin Hood

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Robin Hood IRA available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robin Hood Financial LLC member SIPC is a registered broker dealer. All right, we're back here on the Thursday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. joined as always by the illustrious Hunter Hodes. And sometimes you know what they say. You wish you knew you were in the good old days before you were out of them. And this is what we're in right now, folks, is the good old days.

Because we have been blessed with some absolute classics from Sydney Crosby's Pittsburgh Penguins and Alex Ovechkin's Washington Capitals. And the first one that comes to mind is one that you and I were both in attendance for in March of last year before we were co-hosts together. Still two dudes who talked about hockey quite a lot, but I hadn't joined the show yet, but this was an absolute classic last year with a late of Gennie Malkin goal. He steals the puck,

goes in and scores after the Penguins blow yet another multi-goal lead in front of the fans at PPG Paints Arena. And at the time, both, it was a very similar setup. The only difference was it was March and not April. And if Gennie Malkin and the, capitals were going head to head all night long.

He gets the last laugh as both teams were jockeying to get into the playoffs and just an instant, instant classic. The way the penguins were dominating that game, you go up by multiple goals, you then blow it in the third period, which the penguins have done for quite a bit of leads this season. And then, Evgeny Malkin gets that goal with a minute left to basically save their season. I have not heard PBG Paints arena that loud ever. It was a bona fide playoff crowd, and I was sitting directly behind a couple of Caps fans, and they knew right then that their season was basically over, had a couple people just point

to them and laughed, and they took it in all in good fun, but that game definitely comes to mind. There's one game that comes to mind for me when the Penguins were getting ready for their playoff run in 2016, March 20th of that year. That was when the Penguins were firing on all cylinders with Mike Sullivan's new system. it was a weekend game. Penguins go up 2-0. Trevor Daly had one hell of the goal in that one.

The Capitol's stormback tied at two-wall. But then the Penguins just took that team to the woodshed. Right after that, you had a goal from Tom Koonakle. You had a goal from Matt Collin, aka Team Dad for a little bit. Cruz Koon, it's got a goal in that game. And then, of course, fan favorite Justin Shultz for a time, got a goal in that game as well.

But the way they dominated the Capitals at home, in that game despite the capitals still being pretty far ahead in the standings at the time. Remember, they ran away with the Metro that year. They ran away with just the entire regular season overall. But the way the Penguins played in that game, I said to myself after, they can beat that cap steam just because of how they were hitting on everything at the right time, how the capitals have fallen short in the playoffs numerous times. And sure enough, that happened in that spring where Nick Benino did the thing in game six

and overtime. But that's still one of my favorite games to look back on when I look at Penguins' caps of this era. You can do the dueling hat trick game as well. I already discussed Nick Benino and everything. And Patrick Hornquist, his overtime winner. But that one from the regular season is still one that stands out to me. I'm going to go way back. And I just had to kind of almost pinch myself because it's been 13 years since it happened.

and it was the last matchup of these two teams in 2010. And I know everyone's going to do the math in their head. It hasn't happened yet because this was the end of 2010. It was in December before the horrific winter classic where Sidney Crosby gets concussed. But it was the game that was back and forth all night long. HBO 24-7 was in the building. So everybody was miced up and everybody was having a great time. and then it goes to a shootout.

And this was such a fun year because the capitals going into 24-7 and the penguins going into 24-7 were two completely different teams. The capitals were struggling. They couldn't do anything right. Penguins, on the other hand, firing on all cylinders, looking like they were going to win their second cup in three years with Crosby and company. Crosby was also on that absolutely unbelievable 24-game run where he

put up 50 points. And it goes to a shootout. And it's not Alex Ovechkin. It's not Mike Green. It's not Sidney Crosby. It's not of Gennie Malkin. It's not Nicholas Baxter who wins it in the shootout in the ninth round. It's Pascal Dupuis who wins it in the ninth round of the shootout at then the Verizon Center. And everybody was just in stunned disbelief that it was Dupuy of all people who won the game in the shootout. I was in Florida on a vacation. I remember watching that in my grandma's room and I went berserk when they won that game. I'm glad that you brought that one up to you because that's one that I feel like a lot of people definitely maybe forgot a little bit, but then when you bring it out, they're like, oh yeah, I know where I was when that goal was

scored. And speaking of that, I got to bring up 2009 game three. Cursel Tang's overtime winner that saved the series against the Capitals. They lose that game. They don't win that series. I mean, I thought it was over late in the third period where Evgeny Malkin had one heck of a shift to give the Penguins the lead in the Capitals strike back in the waning minutes of that period. And then Latang just sends Mellon Arena into a frenzy.

And I mean, I snuck out of my room to watch that overtime because my mom. my mom told me to go to bed. And I'm like, you know what, screw that. I'm, what, 11 years old at the time? I'm going to go out and watch this overtime. And the TV downstairs was a little ahead. So I had a little bit of the heads up that it was coming. And once she started going crazy and then I saw the goal, I let out a massive roar.

And then she came upstairs almost yelled at me. And then she kind of just respected that I just stayed up and turned the TV on. in secret. And that was just such a fun game overall. And that series man was awesome. It was an all time. And you're never going to see a rivalry like this ever again, honestly. And all these memories that we've brought up were just so excited for this potentially one last big hurrah between these two captains who are in the back nine of their careers, but they're still trying to get their teams to the playoffs at least one more time before they call it quits.

For sure. So don't hesitate listeners to tweet us with your favorite memories. If you're watching on YouTube, let us drop us a comment on your favorite Penguins Caps memory from this era, because it is fleeting. We are very much near the end of it. So make sure before tonight's game, before you get into a frenzy to hate all the people rocking the red to just cherish the few moments

we have left of one of the best rivalries of the modern era in the national hockey league. But that is going to do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. We will be back on Friday to get you a recap of that game as well as get you set for the lightning game on Saturday and get you the rest of the outlook for this team and where they could go this season. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in to the Locked-on Penguins podcast, and we will be back with you on Friday.