Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins begin a crucial homestand against the Columbus Blue Jackets

Episode Date: January 7, 2025

The Penguins begin a 5-game homestand against a team they have a 10-year home winning streak against - the Columbus Blue Jackets. Patrick and Hunter dive into how the Pens can get back into the win column against a team they have historically owned when they come to Pittsburgh. Then, now that we've reached the halfway point of the 2024-25 season, Patrick and Hunter discuss what has gone right for the Penguins, what has gone wrong, and how they can continue their push to the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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.

Tonight, the Penguins kick off a crucial five-game homestand against a team that they have dominated historically, and that will need to keep up tonight. Hunter and Iron and get you ready for that and more 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. Hello, and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media's at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by my partner in crime, my co-host, the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow our show's Twitter account at L.O. underscore Penguins.

And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, don't forget to hit the notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes.

Before we get started today, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. You can start the season with a big return on Fandul. New customers can place a $5 bet and get started with $200 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, visit Fandul.com to get started. Hunter tonight is a big start for the Penguins.

They have a five-game home. in what is going to be a very challenging January for this team, especially as they continue to push their way back into the playoff picture as they currently are fighting to get the second wild card spot. And tonight will be a game that kicks off a five-game homestand before they hit the road for seven road games. And it begins with a team that they have historically dominated. it is a team that we call almost affectionately their little brother in the Columbus Blue Jackets.

And just to set the table for how important this game is and what the Penguins have been able to do against the Blue Jackets for the last 10 years, the Penguins right now have a 15 game home winning streak against the Blue Jackets. It dates all the way back to December 21st of 2015. and during this winning streak, they have outscored Columbus 61 to 30, and they have scored three or more against the Blue Jackets in 14 of those 15. So this is a team that when they come to PPG Paints Arena

or considering how far back this streak lasts, Consul Energy Center, the penguins beat them down when they come to Pittsburgh. And given how these two teams had their first, matchup go a couple of months ago, Columbus winning 6 to 2 against the penguins at nationwide arena in Columbus. Not only do the penguins need to get these two points because they want to continue their dominance over the blue jackets, but the blue jackets have very quietly pushed themselves back into the playoff picture, just like the penguins have themselves. They are just

one point behind the penguins in the standings with 40. And the penguins in blue jackets have essentially identical records going into this one. The blue jackets are 17, 17, and 6, the penguins, 17, 17, 17, and 7. So these are two teams who, as of late, have been on a very parallel track, but the penguins need to do what they have been doing for the last 10 years,

and that is beat up on the blue jackets when they come to Pittsburgh. Honestly, Pat, it kind of goes back even further than that with 10 years. You know, here in Pittsburgh, you know, the penguins, they only have four losses to the Blue Jackets in franchise history, regular season, 23 and 4, dating back to the 2000, 2001 season. So, again, this goes back two plus decades with how the Penguins have dominated the Blue Jackets in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins have also really dominated them the last four to five years. They are 11 and 1 in two against the Blue Jackets in their last 14 games. That one regulation loss earlier this season when the Penguins played like absolute crap up in Nation of Wynarita. They were down to nothing. They come back to tide. It's looking like, oh, it's going to be another classic penguins come from behind win against Little Brother.

Nope. Tris and Jari allows a really bad goal to make it 3-2 Columbus. And then the Penguins look like it just quit on the game after that. 4-2, 5-2, and then 6-2. That's easily one of the worst losses of the season. They played like absolute crap in that game. The Penguins went 3-0-1 against a bluejackets last year. Again, they continued to play really well.

But, you know, that's all good for history, but you got to throw that out for this game because the blue jackets are playing some pretty solid hockey this year, better hockey than I expected out of them, considering that I really didn't think they were going to be that good when I looked up and down this roster. But to their credit, Zach Wrenski, their number one defenseman, he's having an incredible year, 45 points in 40 games.

Gromarchenko, remember, he was a healthy scratch for the blue jackets at times last year, especially against the penguins. he already has 17 goals, 43 points in 40 games. Also, Sean Monaghan, he has 40 points in 40 games. Those are by far, their three best players this year. They're getting contributions from Ken Johnson, Cole Cillinger, Varankov as well. He got ProVrom making some contributions in there. Adam Fantilia has eight goals, but their main three guys you have to watch out for Arwar Enski, Marchenko, and Monaghan. They have been awesome for them all year. where the Penguins, though, will have an edge, even though their goaltending still isn't that good,

is in goal. Columbus has gotten some rotten goaltending this year, man. You look at all three net minders this year. Merzleekins, he has started the majority of the games, 26 out of 40, 13 and 10 and 3. 3.1A goals against average 888 save percentage. You would then have Terasov. He has an 8.57 save percentage, and then Jet Grieves 890. They have a combined team's say percentage of 880.

this year. That's worse than the penguins, Pat, which says something because the penguins, let's face it, their goaltending, when you look at the weaknesses of this team, you know, they're playing their own zone, you know, goaltending, a few other things. I would put goaltending, you know, 1A, 1B up in terms of their biggest issues. The season, I'd probably argue it's 1A, considering that they have made at least some changes to the way they play in their own zone. I would put the goaltending at 1A defensively at 1B. But the fact that the Penguins have the goaltending edge in this game should tell you something. So the Penguins will have a pretty good opportunity to score a lot of Gold Snake considering Columbus as goaltending. So they need to take

advantage of that. Again, another fast start is needed. I want to see a start like you had against Carolina. The Penguins blitz the hurricanes in the first parade of that camp. It was obvious the hurricanes weren't ready to play. You need to have something like that. And this one, but the kicker is you need to sustain that. When a team tries to push back like the hurricanes did, you need to be able to push back to their pushback because the Penguins weren't able to do that in that game against the hurricanes. And they were just boldly pushed around in that second period. They basically spent no time in the offensive zone that entire period. You need to be able to do that if a team doesn't matter who it is, you know, pushes back and starts carrying the play. So if, for example,

the same thing happens tonight where the Penguins blitz them in the first period and then Columbus starts pushing back a little bit in the second period, I want to see the penguins really be able to push back and be more consistent because they need to start stringing together way more 60 minute efforts if they want to get that second wildcard spot in this pretty average Eastern conference. Right. It's a soft Eastern conference, but like I said on the show yesterday, when you're in that scenario, it means there are a lot of teams competing for only a

handful of spots. And right now it's essentially four or five, maybe even six teams that are battling for the first and second wild cards. So it is leaving you not a lot of margin for error, especially if you have a bad week or two. And like you said, what you got to look out for tonight if you're the penguins when the blue jackets come to town is that top line. You went over Varankov, Monaghan, and Marchenko. The three of them have been producing extremely well, carrying this team offensively along with their top defensemen in Werenski. So this is a team that gets contributions from they're getting, I should say they are getting help up and down the lineup,

but the vast majority of their offense is coming from those four players. So you have to be able to neutralize them. Couple that with two other things, something you mentioned, the goaltending really isn't going to matter who they start to. night because none of them have been playing well as you went over. And then the other thing that I was saying to you before we started the show, the Columbus Blue Jackets are darn near unbeatable at Nationwide Arena.

They are 13, 5, and 3 when they play in Columbus, but as soon as they take to the road, they are 4, 12, and 3. So if we take out the Gary Bettman loser point, they are 4 and 15 on the road. That is an absolutely rotten record when they're not playing at home. They're obviously not playing at home tonight. They're coming to PPG paints arena. You couple that with some subpar goaltending. And just like we were saying with Carolina,

for whatever reason, the penguins have a curse when they go play in Raleigh. They cannot find a way to win when they go to Raleigh. You look at Columbus, it's even more pronounced when they come to Pittsburgh. This is a house of absolute horrors to them. So put that together with the way they started against Carolina. If you bring that into tonight's game, very easy for Columbus's mentality to switch to, oh boy, here we go again.

We're in Pittsburgh. We can't win here. You have to take advantage of that if you're the penguins. Right. And you also look at the penguins home and road splits, Pat. It's kind of similar. The penguins are dreadful. on the road. You were giving me the numbers before the show with their road record. It's bad.

They have been really struggling on the road this year. But you look recently at home, they're winning a lot of home games as of late. They've been playing very well at PPG Paints Arena these last few weeks. They started the season struggling both at home and on the road. Obviously, they were 7, 12, and 4 to start the year. But as of these last few weeks, especially, they are playing great at PPG. And you are going to need to carry that throughout this five game home stand. A lot of good teams are coming in. You know, Edmonton later this week, Tampa Bay, Ottawa obviously is a huge game a bit later on.

So you need to carry that good play at home into all of these games because, you know, especially for this one, because they have really struggled against Metro teams this year, man. 3-7 and 2. That, I believe that is the worst mark in the mics. of an era for his team against metro teams. The Penguins usually play the Metro, I would say fairly well, at least average to good. They're usually able to get at least a split with most of the teams,

well, outside of Carolina and New Jersey, but they're usually able to get about a split, if not better, with almost all the other teams, even the Islanders, the Capitals, the Flyers, the Blue Jackets, of course. But this year, it's been tough sledding. against the Metro team. So that needs to change ASAP. It does.

But I will also add this caveat that a little over a decade ago when the Metropolitan Division was created after a lockout season, this division has been an absolute slug fest since it began. It is not an easy division. Welcome to Pittsburgh, where we have our hockey team in one of the most competitive divisions and our football team in one of the most competitive divisions. There are no easy games when we play the old foes. But penguins, you know, the penguins 11, 7 and 2 at PPG, 610 and 5 on the road.

Pretty similar to Columbus, isn't it? These are two teams that are absolutely mirroring each other at this point in the regular season. But penguins and Blue Jackets tonight, 7 o'clock PPG Paints Arena kicks off a five-game homestand. Obviously, we will be back tomorrow to recap that game, however it goes. but that is going to do it for the first segment. When we come back, we are going to spend a good amount of time in the rest of the show. Since we are officially at the halfway point of the season, the Penguins have played 41 games.

We're going to give our thoughts on where this team is, where it's going, and everything in between through the first 41 games of the season. And we will do that when we come back. But first we've got to tell you about our first sponsor. And that is Fandul. From big upsets to game winning drives, the NFL playoffs are better with Fandul. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $200 in bonus bets guaranteed.

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Make this NFL playoff season unforgettable with Fandul, an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, welcome back. It is the Tuesday edition and the halfway mark edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And like I said, 41 games have been played. Tonight will be game 42. So we are officially at the halfway point of this season. Dear God, it's flying by. It feels like we were just talking about training camp five minutes ago.

And here we are. But let's do it this way, Hunter. Let's eat our vegetables first. And then when we finish the show, we'll have our dessert and talk about the good things. This is something that you hinted at in the first segment that I want to begin with. And I want to get your thoughts on why you think this might be. might just be an anomaly. It might be indicative of a larger negative trend, but this team has not had success on the road. And if there's one thing we've noticed in the Mike Sullivan era of Penguins

hockey, it's that this team usually has a puncher's chance wherever they go. Some of that is the roster composition. This has been one of the better teams for the last 10 years plus in the NHL, and you've always given them a chance when you have Sidney Crosby, Getty Malkin, Chris Latang, and so many others who have worn the black and gold. But for whatever reason this year, they seem pretty good at home. They can't figure it out on the road. What do you think is leading to that? I think part of it is that they just don't know how to weather the storm on the road compared

to home. I think they have so much more better starts at home compared to on the road. I think when a teen gets the early jump on them on the road, the crowd gets behind them, they really don't know how to, you know, come out of their shell. You know, you've seen it time and time again. You know, even during that game against Carolina, they had that dream start. They're up to nothing.

They're dominating play. But as soon as the hurricanes push back to start the second period, Penguins had no answer for it. And boom, it's 2-1, boom, it's 2, boom, it's 3-2. Then they have the intermission. They're able to talk things over. And then they go back to at least playing okay in the third period. I feel it feels like more so on the road,

to at home, they're not willing to string together these consistent 60-minute performances. I've been able to see it at least a little bit more at home, even though I still think this is a team-wide issue. But on the road, it's almost non-existent except for maybe a couple of games. You know, the one that really comes to mind is that blowout in Montreal, by the way, earlier this season with the Penguins just absolutely blitzed them that entire game. That was one of their most, if not the most consistent 60-minute effort for up a season on the road. A lot of these other games, they're just not where there's not ready to have a good start. They don't weather the storm properly. And I feel like they also make it ill-advised

decisions. I feel like at least what I've noticed on the road towards at home, they play more diligent at home. They play a bit more safe at home. On the road, they try to be a little bit too much running done for my liking. And I feel like if you're able to take that down a notch, at least a little bit compared to doing what you do at home, I think you'll also have a bit more success. I also know that Nadelcovich has been really poor on the road. As of late, you know, whenever he starts on the road, it's been pretty rare that the Penguins have been able to get a win. So I really think, again, it's a multitude of issues. I will say one big thing that is an issue that looms over this team, no matter what,

has been the goaltending issue. Neither Jari nor to Nadelcovic, especially to start the year, were any sort of good. They were genuinely bad. Another thing I want to add about the road record is I do think at least in the last month, they have been getting a little bit better at playing on the road. But also, you look at the way the season began when back in October. And obviously, you know, you can only play the schedule in front of you. No moral victories and you don't want to make excuses,

but you look at how their road games began this season. And obviously they get the wins on the road against the Red Wings and the Habs, two teams that you should beat. But you also throw in losses to Toronto, one of the best teams in the league. The Jets at the time, they were off to that unbelievable start. Calgary, same deal. They had a really good start to the season.

Edmonton and Vancouver, those are all teams. that at least in the context of that time, you had them penciled in to either be contenders or close to contenders, and we knew where the penguins were. We weren't expecting them to be contenders, and they started off the season with a gauntlet on the road. So they beat the teams they needed to beat, and they're starting to figure it out a little bit now,

still not very good. They have to improve, but they had a massive challenge in front of them. So let's transition over to this, since I brought it up for first half thoughts. The goaltending, absolute nightmare to start the year. Outside of Ewell Blumquist, who stepped in admirably when Alex Nadelcovich was hurt and Tristan Jari was struggling, those two Jari and Nadelcovich have not been good.

They're starting at least a little bit to improve, but the bar was not very high, but they have to continue to string together these games. and eventually we need maybe not so much for one of them to steal a game, but we need to eliminate the thing that you and I have said, everyone who covers the team has said and noticed, where you look at a game, even when they win and you go, he didn't play horrible, but that one goal, he gave up that one goal. So though that has to improve down the stretch.

We keep saying that man, they need average goaltending. That's really good. you know, Jesse comes on here and says the same thing about it. You know, all three of us are in agreement. They really just need average goaltending, especially with the way they generate chances, especially with the way they've been finishing their chances these last few weeks. You know, usually this team has been dead last these last few years

in terms of finishing their chances. They're higher than that. You know, it's not league average, which is where, you know, I would want them to be or even a bit higher, but it's still not last, which obviously is gross. But they need better goaltending. in the second half here. And Adelkevich,

I feel like he's been struggling all year, man. It's been pretty pissed for a save percentage below 900. I felt like the overtime goal, too juicy of a rebound for me. I think if he's able to corral that a bit better, maybe gives the Penguins at least a chance to get the puck for the first time. They didn't hold the puck even for one second of that overtime. But I feel like he could be a bit better with that one.

And then for Jari, yeah, he's been a little bit better since coming back from Wilkesbury, as we've said. But again, the bar was literally on the floor. I still don't think it's the level that the penguins need from him if they want to make a run in the second half and make the playoffs. So both goalies need to be at least average to a bit above average if this team wants to make a run here in the second half. And Pat, we didn't mention this during the first segment we were previewing the game against Columbus tonight, but it appears yes, he Pooeyardy is going to be making his return to the lineup coming in for Anthony Bavillier. He was skating on a third line with Drew O'Connor and Kevin Hayes. So it's as we talked about last week, give him a shot, a little bit of a runway, see what he can do.

You're at least showing him off to other general managers. If you want to move on from this player, you really need to see what he can do in the lineup. So I'm glad that he's going to get his shot. I'm curious to see what he does in this game. And who knows, maybe even going forward for the next two to three to four. Yeah. And you actually got into right there the last thing I wanted to talk about. And that was Mike Sullivan is I know that.

I am a Mike Sullivan defender. There is no running from that. Anybody who listens to the show reads my work, you know that I'm a Mike Sullivan guy. I think he's one of the best coaches in the league. And I think that some of the reactions to everything that's gone on in the last few years, I think simply pinning it on the coach is a little bit lazy. It's not to say that he's perfect. It's not to say that he's above criticism because he is very much not.

And I'm about to do that. But I think it's just kind of lazy in the sense that you can just go, oh things didn't go well got to be the coach so i digress but the pull y'arvy situation in the bottom six situation i do not like the way that he's handled it this year and i brought this up in writing and i want to bring it up now when it comes to pull yardby i understand and agree with the sense that he makes a lot of maddening decisions away from the puck he is not the most cerebral hockey player that has ever existed. There's a lot of sloppiness in his game.

But when you have a guy like him who you are basically putting a one strike in your out policy for him where he gets in, he plays okay for a couple of games, makes a mistake in the last one and you yank him for five to ten. But you keep a guy like Drew O'Connor in the lineup who I understand different player, different scenario, but 30 games plus without a goal. and you have expectations for him to fit into the top six or at least the middle six

and he's not producing and you keep playing him while you let a guy like Poo-Yarvy wither away in the press box. It just doesn't make sense to me. And they said at the start of the year, a lot of performances are going to dictate playing time. Well, you didn't give him enough time to play and you pulled him out every time he made a mistake. Meanwhile, a guy like D.O.C., who I love struggled,

mightily and just continued to be thrown out there every night. Well, and the same thing happened, you know, with Matt Nietto when he came back. And I was fine with giving him a little bit of a runway to see what he can do coming off that major injury. But it's funny, you know, it looks like Puyarvi's coming in tonight for Beauvillier, who he's been better than the end of this year, especially offensively. I get that Matt Nietto kills penalties. But you're just, you're continuing to ice some of these veteran forwards that haven't done

as much as you're compared to someone else to has been sitting up in the press box has been more consistent. Yeah, as he made mistakes, sure, but you don't need to bench the player every time he makes a mistake during the game. It just feels like you have a bias towards a select player or something like that. And you know, I've made

my thoughts about Mike Sullivan pretty clear. I was ready to move on from him at the end of last season. I think if they missed the playoffs at the end of this season, I wouldn't be surprised if they did move on again. I also, you know, funny to say, I wouldn't be surprised that they also kept him, considering the way that Kyle Dubus and the Owners of a group have talked about him.

But so those are just my thoughts on that situation, Mike Sullivan and all that. But hey, we got to get to at least some positives to end the show because even though they had a rough start to the season, it's been admirable that they've been able to really climb themselves back into this and at least be in the race heading into the second half. You're right. And we are going to do that when we come back. Because like I said, we eat our veggies first and then we'll have the hot fudge Sunday to end the show. talk about the good, all the tasty treats and everything that's gone right so far this season. And we will do that when we return. But first, we've got to tell you about our last sponsor of

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I'm Patrick. that's Hunter Hodes and I know where I have to start with what has gone well this season. And with that big grin, I don't know if Hunter knows where I'm going with this, but I'm going to do it anyway. The power play. As we record this one today, they currently sit fifth in the national hockey league at 25.6%. Like so many things, when you talk about what this team has done well this year, how they've been able to pull themselves back,

they've been able to compete and they have at least put themselves into a playoff race, they haven't done anything spectacular and that includes the power play. They have just simplified it. You watch the Penguins power play. It's everything that we have said they needed to do to make it work again. The puck's moving. They're shooting it when they have lanes and they're not standing stagnant. They're moving around because you watched the power play last year.

What did they do? They gained the zone. Everybody went to their spot. They played patty cake with the puck. The team would clear it out and we would be done with a power play opportunity. This year, guys are moving. They're filling in spots. And when they have an open shooting lane, they take it.

I really don't have much else to add about that because you really have said all the points that we have been harping on for this unit. And hey, for as much flack as we've given Matt Grizzlick this year, he has been their best power play quarterback. He has been great on the main advantage. We have to give him his flowers for that. The way that he's been able to command the ice at the point, the way that he's been able to move the puck around, it's been really nice. I still, I'm on the fence with the split units. They're working right now, so I'm going to leave it be. I'm not going to complain until he potentially go on a dry spell or anything like that. But Grizzly's been awesome.

They also have that net front presence that was really lacking last year. They weren't using the net front presence at all and taking away the goalie's vision when a shot was coming through. They're doing that a lot more this year. And it's no wonder why it's leading to great results on the main advantage. Another thing I really want to highlight, that's a big positive for the first half. How about Ricard Raquel leading the team in goals with 18? He is probably going to finish with 30 plus goals this year if he keeps us up and he stays healthy. he has been fan freaking-tastic.

I don't know we had our takes over the summer. Oh, you know, they could look to move him. That contract is not the greatest. He didn't have a good year. Well, I'm glad they didn't, and I'm glad he has shut me in both of you up because he has been by far one of their three, in my opinion, one of their three best players this season.

Whenever they've needed a goal, he has provided it. He's been outstanding at five-on-five, been great on the power play. I can't say enough about how he's playing right now. Yeah, he's going to have some value with the trade deadline, though. I would be cautious about moving him because I feel like you can maybe get even more of a King's ransom for him during the summer when teams are looking for even more scoring and when the salary cap goes up, by the way.

And also, especially if he finishes this year with 30 plus goals, his value is only going to continue to get higher. So as of right now, I personally would not move him at the deadline unless you can get a team to really overpay for him, but I think right now that's kind of unlikely. But he's been awesome. Obviously, Pat, the play of Cindy Crosby once again this year. He's been fantastic, a little bit of a slow start. But again, 11 goals, 42 points and 41 games, over a point per game.

Evgeny Malcon, only eight goals this year, 32 points in 41 games. That's still very respectable for a second line center. You knew that that really hot start wasn't going to fully stick, but as long as he's right around where he is right now for the age that he's at, I will gladly take something like 32 points in 41 games. And of course, Brian Ross, 15 goals, 29 points, and 34 games. I mean, he's been a rock all year for this team. And we should give our flowers to Eric Carlson as well.

Really rough first month. You can tell he really wasn't healthy. If we're being fully honest, you can tell that injury was really hampering him. He wasn't even driving offense for the first half of that month. well, not even the first half of the month, excuse me. He wasn't even driving offense for that first entire month of the season. But after that month went away and that game against Vancouver really came around, he's turned into a completely different player.

And these last five to six weeks, this is the level that I've been wanting to see from Eric Carlson on a more consistent basis. He has been, at least during this time, their best defenseman. And also, I would say Crystal Tang, as well. So those are some big positives. The way they played in their own zone, they fine-tuned some things at least a little bit. It's kind of been a tale of two halves with this first half.

7, 12, and 4 to start, get a 9-3-1 run after. Then, you know, you've had a little bit of mixed results since then. But they're looking like the team that I thought they were going to be heading into the season. A average team that's hanging around the playoff bubble that I still think is ultimately going to missed by two to three points, but this is exactly where I thought they would be heading into the season. They're just an average team. Yeah, and I don't have a ton to add on all that. I agree with most of it. The one thing that I want to add on about Brian Rust that I think is flying under the radar a little bit when it comes to his game this year, he leads the team

in game winning goals with four. So when you need somebody, Brian Rust is there. The guy has been the consummate professional. He is a great success story for Divor. development within the organization for everything he's turned into, just a phenomenal player. And the last thing I will add on to what you said, especially about the way they've played lately, it has nothing to do with statistics, it has nothing to do with X's and O's. It has everything to do with mentality and intangibles. This team has found heart and fight. For the last month and a half, they are battling, they're playing hard.

and it's similar to something that you and I talked about when they were going through it in November. They look like they're enjoying the game again. Their game in October and November was utterly joyless. It looked like they were showing up to a job they hated, punching in at nine, punching out at five, going home and not caring about work. Now all of a sudden, they find themselves in the fight, they find themselves in games, they're battling, they're finding ways to win. And again, it doesn't mean they're good.

It doesn't mean they're all the way back. Doesn't mean they're suddenly a contender. But they have put themselves back in the conversation. It would be intellectually dishonest of us, not to mention that just because we think that they're still an average team. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. Hunter and I will be back tomorrow to recap this game, as well as give our MVP of the week for Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We will be back with a brand new episode for you on Wednesday.