Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins captain Sidney Crosby NOT RULED OUT for semifinals

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Team Canada Head Coach Jon Cooper provided an update on Sidney Crosby's status ahead of the semifinals, and it was better than we could have expected. Patrick and Hunter first begin the episode by PLAYING FREE BIRD BECAUSE THE U.S. WOMEN'S TEAM WON GOLD! They take a few minutes to recap another classic between the American and Canadian women's gold medal match. Then, they get into Jon Cooper's update on Sidney Crosby and how he isn't ruling the captain out for the semifinals. (0:00) Then, they get you set for Friday's semifinal matches between the United States and Slovakia and Canada and Finland. How can these teams punch their tickets to the gold medal game? (13:12) Finally, the Penguins were back at practice once again, and the vibes were high, including a certain coach putting on the goalie pads! (27:00) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcastright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Use your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto 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.

Penguins and Team Canada Captain. We've got an update on Sydney Crosby's status and spoiler alert. It's about as clear as mud. We will get into that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked on. on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at synonym 4 wet. Joined as always by my co-host, good friend and the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can find us on Instagram at Locked on underscore Penguins, as well as TikTok at Lockedon, penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we're free and available wherever you get podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, make sure to turn on the notifications. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we get started, this episode is brought to you by GameTime. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use the code locked on for $20 off.

I'm just going to have to do it, Hunter. I just have to do it before we talk about Sidney Crosby. Play Freebird as loud as you can because the United States women's team are gold medal winners in Milan thanks to a clutch tying goal from Captain America, Hillary Knight, in her final Olympic competition, and then a nasty overtime winner by defenseman Megan Keller. The United States defeats Canada two to one in overtime for the gold medal. And my God, this thing I got on my wrist hunter, in overtime, it buzzed and went, are you okay? You seem to have an elevated heart rate because I sure did.

It looked like that the U.S. was going to lose this game in regulation. Canada was more than content to just sit back, park the bus a bit. They were getting a bit more aggressive as, you know, the minutes were ticking down later on in the third period. But Hillary Knight, what a deflection to tie the game with about two minutes left. And then Megan Keller, an absolutely disgusting dangle leaving, you know, that poor Canadian defender in the dust. She had no chance on that one. And then the shot was also great as all. you know, one of the best golden goals you'll ever see.

And also, what a run for this team as well, Pat, a plus 31 goal differential in this tournament. It's crazy, man. Great run for the U.S. women's team. Congratulations to them more than deserving of winning the gold medal. I thought they were going to blow them out by three to four goals today. I didn't expect it to be this close. Hats off to Canada, they played really well. but that's one down, one to go.

We'll see if the team USA for the men's side can potentially win gold over Canada, because I think we are going to get that matchup. A little spoiler for the second segment. And speaking of Team Canada for the men's pad, we did get at least a small update on Cindy Crosby status very early in the morning because for some reason, I was up at 6.37 o'clock rolling around in bed. I'm like, you know what? I'm just going to get on my phone.

And you see the update from John Cooper, basically calling him day to day, has not ruled him out for the semifinals against Finland. There was another report actually about an hour ago from TSN's Ryan Rashog, who says, it sounds like Crosby may go for a quick skate on Friday morning to see where things are, but it is unlikely that he will play against Finland. So time will tell on that one. At the very least, again, we're not trying to speculate what this injury is, but at the very least, it looks like it's not the worst case scenario season ender,

which thank the heavens, Matt. Right. And I know I said this yesterday on the Wednesday episode. I do think in this furthers what I said about, hey, they're going to play this close to the vest. The way they're talking about it makes me think it might not be that bad or the worst case scenario. If they would have gotten the MRIs and imaging done yesterday, Cooper would have come out this morning and said, yeah, 87's done.

He would have told us the injury. He would have told us what was wrong. They would have given a full prognosis of what was going on with Sidney Crosby. But the fact that he comes out and, yes, John Cooper is notorious for his word games, his wordplay. He's a former lawyer. He's very good at this stuff. But when guys are done, he doesn't mince words. He doesn't play that game.

He'll come out and say, hey, this guy's out. He's, you know, he has this injury. We're not going to get him back. So all of this tells me that at the very least, adding on with Ryan Rashad's report, that he's probably genuinely questionable in a game time decision for tomorrow's game against Finland. And I also think as much as I know that John Cooper has become a really good villain for hockey fans with the way he works officials, the way he works the media, the teams he's coached. Him saying this, I actually do take him at his word saying, quote, we're taking this day by day and we're not going to put anyone in harm's way. but if he can play, he is definitely going to play.

We'll know more in 24 hours. Listen, I say this not to denigrate certain players, but it's going to come off that way. This is Sidney Crosby. This is one of the five greatest players in the history of the sport. He is not going to risk being the guy who pushes Sidney Crosby so far that he hurts himself for the long term. Right. And you're also.

not going to mess around with an injury report when it comes to the captain of team Canada, one of the best players to ever lace them up. I'm taking John Cooper at his word. I don't think there's anything, you know, weird about what he's saying. Like, I understand what you said as well, Pat, the way that he has worked media, the way that he has worked officials, how he has a way of words, just because, again, he's a former lawyer. But I'm taking him at his word here. You don't mess around with something like this when it comes to your captain, someone who has already led Canada to two Olympic goals. He's trying to win his third Olympic gold here. And it's not something you mess around with.

But again, it does look like we have avoided the worst case scenario, which is absolutely massive. Now, whether he plays again at the Olympics, that remains to be seen, whether or not he's ready for next week when the penguin season resumes. That remains to be seen. We'll have to see how the next couple days go, how the next week goes. But, you know, I am taking this update right now as a positive update. You and me both.

The other thing, and I joked about this on social media when he left the game earlier this week, I said, that's it. No more NHL players at the Olympics. We're done. Obviously being facetious, this has been an incredible tournament, both on the men's and women's side. It has been instant classic after instant classic. And I know that we got to, we did get some comments on Wednesday's show about how, you know,

some of our listeners are anti-NHLers at the Olympics. and, you know, while I totally respect your opinion, I get where you're coming from, especially when you see a couple of these injuries and all that. Wednesday was one of the great days of hockey that you'll probably remember for a long time. And I personally love the NHL players at the Olympics. I love seeing these guys getting to represent their countries.

These players, and I said this to Kelsey yesterday, my co-worker Kelsey Sir Mike's of the hockey news, if they wanted to play on lava in Mordor near Mount Doom, they would literally do it. That is just how much they love representing their countries. I know that that sounded weird probably, but it just goes to show how much these guys love representing their countries. They put it all on the line for the Olympics.

And I love it, man. I love seeing the NHL players back here. We've gotten some really good hockey as a way, and I think we're going to get two really good games on Friday. So that's a nice little tease going into that second segment. To further that point, though, before we get to that, the penguins themselves pretty much said this, including Brian Rust and head coach Dan Mews.

Right. Granted, they had both only just learned about it after leaving the ice on Wednesday after practice. And both of them said in one way or another, yeah, this is hockey. The risk of getting hurt can happen anywhere. It can happen in practice. It can happen in warm up.

It can happen during an exhibition game. And when you have the opportunity only once every four years to represent your country on the highest state, on the highest level and on the highest stage, it really is an opportunity you're not going to pass up. And given that we have gone 12 years without Olympic hockey, three full Olympic turns. without getting the best of the best on the men's side. They weren't going to pass this up. They weren't going to sit back and worry about, and I know I saw all the arguments and discussions about,

you know, Crosby saying, oh, what's more important, a Stanley Cup or a gold medal? I know that quite literally they have the chance to win the Stanley Cup every year because every team starts the season, oh, and oh. and you still have a shot when the year begins. But you only get one chance every four years to play at this level. And even then, you're only going to get three, four max chances to be on the national team, considering how much this sport has grown across the globe over the past 20 years.

So for these guys, I know it stinks that we're going to find out, if SIDS hurt for a medium or even hopefully not a long term, but in no world was he ever going to pass this up. But we got two really big games coming tomorrow. And while we only have maybe one penguin to be playing in them, it's the focus of the hockey world right now. We're going to get you set for the semifinals of the men's tournament when we come back right after this. But before we do that, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor. in that is game time. There is nothing like being in the arena for NBA or NHL games, the crowd, the energy, the moment. Getting the tickets, though, that part has not always been

the most simple thing. That is why game time, as you guys know, has become my go-to app for getting tickets fast without any of the hassle. It puts the advantage back where it belongs with the fans. I'm just going to be the broken record like I always am during the game time ads. You know I've used it for Penguins games, Steelers games, Pirates games. And yes, he's going to roll his eyes when I say this. Sabrina Carpenter and WWE. It helped me get into the building. And my favorite part, which I will always continue to ride for, the upfront pricing.

I click a seat. I pick my tickets. It shows me the price. And I don't get hit with any of those annoying surprise fees at checkout. It's the best. And of course, I say, a lot. Yeah, I've been to PPG paints arena a million times, but I still like that seat view feature because I like to know what my view is going to be when I walk into the arena.

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home country, the United States of America. As I joked on social media about this game, it is team. They can't keep getting away with it versus team vibes. Team Slovakia has been the biggest surprise of the tournament. They have, they threw the preliminary round and into the playoff into total chaos by winning their group. They steamrolled Germany. And this is a team that looks.

really good, is playing really solid hockey, going up against a USA team that has had a couple of scares, hasn't really put together a full 60 minute effort yet. So it may look like on the surface that the United States is going to punch their ticket to the gold medal game. They are going to have to earn this on Friday getting to the gold medal game. Yeah, this is not going to be an easy game for the United States. I touched on this a little bit during our Wednesday episode. Obviously, you and I are going to expand on it a bit more here.

Slovakia's goaltending, which I thought was going to be a pretty big weakness going into this tournament, has honestly been arguably their biggest strength. Samuel Halavai has been really good for them. 932 Sabrescent. Top five among all Olympic goaltenders by state percentage heading into the semifinals. He has been elite for his own country. And my dog's obviously going crazy about it downstairs as well. But if he gets hot, man, it's going to make this game even tougher for the U.S. to win.

Obviously, the U.S. also has the next factor in that. Connor Hellebuck, who has been the best goaltender of this tournament, Pat. He has a 958% percentage for the tournament. That ranks number one overall among all goaltenders heading into the semifinals in terms of a save percentage. So, you know, we could potentially get a goaltending battle for the ages here when you've seen the way both of these goaltenders have played. But even outside of the goaltending matchup, Slovakia, as I said on Wednesday,

day. They play a really solid all around team game. Everyone knows exactly where they need to be on the ice. They play really good defense in their own zone and they have capitalized on their chances throughout this tournament. It's nothing flashy, but it works and it works really, really well. You look at their lineup, Yerhe Slovkovsky. I mean, they beat Germany 6-2, Pat. He didn't factor in on a lot of those goals, which is saying something about the depth of this team. Slavkovsky, though, he turns into God every time he goes to the Olympics. So that is priority number one for the United States is slowing down Slavkovsky. Obviously, I'm Tomas Tatar on the top line as well. Dvorski has had a really good tournament for their third line center. He got Martin Feverarvi, Simone Nemich on the back end. Eric Chernak has also

been really good. So there's a lot of good talent here. And they're going to make this really difficult for the U.S. to win. I'm looking forward to this one, man. There is one thing that I do have to correct you on about Slovakia and it's for all my people like me who spend way too much time on the internet. Excuse me, but his name is Tomas Tata. Great video. Thank you for. But yes, you're right. That is what it's going to come down to for Slovakia is those big names who have been

the biggest drivers for them up to this point. They have to continue that. Halavai has faced nearly 30 shots a game in every game, Slovakia has played. and he's been up to the task. On the flip side of this, this is a game where the United States has to reach its potential on offense. They have to start filling the net. It's going to be difficult because of how good halavi is,

but this needs to be a borderline 2016 penguin style coaching job by Mike Sullivan where he just lets the shackles off. just play fast, play in their face, live in their zone, and just make a good offense, the best defense. Because if you give Slavkovsky, if you give Nemich, if you give a couple of those other Slovakian players, a couple of looks, I trust Hellebuck very much. He has really taken that narrative back with how good he's been so far in this tournament and how good he was in the Four Nations face off. that you can afford them a couple of chances, but if you keep them under siege for 60 minutes,

this is a very winnable game for the United States. I agree, and they are the favorite heading into this game, and they should win this game. But another key for me is, I want to see a much better third period from Team USA. I did not like the way they really sat back in the third against Sweden. You can tell, you know, getting closer to halfway through that period that Sweden was starting to find its confidence.

a little bit. They were getting more quality chances. And I'll bring that soccer turn back, Pat. They were parking the bus in that third period. I don't really like that. And we saw that constantly over these last couple of years when Mike Sullivan was the head coach of the Penguins, and it would come back to bite them in the ass. So I want to see a much more aggressive third period from Team USA. That's another big key for me. Obviously, the high-end talent has to keep doing its thing. I do also want to see if you're defending a lead late in this game. We don't need to put the role player line out there. You can use some of your other players in that situation so we don't have to, you know, keep hyper fixating on J.T. Miller and Vince

Rochek and all of that. But I'm excited for this one. I think the U.S. will win. They should win. But, hey, this is why the games are played at the end of the day. As for Canada, Finland, we'll spend a couple minutes on this one. UC Soros has also been one of the best goaltenders of this entire tournament. He has a 9.38 percentage. That ranks third among all goaltenders right now. He has been a rock for this team.

And I felt his best start came against Sweden when I woke up for that 6 a.m. game. Awesome one to wake up for, by the way. Well worth it. When Sweden was really pushing in that third period, he was making great save after great save for his team. And I think he's just been really good as this tournament has gone on.

another thing for Finland, you know, Hayskin, he's obviously going to have to play half the game. He's one of the five best defense on the planet, in my opinion. But they need to play Ranton in the most out of their forwards. One of the weirdest things that I have seen throughout these Olympics is that these coaching staffs are just not playing their best players the most amount of minutes. You saw it was Sweden. Yes, for Brat was barely getting minutes yesterday against the U.S. That makes no sense to me, man.

Philip Forsberg, he was barely getting minutes at the start of this term. And now finally, they got him into the third line. with Rickele and Aalias Pedersen, but I'm like, I should be a guy you're giving plenty of minutes every game. Why are you galaxy branding this? And now with Finland, I mean, I've seen, you've seen those charts, right? Like the minute charts where, you know,

Miko Ranssen is like six, seventh among ice time among all forwards. What are we doing here, guys? Like, he needs to play the most out of any finish forward. He is your best forward. Obviously, it sucks that Sasha Barkov is not there. That's, you know, a huge matchup. the way that he takes away the other team's top center and everything else he does too. But if I'm Finland, it's full pedal to the metal here.

You are playing Miko Ranson in as much as you can overall. Right. We're obviously a couple of gibronies with podcast, Mike. So take it all with a grain of salt. But it's easy to say during the NHL season, oh, come on, just play your best players. Just put your best players on the ice. it's a lot more complicated than that in an 82 game season.

At the Olympics, though, you've got a total of what, seven games, eight games maybe? You don't need to hold them back. You're not preserving them for the stretch run. Put them out there, let them play. But for Finland, this has to be nothing more than an opportunistic game. To kind of meld the two games together, Hunter, to take your soccer term, Finland is going to have to park the bus. Finland is going to have to play really well defensively

and capitalize on Canadian mistakes. They're not going to be able to play a back and forth game with Team Canada because Canada with their forward depth, they can come at you in waves. They can just keep coming at you. Next line over the boards, next line over the boards. You essentially have to frustrate them. You've got to keep them to the outside.

Saros has to have a big game. And when they get flustered or frustrated or make a mistake, that is when you have to capitalize. It's not an overly Herkulean task. Finland is very talented, but the disparity between the two rosters is pretty deep. And even with or without Sidney Crosby, this is still an insanely good Canadian team.

so for Finland to get a win, which I think is highly unlikely, it is going to have to be pretty similar to the Czechia game where you keep them to the outside, your goalie makes a bunch of big saves, and the minute they give you an opportunity, you've got to capitalize on it. Yeah, I think all of that is fair, especially with the way that you saw checking,

it was having success against Canada, especially in that third period. I mean, they were, you know, less than four minutes away from pulling off one of the biggest upsets you'd probably ever see, you know, in the men's Olympic ice hockey tournament. Not the biggest, of course, but one of the biggest. But yeah, that's kind of where I stand on that.

You got to have a big game from the Hayskin and Lindell pairing. Anton Lundell, I think also has to have a really good game. Sebastian O'Hoh, I thought he played really well in the quarterfinals. He has to keep it up. So I'm just, I'm curious to see how this one goes. If I had to make prediction, I'm going to take Canada by a goal. I think Finland is going to make it really tough on them. I don't think they're going to win it though.

I will also take the U.S. by a goal. And I will stay with my prediction. Canada, U.S. for the gold medal Sunday morning at a.m. Member people, make sure to set your alarm for it. Two big games coming up on Friday. Finland and Canada starts the day at 10.30 a.m. And then the U.S. in Slovakia at 3 p.m. Programming note for us, what we're probably going to do is we will react.

to the Finland-Canada game, and then we will react to the whole weekend on Monday. That way we're not putting out a Friday night episode. You're going to make sure you know what's going on. We're not going to have an episode where everything's outdated. So we'll probably end up doing that tomorrow for our Friday edition. We're also going to bring back Fan Take Friday. So make sure you are following us on YouTube.

you'll be able to find the post there for Fan Take Friday. I've got a good question in mind. So you're going to have to wait until Friday morning to see what we've got cooking for one of our favorite segments. But that is going to do it for this middle segment. When we come back, Penguins once again were at practice. And there was somebody in net who we don't often see between the pipes at Penguins practice. We will talk about that when we come back after this break, right after this.

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Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Wrapping up the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. What can't Nick Benino do these days? He scores one of the more iconic goals in,

Penguins history. He grows a beard, at least in his playing days, that was the envy of so many. He just on a, nearly on a whim, decides to become an NHL assistant coach. And what does he do today at practice? He puts on the pads and he plays goalie. Yeah, we are fully in that time where we're checking our watches, we're checking our phones. And as much as we're loving, the Olympics, we're like, all right can the penguins just get back already yeah but it's been a couple of weeks we got one more to go until penguins hockey returns so be patient everyone we're two-thirds of the way through it the next week we'll be here before you know it but the one video that i love today dan mus versus nick benino and mews just sniped one past him and the whole team was like

oh my god i wanted i wanted i wanted that i wanted dame meh should just do like like an awesome celebration, but he just kept it very cool, very calm, very classy, but he sniped one past Benino. I think he was asked about this by a couple of reporters. And he was like, yeah, he's got a lot of work to do. The players were joking around about it after practice as well. Just based on some of the tweets that were coming in, you know, again, one of my coworkers, Kelsey Sir Max was there, very high-spirited practice once again, but also a very funny practice. The vibes are very good. Team is in second place. Everyone is having fun. you know obviously sid's not there to i guess keep the rest of the team and check a little bit

so maybe everyone's having a bit more fun but at this point it feels like with sid at the olympics away from the team as they return to practice he's your teacher that always stays on the lesson plan always is kind of keeping you focused and ready to go if getty malcon's the substitute teacher who's like said you guys uh seen good movies like lately. What's been going on? Yeah, no, we can do this lesson tomorrow. We don't need to worry about it today because it does seem like that the practices are a little bit looser. They're having a little bit more fun. But you touched on it, though, Hunter. With the way the quote unquote first half before the Olympic break has gone, this team has earned that. This team has earned the right to when they get back

and they're practicing while the Olympics are wrapping up, they should be having fun. The vibes should be high because this team has earned it. And we know that as soon as everybody gets back, as soon as they're getting ready for this big month of March, just knowing the leadership group of this team, they're going to lock back in. They're going to be focused and ready to go.

But right now, get your legs back. You enjoyed your Olympic vacation. reacquaint yourself with the grind and have a little bit of fun while you're doing it. And one more thing to keep these really fun vibes going. So they practice a shootout today. And Pat, I'm just going to read you the list of players that participated in if they scored or not. Evgeny Malkin denied.

Igor Chinochov denied. Kevin Hayes denied. Anthony Mantha denied. Same with Brian Rust. Tommy Novak denied. Connor Dewer denied. Ben Kindle also got a save. Chris LaTang was the only player to score in the shootout for the penguins as they were practicing.

Ryan Shea was also denied. So penguins bad, they're keeping their shootout lows very much going during the practice days. Hopefully, God willing, there's no shootouts to end the season here in March. But I had to bring that up. And last but not least, we got to bring this up to end the show. Avery Hayes, another hat trick last night for Wilkesbury. What can't he do? It's amazing.

And I don't want to pump Kyle Dubus's tires too much because obviously we are nowhere near the end of this rebuild. We are nowhere near being able to say it's a success. He nailed it. He knocked it out of the park. But the one thing I will say that he has done really well over the last couple of years is he's identified the players who need a little bit more seasoning, a little bit more time. or a second chance. And a lot of them have really popped Tommy Novak. We're looking at Avery Hayes.

Igor Chinikov is doing really well. Obviously, all this could change. Obviously, all these guys could fall off of a cliff because when you, especially when you talk about people like Hunter and I who have been watching this team for years and years, there is a graveyard of players who had a hot couple of months. We fell in love with and then went, ah, damn, where'd that but for right now in this moment on February 19th, everything is coming up gold for this.

So we love to see that for Avery Hayes. Hunter, unless you've got anything left to add, I think that's going to do it for our Thursday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back on Friday to get you set for, well, to react actually, to the Canadian in Finland game. Talk about the penguins and another fan take. Friday, all that coming up on Friday. But now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as

always for tuning in. And we will be back on Friday.