Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins DOMINATE the Carolina Hurricanes to close out 2025!
Episode Date: December 31, 2025The Penguins closed out 2025 with a dominant victory over the divisional rival Carolina Hurricanes, and it might have been their best of the year. Patrick and Hunter close out 2025 on a high note, the... same way the Penguins did on Tuesday night when they dominated Carolina from start to finish. They begin with the overall team play of the Penguins, and how, across 60 minutes, they smothered the Hurricanes defensively and took the fight to them in the offensive zone. (0:00) Then, they look at the individual performances that carried the Penguins to victory. They include the likes of Justin Brazeau, Tommy Novak, and others who stepped up in a big way against Carolina. (13:00) Finally, the New Year's Eve episode ends with a tradition. It's still Wednesday, which means they hand out their MVP of the week in the final Warrior Helmet Wednesday of the year! (24:45)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.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So before tip-off, check the FanDuel app and see what’s dropping during NBA Happy Hour — every Friday from 6 to 7:30 PM Eastern.A little basketball, a little action, and a whole lot of Friday energy. 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.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins ended 2025 with what might have been their most complete victory over a team that they rarely, if ever, beat.
Hunter and I are going to recap the victory over the Carolina Hurricanes, as well as hand out our MVP of the week as part of Warrior Helmut Wednesday, right after this.
You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the podcast on the
Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.
Hello and welcome in to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp.
You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet, joined as always by
my good friend and co-host, the one and only Hunter Hodes.
You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.
you can follow the show's Twitter account at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also find us on
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free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on
YouTube, which you should be. Make sure you've hit the notification button. That way you can be among
the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. There is no two ways about
it, Hunter. The Penguins played arguably their most complete game of the season to date. Maybe
their most complete game of the calendar year 2025. They end the year with a five.
to one dismantling of the Carolina Hurricanes.
And when you look at the box score, when you look at the final score,
when you go on to natural statric or onto Moneypuck and you look at the analytics,
you think maybe this game was a little bit closer than the final score may tell you.
But when you go back and watch this game, it was not at all close.
This was a top to bottom, start to finish, beating of the Carolina Hurricanes.
The penguins, they took control of the game pretty much from the jump.
They did not let up, and they scored a huge two points in the Metropolitan Division.
As we record this here on New Year's Eve, the Pittsburgh Penguins find themselves just two points out of a wild card spot and just four.
points out of third in the Metropolitan Division, given how rough December was for this
team. As we head into 2026, they are right there in the mix, but let's keep the focus on
Tuesday night's game. Unbelievable performance top to bottom. And there is not anything in my opinion
that you can really be mad about from that. No, there's really no negatives about this one. I guess if you
want to get mad that Stuart Skinner gave up a goal at the end of the second period to spoil
his shut out, you know, do you?
Crystal Tang struggled once again, but you know what?
We're not really going to nitpick things here and be negative.
This is a full positive episode of Locked on Penguins because this team deserves it.
They kicked Caroline his ass up and down the ice in this game.
It's the best that they've played against them in it.
At least five years, if you want to argue maybe six to seven to eight years, no, we're not doing
the meme.
Don't do the meme.
I knew it.
You just did it.
shame on you for that.
We have to end 20, 25 on the show with your stupid 6-7 meme that all the 10 to 12-year-olds do.
But in all seriousness, that is the best they have played against Carolina in several seasons.
Total domination in every facet.
And I tweeted this last night, Pat, and I'll say it here.
That game is the perfect example of what this team can be when they play a full 60 minutes.
And, you know, they made quick decisions.
They gave Carolina absolutely nothing in their own end.
each player understood their assignments
when they were out there
and to me it was their best game
since their 5 to 1 win in Philadelphia
earlier this month
and you can make an argument
that this was their best top to bottom game
of the year.
This looked way more like the October
Pittsburgh Penguins and that's the thing.
Ever since then, you know,
they've obviously struggled quite a bit
especially in the month of December.
You know, they had that eight game losing streak,
losing 9 to 10 of course.
But even during that losing streak,
you would see spurts of the October Penguins
come out. They just weren't able to finish games off, and they were mentally fragile.
Now, especially in this game on Tuesday, you see that game against Chicago, more of the October
Penguins are coming out. And that team is still in there. Like, you've been able to see it recently.
It's just, can they get the October Penguins out there in a more consistent basis? That's been
the thing. And they also just haven't been playing a lot of full 60-minute games this year,
especially during this recent stretch with the losing streak. Last night, however,
full 60, pedaled to the medal.
They shut things down in the third period.
I know Pat people were out there when Jankelski scored.
Oh, no, here we go again.
A four-go lead going into the third period.
But they gave Carolina next to nothing in that period.
They were aggressive.
They weren't sitting back, waiting for something bad to happen.
And it's because they finally have some confidence.
That's the biggest thing.
And very quietly now, they've won three out of four going into the new year.
Can they keep it up?
That's the big question, but this has been a different team since the Christmas break, and it's been nice to see.
The Christmas break really did come at seemingly a perfect time because, granted, we're all of two games into it, but even then, you can poke your holes in it because Chicago, not very good.
They were on the second half of a back-to-back with some travel.
Same thing against Carolina.
They were on the second half of a back-to-back with travel.
but the thing that I always, the two things I should say that I always come back to in those
situations are one, the NHL schedule is not a restaurant.
You can't look at the schedule makers and go, sorry, this wasn't made to the right way.
So I'm going to hand this back to you now.
You play the games in front of you.
And they were served up, pun absolutely intended.
They were served up two opponents who were on the second half of a back-to-back and had to travel.
But then the other side of that for me is that,
you have to take advantage of that.
They very easily could have gone out and said,
hey, you know, Chicago, they're struggling.
They're not very good.
We can take this night off and cruise the two points.
They didn't.
They played maybe not a great game,
but they definitely were opportunistic when they needed to be.
This game against Carolina,
I thought was miles better than their game against Chicago.
Oh, absolutely.
And then you look at Carolina last night, same deal.
It's a team that, sure,
they're missing some of their key contributors due to injury.
They're on the second half of a back-to-back, but it's still a very good Carolina team, even without those players.
We talked about it on the Tuesday episode.
Even without those guys, it is still a very deep, very talented team that most importantly, and we may dislike it as hockey fans and hockey consumers, but in Phil Bork said it on the broadcast, you go to the Carolina Hurricanes and you play under coach Rod Brindamore.
you are either playing the team's system or you are not on the team.
Everybody is bought in top to bottom.
So even with injuries, that's how they continue to be a solid team in the Metropolitan Division.
And the Penguins said, you know what?
We don't care.
We are coming out tonight and we are going to take it to you top to bottom.
And they did.
And the last thing I want to add because I didn't get a chance to drop it in when you were going here a little bit ago.
yeah we all winced when jankowski scored because it was less than 20 seconds after the penguins made it
five nothing and we have all seen this film before this season but the way i described it to you was
when you're playing nhl online with your buddies you go up big you're all yucking it up over the
headphones and the mics and you're talking about oh this is over we got this and then your opponent
scores you go oh wait nope never mind lock back in lock back in and as soon as the third started
They locked back in, they shut it down, and it was, again, a tremendous performance.
I agree.
And, you know, going back to your second point, you're right.
You still have to show up even when the, even when you have an advantage,
you're waiting for the team that played the night before.
We've seen the penguins struggle in those types of circumstances this year, Pat,
where a team is coming in from out of town, the penguins are waiting for them,
and the penguins are flat in some of those games.
These last two, they haven't been.
they're going to get another one on Thursday.
The Red Wings play today, and then they come to Pittsburgh tomorrow.
So the schedule makers, it's serving up the Penguins well to end 2025 and open 2026.
But again, you still have to show up because these aren't just going to be, you know, easy, freebie points.
You still have to go out there and kick these teams asses.
And these last two, they've done a great job with that, especially on Tuesday in Carolina.
Penguins got things started off really nicely.
Sidney Crosby, when he goes down to one knee, it's over.
Also, shout out Ricard Raquel.
I said I wanted to see a little bit more out of him in this game.
That pass was awesome.
Listen, I want to say this because we got a ton more to get to with this game.
But let's close out this segment with that opening goal.
I said it on social media last night when the film came out of it.
That goal was perfect from top to bottom.
The forechecking pressure to cause a turnover by Brian Rust was exactly how you draw it up.
It was an unbelievable pass from Ricard Raquel to find Sidney Crosby.
And then for Sid, the edgework and the ability to get to a spot and anticipate that play happening,
everybody on that line played a role in that.
And it was exactly how you draw up a goal against a team like Carolina.
You put their defensemen under duress.
You cause a turnover.
Yes, Rickeld's pass was a high.
highlight real pass, but they all put themselves in position to make that goal happen.
And it was a thing of beauty.
Right.
And you got to that high danger area.
And it goes back to what I said on Tuesday, Pat, when you get those high danger chances
against Carolina and usually don't get many, you have to make them pay.
And I thought they did exactly that throughout this game.
A couple of the goals that Freddie Anderson gave up were not high danger chances.
Hello, the Tommy Novak goal.
That one was an absolute haler.
I didn't think Freddie Anderson would be worse than Spencer Knight was on Sunday, but he definitely was.
He was not good in this game.
And he has not been good for a lot of this season.
But so when they got their high danger chances, they made use of them and they put them in the back in the net.
And you ought to especially do that against a team like Carolina.
I know you have to do it against every team, but especially against Carolina who doesn't give you a lot in their own zone.
It's even more paramount.
It really is.
And we have got so much more to get to.
about this 5 to 1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes.
So hang with us.
We're going to be back right after this.
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a back here on the wednesday edition the new year's eve edition of locked on penguins i'm
patrick damp running right alongside my good pal hunter hodies and we got to keep talking about it a
massive massive victory for the pittsburgh penguins maybe their most complete game a borderline
perfect game by the pittsburgh penguins it was a thing of beauty to watch there is one player
you brought up right before we went to break that I want to talk about from last night.
And that's your boy, Tommy Novak.
You have been riding and dying with that man.
And you got paid off last night because, yes, he scored a goal to make it four to nothing.
But it was more than just the goal.
I loved his game last night.
He was everywhere.
Every time his skates touched the ice, he was helping drive offense.
He was playing really,
well in the defensive zone it was much like this victory maybe his best game in a penguin's
uniform and it's a bet that even though we've still got about half the season to go it really
looks like kyle dubis's bet on tommy tommy novac being a key contributor for the penguins
is starting to pay off i liked that trade at the time i like it even more now because again
you go back to his time at nashville he's always been a very sound under the radar play
driver. But I wrote about it numerous times on the hockey news. I said it here. He also has an
underrated shot and you've seen it throughout this season, especially last 90. It was a little
deceptive. I still think Freddie Anderson easily should have saved it. But you can see he
it was a little deceptive with the way that he released it. And he's doing a great job centering
Justin Brzoe and Anthony Mantha right now. I think we all know that Afghani Malkin is going to be back
in that spot once he's ready to return. But you still need to have Tommy Novak.
in the lineup. We all know that Uyghur Chinov is going to be in the lineup at some point.
I don't envy DMUs with the roster decisions that he's going to have to make here.
I think one of them might be Coyvenin coming out of the lineup, which, you know, it's unfortunate.
But again, it's, it's only been about 30-ish games.
I don't want to write them off or anything like that.
His underlying numbers are still really good, but I still think as of right now, they may take him out
and put Chinov on that third line, and then they got to figure out something else when
the any malcolm comes back. But you can't take Tommy Novak out of the lineup.
He is too important to this team in a, you know, middle six top nine role,
the playmaking that he has the release, the power playability.
Again, he's kind of a jack of all trades player, except on the penalty kill.
He can play up and down your lineup at five on five, can play in your second power play.
You can put him also, and even in, you know, five, e six situations for an empty net threat.
So I just, I'm really liking his game right now.
And let's get into it, man.
Justin Brazo, you can only hope to contain this man.
right now. That goal that he scored to make it 2-0 was arguably the goal of the year for
the Penguins. First off, outrageous stretch pass for Brett Kulak. He was awesome last night. That
stretch pass was incredible. And the way that Brazil was able to finish that off while going down
was unbelievable. He continues to showcase puck skills that I never thought he had. And his
breakout this year has been something else. He already has 12 goals. Pat, he had 11 goals last
year. He's already at 12 and we're not even at game 41 yet. I mean, who's to say he doesn't
hit 20, 25 this year at this rate? He, you know what he's shooting percentages right now?
28.6%. Maybe he'll shoot at this rate all year at this point. He continues to be so good. The
give and go with him and Anthony Mantha later in the game was also spectacular. Those two have
such great chemistry. And Anthony Mantha man has 14 goals with this team. If
If Kyle Dubus decides to flip him at the deadline,
who I think he can get back a pretty solid return there, my friend,
because he has been awesome for this team,
another great game from him.
There's a good bit for me to unpack there.
First off, if Tommy Novak is your ride or die,
Justin Broseau has been mine.
I said it in our preseason preview that this was going to be the signing
from Kyle Dubus this season that everybody looks back at and goes,
that was a great piece of business because I've said it before you look at his at least at the
very least his professional trajectory whether it was the E the A and now the NHL it follows the
path he takes a year or two to figure it out his numbers those first year or two they're okay
fine nothing that would jump off the page and then you get to that second or third gear and he
blows up. He just, he figures it out. It all comes together for him. And it's looking like that
trend is continuing at the NHL level. You look at his last couple years, fine enough numbers.
They weren't great. You looked at it and went, he's a good depth guy, good guy that you can have
in your bottom six. You have a little bit of sandpaper, a little bit of skill. And then this year,
you put him in a position to succeed, and he does extremely well. As for Anthony Mantha,
I am of two different mindsets when it comes to him.
He has been everything you have hoped, which is, and again, I'm not going to go into
anything negative because it was a great game.
I look at it of one of two ways.
How committed is Kyle Dubus to this plan?
Because we know that he wants to not speed up or speed run through this retooling, but we do
know that he wants to keep this team in the mix.
He doesn't want a bottom amount.
He doesn't want to just say, I don't care how good.
He doesn't want to pull a Doug Armstrong in 2019 and go, yeah, my team stinks.
I'm selling everything off.
Then all of a sudden they go on a run.
But if this team finds itself after the Olympic break in the mix, in striking distance,
or even in a playoff position, that's going to be a really tough decision.
Because to this point, he has been one of your best forwards.
And it would not be the best.
I think, to your team to go,
no, this guy's been really good.
No, he's helped us win, but I need the assets.
So I would, but at the same time,
you kind of did get him to trade them because you put him on a one year deal.
You hope he bounces back.
And then, well, you know, that's what we got him for.
But I also think it'd be really tough if this team's in the mix come in around the trade
deadline to go, yeah, thanks for everything.
We know you guys like him.
We know he's been good, but see ya.
We still got to see where they are at that point.
I still think he's going to get quite a few calls on him.
He's already had 14 goals.
By that point, I'd be stunned if he wasn't at 20 plus goals.
And 20 plus goal scores, you can get at least a second.
I mean, heck, Anthony Bavillier got a second round pick at this past year's trade deadline,
and he didn't even get to 20 goals.
If he's at 20 plus, again, maybe you can try to scrounge out an extra first from a team
that's desperate for a playoff or there's something.
like that. Again, I think you could see some wild offers get thrown around for a song like Anthony
Mantha. Again, I'm not guaranteeing anyone is going to get dealt, but I think you can see
Kyle Dubas getting some big time offers in terms of, you know, first or second for Mantha and
Brazil. I know Brazil has an extra year left on his contract, but a player that can play up and down
in your, you know, top nine, middle six, really good goal score, soft hands, teams are going to be
knocking on the door for that type of player
at least top contenders will
I will say this
this is actually where
we can kind of comb
combined all of this together
there is a world
where you can move him
and you know who slots right into his position
Tommy Novak
yeah to where you'll have
Gino you'll still have Brazo
because I am very much
in the camp of
you hold on Justin Brzeau
because he may be 27, 28 by the time we get to 2026,
but not a lot of miles on him.
And he still has, at least in my estimation, room to grow.
So you want to hold on to him at least through that second year.
And if it kind of feels like he's trailing off or he's not as good as he was his first year,
you can try to get something for him.
But that's so far down the road, you'll be able to reward Tommy Novak
because you're still going to have Igor Chinikov, who is on his way.
And to something you brought up earlier, I think the covenin and stuff, it's not so much that he has been underperforming.
Because I do think he has struggled a bit over the past few weeks.
But he's the only player that's waivers exempt right now that you really think is worth sending down.
You're not going to send down McRority.
You can't send down Kindle.
So it's almost like just a tough luck situation for him where, hey, you're the easiest move for us to make.
plus he would benefit from a few weeks, maybe a month in the
HL to kind of get his swagger back and get his confidence back.
But realistically, you don't envy Dan Mews for these roster decisions.
I don't either.
I definitely don't envy Kyle Dubas with the decisions he's going to have to make
over the next few months.
Oh yeah, Kyle Dubas is going to be very busy over the next month.
I mean, well, not the next month.
Over the next few months, I should say until the trade deadline.
And honestly, Pat, he's probably going to get calls on like half
the roster no matter what, like, hey, what are you thinking here on Russ?
What are you thinking here on Raquel?
What are you thinking here on Carlson?
Like Lazot, pending UFA, Nola Chari, pending UFA, Justin Broseau, Anthony, Anthony,
if I can keep going on.
Obviously, he doesn't have to do anything if he doesn't want to, but I'm sure he's going
to take calls on quite a few players.
So he's going to assess their values, see what's going to see where, what teams are
thinking of them.
And I'm sure he'll make informed decisions once that time comes.
But I think there is something to be said for this team.
sticking in the race and not really moving out a lot of the players.
I still think you might see a couple guys get sold off, but time will tell on just how many
do. I think he's going to be very active, though. That's the main thing.
That again is going to be the most difficult part of all of it, is that you don't want to
get that short-term sugar rush of, hey, we're in the race, we're doing well, so we got to try
to make a big move or make a big deal or not doing that I don't think you're trading big assets for
like a rental or something like that that's not on their radar right now but you also don't want to
send the message to your team that hey you played really well up to this point it doesn't matter
I'm still doing everything I was doing before so obviously time is going to tell so are the results
but enough about the future we got to talk about continue to talk about I should say the
and it's Wednesday.
So that means, even though it's New Year's Eve,
we don't stray from the plan here on Locked on Penguins.
That means it is time for us to hand out our MVP of the week
as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday.
You might have an idea of who's getting the helmet this week,
but you're going to have to stick around to find out,
and we'll tell you right after this.
We're back here on the Wednesday edition,
of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp, right alongside Hunter Hodeys.
And yin's guys know it's Wednesday. It may be New Year's Eve. We're not doing anything.
This isn't Hunter and Patrick's New Year's Rock and Eve. It means it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday,
where if you are new here, Warrior Helmet Wednesday is our recurring segment where we hand out
our MVP of the week. It pays homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning Penguins, which
In a day, it's going to be 10 years since that Stanley Cup, which is a little crazy, but I digress.
During that run in the regular season and the playoffs, after wins, they handed out a warrior helmet in the locker room for their player of the game.
We hand it out as our player of the week.
And we're switching up the rules a little bit because are there really rules?
We made this segment up.
It's new.
It's something that we made up.
It's not real.
but usually each of us gets one warrior helmet to hand out.
But I got a text from Hunter this morning and said he wanted to do something different.
So Hunter, what's this different thing that you're doing for Warrior Helmet Wednesday?
I'm not just handing out one Warrior Helmet today.
I'm handing out two because both of these players deserve their own Warrior Helmet.
The first one goes to Justin Briseau for his last week.
four goals in his last three games also six points during that time he has been fantastic
got the hatrick against chicago gotten a goal and an assist against carolina last night got
an assist against toronto last tuesday and then the other warrior helmet anthony mantha
as well my friend four goals over the last week he has been also just outrageous for the penguins
he continues to stay hot he's been great in front of the net especially
As of late, got the two goals last night against Carolina, got the goal against Chicago,
and it says also scored against Toronto, had five points in the last three games, too.
Both these players continue to be so great on the second line.
They have outstanding chemistry.
I still can't wait until Gennie Malkin comes back because I feel like their chemistry
is going to skyrocket, which is saying something because it's been awesome even with Tommy
Novak, but Manta and Brzo get their own warrior helmet just because of how great
they have been over the last week. I'm changing
up because they both deserve it.
You are not incorrect, my friend.
Those are two very good nominees for Warrior Helmet Wednesday, pulling up the weekly
tracker here.
I'm also going to give my Warrior Helmet to Justin Briseau.
You went over the stats.
He has been tremendous these last two games.
And frankly, he has been tremendous all season long for the Penguins.
I'm just going to continue to take my vision.
victory lap when it comes to Brazil because I told you guys. I told you guys this was going to be
an under the radar great signing for the penguins and Kyle Dubus and he has delivered on that.
The guy, he plays like he should be a speedster who's under six foot with great hands, but
nope, he's a big man who plays like a big man, but also has skill. And that has been shining through
pretty much since he donned a penguin's uniform.
It's been great for him.
So I give it to Justin Brzoe, and now we've got to pull up.
If you're watching us on YouTube, you'll see it on your screen.
Our tracker up to this point this season for Warrior Helmet Wednesday,
Captain Sidney Crosby leads the pack with four.
Evgeny Malkin and Justin Brzoe each have three.
Kyle Dubis, Ben Kindle, and Sergey Muroshov, each with.
two and quite a few people there with one on the season, Eric Carlson, Anthony Mantha joins
the list, head coach Dan Mews, the special teams unit, both the power play and the penalty
kill, and former Penguins goalie Tristan Jari. So you may be asking, why are we keeping
track of this? Well, when we get to the end of the season, we're going to hand out season long
warrior helmets could be one person could be multiple again we made this whole thing up there's no
rules we can do whatever we want with it it's our show get out of our faces okay we're just going to
do what we want with it but hunter before we close it out it is indeed new year's eve also i did
want to say one thing shout out to everyone with the stew chance last night yes yes we did
almost forget that this dumb city you guys picked up on it right away it has been awesome but
again it's the last day of 2025 just got to say a massive thank you to everybody who has been
a part of this community over the past couple of years and this year as well would not be
possible without any of you guys whether you've listened to one episode a couple of episodes
or you've ridden with us every single day we from the bottom of our hearts truly appreciate
it. I completely echo what Pat said. The show grew in ways this year that we never thought
it would. We just passed 4,000 subs on YouTube. So thank you all so much for continuing
to support the channel. We continue to see an uptick and audio downloads as well, literally
every week. So thank you all for continuing to listen to slash watch the show. You are all
absolute sickos in the best way. We both really appreciate it. And we're hoping that 2026 is
going to be the biggest year yet for the pod. So stick with us. I hope you all have a
very safe and happy new year.
If you're going out tonight, please be safe.
Don't be stupid.
Make good choices, all that good stuff.
But thank you all so much for always listening.
And Penguins be back in action on Thursday.
Pat and I are going to preview it right here for the Thursday episode against the
high flying Red Wings who have been very good this year, which I didn't see coming.
But again, thank you all so much for listening, whether, as Pat said, it's one episode,
five, ten, or every single one.
If you've been listening to every single episode, you are an absolute sicko.
in the best possible way.
And as I said before, didn't mean to interrupt, Pat.
Shout out to all the Stu Chance last night.
Stuart Skinner was on one.
And I think he might have the best mustache in the NHL, to be honest with you, too.
It's right up there, man.
I'm jealous of it.
It's a great stash.
But like Hunter said, we aren't going away in 2026.
So if you're nursing that New Year's Eve hangover on New Year's Day,
you can turn the volume down just a little bit because we are going to be back on New Year's
day to preview the game.
and anything else that may happen between now and then,
because as we saw, as soon as the Christmas portrayed freeze ended,
Kyle Dubus got active.
So it's always a chance we're going to have something to talk about.
But again, thank you all so much for hanging with us in 2025.
We're looking forward to a big 2026, and it starts right away on January 1st
as we get ready for the penguins and the Red Wings.
So make sure you join us for that.
But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp.
Thank you once again.
And we will talk to you on New Year's Day.
