Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins DOMINATE Vegas ahead of a very busy week!

Episode Date: March 2, 2026

The Pittsburgh Penguins got three out of a possible four points this weekend, and their win over Vegas was a dominant one. Hunter and Patrick dedicate the first two segments of the show breaking down all of the positives from this weekend (1:15), as well as a couple of negatives. They discuss how Ben Kindel continues to impress and how Arturs Silovs is making a strong case to be the Game 1 starter in the playoffs if the Penguins get in. (6:00) They also discuss Bryan Rust's consistency (21:00), why Evgeni Malkin should be re-signed, Egor Chinakhov's release, the red-hot special teams, and so much more! Finally, the two discuss the week ahead and how the schedule is about to get really busy! (27:00) Everydayer ClubJoin the Everydayer Club for ad-free audio, access to our group chat on Discord, and more. Use code DEADLINE ahead of the trade deadline for one month free. Tap here to learn more: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   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/podcast right 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 FanDuel is giving you a way to turn that energy into even bigger potential wins with a College Basketball Parlay Profit Boost.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

The Penguins earned three out of four points this weekend, and Pat and I are going to recap both games, plus get you all set for a very busy week ahead, coming up 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.

Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. joined by my co-s, Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin for Wet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Lockdown underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally,

today's episode is brought to you by Fandle. 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 Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. So Pat, the Penguins, they get a weekend split of this back-to-back, a setback against the Rangers, a three-two shootout loss before pounding Vegas 5-0 at home on Sunday. And I want to start with the three out of four points. I do not like the way the Penguins played in the second half of Saturday's game. I liked the first 25 or so minutes.

I thought they were taking it to the Rangers. It looked like this was going to be a little bit of a cakewalk win. But as soon as the Penguins took that penalty close to midway through the second period, it was all Rangers from then on. They dominated the Penguins for the final half plus of regulation. Penguins almost went in overtime to steal that extra point. Malkin was stoned a couple of times by Igor Shasturkin. And yeah, no surprise the Penguins once again lose in a shootout because they have lost in

shootouts all year. They're now one and eight in shootouts, but it wasn't a good performance. It was unacceptable, even considering the level that we have seen from the penguins. I thought they were also handling the puck. Like a grenade, they weren't making the right decisions. Just everything was lackluster in the final half plus of that game. But they had a chance to rebound on Sunday, and they showed why this is a good hockey team and why they have a legit chance to make the playoffs. They took it to Vegas for basically the entire 16 minutes. If I want to be nitpicky. I would say Vegas was the better team for the first three to five minutes, but Artie Shilov really stood tall. From then on, Pat, it was all penguins, the final 55 minutes.

They stone Vegas that entire time. They really limited Vegas to the outside. I was looking at natural statured making some notes for today's show. They credited the Golden Knights with eight high danger chances in the third period. I didn't see eight high danger chances during that period. I thought the penguins were doing a really nice job, keeping them to the outside during that period, and just for most of this game as a whole, Artie Shilovs was once again, fantastic more on him in a second. But most of all,

I saw a response from this team. You had a stinger the night before. What do you do? You come out the next day and you pummel a playoff team, the leader of the Pacific Division. And yeah, I know when you combine Vegas' overtime losses with the regulation losses, excuse me, they're below 500, but this is still a team

that's going to make the playoffs. I think they're going to win the Pacific Division. and if they are healthy and maybe they upgrade their goal tending, I think they can be a tough out in the Western Conference playoffs. The fact that the Penguins dominated them as well as they did, again, it goes to show Pat that this is a damn good hockey team right now. I can't disagree. I think this is a really good hockey team.

I ran these numbers last night. They're 7-1-2 in their last 10. Their last regulation loss was Ottawa on February 2nd. Before that, their most previous. regulation loss, won nothing to Boston, January 11th. And up to this point in this calendar year, they've played 21 games and they have failed to get a point in only three of those games. So it's hard to catch a team that is just not dropping points.

That's the biggest thing is since the calendar turned to 2026, the penguins just continue to pile points up. We obviously know they're leaving a lot on the table in overtime and shootouts, but at the end of the day with the fact that the Atlantic division is extremely top heavy the metro is extremely top heavy it's not going to come back to bite them unless suddenly everybody else decides to take the same path and obviously the islanders just refuse to die but if the penguins keep uh piling up points here it's not really going to matter that the islanders aren't going down. And then you look at this weekend and it had the setup for us to really start to wince,

to really start to worry because they come out in the first period and against the Rangers and they just obliterate them. It just, the Rangers looked like they wanted to be anywhere but Madison Square Garden on that day. And then the penguins let them back in. They drop the shoot, the game in a shootout. And you think, well, this could be bad. The islanders aren't going away. you had the Olympic break, you don't have Sid, you got Vegas tomorrow, and then they quell all of our worries by showing up against Vegas and just taking it to them for 55 minutes. The most impressive part to me about the Vegas win is that they stifled them defensively

in a way, I don't know, I've seen Vegas get stifled in a long time. There was nothing in the neutral zone. They were forced to just dump it in. and by the time they dumped it in, the penguins defensemen were there to break it back out. The penguins were very efficient in the offensive zone. They took advantage of every opportunity they got for the most part. PK was great again.

And Arda Sheelovs, another quality start. Yeah, I'm really glad you brought up Sheelovs again, Pat, because you said it. He was once again fantastic, and he now has wins in five of his last six starts. And during that time, he is only allowed 10 goals. I mean, you go back to his start that, really got this hot streak going January 22nd against Edmonton bat his save percentage since then

until now 938 900 then 903 926 967 and obviously a perfect shut out yesterday he is playing at a very high level right now if you go back even further she loves is five and two and two in his last nine starts with a 936 save percentage i think if the playoffs were to start right now and this can change of course he would be my game one starter in the playoffs. I wouldn't have, you know, a very long leash just because the penguins have gotten really good goaltending as well from Stuart Skinner. So if she loves Faltsert, for example, you can just go to Skinner or, you know, if he's dealt by the deadline and you bring up Murashav. You know, he's obviously having a great season down in Wilkesbury. You have that option too. But right now, Pat, he would be my game one starter if the playoffs started today.

He has been locked in over the last month and change. He was also good for Team Latvia at the Olympics. and he's getting more comfortable as he gets more starts in the crease. He's anticipating shots. He's playing very confident. I am really happy with the level that he is playing at. And if he keeps us up, I think he's also going to earn at least a short-term contract extension by the end of the season.

I really liked his game again. It's hard to say that if the playoffs started today, he wouldn't have the net in game one just because of how good he's been. And this is kind of why Kyle Dubus took a shot on him. He's 24. He's still pretty young, has a lot of untapped potential. He's shown that he can show up in big games. He's shown that he can be counted on when things are on the line.

His biggest problem up to this point has been consistency. He will have those incredible highs where he'll take over the net, say for Vancouver in the playoffs. And people are like, well, that's it for Vancouver. They're going to just get steamrolled by Edmonton. he comes in and helps them push Edmonton to the brink, and no one expected that. But then he'll also have, he had a stretch run of games where sub 900 save percentage, gets pulled a few times. So far this year, there was a dip, and I'd say like December-ish,

but at the same time, the whole team had a dip. So it's hard to say if it was on him or if it was just the entire team's play. but right now for the last two months, he has been consistently a pretty good goalie. I agree with you on that. And the last point I want to make about these two games as a whole of the weekend before we pivot to a couple other talking points in the second segment is the power play.

I think Todd Nelson really worked overtime, over the break to try and get this unit back to basics a little bit just because you remember before the Olympic break, the unit was just in a rut. The zone entries weren't there. The puck movement was not, very crisp. They weren't utilizing that shoot first mentality. They weren't going to the front of the net. Everything just looked a bit too stagnant on the powerplay. But over these last two games,

everything has changed. And I think a lot of credit has to go to Todd Nelson for the work that he has put in with this unit. Everything looks so more refreshed. They've had to kind of, you know, obviously navigate life without Crosby, at least for a little bit on the top powerplay. They've made some adjustments. Everything is more simple. Carlson is ripping the puck. A lot of lot more to the front of the net, which I love. I love when he uncorks some of those suckers sometimes. I also obviously love his playmaking ability on the top unit on the power play. But when he uncorks it, man, it really is a lot of fun.

And I thought he was great on the power play, especially against Vegas. Also against the Rangers, I'll say the same thing. You saw Ricard Raquel get a goal on that unit yesterday. My God, Pat, he really needed one considering how much he struggled on Saturday against the Rangers, how he just hasn't had the same type of season from last year. And yeah, we all knew there was going to be a little bit of a dip in goal scoring. I just didn't think it would be like this much down. But I felt he had a really good game on Sunday.

Brian Rust, seven straight, 20 goal seasons. Congratulations to him. Very consistent on this Penguins team. But again, Pat, it all goes back to how Todd Nelson has been able to simplify things for his top unit without Sidney Crosby on it. These have past few games. It has been a night and day difference compared to what we saw before the Olympic break. The key word simple. That's it. That's what I talked about last week going into this stretch without Crosby. The power play just has to keep it simple. Carlson ripping it is only going to make things better. These guys having a shoot first mentality in winning battles in front of the net. That's just going to help you tremendously. And it definitely did against Vegas. It definitely did against the Rangers. So they don't have to change a whole lot going forward here. If you keep up this type of mentality on your power play, you're going to keep your spot right there in the top three and

probably never let it go. But Pat, T.J. Oshy told me before the game on Saturday that the Penguins power play was going to stink without Cindy Crosby. They've only scored, you know, multiple goals since he said that they scored one against the Rangers. Obviously, another one got callback for, yeah, by letter of the law, I guess it was goal interference, but I've seen way worse go uncalled. I'll just leave it at that. And then, you. You get two against Vegas. It probably should be three, Pat, because one of them came literally right after the penalty expired.

So I'm going to count it as basically three PowerPlay goals. So PowerPlay was red hot. This weekend has been really good over the last three games, and I'll have an opportunity to stay hot going into another very busy week for the Penguins this week. But that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to touch on a few more storylines from these weekend games, including how Ben Kindle continues to play lights out, Ryan Rust, and a whole lot more. round for that coming up right after this.

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group chat on Discord and more. Use the code deadline ahead of the trade deadline on Friday for one month free. Join now at locked on penguins. Supercast.com or hit the link in the show notes. Now, Pat, a few more storylines from the weekend games. We got to kick this segment off with Ben Kindle. He continues to make plays that just have my jaw on the floor. He knifed around three Rangers players during a play on Saturday where it was just like, oh, my God.

And I know it wasn't his best game on Saturday, but even in his games where he fully doesn't have it, he still will make a play like that where it's like, man, this kid is good. And then he opens the scoring against Vegas his 15th goal of the season. what a wicked release that was just cuts to the slot, fires it to make it 1-0 late in the first period. He continues to be such a revelation for this team. I think he's going to hit 20 goals by the end of this season. I still want him playing maybe a bit more higher up in the lineup.

I still am not that confident in Ricard Raquel as a top line center. I thought he was better on Sunday against Vegas, Pat, but I saw the way he got cleaned out on Saturday against Vincent Trocheck and just overall in the face off dot. and that scares me for the next two, three weeks. But Ben Kindle was once again awesome. Everything he is doing just turns to gold. There's really not much else I can say.

I think we've been singing his praises all year and rightfully so. And it's going to continue on this episode. He was fan fricking Tastic. Also made a few really strong defensive plays that goes to highlight how great defensively he is at just 18 years old. The kid is such a great hockey nerd player. Like if you're a big time hockey nerd, Ben Kindle checks every box because he just does so many little things that if you're not died hard in the wool like breaking down film, you're not going to notice. But if you're sickos like Hunter and I and you watch the nuances of his game, it's incredible what he's doing at age 18.

It's genuinely shocking that he is this good in this mature of a player for an 18 year old who last year was playing. in the WHL. Now he has 15 goals in the NHL. Four of them are game winning goals, by the way. So the kids scoring in big moments. But it's just a complete package of he's playing a really mature, really developed game that spans 200 feet. And he's got the production to go with it for an 18-year-old.

And I'm with you on wanting to see him further up in the lineup. I said it last week. And then this weekend kind of confirmed it for me. listen, I think Raquel's fine as a stop gap, but you're going to have to move them down at this point. And I do think we're all being a little unfair about the Rangers game when it came to him in the faceoff. Yes, he got Oferred, but he went up against Vincent Trocheck a lot. And Trochecich is one of the better face-off centers in the league. He kind of goes, he kind of does that against just about everybody, put a not natural center up against

them and he's going to eat. So I get the point, but I still maintain it that with as good as Kindle has been at this point, you've got to move them up the lineup while Sid is out. Just for no other reason, he has earned it. Also, when it comes to faceoffs, and this is even, this is not even just a Raquel thing, but Penguins only 1, 23% of faceoffs in that game against the Rangers. That's not going to cut it, man. I'm sorry. You're going to have to, I think, make an adjustment at some point here over the next two to three weeks until Crosby is ready to come back and I, you know, kind of talked about this in my recap from the hockey news. If Malkin is potentially able to play center, if he's a bit more healthier, Pat, I would

consider that. And I know you don't want to break up the Novak Malkin-Schenikov line, but maybe if you want to move Malkin to center there, move Novak to Wing. I know Malkin has been great at Wing since coming back, but I just think that something is going to have to come into a head here with this, just because, because, again, I understand them trying Raquel at center. They were doing this during training camp in the preseason. Just not sure you're going to be able to do this on a consistent basis for the next two, three weeks until said comes back.

I just said, fine, stop gap, but I just, I really hated what I saw on Saturday. Not even just from Himpap, just from all the centers in general. They all got cleaned out during that game. So I do think that has to be a point of emphasis going forward. As for, you know, another big talking point for the segment man, Brian Rust, seven straight, 20 goals. season. He continues to be so consistent for this team. Former third round pick, he's had to fight his way up to the NHL. And he plays his ass off every single game. He's wearing an A right now on his sweater for obvious reasons. He's one of the biggest leaders in

that locker room. I still think even with Sid back, I still would love him to wear an A no matter what just because he is that much of a leader. But he continues to just, you know, do all the little things very well. And, you know, that goal yesterday peak Brian Rust goal. He drags this team into the fight when they need to be. And I just can't say enough about the way that Brian Russ has played, not just for this season, Pat, but throughout his penguin's tenure. That is a pure penguin through and through. And I just can't be happier for him. Oh, he's, he is such a great leader. And I think if the penguins want to be silly about it and have a third alternate captain, even when Sid comes back, it should be rust.

But I also don't think he needs it. Just the way he plays, the way he carries himself, he doesn't need a letter on his jersey to let people know that he's a leader of this team. Just the way he plays, the way he conducts himself, the way he interacts with the press. He's just such a good player. And I maintain what I've always said about him. And that's the fact that I know you could probably get a King's ransom for him.

in this rebuild because 20 goal scores who make the money he does are in high demand. But he is a better person to teach some of these young players than your Crosby's, then your Malkins, your Lattangs, your Carlson's, etc. Not saying that those guys aren't going to be good mentors, not saying that those guys aren't going to set what is already a really good culture in Pittsburgh. but they are natural top tier top picks. Brian Rust was a third round pick. Brian Rust had to work his ass off to get to where he is today.

And right now, a lot of the players in the Penguin's system are Brian Rust, essentially. So having him around to be a lot more approachable to see the way he conducts himself, that's going to help your Avery Hayes, your Ben Kindle, your Rutger McGrortes, Ville Coyvenins, et cetera, et cetera, because this is a guy who came into the penguins with little to no fanfare, worked his ass off, went from a bottom six winger, penalty killing, defensive forward to a top line, 20 goal score, use in all situations type of player. And that's the guy, if I'm Kyle Dubas and Dan News, that I'm telling these young players, watch what Brian Rust does. watch how Brian Rust conducts himself. That's a guy you should want to model your game after. Right.

And he has also said that he wants to stick it out with the Penguins. He wants to be here while they transition back to being good. And hey, you got a good team right now. He has said that he wants to return to the playoffs with this team. And right now they got a pretty good chance. You go to Monty Puck right now. Penguins' playoff odds are at 90% with a month and a half to go in the regular season. But I agree with you about all that with Russ.

A couple other points I want to get to before. before we look at the week ahead. Nice to see Justin Brazo get back on the score sheet. I felt like he was due, but really nice goal there. And Igor Chenekov, man, that release is really something else. He continues to have outstanding chemistry with Evgeny Malkin.

And I saw those comments regarding Malkin to the media over the weekend. Kyle, if you somehow listen to this podcast, just sign him, man. This conversation should literally take five minutes. How long do you want to say? stay here for a year. How much money do you want? Five, six million? Okay, done. Full no move clause. This should literally take five minutes. Evgeny Malkin, I think, is going to be willing to take a discount. A one-year term should be very easy to do. You give them a full no move clause and walla, you just bring them back for another year. Maybe they try to argue for a second year on the contract,

we'll see. But if this is just a pure one-year contract, man, this conversation should not take long at all. He has shown enough throughout the season that he should come back for next year. and also pat he was damn good this weekend he was galloping puck hunting just being a bully on the ice and as i just said his chemistry with chinakov is something to behold the way that malcon has been able to spring chenikov for multiple rushes not just this weekend but throughout his penguin's tenure has been something else and chenikov's release man he barely even had any time to get the puck off it still goes to the back of the net he now has 10 goals in 21 games where the penguins easily, I think, should be resigned after this season.

He continues to blow me away with everything that he is doing on the ice, the way that he is scoring goals. Again, I asked Pat, what in the hell was Columbus thinking here? I have no idea. Not being able to make it work with that kid is front office malpractice. It's just insane that the penguins were able to get them. As for Gino, I mean, you're right. I don't get what the holdup is here.

And I understood last year saying we're going to see how he does. Right. Because you want to get, you want this team to get younger. You want this team to start making its way into its next era of hockey. And given the year, and even I would say two years that have Genie Malkin had prior to this one, it may hurt you emotionally because he's such a part of the fabric of this era of Penguins hockey. and now just penguins hockey in general. But they were fair questions to be asked about what he had left.

Now, he's shown you that he's at least got a year left. And if the holdup is term, I get it. But let's look at it this way. Let's say he wants five and a half. That still gives you about $42 million in cap space this summer. So it's not going to significantly alter your plans. I get that they want to open the road for certain players. I get they want to have some of the young guys come up.

But come on, it's Fgeny Malkin. It's not going to severely alter your plan. It's not like you're trading away anything for an old guy. It's not like you're giving up any prospects to keep them around. It should be an easy decision. And if it comes out that his people are arguing for multiple years, then I totally get it. But one year, come on, we can do this.

Yeah, one year, again, it's a five-minute conversation. If that, he has shown plenty this year that he deserves to come back at least for another year. He's doing all this when he's not even 100% with his shoulder injury. I think he's going to have to manage this for the rest of the season. And again, he has innocent chemistry with a winger who's only been here for 21 games. This is a no-brainer of a decision. Get this done, Kyle, and the rest of the front office.

But I think that's going to do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to discuss the crazy March schedule that really gets underway this week with a lot of really big games with the Penguins. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our second sponsor, which is GameTime. There is nothing like being in an NBA arena, the crowd, the energy, the moment, getting tickets, though, that part hasn't always been so simple. And that's why Game Time has become the go-to app for scoring tickets fast,

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is Patrick Damp and Pat, I hope you're ready for a very, very busy week for Penguins Hockey. Not only do we have the trade deadline coming up here in four days. And by the way, keep it right here. I'm locked on Penguins. If the Penguins make any moves between now and Friday, we'll be back here pretty quickly for a quick 10 to 15 minute emergency episode before breaking down the move even further for our next full episode. So keep it right here.

We'll have plenty of trade deadline content throughout the week. Outside of that, the games start to. Tuesday against Boston. And the ruins are so weird to me. Obviously, Morgan Geeky is having a great year. David Posternak, Jeremy Swamen is playing well, Charlie McAvoy. But this is still a very top-heavy team that doesn't have a lot of depth. Once you get outside of a few players, there's not as much to that team.

But, hey, they're still making work. And I think they're going to be a playoff team this year, which is nuts. Just considering when you look up and down this roster, again, very top-heavy. The Penguins have lost to them once this year, that 1-0 game in Boston, where it was a weird game in general, Pat. I thought the Penguins generated a couple of decent chances, but for the most part, it was very much a Claude Julian type game

where they were just clogging everything up, very boring to watch. But hey, the Bruins do that quite a bit, especially with the roster that they do have. After that, you play a red hot Sabres team on Thursday, which they just pounded Tampa Bay over the weekend. That's going to be a playoff team, I think, this year in the Buffalo Sabres.

Penguins have already beaten them twice, that second game, obviously, the last game before the Olympic break where they pummeled Buffalo on the road, really good game from everyone involved with the penguins. And then Saturday, the final meeting against the Flyers, who I think are in sell mode. They are just too far out of it with a month and a half to go. I don't think they're going to sell a lot of pieces, but I think I can see them selling at least a couple, one of them being, you know, Rasmus versus Leinen, and I could see a contender looking to get a beefier defenseman to play some shutdown minutes.

And then you have Boston again to end the season series against them on Sunday. So, Pat, four really strong games coming this week, three of them against playoff teams, in my opinion. Obviously, you want to beat your arch rival in the flyers. But for me, if you can go two one in one this week, get five at eight points, I think you're doing really solid. I'd even accept four, even if you split these four games. But, you know, I think five is really what I'm looking at for, you know, the most successful. Obviously, you know, going three and one and four and no. That's what you really want to do.

But I think when you look at these games, you see the teams you're playing against. I think five points is where I'm at. You just got to keep shredding water until Sid returns. I'll be honest, looking at this week's schedule and the way that they have played in the standard that they're setting for themselves, I want to see six points. I want to see them go three and one because you know that you can beat Boston, even though you had that one nothing loss against them. The fix of that was really simple. They played right into the Bruins trap game and defensive game. You know how to beat that system.

Go out there and beat it. You've shown multiple times over and including since they have turned it around that you can beat the Sabres. They're very good. They're going to be a playoff team. I don't even think winning the Atlantic is out of the question for them. That's a very real possibility. But again, it's a team that you got to go out there and beat that you have beaten before. the flyers aren't very good.

I want to see a win there. So basically the way I look at this is whether it's beating Boston both times, splitting with Boston. Either way, I want to see three and one out of this week just because after this, it gets even worse because the most daunting part of what is coming up in March is the middle two weeks. Yep. You go to Carolina, then you go to Vegas, then you go to Utah, then you go to Colorado. Then you go back to Carolina.

That five-game stretch is going to be brutal. So I really, really want to see them put six points on the board this week. It's definitely doable. As you said, you know, they've beaten Buffalo twice this year. They've already beaten Philly twice this year as well. They just got to solve Boston in that little trap system that they have and, you know, the way they play defensively, you know, it's nothing like, you know, exotic or anything like that. they're pretty simple.

They stick to a system that they know, and it's paying dividends this year. Yeah, I know. Again, they're still top-heavy, and Slaiman has mostly had a pretty sound year for them, but that's still a tough team at times to break down defensively. So the Penguins will have to try and make a couple of Justin's from that last game that they had against them back in January,

where I don't think the Penguins, it wasn't a pure stinker or anything like that. And the goal that the Bruins scored, I felt like, was also just extremely lucky. Penguins just ran into Corpusalo who played pretty well, and they just weren't able to fully generate enough offense, you know, not nearly what you've been seeing throughout the season. So if they make, they can make a couple adjustments. I definitely think that Bruins team is extremely beatable.

I mean, the Flyers just beat them in Philadelphia over the weekend here. So there's that. Six out of eight points, obviously, that's great. If you can win all four, that's a dream. But again, for me, if you can go to one-in-one, get five points, I think you're sitting pretty fine going into that next week, Pat, where you have that crazy, crazy road trip where it's going to be really tough when you're playing Carolina twice, a place they haven't won in since I was in college. You go back to before I graduated in 2020.

It's been since before that, Pat, last time they won in Raleigh. It's pretty crazy. So they had played them twice during that time. Then Colorado, which I think they're going to make a move before the deadline this week. I think it's going to be Nassam Khadri. They sent their entire front office to Calgary last night to watch Nassim Khadri. I think that's going to happen before Friday, in my opinion. Utah, we've seen how good Utah is this year. And then you have obviously Vegas. Again, the Penguins already beat Vegas once, but I think Vegas is going to be, you know, playing better at least at home for that game.

But the heart of the mark schedule kicks off this week, everyone. And I hope you all ready for it. It's going to get really fun here. And it's going to be a sprint to the finish here. Man, a lot of games and not that short amount of time. and we'll see if this team has what it takes to qualify for the playoffs and potentially get home ice. The whole mice battle right now is pretty crazy. The Islanders, again, this Michael Myers team that just does not die. They want to keep coming back from two goals down, getting all these bounces. It's very early, and we still got a month and a half to go, people. But as of right now, the odds are increasing for a Penguins Islanders rematch in the playoffs.

I'm sure everyone Pat wants to see that, right? no i'm just i'm i'm i'm just so tired of the islanders man i'm just so tired of them they're always there they just won't go away just we can talk about away already josh bailey kyle palmerie brock nelson from back in the day david volick of course that stupid team just always haunts the penguins brought their franchise history so again i'm sure everyone in this fan bases salivating to play the islanders if both these teams do qualify for the playoffs and get the two and three seeds in the metropolitan division. But again, long way to go still.

Let's keep going game by game through the end of the season. I'm just saying that the odds are increasing as we look at it right now. Penguins also six points up on the Capitals for a playoff spot with three games in hand, though I will say the games in hand, they're going to go down by next weekend because caps aren't that busy this week. They don't play too often. The Penguins do. So as I keep saying, those games in hand are important.

You've got to win those games in hand to build even more of a cushion on the caps. And obviously the blue jackets, as all the Penguins are nine points up on them. Right now, though the jackets do have a game in hand. But Pat, do you have anything else to add for today's episode? All good here. Big week, big month. We'll see what this team's made of. 100%.

And for the schedule this week, people, tomorrow we're going to preview the game against the Bruins, discuss other penguins news. Wednesday, we'll react to that game against the Bruins, give our recap, give our analysis, get to warrior helmet Wednesday, Thursday, preview the game against Buffalo, react to a bunch of other news. Friday, react to any moves the penguins make,

and this also goes through the entire week. In general, we'll react to any moves the penguins make, but especially on Friday for deadline day, recap that game against the Sabres, and get you all set for another weekend back-to-back against the Flyers and the Bruins. But that's going to do it for the, this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much taking the time to listen

to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you guys on Tuesday, previewing this very important game against the ruins. So for Patrick Namp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll be back on Tuesday.