Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins earn a point against Tampa, but shootout struggles persist

Episode Date: January 14, 2026

The Penguins were able to grab a point against the Tampa Bay Lightning, but their struggles in the shootout continued on Tuesday night. Patrick and Hunter begin the show recapping what a surprisingly defensive battle between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. Despite only getting a point and dropping the game in a shootout, there was plenty of good to take away, including the Pens' defensive efforts and the non-shootout goaltending. (0:00) Along with the good defensive effort, the Penguins took one of the best teams in the NHL to the brink despite missing one of their best players. Thanks to good performances from Arturs Silovs, Kris Letang, and others, the Penguins showed a blueprint for how to win games over the next couple of weeks. (12:44) Finally, it's Wednesday, which means it's time to once again to hand out our MVP of the week as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday! (27:45) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.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.

Stop us if you've heard this story before, ladies and gentlemen, the Pittsburgh Penguins played a really solid game, and then they lost in the shootout. Hunter and I are going to recap the Penguins and Bolt's game and hand out our picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday 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 Lockedon.

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 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 and TikTok at Locked on 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 your podcasts as well as YouTube, and 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. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, The divisional round kicks off this weekend in Fandul is officially in playoff mode. So visit Fandul, an official sports book partner of the NFL, and grab your profit boost pack every NFL playoff game day. Hunter, same old story, same old song and dance, but not really, because there's a ton of positive to take from this game. But final score, Tampa Bay 2, Penguins 1, in a shootout, no goals. were scored until the third period. As we all expected against two teams with some generationally great offensive talent,

it was a defensive struggle for about 45 minutes or so in the Penguins lightning game on Tuesday night. You said this to me before we hit record and I'm going to agree with you. Yes, it's a loss. Yes, it's disappointing. But there is a ton of positive to take out of this game. despite the shootout loss. The Penguins, they don't surrender to getting zero points.

They get a point going to overtime thanks to a great play by both Chris Latang and Evgeny Malkin with the finish to tie the game at one late in the third. Then the penguins dominate overtime against Tampa Bay. But of course, Andre Vazolevsky is Andre Vazolevsky. And their shootout struggles continue, but I will add this caveat. You look at the Tampa Bay roster, both with the players who could shoot and the man in the net. Yes, the Pittsburgh Penguins are terrible at shootouts, but they went up against the team that is almost built to win shootouts. So overall, I really liked the penguin's effort.

I really liked everything that they brought to the table. It sucks that they couldn't get the extra point. But that was a kind of game where you look at it and go, they play that way moving forward. wins will come. I'm going to start with a little bit of negativity because I am mostly in agreement with you. I really liked the way they played in this one, especially in the third period when they were really starting to push a bit more, in my opinion. I think the overpassing has got to stop. And you could tell throughout this game, they were really fighting it. They were trying to make that one extra pass pat, trying to really pass the puck into the net, try to be like the Harlem

globe troders in a way. No, that's not going to work against Andre Vassel. a goaltender that basically takes up the entire net when he's on top of his game. And he was very much on top of his game last night, especially in overtime. There were so many instances where it would be a three on two or two on one and the penguins would look for that extra pass. No, just rip it to the net. Take your chance with your shot. And when you're in that type of a goal drought where you're going on, you know, 130 plus minutes without scoring a goal.

I get that you're trying to do a little too much, but sometimes less is more. Just fire it to the net. So again, that's a little bit of negativity for me. I do think on that point though, Hunter, sorry to interrupt you. I do think on that point, it's both and for what you said.

I think part of it is they're mired in a slump where the offense has not been there for a couple of games. And they're trying to do a little bit too much to try to get back on. the board. But I also think it's born of playing a goaltender like Andre Vazolevsky where it's really easy to think that we got to get them move in. We got to catch him off an angle. We got to do all these extra things. When in reality, a goaltender like Vasilevsky, the key to success is just to shoot every chance you get, wear him down and get

into his kitchen, which they did the second part well enough. Like it could have been better. I don't really think they got to the net too often against it. They needed to get more traffic in front of them. That was something that I was tweeting about during the game. They weren't in his kitchen enough. And I even said, he's just going to keep gobbling up these shots like they're nothing because he is a top three to five goal tender on the planet. He was a brick wall last night.

And I just don't think they were doing enough to really get in his grill, get him going side to side, really have him see around screens and all that. I just felt like they didn't do enough in that department. And the one goal that they scored on in Pat, Pat, picture perfect shot from McGinney Malkin. I mean, that was beautiful stuff. But I still felt like they could have done more in the department of taking his eyes away and just getting in his goal, more of a net front presence, especially on the power play. Yeah, I would agree with that as well that in that kind of I'll build off of what I was saying was I didn't hate the way they got to the net. They just did not do it enough again, as a Lefski.

That should have been option number one is come into the zone, center lane drive, whoever's in that center lane, you park yourself right in front and you put the puck to the net. It's a tail as old as time when you play a goaltender like that. You just need to shoot as often as you can because you need to increase his workload. That's really the best way to beat an elite goaltender is you have to wear them down. shots has to be the floor, not the ceiling, because you need to make him beat you. Aside from that, one thing I'm really impressed by, by the penguins, even in this recent stretch of winless, of winless games, they are playing extremely well defensively. Their defensive game has been on

point. And the thing that is both frustrating and a little bit confusing about it is that they're not sacrificing offense for defense. You look at the way that they're playing, and they aren't suddenly going into a shell. They're not suddenly selling out for defense. They're just in a slump. You look at the way they're playing. I think that this is just one of those stretches in a season

where you have it every year, where for a few game stretch, the puck's just not going in. You're playing goalies who get hot. I don't think that they need to change a lot of what they're doing, they've just got to keep pushing through. They just got to generate more. That's the biggest thing.

And they got to stop overpassing again. I just think they're overthinking it a little bit when they're getting into the offensive zone. They're looking for that perfect play when sometimes, as I said, less is more. So they just got to start generating offense like they were doing for the majority of this season so far outside of these last few games. Because you're right. I love the way they're playing defensively.

I thought the penguins did a great job really limiting Tampa Bay players to the outside. I think Archer Shulov was great. Outside of the shootout, we'll talk about that in a little bit because his shootout struggles continue to get worse and worse. But I really did like the way the Penguins were defending in this one. And honestly, you can say for the last two games as well, they're really limiting the high danger chances against. Hell, you can even say, Pat, for the last two-ish weeks, two and a half, three weeks even, the Penguins have done a much better job defending in their own zone. And that's a big credit to Dammeuse and his staff are really cutting down the amount.

of, you know, odd man rushes, you know, just the amount of zone time for the opposing players. Outside, there was that one big shift last night. And I know you're going to, you're going to know what I'm talking about here, where Tampa Bay's top line, the Kutrov line, just had the Penguins' fourth line in absolute hell for a minute and a half to two minutes. Outside of that, felt like it was a lot of one and duns that lately still got some, you know, good chances throughout. But it wasn't like that where they were cycling, getting some good chances.

The Penguins held Tampa Bay to only see. seven high danger chances at five on five last night. I think they are continuing to do a marvelous job defensively. The goaltending has especially been on point outside the shootouts. It's just getting the offensive generation. That's what has to come back. Once it does, I think they're going to be fine. I like a lot of what I saw last night.

They should have won that game in overtime. I will die on that hill. They had countless great chance after countless great chance. I'll do it here for everyone that's watching, but I'll describe it for people that are listening. To the cap to you, Andre Vasselovsky. there's not really much more you can do when he's going God mode like that. No, the penguins are not the first team, nor will they be the last team that

Andre Vazolevsky does that against. He just has that ability to steal a game because even saying stealing a game is a bit charitable because I think Tampa played pretty well. It wasn't like the penguins were taking it to the lightning all night and Vasilevsky stole them a point. It was just two good teams on a razor, two teams play. playing well, I should say, because jury's still out on this penguin's team. But it was two teams playing well on a razor's edge in their goal tending, ended up being the

difference. And that's not even a shot at Sheelovs. It's the fact that Andre Vazolev is a top three goalie on planet Earth. So a lot more to talk about from last night's game against Tampa Bay Lightning as well as a little bit of stuff that we saw some in practice today and some odds and ends. So we'll get into all of that. Stick with us. We'll be right back right after this.

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Hunter Hodes. And let's talk a little bit about the goal tending. So I don't know if I don't have one sitting here on my desk, so I can't do it for the bit. But if I had an egg sitting here, I would smash it on my face because I've got egg on my face. I said earlier this week that I was a little bit worried about Archer Shilovs because against Calgary, I saw some struggles, not struggling, but some difficult saves, some rebounds I wasn't a big fan of. And it made me worry that when they played a better team, he might struggle. Well, he told me to take that, turn it sideways and shove it up my you know what, as the Rock would say. And he had one hell of a game against Tampa Bay.

A very good team made several very good saves against very good talent. And the only goal against, it was just bad luck. It hits him in a weird spot. He thinks he has it. It drops down. Credit to the official, something I never thought I would say, because he saw that the puck was still loose. Tampa takes advantage and what can you do in that situation?

But other than that and the shootout, he had himself a very, very good night. Gave the Penguins a big chance to win this one. That first goal, you said it just bad luck, bad bounce. That's two games in a row where the first goal that scored is just pure bad luck and a bad bounce. You go back to Boston, shot goes off the post, off Skinner's skate in the net. This one, it looks like Skinner had it.

And originally Pat, when I was watching it, it live. I thought it was in his glove and I was like, wait, blow the whistle. What are you doing? I was able to watch the replay a few times. It looked like it was in his chest slash shoulder area and then just drops down. Penguins aren't aware of it. And then the lightning score. I thought, you know, I was still waiting for them to blow the whistle. But after seeing the replay a few times, I'm like, all right. At least I understand why they didn't blow the whistle there. I think some of the penguin skaters needed to do a bit of a better job. Don't just skate away. Come back to your goal. make sure he's able to cover up that puck. So again, more bad luck. But at the end of the day, the penguins were able to tie it late in regulation.

I will say, man, when Mews pulled the goalie with a little over three minutes left, I was like, I think that's a little too early, but he told me to shove that up my new, my you know what as well, because Malcolm was able to tie it just a few seconds later. Again, picture perfect shot. You go into overtime, Brian Rust gets a breakaway. Brian Rust, another great.

chance. And then Ben Kindle flubs the one-timer a little bit, a little bit, but still a really good chance. Vasilevsky's there to save all of those. Sidney Crosby is doing his thing. Literally, man, it was ridiculous. The penguins were living in the offensive zone with the puck, got so many great chances. But when Andre Vasilevsky is on like that, there is literally basically nothing you can do. He is that good of a goaltender. It goes to a shootout. And yeah, with Sheelov's in the net, you kind of knew this was going to happen. He has only saved five of 16 shootout attempts this season. That is simply unacceptable.

It needs to change. I know when you look at the overall games, most of them don't go to shootouts, but they've still had, you know, a few of them at least, or more than a few, honestly, go. And they're one in six in those games this year, Pat. I'm sorry, man. You have to be better in those situations.

when I saw Nikita Kutrov come out there against him. I'm like, yeah, don't think he's going to make a save on Kutrov, who we all know is a top five player in the world, made that look very easy. I think Shilov could have played it better. He should have challenged him a bit more. He was kind of just way too deep in his crease there. And then for the penguin struggles with the forwards.

Crosby, even when he tries to do something different, Buck just rolls off his stick. I think I have arrived at the point now, Pat, where he should not be in the top three rotation anymore for shootouts. The Penguins simply have better options. Even Rickel, who I know did not score, I think he has a better option. You saw Igor Chinikov. What a piss missile.

That one was past Vasilevsky. You have Ben Kindle. I think you should try him in the top three. You have other players. I think Anthony Mantha, the soft hands that Justin Brzoe has shown, I think should get a look. Crosby is just simply not doing enough in shootouts right now, to warrant being in the top three shooters. Yeah, I would agree.

And I also think it could just be a good reset for 87. Agreed. Because we know what kind of a petty athlete that man is. You take him off of something, you tell him he can't do it. He is going to obsess over it. He is going to make it his mission to show you that he can do it. So you yank him off that top three rotation, you give some new looks. and maybe it works out.

I definitely think, at least for now, I know it's one, but you definitely keep Chinakov in there because I had to rewatch that goal multiple times because I went, did I go in or did that hit a post? Because it was in and out so fast that I was unsure if it actually went in. That was a beautiful release. It really was. It was such a good shot.

And I mean, for Sheelovs at this point, it's just got to be mental. I think that he, Muse has said straight up he's not going to change goalies if it goes to a shootout and she-offs as the starter. This is just an unfortunate case of, you just got to let him work through it and hope he finds his way because you look at the way

he plays during the 60 or 65 minutes of a game. And for the most part, he's on top of his crease. He's challenging well. he's putting himself in good position and then you watch him in the shootout and the man just freezes. So it's to the point where you look at it and you got to think this is nothing but mental and you got to let him work through it. Hopefully he makes a few saves, gets that confidence and can bounce back from it. So overall, yes, it stings that they weren't able to get the extra point. But again, obviously no moral victories.

but you play that way most of the time, you're probably coming out with two points. So I can't say I'm too upset about it. But let's talk real quick about what we saw at practice today. The big news, Rutger McGrorty did return to practice, though he was in a non-contact capacity. So once things like line rushes and everything got going, he was not part of it.

And rightfully so, not a lot of changes to the lines, really not any changes. by Dan Mews. I think after the effort last night, you don't need to make many big changes. No, and speaking of that, just a couple news and notes from last night's game that I didn't really get the chance to discuss. I thought Chris LaTang was sensational last night. I thought that was one of his best performances of the season. The Penguins are going to need a lot more games like that while Eric Carlson is out from Crystal Tang. I thought he was great on the top here. Ditto for Jackson and Ivany, I thought that was probably his best game of the year to even on a second pair roll,

which you and I have been a little bit spooked about, but I do think he answered the bell at least last night. I thought for St. I haven't one thing I really noticed last night, and it's funny because I have said this about another player on the Penguins back end multiple times. He decided which direction he wanted to go. He was pretty physical last night.

And St. Ivan, he's not a small guy. So being a little bit more of a physical presence could help his game. I saw him play really hard in the corners. he threw a couple of hits that were very significant. And if there is one way to get yourself into the good graces of a coaching staff as a defenseman, especially a more defensive defenseman, play a little bit more physical. Yeah, I agree.

And speaking of being more physical, we all saw Connor Clifton's very big hit there in the third period. Pat, that's a textbook call. Like I saw some people griping about that on social media and a few other places. That's a five-minute major every time, man. Like I think even with the inconsistency of NHRFs, they are going to call that every time. I did not have a problem with that call. And Clifton himself said straight up after the game, yeah, I deserved every second of that five-minute call. So it's one of those things where it's unfortunate.

Like I don't think Clifton went into that with any ill intent. I don't think he stepped up to make that hit thinking I'm going to hurt this guy. but you have to be a little bit more cognizant of where he is on the boards. So it's half and half to me where half of it is unfortunate. It's a bit of a bang, bang, play with the way he turned. But Clifton also has to be a little bit more aware of the fact that he might turn. So you've got to pull up a little bit.

But at the end of the day, zero problem with that call and zero problem with Tampa's response. You throw a hit like that as much as I may be in an anti quote unquote code. guy. If there was ever a moment, that's the moment. I mean, Clifton kicked Sorrelli's ass there in that fight. That was pretty cool to see. But yeah, he answered the bell for that. The officiating after, you had the four on four for two minutes and then the three minute power play and no one knew how long it was going to be. That was just hilarious efficient. They got the call right with Connor Clifton the five minutes, but everything after that was just so weird. And shout out the Penguins penalty kill as well. I know Tampa's power play is a little bit below average this year when you look at the

overall rankings for power play percentage, which is crazy to me, considering the talent that they can put out there. But I thought the Penguins PK was excellent all night once again. That's another game where this PK has been really good. Oh, yeah. And like you said, with a team with that much talent, it's only a matter of time before they get it figured out. And they start rising up the ranks just because it's borderline Hall of Famer next to

definite Hall of Famer next to Borderline Hall of Famer. So it's a really good unit. So the penguins deserve a lot of credit for standing up against a talented power play such as Tampa Bay. One last thing I wanted to get into real quick before we do our favorite segment, Warrior Helmet Wednesday, where we hand out our MVP of the week. This was a topic of conversation for a lot of people over the last couple of days. Tristan Brose brought back up and then pretty much immediately sent right back down. Dan Muse basically said it was an availability issue. They were worried that some players might not be ready, especially at center.

Turns out wasn't a problem. So rather than keeping bros around to just languish in the press box and work out at practice, they get them back to Wilkes Bear. He's able to get playing time. Again, I will continue to preach it. I know everybody's ready. I know everybody wants it. But we got to let these guys cook a little bit, playing significant rules in the H.

And then when they come up, they're probably not going to go back. Yeah, I just also think like when you look at the forwards, they're basically healthy right now. And they're about to get Rucker McGority back here at some point. I know he's not cleared for contact yet, but that's the next step, the fact that he's back on the ice. That's very encouraging.

They still have the equivalent at some point that I think he's going to get called back up this season. Remember, Philip Hollander is also set to come back at some point here over the next, if I had to guess, you know, month, month and a half. He's been skating a lot as of labor. and closer to that timeframe where he's probably going to start practicing again soon. And then he'll be clear for contact and stuff with the blood caught it. So again, I know everyone is excited for some of these younger players, but be patient because the forward group right now, depth-wise, when everyone's healthy, it's pretty good.

And you're seeing that. I know they're in a slump right now, but I think they're going to be coming out of that pretty quickly here, hopefully soon. Yeah, I'm right there with you. And I get it. I think this was more just a need in roster. need thing. It wasn't a, hey, we're ready to play him. It was just if this player or that player suddenly can't go, we got to make sure we got an option ready, if that's the case.

It's for Brian Rust. In case he wasn't ready to go yesterday, they probably would have played Tristan Rose in my opinion. But yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what would have happened. So Rust was able to go. No harm, no foul. Broz is going to go back, continue to do well in the HL. And hopefully sometime here in the near future, he gets a little bit more than a cup of coffee. and we can really see what we're working with. But that is going to do it for this middle segment. When we come back, I already hinted at it. It's our favorite segment.

It's our favorite day of the week. It's Wednesday. So that means it's time to hand out our MVP's of the week in Warrior Helmet Wednesday. So hang with us and find out who's getting this week's warrior helmets right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got one more sponsor to get to, and that is Factor. New Year, big goals. somehow even less time to cook. If you're trying to eat better, but you don't want to spend hours grocery shopping or meal

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Locked-on NHL-50 off to get 50% off your first Factor box plus free breakfast for one year. That's Factor Meals.com slash locked-on NHL-50 off. Code Locked-on NHL-50 off. Make healthy eating easier with Factor. Closing out the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And it's Wednesday once again, my dudes. That means it's time for Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

If you are new here, each Wednesday, Hunter and I hand out our MVP of the week, and we do it by handing out a Warrior Helmet. What's a Warrior Helmet, you may be asking? It's us paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins, where during that season, in the locker room after wins, all the way through their Stanley Cup championship, they would give their player of the game a Warrior Helmet. so we do that this week. Hunter, you and I kind of have the same picks this week.

So I am going to let you start this week with your pick. All right. So I have one of the goaltenders. I don't want to give away Pat's, but by me saying that, I probably just did. So whatever. But my warrior helmet pick for this week is goaltender Stuart Skinner. I thought he was exquisite for this past week for the Pittsburgh Penguins. four to one win over the devil's 966. Everyone owed him a steak dinner for what he did in the first period,

keeping the penguins in the lead going into the second. I thought he was great in the final two periods as well. In Boston, he gave the penguins a chance to tie that game the whole time. That goal he allowed, not even close to his fault. Again, just a bad balance finish that game with a 947 percentage. And he has been really good in his last four starts. This goes back to December 30 for the last couple of weeks. 964, 917, 966, and 947.

He has been great for the Penguins deserving, I think, of being the 1A-starry netminder. We all know that Damuz is going to continue this rotation until he doesn't want to anymore. But Skinner is my pick for Warrior Helmet for this past week. He was outstanding. I am right there with you, and you kind of gave the store away for me on this one,

but let me pull up the graphic here. So if you're watching us on YouTube, you'll be able to see it on your screen. Hunter takes Stuart Skinner. I'm taking both Archer Shilovs and Stuart Skinner because the both of them have been absolutely incredible over the last week. Both of them have put in performances of save percentages well over 900. And for all of the quote unquote problems, though they don't have many right now that the penguins have, Goaltending right now, very much not one of them. I already said it once on this show.

I've got egg on my face for doubting Arter Sheelovs, though. I don't think it was without much, I don't think it was without merit because there's been some iffy performances here and there. But overall, in the last week, even with this little bit of a winless streak that the penguins are on, the goaltending has been really good. And the goaltending has cleared the one bar that I, always have for goaltenders. I will never ask too much of a goaltender. My only ask is always just keep us in a position to win and you're doing your job. Both of them through the last week

have done all of that and more. Love your picks, Pat. Even though Archer she loves told you to shove your criticism up your behind right there. I know you went out of him a little bit earlier this week, completely disagreed with you here on the show. And then he goes out there and says, yeah pat maybe i did listen to the show and you are a complete buffoon behind your microphone but no i'm just messing around but no great picks overall i could have had she loves as well but i really wanted to focus on skinner just because he has been really good as a way not to say that she loves hasn't i think he's been quite a bit better over the last week or two but i just really like the way that skinner has been playing over the last couple weeks i kind of feel like this was a little overdue for him on the show

so that's my pick for the week and with that pat i'll have you pull up the tractor for this year. So let's take a look at the tracker up to this point. If you have been following along and you have been keeping track of this yourself, you may notice I took something off this week. But let's go through the tracker and then I'll tell you what I took off. Leading the pack with four is of course Captain Sidney Crosby. He has won at four times this year. Evgeny Malkin, Justin Brazo have three with two. We've got Kyle Dubus, Ben Kindle, Eric Carlson, Dan Mews, and Sergey Murdoz. and with one Anthony Mantha, the special teams, both the power play and the penalty kill, and now added to the list, Archer Shilovs and Stuart Skinner.

If you are keeping track at home, you may have noticed I took a name off of the ones, and that is Tristan Jari, because, well, he's not a penguin anymore. He's not going to rise any higher than one. So take him off the tracker because he's not here anymore. and why are we keeping track? Because at the end of the season, whether it's after game 82, maybe some playoff games,

we'll see what happens. We'll tally these all up. We'll give out some season-long warrior helmets because it's our segment. We've been doing it for a couple years. We need to keep it evolving because it's a fun segment and we have a lot of fun with it.

But one last thing I'm going to add real quick because you told me to bring up the tracker. I'm really glad that my concern about Archer Shilov's was a building block and not a fall off. So really happy to see that. I am glad to take the L on that because it means the penguins are doing well. So can't say I'm too upset about being wrong about that one. But that is going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Hunter and I will be back on Thursday because you know what time it is. the Battle of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Flyers are coming to town, and we're going to get you set for that game and cover anything else that may happen between now and then. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in,

and we will be back on Thursday.