Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins-Flyers Game One gametime REVEALED! The rivalry goes primetime!
Episode Date: April 16, 2026We now know when the Penguins and Flyers will begin their first-round matchup, and it will be Saturday night in primetime! Patrick and Hunter begin the show by reacting to the NHL FINALLY giving us at... least one game time for the Penguins-Flyers series, and it will be Saturday night at 8 p.m. They also look at the rest of the game one schedule, and give their best, educated guess on when the rest of the series will be played. (0:00) Then, the Penguins got back to work today at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex as they prepare for the playoffs. However, there was one forward who looked like the odd man out, and another who looked like he might have earned a spot on the playoff roster. (13:02). Finally, in a rare pre-playoff occurrence, Penguins' captain Sidney Crosby made an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN on Thursday afternoon. They react to some of Sid's answers and discuss how, for the first time in a long time, it looked like a pretty comfortable Crosby during an interview. (25:40) Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: 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 Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game. Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. Rocket MoneyLet Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster. Join athttp://RocketMoney.com/LOCKEDON 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.
Transcript
Discussion (0)
Saturday night in prime time.
PPG paints arena,
the Penguins in the Flyers game one.
We know some of the schedule for the first round.
Hunter and I are going to get into that and more 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 the Thursday 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 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 L0 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 that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube.
And if you're following us on YouTube, which you should be, make sure you've hit the notification button,
especially as we get ready for this opening round series.
That way you'll be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes,
as well as any other bonus content we may be dropping throughout the podcast.
playoffs, you're going to want to be here with us.
So let's get into it.
If you love guessing games, if you love mystery, if you love trying to put a piece of a puzzle together,
the Stanley Cup playoffs opening round is the place for you because we're about 48 hours away
from the start of the first round and we know when a couple of games will be.
That's it.
That's pretty much it.
Penguins and Flyers, game one from PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night at 8 p.m.
They get the prime time slot for the opening night of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
As for the rest of the series, it could be Monday, it could be Tuesday.
Who knows?
The NHL apparently just flies by the seat of their pants and does whatever they want and doesn't tell us when games are.
But at the very least, we know when it's going to start.
they love waiting until the last possible minute to tell everyone the schedule they're probably just waiting for the west to kind of finalize itself pat aren't you excited we could get round five of oilers kings potentially i mean that's just that's the series of the playoffs right there the only way we get it is that the kings finish ahead of the ducks could happen they're both tied right now and if the kings win their game tonight and the ducks potentially lose okay we get edmonton la round five
But we know game one, Saturday night, 8 p.m.
That's the right call.
I was hearing earlier in the week it was going to be two.
Then it went to 8 o'clock.
Then you saw some people saying it was going to be Sunday.
I never heard that, by the way.
It was 2 o'clock on Saturday.
Then it was to 8 o'clock on Saturday.
I heard that a couple of days ago.
So I'm just glad that that helped because this series deserves to be primetime.
Penguins have some of the best ratings nationally this year.
Pat, if you look at like the top games on ESPN networks,
there's a couple Penguins ones right in it.
That's just how good the Pittsburgh market is for the NHL.
So no surprise there.
And Cindy Krazy returned to the playoffs.
Come on.
This is a slam dunk for ESPN, Sportsnet, all that good stuff.
Obviously here, Sportsnet, Pittsburgh will carry these games as well for the first round.
And then, should the Penguins advance, it'll be all national games, but for everyone else,
that's not in Pittsburgh.
You can watch the game on ESPN.
But as I'm going to steal this from Pat,
It's the main event, Saturday night in PBG Paints Arena.
I'm excited.
I know you're excited.
Everyone in this fan base is pretty stoked about it.
And if I had to guess, I think game two would be Monday, game three Wednesday.
And I think the Penguins might get a two-day break for game four.
Because Pat, if you look at the 76th or schedule, they play next Friday in Philly and next Sunday in Philly.
Saturday is open, though there is a concert that night in Philly.
So my guess, they play it during the day, switch over to the concert stuff, and then they're all good.
I don't think it's going to be Friday or Sunday, though.
I think I agree with that for the most part.
We'll see what the NHL comes up with because, and don't quote me on this, I'm not 100% on it.
I do know that a lot of venues kind of have the first right of refusal kind of deal where they have the ability to do two in a day, but oftentimes they'll pass on it.
for staffing reasons where they're not going to have the people or the manpower to switch things over and back in time,
especially when you look at what's going to happen next weekend at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
It's going to be totally jam-packed for Philadelphia between the 76ers, the Flyers, concerts.
So they may take a pass on that.
So this may be if it goes the distance or if it goes beyond five or six games,
which you can only go seven, so that's silly for me to say.
But if it goes beyond five, this could be one of those series that stretches out
through a long period of time just because of arena availability.
So we'll obviously keep an eye on that.
But I will say, to your point, I'm taking my shots at the NHL because they took
their sweet time announcing these games.
They still haven't announced the rest of the series as we record this on Thursday afternoon.
but looking at the games in series that they have announced up to this point,
especially for Saturday.
As disappointing is it for me personally because I was supposed to go to game one.
Now I'm not going because it's at 8 o'clock because I got some other stuff
that I got to take care of away from that.
But you look at the other two games on Saturday.
This is the prime time game.
Ottawa, Carolina, two good teams, exciting matchup,
not as exciting as penguins flyers wild stars other than the relocation and the uh revival of
minnesota hockey it's two very talented teams it doesn't have the history and the prestige
of penguins and flyers so this is a no brainer for the n hl to put in prime time on saturday night
a hundred percent and i'm excited for the stars wild series i think that's probably
one of the biggest coin flip series you could have.
I'm still taking Dallas even with their injury situations.
But, you know, when you look at Carolina, Ottawa, you know, it's going to be fine.
But it's also also, it's kind of going to be a slog to watch as well.
Yeah, the way those two teams play hockey, that's going to be, that one's going to be tough.
Stylistically, Ottawa can do everything that Carolina does.
That's why I think I'd be very nervous if I were Hurricane Sam.
We're going to get into more of our picks later on this week.
We also have a special bonus edition of the pod coming out later as well with the full crossover with locked on flyers,
previewing the series, giving all of our predictions, some trash talk probably coming as well.
But yeah, the Carolina series, that's fine to start your day off, a little bit of an appetizer.
Then you get the game at clock with Minnesota Dallas.
Okay, we're getting more involved.
we've known that matchup probably since November.
But then you got the main event, the Battle of PA, the Commonwealth Cold War,
if you want to call it that.
These two teams hate each other, haven't played in the playoffs in eight years.
ESPN is going to milk this rivalry for the entire series.
I wouldn't be surprised if that's the game that you see Sean McDonough and Ray Ferraro call.
But in terms of just Saturday schedule, Pat, it was a slam dunk to have them at 8 o'clock.
I personally think they were hoping that Montreal was going to
get home ice over Tampa, Bell Center game one, come on.
That was probably going to be prime time.
But now that game one is in Tampa, easy call here for Pittsburgh to get the prime time
slot.
Yeah.
So if you look at the rest of the game one schedule, which is what they're calling this, obviously
we went over Saturday.
You'll have Carolina, Ottawa at 3, Minnesota Dallas at 530, Penguins Flyers 8 p.m.
on Saturday night.
Then on Sunday, all of the times are TBD.
at this point as we record.
You'll obviously have whoever gets wildcard two in the West going up against the
juggernaut, Colorado Avalanche, Montreal in Tampa Bay, as Hunter said.
Boston versus Buffalo, that's going to be can't miss.
Buffalo back in the playoffs.
That's going to be so much fun.
And then the Utah Mammoth making their Stanley Cup playoff debut against the Vegas Golden Knights.
And then we rounded out on Monday.
where we will have the 3-2 matchup in the Pacific Division,
which, as Hunter joked about earlier in the show,
could be the Rocky 5 of the Stanley Cup playoffs
when we get yet another matchup of the Kings and Oilers,
because we have not done this nearly enough,
but that is still not settled.
That will get settled tonight.
But that is going to do it for our opening segment.
When we come back,
the work is well underway.
Pittsburgh as we prepare for game one of the penguins and flyers series.
We will take a look at what happened at practice today as the penguins got back to work.
So stick with us.
We'll be right back right after this.
But we've got a couple of sponsors to get to before we do that.
And we start with our friends at Indeed.
Workplace chaos, deadlines stacking up, inbox is overflowing in the one position you
have to hire still sitting open.
When the pressure's on and you need the right hire.
It's a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs.
Indeed, sponsored jobs help you reach the right people who actually fit what you're looking for with the same skills, experience, and location.
That way, you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your job posting.
And here's the stat that says it all.
In the time that I have been reading this ad, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed according to their worldwide data.
So if you're hiring, spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes with Indeed sponsored jobs.
With Indeed sponsored jobs, you're actually spending time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes, making you less stressed out, giving you more time, and most importantly, getting you more results.
You need the right hire to cut through with chaos.
It's a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
Listeners of this show, you will get a $75 sponsored job credit to help your.
job get the premium status it deserves at indeed.com slash podcast. That's indeed.com
slash podcast. Go there right now. Say you've heard about it on this very podcast and you'll get
that fantastic deal. One more time, indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply.
Need to hire. This is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. And we're not done. We got one more to get to.
It's our new pals from five hour energy.
If you've got a sweet tooth like I do,
if you've seen my work desk,
which I don't think any of you have,
maybe a couple people who listen to the show have,
you see the candy wrappers that I have there pretty much every day.
Big time sweet tooth guy,
but it is still tough to find that perfect treat
without all of the sugar.
Don't I know that?
That is why cotton candy five hour energy.
Their shot brings the nostalgic flavor back in a whole new way.
The classic cotton candy tastes you remember,
but with a tasty caffeine boost and zero sugar.
It's a quick and easy way to satisfy that sweet craving
while keeping things simple and on the go.
I already said it, big fan of candy,
especially cotton candy.
When the circus was in town, when I was at the spares,
you name it, loved me some cotton candy.
This is a perfect throwback and a perfect treat.
Between my work schedule, trying to stay in shape,
playing beer league hockey, everything else.
I need those energy boosts.
And that is exactly what five hours.
energy does for me. So bring on the sweetness with cotton candy five hour energy shots available online
now at five hour energy.com or Amazon. We're back here on the Thursday edition of the locked on
penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Patrick Damp. That beautiful man text in the box next to me
is the one and only hunter hodies. The penguins were back at practice today.
I'm running my nationals win. They got the pirates today, got the split in this area.
So, yeah, beating the pirates is, man, maybe this year it's kind of a thing.
I don't know, listen to Lockdown Pirates.
They talk about more than we do.
But anyway, back to this, penguins, they are in the playoffs.
They were back at work at practice today.
And the aforementioned Hunter Hodes was in the building for Penguins practice.
Hunter, there was a pretty interesting person who was not taking line.
rushes today. And who was that? Yeah. So for the first time in what feels like forever, Pat,
we got a fully healthy penguin's practice today. Let's get a little bit of a round of applause for
that because it has been a long time since this team was fully healthy going into a game.
But Blake Lizotte returned, Connor Dew returned, and they were right back on the fourth line
with Noachari. So Damu's going right back to that fourth line.
Totally cool with it.
They have all been awesome as a trio together this year, arguably the best fourth line hockey.
This is also going to help PK a lot just because it's shrug a little bit down the stretch,
getting Lazot back who feels like the heartbeat of that unit.
It's going to pay huge dividends.
He was full participant today, took full contact.
The way that he was talking to everyone after practice, definitely looks like he's going to play on Saturday in game one.
Connor Dewar, same thing, full participant.
He was week to week, missed the last four games, Lazot, missed.
over 10 games, again, they both look good to go.
But the one player that was not taking line rushes today was just in Brazil.
It looks like as of right now, and this can change, but as of right now, two days to go until
game one, he might be the odd man outs for this game.
Elmer Soderblom was in his place on the third line with Ben Kendall and Anthony Manta.
And you know what?
Good on Soderblum, man.
He has played his way into a top 12 role.
five goals, ten points in 20 games, the way that he has been able to protect the puck
along the boards, download the way that he's been able to win puck battles, drive offense.
It's been awesome as a way.
So he is deserving of this.
I felt like going in, they were still just going to go with Brazil just because he and
Mantha had had a lot of chemistry throughout the season.
He had also had chemistry with Ben Kindle, but Dammeuse is rewarding soda bomb for his play.
And as right now, Brazil is the 13th forward.
is more of the 14th board right now just because, you know,
that's just how it's been for most of the season, Pat.
No one should be surprised by that.
I think Brazo, he had started to play a little bit better down the stretch,
but he had also been cold for a while.
Like, had that really hot start to this season,
lighting the league on fire was shooting over 30%.
We all knew that was not going to be sustainable for an entire season,
but it'd gotten cold.
His game had, you know, not been as strong.
He had been banged up a little bit,
but potentially going to game one.
he is going to be the odd man out.
It's not going to be Tommy Novak.
I know they very much value his ability to play center,
play wing, his playmaking ability,
can play on PowerPlay 2,
all that good stuff.
So right now,
it is Justin Brzo looking like the healthy scratch for game one.
Now, say Soder Blom goes out there,
doesn't have his best game in game one.
I can see Dan Musil going right back to Justin Brzo.
They're going to need Brzo during the playoffs here.
It's not like Brzoe is going to be healthy scratched
for all these games.
He's been one of their better depth players throughout the season.
They're going to need him quite often.
I still think in the playoffs here.
Don't get it twisted.
Oh, yeah.
And I kind of want to emphasize a word you used more than anything,
and that is the word reward.
This is a reward for Elmer Sauterb.
It's not a punishment of Justin Brzoe.
Yeah, Justin Brzoe got off to an insane start.
it was wholly unsustainable.
Now, that doesn't mean that he has played particularly well down the stretch.
He has struggled a little bit.
He's cold off.
He hasn't been as effective as he was earlier in the season and even at the midpoint of the
year.
But this is more a case of Elmer Soderbloom making himself undeniable.
He has played so very well in the absence of Blake Lazotte that you can't take him
out of the lineup.
That's just how valuable the piece he has been in that bottom six.
And unfortunately, the guy who draws the short straw is Justin Brzoe.
And I also think a part of this is kind of the transitive property where they're both massive.
They are both in enormous human beings.
So if you're Dan Muses, you're looking at it and going, yeah, you know what?
We got Justin Brzo at home.
And it's Elmer Soderbloom.
And if it flip-flops over the next few days,
we got Omar Sauter Bloom at home.
It's Justin Briseau.
You can flip-flop them.
So you're also right that we have both been around for multiple Stanley Cup runs.
And this isn't me saying that this is a Stanley Cup team.
It's not me putting the card ahead of the horse.
It's just me saying this is how the playoffs go.
You're going to need multiple bodies.
Guys are going to get dinged up.
Guys might even get suspended.
guys might go cold.
You are going to need your depth pieces to be ready to go.
And I have zero doubt that Justin Brzoe is going to be keeping his tolls sharp while he waits for a call.
Should he end up being the odd man out?
Yeah.
And I think as soon as he potentially gets back in, I wouldn't be surprised if he scores a big goal for this team during this series.
I mean, he has scored, you know, some big goals for them throughout the season.
So he'll be ready to go if he is the health.
scratch for game one later on in the series if he gets put back in.
And you know, you can say the same thing on the back end as well, Pat.
You need more than six capable defensemen if you want to go on a long Stanley Cup run.
We've seen it in 2009.
We saw it in 16 and we saw it in 17, at least during the Crosby years for the ones I've been alive to see at least.
But you can even go to other teams who have won.
The Panthers the last two, Tampa Bay, Colorado, St. Louis, Washington.
Guys get dinged up.
There's potential suspensions.
Some players aren't playing as well.
And you have other players who are ready to get back in as soon as possible.
Justin Brzoe, he is one of those guys that if he is scratched, he's going to be ready to go.
And I think he's going to be really good in this series once he does eventually play.
Because I do think he is going to get in at some point.
Oh, he absolutely should.
So, yeah, and you said it.
It's nothing, you know, he did.
It's not a punishment.
Soderbaum has just been better than expected since coming over from Detroit.
I mean, Pat, I know I didn't see him having five goals and 10 points in 20 games after coming over from Detroit.
I thought, hey, fine 13th Ford.
They're going to get him some work.
He'll be on the team full time next year.
I didn't see this production coming.
I didn't see him potentially stealing a spot from Justin Brzo.
But credit to him, he has done that.
that and has played really well.
And he brings that size that you need for the playoffs.
He brings that physicality, the puck protection that he has,
the way that he has played offensively,
I think he could give the Flyers fits a little bit in this series,
depending on who Dam Euse wants to match him against,
because that's another big thing.
Coaches in these series,
they love to mix and match lines against your best players.
You know, so like the top six Rick Tockett's going to try to neutralize
the ping,
the stop at take as much as possible, can Damu's get some matchups that he likes for this third
line, Soderblom, Kendall, and Manta.
I'm really excited to see.
Put it this way for Elmer Sauter Bloom earning himself a spot.
Post trade deadline, the amount of Red Wings who scored more goals than Elmer Sotterblum,
three.
That's crazy.
That's, that is both a testament to how monumentally the Detroit Red Wings
collapsed, but how good Elmer Soder Bloom has been as a penguin hunter. Was there any other things
that you observed in practice? Because I myself was at work during practice. And it seemed like for
at least an hour and a half long period, it felt like every social media site was down. So I didn't
really get to see anything that was going on. So anything other observations from penguins practice.
you know a lot of two on two three on three drills standard stuff a lot of power play work they got
some breakaway work at the very end of the practice the vibes are great everyone's having fun
smiling everyone's ready to go man like they want to play in the playoffs right now and they're
really stoked that it's dilly in the first round like they're really excited that you know they get
to play one of the biggest rivals in the first round so we're looking forward to this series
again we still have one more segment to get to for today but for tomorrow we got
other show coming. We also have a bonus show with locked on flyers. We're really stoked.
And Pat, why don't you take the time to tell everyone that we're changing a recording schedule going
forward as well? We don't have anything quite set in stone yet because we're obviously still
waiting for the rest of the schedule for the series. But you can expect our episodes to be out
much earlier in the day because we will do some post game or early morning recordings. That way,
we are right on top of this series.
So make sure you're subscribed.
Make sure you've got yourself ready to go and your notifications on
because we are going to be all over this series,
just like Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is all over the Philadelphia Flyers.
And speaking of Sid,
we're going to close this episode out with a little bit of fun.
Because as Hunter said, early tomorrow,
we'll be dropping our crossover episode with
our friends at Locked-on Flyers,
and we will also have our regular Friday episode
where we will take our deep dive into the series,
give our predictions and everything else.
So be on the lookout for those.
But the captain did something he doesn't often do.
He showed up on TV,
and he showed up on a show that is quite polarizing,
but he had some fun with it.
We're going to talk about his appearance on the Pat McAfee show,
when we come back right after this.
But we've got one more sponsor to get to, and that is Rocket Money.
If you've ever opened your bank account and thought,
where did all my money go?
You are certainly not alone.
Keeping track of subscriptions, spending in bills, it can get overwhelming fast.
That is where Rocket Money comes in,
helping you take control of your finances all in one place.
Rocket Money is an absolute game changer.
It tracks all of your subscriptions in one spot.
and it can help you cancel the ones you don't need with just a few taps.
That is the thing that has made Rocket Money so valuable to me because I am such a typical
millennial.
I sign up for free trials.
I forget about them.
And what do you know?
I'm spending a few bucks here and there.
It starts to add up and I've got a bunch of subscriptions.
I'm not using, but I'm still paying for them.
And Rocket Money has helped me get rid of those and manage my money.
You can also set budgets, get alerts, and stay on top of your upcoming bills,
making everything feel more organized and giving you a clearer picture of your finances day to day.
Rocket Money, it's a personal finance app that helps you find and cancel those unwanted subscriptions,
monitors your spending, and helps you lower your bills so you can grow your savings.
So let Rocket Money help you reach your financial goals faster.
Join at RocketMoney.com slash locked on.
That's RocketMoney.com slash locked on.
All right, we're closing out the Thursday edition of.
of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.
I am Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes.
And we're going to have a little bit of fun to end the show
because our captain had a little bit of fun this afternoon,
showing up almost unexpectedly on ESPN and YouTube's The Pat McAfee show.
And I'll start with this.
I was genuinely surprised because I know how regimented,
and superstitious and goofy Sidney Crosby is.
Now, granted, the series doesn't start until Saturday night.
They're going to have some practices, some video sessions, all that good stuff.
But I figured as soon as Game 82 was in the rear view, Crosby was going to go into lockdown mode.
And he was going to be focused on continuing to torture the flyers.
But then all of a sudden, Penguins tweet out, sit on Pat McAfee, and two sons,
his credit, he spent about a half hour with McAfee and the gang.
It wasn't a five, 10 minute, you know, oh, we're excited for the Stanley Cup playoffs and
we're excited to get back, you know, and obviously we're going to work hard and try to
win the Stanley Cup.
He kind of went on the show and shot the stuff with them.
And it wasn't a groundbreaking interview.
He didn't really reveal anything too crazy.
But it's maybe the loosest outside of chicklets from, I think about.
seven, eight years ago,
a loosest I've seen Sidney Crosby in an interview.
Yeah,
I think that's a great comparison.
Like,
I kind of compared it to that chicklets interview from six,
seven years ago when he went on with wit and biz and,
you know,
just BS with them,
honestly.
He did the same thing here with McAfee and everyone on his show.
And you saw it,
Gini Malkin in the background that basically photo bombing at
Crystal Tang back there as well,
getting his skates taking care of.
And then they're having fun,
conversations with Letang.
It said talked about the rivalry,
excuse me, with Philadelphia,
how he found out real quickly what it meant to be for this
Penguins Flyers rivalry,
how much it means to him to be back in the Stanley Cup playoffs,
how well this team has played this year.
There was some brief Olympic talk,
but he also kind of didn't really want to talk about that for obvious reasons.
Of course,
but Pat, it was a lot of fun just seeing him.
There wasn't a time during the,
the interview where he wasn't smiling.
Like he was having an absolute blast talking with Max Fee.
And they also brought up the big night out that from last year where remember, you know,
PBG, you know, he had that situation where he tried to throw the football in such.
And he talked to the crowd saying he really missed the playoffs there.
A year later, he gets his wish and they're having playoff hockey back here in Pittsburgh.
I just wanted to shout that out because it's pretty cool seeing that come full circle after
him saying really wish for playing in the playoffs at this time last year.
Now he gets his wish.
Buddy, there was no try on that football.
He did it.
He nailed it.
He crushed it from like 20 yards.
And it just had furthering showing us that Sydney Crosby is the most unfairly talented human being on earth.
He made he made everyone else look bad up there.
He made Paul schemes look bad.
Who throws a baseball for a living?
It was crazy.
But so, Hunter, I was under the assumption that you didn't watch his full appearance on McAfee,
but foolish of me to think that because I was going to quiz you about an answer he's,
he had, but you're obviously going to know it.
So let's see if you were paying attention.
The thing that they have been asking, McAfee, that is, a lot of guests recently is,
when it comes to basketball, who's the goat?
Is it MJ or is it LeBron?
Do you remember who Sidney Crosby picked?
I will say full transparency.
I only caught a few clips of it.
I have not watched the full interview.
So I'm going to say, I'm going to guess that he said MJ is the goat or did he say LeBron?
You are very correct that he picked MJ as the goat.
Okay.
But later on in the interview, they did bring up that LeBron and Crosby came into their respective leagues at the same time.
Yeah.
And they're both still dominating.
So Sid did give LeBron his flowers as well.
One of the other things that true sickos know this one,
but this one was fun to hear Sid say it himself again in an interview.
We all know the myth of the dryer where Sidney Crosby went into his parents' basement as a kid
and he was shooting pucks at the dryer and trying to make shots into the dryer and all of that.
It's not the case.
that is not what happened. Crosby once again reminded us that no, no, he wasn't shooting at the dryer.
He was shooting at a net next to the dryer. So when he missed the net, he dinged up the dryer.
So as badly as that thing is dinged up, Sid missed a lot of shots. Sure did. I mean, you go back and
watch some of those videos when he was a lot younger. It was really funny to see. But again, just that
overall interview was, you know, from the clips that I saw. It looked great. I'm going to go back
and watch the full thing once we're done recording here. But just again, seeing in great spirits.
The vibes are great. He's ready to go for the playoffs.
Yeah. The last thing that I want to bring up to close this out to kind of bring it full
circle because the penguins are playing the Flyers in the Stanley Cup playoffs. We all remember
Crosby's first experience in Philadelphia. And he has torsinging.
them ever since. But they did ask him kind of what it was like being the first overall
pick, being the guy that an entire franchise and even an entire league is putting the expectation
on. And in classic Sid fashion, he obviously defers. We know 87 is never going to cut a
wrestling promo and tell us all he's the greatest to ever do it. It's just not who he is.
but he did bring up something really cool, saying that he got really lucky,
unlike a lot of top picks, franchise players,
as to where he came into an organization that was owned by Mary Olamyue,
one of the greatest to ever do it, who becomes his landlord.
And then he also had Chris LaTang, Evgeny Malkin, Mark Andre Fleury,
and a couple years later, Jordan Stahl, basically saying,
we were all 18, 19, 19, 20, 21 in that range together, and we all grew up together.
So there was this shared burden of expectation.
And we kind of forget that now that we sit here, three Stanley Cups later, a 16 year,
consecutive year Stanley Cup playoff streak and everything in between that the expectations on him were massive.
but we did get really lucky that there was a good young core
that could kind of, with all these differing personalities,
bring it all together and make this all work.
Yeah, I love that you said that, especially with Flurry.
You know, obviously he was the jokester, the prankster,
but he was also such a huge leader on so many of those teams.
Evgeny Malkin, yeah, he cracks a lot of jokes too.
He would prying people.
But again, top leader, Chris Lenton.
You can say the same thing.
He's been funny over the years, but has always been one of their top leaders.
And I'm glad that you mentioned Jordan Stahl, you know, very much a key component of that 09 team was a great penguin until, hey, he wanted to go play with his brother, went down to Carolina.
That was his call.
And I will always have a soft spot in my heart for Jordan Stallman.
Like everything that he did for this organization, you know, when he was drafted, helping to win the Stanley Cup.
until he eventually wanted to go down to Raleigh to play for the hurricanes where he's going to
retire there.
I hope that he's in the hall of honor for the penguins at some point.
Obviously, Pat, they just brought that back.
I think down the line, he's going to be inducted into there, even though he hasn't been a penguin for a while,
but I think they're going to put him in there and rightfully so.
But again, I've always said for Sid, you know, not only did he hit those expectations,
he exceeded them tenfold and we now get to see him at least one more time with Gino
and with Chris Lattang try to go on one more magical run for this organization and for this city
and I'm really excited about it man like I didn't know if we were ever going to get going
to get this opportunity again excuse me for the rest of their careers but hey I'm glad we are
man this has been a fun season and we're still not close to having it
being ready to end. I'll say that.
Not even close. I hope it lasts forever.
But we all know it won't. But for now, we're in it.
Penguins and Flyers, game one Saturday night at 8 o'clock.
As for us, we've said it multiple times, but just in case you missed it or you forgot already.
After this episode, we will have our crossover edition coming out Friday morning with locked on flyers.
Make sure you're listening to that because you'll get your view.
from Philadelphia, what they think of the Flyers,
what we think of the Flyers,
and what we think is going to happen in this matchup.
We will also have our regularly scheduled Friday episode tomorrow as well.
We will give our full breakdown end series preview for this one
and give our predictions for this series
as well as the rest of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
But that's going to do it for the Thursday edition for Hunter Hodey's
I am Patrick Damp.
Thank you, as always, for tuning in.
And we will talk to you twice on Friday.
