Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get a weekend split ahead of a CRUCIAL week!

Episode Date: March 23, 2026

The Penguins actually won a shootout but then completely no-showed just one day later, ending with a weekend split. Patrick and Hunter begin the Monday show talking about the Penguins winning a shootout against the Winnipeg Jets. While not playing their best, they were still able to battle back, get two points, and win the shootout. A lot of that, though, was credit to Erik Karlsson, who has been, without a doubt, the Penguins' best player over the last month. (0:00) They open the second segment, again, talking about Erik Karlsson, but this time it's about how the NHL botched a goaltender interference call and challenge. They also take a look at Carolina's effort against the Penguins, the Penguins' defensive woes, and much more. (13:55) Finally, in what has been the most challenging month for the Penguins, they're staring down their most challenging week, where they'll play all contenders and playoff contenders. How can the Penguins make the most of it and keep themselves ahead of the teams chasing them down for a playoff spot? They talk about it! (29:48) 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! QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go tohttp://Quo.com/lockedonnhl. 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. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. 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.COM to 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.

Do not adjust your podcasting app or your YouTube. The Pittsburgh Penguins actually won a shootout, but their celebration probably lasted a little bit too long. We'll go over both of the games this weekend and get you set for what might be the hardest week of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins 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. Into the Monday 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 4 Wet, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow our show's Twitter account at L-O-U-U-Square penguins. You can follow 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 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. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we get started, this episode today is brought to you by Fandul. During the tournament, Fandul is offering $300 back in bonus bets every 10 days. Every day for 10 days, excuse me, head to fandle.com to get started.

We got a lot to get to on this episode today, starting off your week. The Penguins are staring down what might be the most difficult stretch they have in what has been the most difficult month of their season. They decided that Sunday's game against Carolina was optional. but before we get into all of that, yes, ladies and gentlemen, the penguins did in fact win a shootout on Saturday against the Winnipeg Jets. Not only did they win it against the Winnipeg Jets, they did it against Connor Hellebuck,

one of the best goaltenders on the planet. So that is impressive in and of itself. But the game was a bit of a mixed bag. They started off really hot, early 2-0 lead, looked like they were going to just dog-walked. the jets out of the building. And then they kind of fell off in the second period. They worked harder in the third period.

Over time, Connor Hellebuck decided just to be Connor Hellebuck again. And then the Penguins somehow get the win in the shootout. If you're watching us on YouTube, you'll see this on our rundown. Are we worried? This is where I kind of want to start. And it's an overarching theme for both games. the defensive work over the past couple of weeks, really, it's starting to become a bit of a problem

because they're still getting offense from up and down the lineup. They're still showing that they're able to score goals with the exception of Sunday against Carolina. The problem is they are really struggling to keep the puck out of their own net. Right. I mean, they have given up way too many goals as a way. Even just the last three games, Pat, they've given up 10 goals during,

that time. It's not good enough right now. And I do think the goaltending also has to be a little bit better as well. I did love the Shilov save that he made an overtime on Kyle Connor. That was great. The couple of shootout saves that he made, those were also great just because he has struggled in that skills competition to end the game. A lot of games, I should say, this season. But in regulation, I thought he was fighting it a little bit. For example, the goal that made it for three felt he could had it there. And I think the next day, Skinner didn't have his best either. Now, two of the goals were off of penguin deflections past him, just friendly fire. Not much you can do there, but there were a couple others where I thought he could have been a little bit better. But it's a combination of that,

but especially the penguin's defensive work in front of their goaltenders. That is the bigger of the two problems right now. And yeah, I understand. You look at the defensive group right now. It's still not close to the best when you look at other defensive cores around the league. But we have seen this team defend a lot better at times this season. And it's starting to go down in a not so good way. And maybe Sunday was a wake-up call against the Cains where, hey, this is what happens when you play this bad defensively and a really good team punishes you for it. Now you go back to the drawing board and you work on some things going into this week

where you have Colorado, the best team in hockey, Dallas later this week, which is also arguably the best, at least the second best team in hockey, if you want to make an argument for the first, you can say that. And then on Ottawa team that you simply just have not been able to beat mostly for the last few years. The Penguins beat them once last year. This year, though, they have really struggled against senators. And then, oh, yeah, you have the Islanders and the Red Wings in two four-point games next week,

which, you know, you win those in regulation. You're sitting pretty going into the month of April. but it's just time for them to get back to basics a little bit. I did not like the way they defended in either of these two games. And honestly, Pat, the overall process in these two games, I didn't really like that much either. Now, they got the win on Saturday. Two huge points for the standings.

You wanted a shootout. The Winnipeg Jets, they made some very weird shootout decisions, but the Penguins also met their match. The Winnipeg Jets going into that game on Saturday, where I said to say after the game on Saturday, they'd only scored on one of their 13 shootout attempts this season. That changed on Sunday because they beat the Rangers in a shootout. Matt, the Penguins finally met their match in a shootout.

It took playing another awful shootout team for the Penguins to record that shootout win. But still, big to get that. But they simply did not show up on Sunday. There is nothing good about that effort. Dam Euse even said it after the game, that was one of our worst efforts of the season. I loved what Eric Carlson had to say. Also, I think we battle. hard on Saturday, had a tough game, and I just don't think that energy was there on Sunday.

At the same time, this time of the year, we have to figure out a way to how to manage that without feeling our best, and today, we didn't do much of anything. I love how real he is with his answers. That's another thing I respect so much about Eric Carlson is how real he is when he dissects games, especially losses. And he had the nail on the head. They did not do anything well on Sunday. Credit to Carolina, that was a very professional performance from them.

They showed why they are one of the top teams in the league. Penguins simply did not show up. And every team has that type of game throughout the season. It just stinks that it happened, you know, towards the end of March when you're fighting for your right to get into the playoffs. But have a chance to respond on Tuesday. And I will also say, Pat, before I hand this over to you, when they have had a stinker this year and it's been few and far between, they have responded from those stinkers. Tuesday will be telling for me. They really will.

And we will get to the week ahead here coming up later in the show, because there's a lot to talk about. when it comes to that. But bringing up Carlson is a good natural transition point, especially for Saturday, because that was truly the Eric Carlson show against the Winnipeg Jets, because he put the team on his back in that game. Scores to make it 3-2 to give them a 3-2 lead after they cough up a 2-0 lead, and then after they cough up that lead at 4 to 3,

he then ties it at four to get the game to overtime. It was a absolutely marvelous performance from Eric Carlson. And putting aside Sunday, which we're going to get deeper into Sunday here coming up in the second segment, one of the underrated parts of Carlson's game up to this point, the offense has been fantastic. It's been much needed. It's a lot of what we expected that we were going to get out of Eric Carlson when he was acquired. a couple of years ago.

His defensive work up till Sunday was very underrated. They showed a lot of highlights of it before the game on Sunday against the hurricanes. He is playing his angles to perfection. He's using his speed. He's using his first pass to get out of the zone. Is he ever, is it going to be, are we going to sit here and talk about him being a great two-way defenseman? No, but for the past few weeks, Eric Carlson,

has been more than just a guy who has speed and skill on the back end. He has defended well. He's positioned himself well. He's made really good decisions in the defensive zone. And oh, yeah, again, until we will talk about Sunday in a minute. But up until that point, guess where he was also thriving on the penalty kill? So this is a player who the offense has really started to get better. But so is the defensive game.

and for where the penguins are and what the situation that they are in right now, that is nothing but a positive. He's making a late run to try and get some Norris votes at the end of this season. And I do think if he keeps up for the final 12 games, he is going to get at least some votes. I don't think he's going to be a finalist, but I think he's going to show up on some ballots this year. And that's going to be deserved with the way that he is playing. You know, he's not just a one-man breakout. He's not just doing everything at an elite level in the offensive zone.

He's getting back defensively. He's getting his stick into shooting lanes. He's blocking shots. He's making plays along the boards that, honestly, he wasn't making as often in his first couple of seasons with the Penguins. And I tweeted this on Saturday, I'll say it here. I think this is some of the best hockey we have seen Eric Carlson play since 2017 when he played on one leg for the Ottawa Senators in their run to the Eastern Conference final,

where they almost, of course, be the Penguins to get to the Stanley Cup final. He is playing that good right now, and I hope every fan. cherishes this. I think also Pat, I don't think this is a hot take. This is the best I have seen a Penguins defenseman overall play in a decade, 2016 Chris Latang. I think this is the best we have seen a Penguins defenseman play

since then when Latang was just at the prime of his power, literally willing the penguins throughout that run. Obviously, I know how great. Crosby was, Malkin the death, but Latang was also very much right there playing the best hockey, in my opinion, of his career.

It's the best hockey we've seen from a defenseman since. then everything he is doing is turning to gold he is trying to put this team on his back and that's one of the biggest reasons why i want to see playoff hockey is so we can see playoff eric arleson because he is just doing unbelievable things right now i don't seem i can't say enough about it man i really do i that is that's the point right there is other than being a penguins fan in missing playoff hockey i want to see them in the playoffs because i want to see the big three in the playoffs again and now I want to see Eric Carlson in the playoffs again. But we have so much more to get to because it was a back-to-back weekend

with quite a lot to talk about. And basically, we're going to go negative in the second segment because there's a lot of negative that happened both on Saturday and Sunday, but especially on Sunday. So stick with us. We got plenty more to get to, and we will do that when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about a couple of sponsors, starting with Fandul.

The tournament is here. One of the best times of the year. You got brackets, buzzer beaters, upsets, nonstop action from tip to the final cutdown of the nets. And right now, Fandle is giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. Here's some of the best parts. You can get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days.

That means 10 chances to stay involved throughout the entire tournament. You can mix it up however you want game picks. futures or even same game parlays for even bigger potential payouts. It's perfect for the tournament because every single day, there's something new, different matchups, new storylines, and more ways to get involved as the bracket unfolds. So visit fandul.com to sign up today. That's fandul.com to get in on the action. And we got another one to get to.

It's our pals at Quo. Spring, it's a natural reset point. And if there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses money, it's messy communications. Mist calls, scattered text, no clear threat of who said what. That's why this episode today is brought to you by Quo, spelled QUO, the smarter way to run your business communications. Quo is the number one rated business phone system on G2 with more than 3,000 reviews. Trusted by more than 90,000 businesses, it lets your entire team share one business number. so you never miss a call, a text, or an opportunity.

The best parts of it and the parts that I love are that everything lives in one clean thread, whether it's calls, text, voicemails, it's all right there in an easy-to-use interface. The whole team sees the conversation, so nothing falls through the cracks, and it makes your business just feel more organized and more responsive. So make this season the season where no opportunity and no customer slip away. Try Quo for free and get $20 off your first six. months at quo.com slash locked on NHL. That's QUO.com slash locked on NHL.

Quo, no missed calls, no missed customers. We're back here on the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And I'm not done with Saturday yet. I couldn't let this episode get away without talking about, we don't have a bleep button. so I'm just going to say this and I'm going to pretend like I'm getting bleeped. The biggest bolt call that I think I have ever seen in a game to the point that the penguins printed out the rulebook and handed it out to the play through the people on press row.

The penguins, they challenge a goal for goaltender interference. Eric Carlson gets launched by Morgan Barron into Arishilovs who gets knocked. down as they score. The Penguins challenge saying it's goaltender interference and the hazing of Dan Mews by the NHL continues. They roll it was a goal. There was no goaltender interference. And then here is what the Penguins highlighted and gave to all the reporters in attendance at the game. This is the highlighted part. I am going to read it verbatim. If a defending player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by an attacking player, so as to cause the defending player to come into contact with his own goalkeeper,

such contact shall be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule and a necessary penalty to the attacking player. And if a goal is scored, it would be disallowed. There is no gray area there. There is no judgment there. Carlson was knocked by an opposing player into his goalie. His goalie was rendered unable to move. Winnipeg scores.

It should have been no goal. Now, did it affect the outcome of the game? No. But at the end of the day, the NHL has a goaltender interference problem, and they've got to figure it out. I just want clarity. I want an actual explanation from the NHL about what goal-tender, interference actually is because right now there is no freaking standard for this less than 24 hours later

I was watching that Columbus New York game last night to me it looked like Anders Lee was being pushed into the crease by Matthew Olivier they called back goaltender interference but the night before it's a goal explain that to me like I am five years old there is simply no standard right now and look everyone knows I have no love for the New York Islanders, I think they kind of got a job there. Now, they still won the game. That's two huge points from that.

That was basically their season on the line. If they lose that game in regulation, they're in a heap of trouble overall. But I felt like they kind of got screwed over there on that call, in my opinion. People can disagree if they want. But for this one, Eric Carlson, it looks like is hit-checked into his own goalie,

and they still call it a good goal. And let me read you the explanation here from the NHM. The play on the ice was challenged under Rule 38. Coaches challenge Rule 38.1 states in all coaches challenge situations, the original call on the ice will be overturned if and only if a conclusive and irrefutable determination can be made on the basis of video evidence of the original call on the ice was clearly not correct. If a review is not conclusive and or there is any doubt whatsoever as to whether the call on the ice was correct, the original call on the ice will be confirmed.

Nice word, it's out there, NHL. where's the explanation as to why that goal stood again these people are just so incompetent at their jobs it's a bad look on the league give us an explanation like i don't understand this i was listening to 32 thoughts this morning before we started recording and people were telling elliott freeman that's a good goal and even he was like why i think that's no goal they were like it's a puck battle what that's not a puck battle at all eric carlson was launched into his own goaltender that's goal interference man i'm sorry like there have been some challenges this year where i was like okay dan i'm not really sure what you're seeing here that one i was like 99% sure this one

was going to go the penguins way and then when didn't i'm just like i don't know man they need to put out like a 15 minute youtube video post it there posted to all their social medias explaining to every single person what the standard is Because there is no standard right now. They make it up as they go along. And it's such a bad look for the league. That the Department of Player Safety, that whole AJ Greer thing is also Pat,

an absolute joke. They're just making themselves look like fools with both these situations. And it's not good enough. People deserve better than this. They do. And speaking of not good enough in deserving better, let's just keep the negativity train rolling here

because that's how you can describe Sunday against the Carolina hurricane. It was a no show. It was a total no show. not good enough. I'm not going to crap on them like fully for it, Pat, but it's not good enough. No, it wasn't. And we do, I, I would be remiss if I didn't also say this, full marks to Carolina. They played a hell of a game. And if you're a long time listener of this show, you know our thoughts on the way the Carolina Hurricanes play hockey.

It's not our cup of tea. We're not the biggest fans of it, but damn it if it ain't effective. And it was really effective on Sunday. They, smothered the penguins on the forecheck. They completely snuffed them out in the defensive zone. They made the neutral zone a complete no man's land for the penguins. And they took advantage of every single opportunity that they got. They skated the penguins into the ground. And as always, as I like to say on this show, we have to remember there are two teams playing

it. It is the NHL. It's the best league in the world. not every loss is exactly because your team did nothing right and the other team isn't a factor. Carolina deserves a lot of credit, but I will say this. You brought up the Carlson quote in the first segment, and that's the biggest thing. They had no energy on Sunday. It was a very low energy.

If they would have come out, worked hard, put up a heartfelt effort and still lost, it would be a different feeling today because you're on the second half of a back-to-back. You played a hard emotional game against Winnipeg less than or a little over 24 hours prior to that. You're playing the team that you have struggled against over the past few years. But if you go out, you work hard. You put up a fight and you lose. Hey, that happens. But not showing up on Sunday is where I get the biggest problem.

But I also look at it this way. One, you said it already. Every time this team has a stinker, the next game, they pull themselves up. The other thing is, it might have been time for a little bit of looking in the mirror for this team. Because we look at their schedule for the past couple of weeks. They come back against Carolina in Carolina losing a shootout. They didn't play all that great for the majority of that game. They just willed their way to the shootout.

They lose to Vegas. They beat Utah. They steamroll Colorado. That's kind of the outlier to me. Same kind of deal against Carolina again in Carolina. Lose in overtime, but you will your way back in. They don't play all that well against Winnipeg for most of the game, but they gut out a shootout win.

This might have been a good time for this team to step back and go, we're letting some bad habits creep in and getting humbled like that might make us go, all right, we got to clean some stuff up as we continue to march toward the playoffs. Yeah, it's a nice little reset button. You have a day off today. You don't practice just because you have the weekend back to back. You can get away from the rink a little bit, maybe watch some video, relax a bit,

come back tomorrow, refresh and ready to go for a big game against the avalanche who just be Washington and overtime over the weekend. And we all know that Colorado is going to give you a much better effort compared to what they had at home where they just got blown out, which has been very rare for them this season. but still the penguins, I think, will go into that game, more focused, more refreshed, eyes on the prize of getting into the playoffs. And I still know that they had their eyes on the prize on Sunday. They just simply didn't show up. I think you're going to see, again, a much more energized team come Tuesday, hopefully on Thursday as well,

and then hopefully Saturday as well. I'll be in the building for that game. I've been bad luck this year because I have not seen them win in the building yet. I'm hoping to change this. And I'm hoping the stretch run will finally help me for that, Pat. Yeah, they did not do much of anything, right? Carolina, I may think it's boring, but damn, it's effective, and they showed why. They clogged up a neutral zone.

They were more than content, putting three to four guys of the blue line, daring the Penguins to forecheck. And they smothered them, point blank pat. They smothered them for basically that entire game. Yeah, Igor Chenekov gets a garbage time goal to make it for one. It's nice that he gets on the score sheet. But before that, it was just, just all smothering. Freddie Anderson.

It felt like was hardly tested outside of a few shifts where the top line was trying to get something going. Again, Skinner didn't play all that well, but I put a lot of blame on the defensive effort in front of him. And we also should say, Pat, very rare off game from the penalty kill as well. Not good enough. And I do think part of that is not having Blake Lazot, who has been one of their best penalty killers.

But also, not enough good clearing attempts. Eric Carlson tries to make one. Great play jumping up to get the puck down before the puck goes in the back of the net for the first one. Achari Pat has a clear lane to get it out. He only gets it to around the blue line. Carol Edict comes back in. They score literally five seconds later. Just not enough attention to details with the PK.

Again, rare off game, they are going to be totally fine for the rest of the season. It's just you don't see it every day when the PK even gets lit up considering how good that unit has been. So when you, yeah, that, that first goal would end up being a harbinger of doom because at first, when I saw it, like, the whole sequence, you know, we're very similar to what we've been doing about Chris LaTang. It's been a while, but all the same concerns about Ryan Graves continue. So 25 seconds for me to remember. Oh, yeah, that this guy is still not very good. And he takes a penalty literally 25 seconds in. But I will say it's, it's kind of like from bad to.

not as bad because he gets burned, but then he takes a good penalty to prevent a goal. So I'll give him that. But then on the PK, great keep by the Carolina defensemen jumping up, pulling it down. And then the puck to flex off a stick. And I went, all right,

you know, everyone's melting down at first. Oh, it was a terrible start by the penguins. This is just awful. You couldn't have drawn up any worse. I'm like, guys,

like, I'll give you the penalty because Graves gets burned. But then an insanely good keep and then a deflection off of their off your own guy. It's just all bad luck. But then the rest of the game, the penguins don't punch back. They kind of take the rest of the game off. The PK doesn't recover. The penalty kill doesn't really do it or the power play doesn't really do anything of note. So everyone was right. It was early, but they were right. So I look at it this way. you burn the tape, you move on, you got a huge week coming, and you got help last night.

Because the Islanders win one nothing, the standings for all intents and purposes for you do not change. You're still a point up in second, and you've got an opportunity to widen that gap. I still think at the end of the day, you probably would have rather had Columbus won in regulation to keep that three point gap. But at the end of the day, it still ended in regulation. It was just that the Islanders won. So you're in second place. That's good. I still think you probably would have rather had Columbus one,

even though they would have leapfrogged you. For a second, you'd be in third, but you'd also have a three-point cushion on the Islanders. Again, the game ended in regulation. That's a win in itself. And last thing, bad before we move on. And I want to spend 30 seconds on this. Have some shame, Taylor Hall.

That is some disgusting diving that I saw three times. in less than a two weeks span. Have some freaking shame. Yeah, it's bad. Here's the thing. I texted it to you. I texted it to a couple other people during the game. I don't hate diving because we,

if you listen to this show, you know our thoughts on NHL officiating. It's bad. And sometimes in order to get a call, you have got to sell it like you have been shot. Otherwise, they're just going to do the NHL thing where they decide, oh, golly, gee,

I wouldn't want to do my job and call a penalty because what if that affects the game? So I get that to an extent. But with Hall, not to go full old school hockey guy here, but it disrespects the game. It disrespects the game. There's a difference between trying to get a call and there's a difference between shameless diving. And he is just shamelessly diving. And it's genuinely embarrassing. And on most nights what Anthony Amantha did to him in that moment.

moment, I would have gone that's BS. You don't do that. That's not something a winning team should be doing, but it was much deserved for a guy who has for pretty much the last year just been an embarrassment to it. But we'll leave it there. We got a big week coming up for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We're going to get you set real quick for that, what it means for the playoffs and what the expectations are for us going into this upcoming week. So stick with us. We'll be right back right after this. We got one more sponsor to get to though and that is indeed workplace chaos deadline stacking up your inbox overflowing in that one position you have to fill still sitting open. When the pressure's on and you need the right hire, this is a job for sponsored jobs. Indeed sponsored jobs help you

reach the right people who actually fit what you're looking for skills, experience and location. So you're not just hoping the right candidate stumbles across your job opening. And here's a stat that says it all. In the time that I have been speaking to you, companies like yours have made 27 hires on Indeed, according to their worldwide data. So if you want to spend less time searching and more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes, get with Indeed sponsored jobs. That way you're actually interviewing those candidates who check all the boxes, which means less stress, less time, and more results. When you need the right person to cut through the chaos, it's a job for Indeed sponsored jobs. Listeners of this,

show, you'll get a $75 sponsored job credit to help get your job, the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just head to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support locked on penguins by saying you heard

about it on this very podcast. That's indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire. You need indeed. Closing out the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes.

And in what has been the most hectic of months for the Pittsburgh Penguins, in what has been one of the most challenging months for the Pittsburgh Penguins, we have reached the apex of that challenge. Here is the next five games for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Home against the Colorado Avalanche. in Ottawa against the Senators, home against the Dallas Stars, on the island, I should say, against the New York Islanders, and then the Detroit Red Wings at home.

Every team you are playing is either one of the best teams in the league or fighting for their playoff lives. You cannot have a repeat of Sunday. You have to be ready and rarin to go for these games. And here's the thing. There is only one back-to-back moment, and that is next week. You got Monday night on the island,

and then Tuesday night at PPG. So there's time between games. There's times for recovery. These are all games where if you look at these next five, you got 10 of a possible, you got 10 points on the board. I'm going to need six. Six to seven.

We're not doing the stupid meme right now, but I will say six to seven points. And that's what they got in their last out of 10 possible points. Last five of games, they got 7 out of 10 points. If you look for this past week, they got 5 out of 8 points total. That is good enough. You are keeping your spot in the standings. This week in general for the three games, if you get 3 to 4 out of 6, you're sitting pretty for me.

I think if you can win one of those or even especially you win two of those between Dallas, Ottawa and Colorado, you're sitting good. If you want to get an OT loss, a win, and then a regulation loss, I still think you're going to be fine heading into that big stretch next week where you play the Islanders and the Red Wings. So that's where I am for this week. Overall, for these five games, though, you get 6 to 7 out of 10 points. I think you are keeping your spot in the standings,

and you are sitting pretty going into the month of April, Pat, where there's only really one big, tough game on paper right now. That's Tampa Bay. the top teams in the conference. I still think pound for pound when they are healthy, they're the best team. After that, like once you get past these next six-ish, seven-ish games, their final six games, Pat, are against non-playoff teams. You just got to get through the next week to a week and a half, survive, steady, get some wins in there before the schedule really opens up in April. You play the capitals twice, and I think by then they're probably going to be a

eliminated. You play the blues to end the season. They're going to be eliminated. You play the devils. They're not playing well. And then the Panthers are just basically late season tanking for Gavin McKenna. They're also so banged up. Again, Pat, six games right now, at least on paper, very, very winnable ones you get passed this week, big back to back next week, and then the Tampa game. We're almost through this stretch where of this month, I should say, where it's just juggernaut after juggernaut. If you keep surviving, you keep getting points during this stretch, you're going to say, set yourself up really well going into April where you're playing a lot of these teams who are not going to make the playoffs. Now, you still have to show up and win those games. Those non-playout teams are not just going to give you free wins, but the schedule will be favorable once you get

past the next week to 10 days. So we'll see how it goes over the next five, though. I'd like to get six to seven. I agree. I think if you're winning those games against the Red Wings and the Islanders though, Pat, got to win those in regulation. Those are four point games, especially with how close the standings are right now. But I'm excited to see this is this next week is probably the toughest week of this month, which is saying something because they have had a lot of tough weeks this month. Let's see what they're made of. I'm excited.

And I'll put it this way. Up to this point, the penguins have passed the test for the most part in this hectic month of March. They have played 12 games this month up to this point. And there are only four of those. games where they failed to get at least a point. Yep. And given how tight this playoff race is, yes, ideally you want to just win and leave

everybody else to do whatever it is they're doing. You win your games in front of you and whatever anybody else does is almost immaterial. But the fact that they have been locked in a really tight playoff race since this month began and they have only on four occasions out of 12 attempts gotten zero points, it shows this is a team that knows where it's going. It knows where it wants to be. And it's battling their asses off for it. And this week is no different.

You look at three games. You got six points on the board. You get between four and six over this next week. That is going to be basically the best place to be. And I look at it this way. You brought up the end of the season in April. I don't want to put the cart too far ahead of the horse. They got to get it done.

But at this point, if you get through the rest of this month and you still find yourself not only in a playoff spot, but in the top three of the Metro, I'll feel real comfortable in saying that this team is going to find its way to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But like you said, they got to do it. The opportunity is right there in front of them. You showed you can beat up on Colorado. I don't think you're going to get another seven to one. No.

But you showed you can keep up with them. It's a Western conference team. They're coming to town on the middle of a road trip. You can take advantage of that. Ottawa, they're battling for their playoff lives, but we know what their weakness has been this year. It's goal-tending. If you're able to rattle them in net a little bit,

you've shown you've been able to score this year. You can get a win there. And then if you're able to go into Dallas at 2 and O, have fun. That team is maybe hotter than the actual sun. So good luck on that one. But it's a big week. And don't you worry, Hunter and I will be here for all of it.

We're going to be back tomorrow to preview the game against Colorado. We'll obviously recap it on Wednesday, hand out our warrior helmet for MVP of the week. We'll get you set for the game on Thursday against Ottawa. Recap at Friday and preview the weekend game against Dallas. So stick with us because we are your place to be as the Pittsburgh Penguins push towards a hopeful return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. and we will talk to you on Tuesday.