Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get crushed in Tampa ahead of HUGE B2B against the champs!

Episode Date: April 3, 2026

The Penguins were served a whooping on Thursday night against the Tampa Bay Lightning, 6-3. Hunter and Patrick start the show by breaking down what went wrong for the Penguins in Tampa, how carelessness with the puck, poor defensive coverage, and shaky goaltending led to a big-time loss. (1:10) They then take a look at the injured Florida Panthers, who will come to town for a weekend back-to-back at PPG Paints Arena. Despite the injuries, they’re still the champs and still present a challenge. (19:30) They give their keys to victory and explain what the Penguins will have to do to secure a big four points. Finally, it’s Friday, and we asked you as part of Fan Take Friday to bring back the good vibes by listing some of your favorite moments from the season so far! (28:00) 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. 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 Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. During the tournament FanDuel is offering $300 back in Bonus Bets every day for ten days. 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.

The Pittsburgh Penguins got blitzed by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Thursday night, and Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus get you all set for a huge back-to-back against the champs right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome to the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

joined by my co-host Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Sinan for Wet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins, and you can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this

your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on our platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall during the NCAA tournament. Fandle is offering $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days. head to fandul.com to get started. Pat, I'm going to get this out of the way.

Y'all can blame me after what I said on the Thursday preview saying they always show up against Tampa. Well, that changed quite a bit yesterday as the Penguins lost 6 to 3 against the lightning. I will say it was a close game for the first 34, 35 minutes. And then Tampa Bay really poured it on at the end of the second period. And then obviously into the third period as well. That said, I didn't like that. said you were not incorrect neither was i this is the first time in a long time that tampa has just picked the penguins up by the scrub of their neck taking them behind the woodshed and beating the

crap out of them it's been a long time but of course you and i say that and then what do they do last night they get blitzed also you know kind of a reverse chinks at least from my perspective a little bit i'll take a little bit of the blame for that one but i didn't like the first 10 minutes hated the way they started this game. They were very lousy from the drop of the puck. They were letting Tampa get into the zone with ease. I liked the response, though, in the second half of the first period, Rickel gets a really nice goal.

Sam Gerard, by the way, going one on four, making that entire goal happen more on him in a few minutes because I really liked his game last night. Igor Chinochinov, who now has a beautiful backhand. That release is just such a laser continues his stellar tenure. with the Penguins. It's a 2-1 game going into the first intermission. Not the best period, but hey, you'll take the lead.

And then they barf all over themselves to start the second period, Pat, the short-handed goals against continue to be a major problem for this team. That's now 12 this season, simply not good enough. Crosby makes a fine enough play getting into the offensive zone, but Pock hops over Brian Rostick, slow to react. Eric Carlson also slow to react, and Tampa Bay goes back the other way, and ties it 11 seconds in. And I was liking part of the Penguins game a little bit after that until they had a really bad shift with about five to six minutes left in the second.

Tampa Bay takes a three two lead. And then obviously they get the four to lead late in the period as well. So you get the goal in the first minute of the second period and then a goal in the last minute of the period as well. Just total backbreakers. but I think Pat, the biggest backbreaking goal of this game was the short-handed goal against. It's kind of similar to the game on the island on Monday where that really got the penguins back into it. For Tampa, they were, I still think the better team the first, but that goal to tie it really just got them even more rolling in the second period. So just simply not good enough.

But if there was a game to lose this week, it's this one. for sure and I'm going to push back ever so slightly on the short-handed goal take. I do think it swung the game more into Tampa's favor, but you look at the way the game went. You look at the way the penguins flipped the game against the islanders on a short-handed goal. They went on to Blitz the islanders both in momentum and on the scoreboard for the next six minutes. Tampa didn't score again for more than half a period. That said, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and this is, I promise I'm not making a pun because they're in Florida,

they are like waves hitting the beach. They just wear you down. They just erode you for a whole game because I didn't hate the start by the Penguins. The immediate start wasn't great. No, but just the overall start and into the second period into about the halfway mark of the game, I didn't hate the way the Penguins were playing. I didn't think it was good, but I also will constantly remind people. Tampa is a really good team.

And sometimes really good teams play really well. But one of the things Tampa Bay does is they are extremely disciplined. They will do exactly what they want to do until it works. And they will just pound you until it does work. And that's kind of what happened in the second period. Tampa was catching the penguins out of position on stretch passes. Tampa was making sure that the penguins four check was one and done. They were not allowing the penguins to set up shop in front of Vasilevsky.

And they just kept pushing at the penguins. They kept pushing. And Sorelli gets the goal to tie it, short-handed 11 seconds in. Then Braden point scores about 14 minutes into the second. and then Gergensen scores with less than a minute to go. And at the end of the second, you could just, you could feel it. It was Tampa did what they wanted to do. The penguins held them off as much as they could,

but you could just feel the momentum shift of Tampa's got this one, unfortunately. But as you said, of all the games in this stretch that the penguins could quote, unquote, afford to lose, this was the one. Yeah. And their playoff odds really didn't take any major hit. They went down by 1% at most when you look at the different websites, for example, J. Fresh actually didn't go down at all. So at 97%.

Money puck only went down to 94.4% compared to 95.4. And if you win both games this weekend, your playoff odds go up to around 98, 99%. So everything is still fine. No, the sky is not falling right now. They are still in second place. There's a big Islander flyer game tonight. I think you'd want to root for the Flyers. I know they'd only be four back of the Penguins,

but that keeps that three-point cushion over the Islanders, and you'd have that game in hand on the Islanders going into tomorrow for the first half that back-to-back against the Panthers. The biggest thing that I really noticed that wasn't good, I hated the way they played away from the puck, and also I hated the decisions that they made when they had the puck. Just simply not good enough in either area. they didn't defend very well.

And look, Skinner wasn't very good in this game. I think they're probably going to go to Sheelovs on Saturday now just because, you know, if he had played well in this game, I think they would go to Skinner on Saturday to reward him. But, you know, he deserved the start, didn't play that well. The loss is not all on him, by the way. I didn't like a couple of the goals. But he was also left out to dry on quite a few of the other goals because the penguin

simply did not play good enough defense in front of them. So it goes both ways. goaltending has to be better. I totally agree, but they simply have to play better defense. Well, they do. The puck decisions last night were especially absurd. The defensive game and their puck management was atrocious last night. And I will say this.

I understand that Tampa Bay does not have Victor Headman. And I don't know if this was a Dan Mews issue or if this was just a player personnel issue. The stretch pass was not there. They were trying it all night long. They were trying to stretch Tampa's defense. And I understand that you don't have Victor Hedman, one of the best defensemen on the planet. You want to leave them out to dry.

But they still have radish. They still have McDonough. They still have Cernac. They still have Moser. It's still a solid defensive core. They are not going to let you beat them with that stretch pass. That's just not going to happen. And later in the game, I understood it.

You're cheating for offense. You're trying to get yourself back in the game. Those risks. Totally get it. Totally understand. I'll always say, unless you're in a tournament where goal differential is the tiebreaker, there's no big deal in losing by one or losing by three. So if you got to cheat for offense, when you're losing, cheat for offense. But they were doing this from the jump. They were trying to break out of their zone with stretch passes. And it wasn't there. And I get it. But that part last night really, really bothered me. And yeah, I didn't love Skinner's game, but he is so far down the list of the reasons why they were unable to win last night.

I'll push back ever so slightly. He's not so far down the list. He definitely wasn't good. But I guess what I'm trying to say is I would have the puck decisions and their play in their own zone ahead of Skinner. Though I don't think he played very well in this game. And I think as of right now, I think they're going to go she logs on Saturday. and then Skinner on Sunday, it's funny. It feels like every time they're almost waiting for a chance for someone to take the reins,

that goaltender kind of steps back a little bit. So I want to hopefully see that before hopefully this team gets into the Stanley Cup playoffs. One more big negative bat, and I don't want this to get misconstrued because it already was by someone on social media. Sydney Crosby needs to be a lot better down the stretch here. And I understand that he's probably not 100% right now just by watching him. He's not been good along the boards. He's been,

he's getting stripped from the puck a lot easier than normal. He's being hemmed in his own zone. His line got absolutely torched last night. And it wasn't just, you know, the point Kutrov against the line. Oh, no. This was the Yonle Gord line taking them to school. This was the fourth line from Tampa taking them to school. That line, especially said, had absolutely.

nothing and the numbers really support that last night they played a little over 10 minutes at five on five ice time they were minus 16 in shot attempts minus 10 in scoring chances and only had a 13.4 expected goals full rate that is woeful Brian Russ was especially really bad as well I think that was Brian Russ's worst game of the season he was fumbling the puck way too often making bad decisions it didn't look like he was 100% either but we got to see Sid play at a better level here down the stretch. Again, I'm not trying to make unfair criticism. He is one of my favorite players. He's a top five player of all time. It's just compared to normal Sid standards, Pat. This is well below that. And I know he has more to give. Yeah, he gets a pass for everything he's done,

both this season and historically. Oh, yeah. He's allowed to have some off games, but I'm also allowed to say that that was one of the worst games I've seen him play in really long time against Tampa Bay. He was wholly ineffective. It wasn't a matter of, ah, he's just a little bit off or, ah, some things didn't go his way. He played poorly.

And the caveat you brought up, does have to be mentioned. He probably isn't 100%. But here's the other thing I'm going to say about that. And I know Dan Muse isn't going to do this. I know Kyle Dubus isn't going to do this. I know Sidney Crosby's not going to do this. If you're not 100%, Sid,

and we got this much time, and cushioned to the playoffs, might be okay for you to take a day or two off because if this team does make it, while I don't think they're contenders, I continue to maintain that. I don't think they're coming out of the east. I do think they've got a good shot as any to win around,

but you're really going to need Sid to do that. And if he's operating at less than 100%, it's going to get even harder. I think the only way he does that is if they clinch before game 82 of the regular season. So say, I don't know, say they clinch by mid to late next week. Say they're in a playoff spot by the Washington back to back. Maybe I could see him being, hey, I'm going to sell out one of these games.

I'm going to sell out the St. Louis game just to get my body as healthy as can be for the playoffs. But again, that's only if they're clenched by Ben. I don't think he's sitting out any game before then, especially since they are not in a playoff spot as of right now. So that was another big negative I did want to point out just. want to see more from him. I want to see more from his line overall. Maybe they put Chinikov back on the second line. I think I'd honestly be a little bit more in favor of that. I love Chinokov's game last night. I thought he was one of the best players on the ice, but that line still got absolutely caved in overall. Chinokov was by far the best player on that

line. Russ, not good. Sid, not good. Maybe they moved Raquel back up there, even though he had a good game with his linemates. We have to see if Dammeuse make some adjustments for this weekend, excuse me. And speaking of that, that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to discuss a couple positives from Thursday's game, including Sam Girard, and get you all set for a really big back-to-back

against the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, which is indeed. Workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox is overflowing in the one position you have to fill that's still sitting open.

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the premium status it deserves at Indeed.com slash podcast. Just go to Indeed.com slash podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Indeed.com slash podcast, terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed's sponsored jobs. All right, we're back here on the Friday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Ham. and Pat, the one big positive from last night outside of Chinikov doing his thing,

Ricardo, Raquel, continuing his really nice stretch. And of course, no really big damage taken standings-wise, was the play of Sam Gerard. I think that was by far his best game as a penguin. The play that he made on Raquel's goal is not being talked about enough, going one on four, going behind the net, getting that puck to Raquel, sticking with it, just absolutely awesome. I thought he was a one-man breakout from his own zone. He also saved a goal during that game from a goal line,

basically kicking that puck right under Steve Skinner. He was everywhere in this game. I thought he was also especially more active in the offensive zone. He's skating a lot better. And hell, I thought Crystal Tang also continued to look more comfortable. So, Pat, that's now three games in a row of some good play from this pairing. If that keeps up and they go into the playoffs, that could be a big deal for this team

where maybe they have at least two legit pairings. We all know how great Watherspoon Carlson is. Shea's been good throughout the year. Clifton, you know what you're going to get out of him. That third pair is just kind of whatever. But they really need that second pair to click if they want to win around maybe too. And I like the way they've going.

They're going right now. I know that three games is not a massive sample. size. No. But I also know that these last three games have been against two teams that are chasing you for a playoff spot and one of the best teams, if not the best team in the Eastern conference. I'm also going to say at this point, it is probably time for me, for you, a lot of our

listeners, a lot of people who cover this team to just trust Dan Mews for a little bit. Just let Dan Mews do his thing. We can make our takes. We can have our thoughts. But I was of the mindset. You were of the mindset that Latang Girard, this ain't working. This is not happening. We need to break this up.

And again, three games, small sample size. I don't want to overreact. But when you put it in more context of Chris Latang's season, Sam Gerard's season, both of their careers, maybe this was. all it was going to take. Just a bit of an extended look, a little bit of patience, let Gerard get more comfortable with both Latang and the penguin system. Because you said it, if this team does finish the job and get into the playoffs,

that is going to be a very valuable asset because we aren't going to need them to be great. We aren't going to need them to carry the team. It certainly wouldn't hurt. but Watherspoon and Carlson are going to be your workhorses. If Latang and Gerard can play to even or a little bit too a positive and then let that third pair do the same, this Penguins team has enough forward depth that you can survive that. Yeah, it's just going to come down to,

can they stop giving up too many goals as well? Because I do like that the second pair has been better throughout the week. It's still only three games. I want to see if this continues into the weekend, that big back-to-back against the Panthers, which we're going to be talking about coming up here in just a few seconds. But if it does, you'll have at least two legit pairs on your back end. But I still want to see them play better in their own zone and stop giving up as many goals as they happen. They were doing a good job against the Islanders and the Red Wings. Those were two solid

games in a row. They then got back to their bad habits against the Lightning. And I understand, I pick the Lightning to come out of the East heading into this season. I think this is pound for pound. the best team of the conference when they're fully healthy. They're going to get headman back by the end of this season. Hegel is going to be back for the playoffs. I think they're still going to come out of the east. But I still do not like the way that managed the puck and especially defended. And both of those traits need to be better here in the final six games of the season.

And okay, speaking of that, Pat, huge back-to-back this weekend against the two-time defending champions. First off, I'm going to read you the list of players that are not playing for. Florida Flora Panthers right now. Sasha Barkoff, he is missing the entire regular season. Brad Marshand, he is done for the season. Jonah Gajevich, he is on I.R. Anton Lundell, he is out. Sam Ryan Hart is out.

Evan Rodriguez, Aaron Ekblod, and Dimitri Kulakov. Their top line is Carter Verhege, Sam Bennett, and Matthew Pichuk. It's mainly just those three and Gustav Forsling and all their mighty little friends to end the season here for the Panthers. However, I know some people are going to be nervous because, oh, these are trap games, these are trap games. Guys, these are the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions. Everyone wants a piece of them, no matter where they are in the standings.

There is no trap game when the Stanley Cup champions are coming to your barn. You got to wake up for this team, no matter who is in or who is out. Now, I'd like to see a sweep this weekend. If you can get up to 96 points, your playoff odds are around 98.5, 90s. something like that. I think you only need one more win in your last four games if you sweep this weekend. That's what I would like to see. Now, if you get three out of four points, I'll take that too.

If you get a split, it's not the end of the world. And I'm saying two out of four points because we say going into this week, six out of ten points we would take. I would take obviously seven as well. But just with how important these two games for the penguins, I'd like. like to see them take both if they can. It's going to be tough. The Panthers aren't going to make it easy on them, even though there are so many injuries for them. They're still playing with a lot of pride. They beat the Bruins last night, two to one. Bob was great in that game. They crushed the senators earlier this week too. So they got some young players playing for contracts

for next season. However, I like to see them steal both this weekend. It's going to be really difficult. I would like to see that as well, but I'm not going to make that my expectation. But I also will say reckless disrespect by you, Penguins Legends, Evan Rodriguez and Dmitry Kulikov will be out of the lineup. But to your point, here's the thing. They've got the great equalizer in Sergey Bobrovsky. You are going to see him in at least one of these games, if not both depending upon what the madman Paul Maurice wants to do. But yes, I get it. You are essentially playing Verhege, Bennett, Kichuk in the Charlotte Checkers.

I understand that. But it's still the Florida Panthers. They are still a team that is going to play extremely hard. They're going to play extremely physical. They're going to make you earn every inch of ice. And they're going to try to drag you down in the mud. They are going to try to make you play that game. don't fall into that trap.

Don't worry about all the BS that Kachuk and his band of Mary men are going to do. You had a great performance against them. Granted, it was all the way back in October. You were able to beat them five to three. But realistically, two different teams at this point coming into this one. But you just have to play the game that has been giving you success up to this point. And I'm with you. I would like to see a sweep.

but if you can get one of one of these two, more specifically, if you can get Saturday's game out of the way, that way you can continue to build up some distance between the teams that are chasing you and continue that cushion, I'm not going to be all that upset. At the same time, you do have to remember Hunter, you said it. There are a lot of players on this Florida team that know good and well going into next season. This year's an aberration.

A lot of injuries, a lot of weird stuff. They have played a ton of. the hockey over the last three years. They are going to be right back next season. So there are a lot of guys who are going to be in this lineup this weekend for the Panthers. They're going to want to be on that train next season when this team gets back to contention. So you can't overlook them.

You got to show up. And I will say I want to see two out of four, if not three out of four points out of this weekend. At the very least, you get two to three, but in a perfect world, I'd like to sweep, get to 96 points, and put yourself in a really, and I mean a really good position heading into next week where you only have four games left. You go on the road to Jersey who just let's watch it, Washington last night. You have that huge back-to-back against the capitals.

Time will tell if they are still alive because they are also running out of runway. And speaking of that, Pat, a lot of these metro teams behind them are starting to run out of games. So the scoreboard was in the Penguins favor last night despite the loss. And hopefully it continues to stay that way, but with the penguins wins, because I still want to see them take care of business. You keep saying it too. We don't want to see them limp in the playoffs and have other teams take care of your business for you. No, listen, you don't want to back in.

And this isn't doing the whole, oh, you got to have momentum going into the playoffs. That is a thing. But I think it gets overrated like a lot of intangible stuff when it comes to pro sports. But at the end of the day, you don't want to back in. You want to go in with a little bit of positive energy. Because if you get in because other teams lose, it's going to be really difficult for you to get yourself ready to go and get yourself up for these games.

You go in with a little bit of positive momentum. You go in with a little bit with a couple of wins. You start to feel yourself. You have that confidence. You're ready to play. And the penguins need that more than they need teams to lose. Yeah. Again, if you can get the help on the scoreboard, obviously that's huge.

but first and foremost, take care of your own business. Job is not finished. And just going back to the Panders overall, no, Marco Stern had some choice words for his team last night, the Bruins, too. They also, like the Penguins, have around 95, 97% playoff odds. They lost two to one in Florida. And he literally said in the article for the athletic,

we did not respect our opponent tonight. You don't want that happening here this weekend. Gotta have respect for the champs. They're going to play for. pride, they're going to play hard. That's how Paul Marie's teams always play. You got to expect a full 60-minute fight in both these games. And I'd like for the Penguins to show why they are potentially going to make the playoffs this

year while the Florida Panthers are not. I know they've been ravaged by injuries, but they have still been rough throughout the year. I want the power play also to be a lot better. That unit has been god-awful as of late. I'd like to see Todd Nelson make some changes. maybe, you know, put Igor Shinochinov up on that top unit with the release that he has, but it's been way too stagnant. They can't game the zone.

Everything about it is just garbage right now. So there's another key to victory. And I hope PPG gets packed this weekend. Come out, support this team. They deserve it. They are really, really close to accomplishing something that literally, hardly anyone expected this season. So let's see what they can do, huge potentially four-point weekend.

for the penguins coming up here. But that's going to do it for this segment. Coming up to end the show, it's Friday. You guys know what that means. It's time for another edition of Fan Take Friday, where Pat and I react to your takes and your questions, and that's coming up right after this. But before we get to that,

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All right, we're back here to close out the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp and Pat. You had a really good question here. So you say, last night sucked, so let's get the good vibes back. What has been your favorite moment from this season so far? Drop that with your questions, hot takes, and anything else. This one is really good from Luca LaTang's game winner against the Red Wings on New York. year's day great game to see in person yes that was a really fun one letang an absolute piss missile

to win it big two points over the red wings that is also one of my favorite games this season and this is another one as well probably just the fact that a team that was predicted to only have a 5% chance of even making it to the playoffs now has a 94% chance it's absolutely crazy yeah i mean that's probably my favorite one out of all these i mean no disrespect to everyone else we're going to get to all of your comments here after this. But this season has been such a breath of fresh air, so much fun to cover here on the pod, on the hockey news. The fact that they're even in this position is unbelievable where they're only two to three wins away potentially from clinching their spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. They've been a ton of fun to watch. Ben Kindle has been a sensation.

Igor Chinokov has been unreal since coming from Columbus. Eric Carlson has found the fountain of youth this year. Overall, sit and Gino have had really strong years. You know, I can keep going if you want. Damn use, of course, Kyle Dubus, but that's the one man. Like, it's crazy that we're even at this position with six games left in the season. It's, it's so cool. And I agree with that take. Like, it's awesome that we're sitting here on April 3rd. And we're talking about playoff odds. We're talking about the standings. We're talking about who they could potentially play in the first round. If we're going to have the nightmare scenario of a penguin's home game during the NFL draft in Pittsburgh.

But that's a different discussion for a different day. Anyway, but I'll say mine. My favorite memory of this season so far was the home opener. 20 years of Sidney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin, and Chris LaTang. Our longtime listeners know, as much as I analyze this team, as much as I break down this team X's and O's and all of the other good stuff. In my heart, I am a romantic fan, and 20 years of this triumvirate is absolutely insane.

And the level of spoiled that we are for this trio is just, it's nuts to me. And it doesn't mean I'm not going to hold this team to a high standard. Doesn't mean I'm not going to analyze them. It doesn't mean I'm going to tell people to, hey, quit complaining and just be happy you can even watch because that's not what we do here. But I always like to keep the perspective of you've got these three unbelievable once-in-a-generation talents. And they have been together for two decades in the fact that opening night at PPG-Painterina, home opener, I should say, not opening night. Home opener at PPG paints arena, we celebrated that. I love that one.

And just going off that, it's also why I want one more kick at the can, excuse me, this year with those three. Give me them in the playoffs at least one more time before they hang it up. Like, I think any hockey fan that's not like a huge rival of the penguins should be rooting for that. So give me one more kick at the can for those three. And again, I want playoff Eric Carlson in there too. Jamal D says definitely that comeback versus Columbus when we were down by three, going into the third period and won it in overtime. Yes, that was awesome.

They had nothing for the first, you know, 35 or so minutes. They're able to tie that game late, thanks to Rickell, an awesome six on five goal there. And then Sid, because he owns Columbus, had that banger of a goal. And then he and Eric Carlson have a great celebration too. That is also a really good moment from this season. and Brandon says another favorite moment was when they were down 3-0 to Boston with no Malkin

or Crosby came back to stop the three-game losing streak. Yes, that was awesome. The way that Chinov got them back in it with that piss missile on the 5-1-3, they have that crazy third period showing the heart, showing that poise, and then Chinikov does it all in overtime before Tommy Novak wins it. By the way, I felt Tommy Novak had a bit of a better game last night. Hopefully he's starting to come out of this little rut that he's in. But yes, I loved that one. as well. Hayden says, I'll be in Pittsburgh for the game tomorrow, so I think the Penguins will win 10-0-0-0-0-0-1. Hey, I'd support a 10-0 win. I don't think that one is going to happen, but hey, just win the game, get the two points. Dirty Motor Oil says Hayes in his two-goal game,

trading jari, Chino won another season, Muse Surprise, Flower and the Boys in the pre-season, Kindles tie over his best. Yes, that was also a really funny moment during the night of the assist, Sid with a tear in his eye. Yep, that was a good one as well. Celebrating the 2016, Stanley Cup run, Man for 30 goals, Eric Carlson leading in the locker room, Clifton's Mile High reporting. He has a whole bunch of good stuff in here for a lot of great moments. He even says their grit this year and never give up attitude is inspiring. Go Penguins. Yeah, I liked a lot of those that he mentioned their back. Yeah, how did we forget the Flurry game? How did we forget Mark Andre Fleury retiring a penguin? I mean, that that kind of shows you

where this season has gone. Because if you remember, we talked about the Flurry game and we were like, yeah, it's fan service to keep people interested ahead of a season where they're not going to be very good. They're just trying to do gimmicks to keep people interested while they rebuild. And lo and behold, here we are.

This team is really, really close to return into the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in four years. Right. And we're in here with J Totswell. The bright side of this week is that the Penguins have won more games against playoff bound opponents than none. Yes, that is true. There are two games on Monday, Tuesday. Massive wins. And they will try to get hopefully two more big ones this weekend against the Florida Panthers. And then, of course, Pat, our final comment here from our favorite, Matt, where he's satisfied with the direction of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I love how everyone is adopting that, by the way, and the YouTube comments and the DMs that we get for people that listen on audio platforms. It's just, really hilarious how everyone is adopting that slogan now. Listen, I am also, I am also satisfied with the direction of the Pittsburgh Penguins. I've got some concerns as we go towards the playoffs, but on the whole, the big picture, I am very satisfied with the direction of the Pittsburgh Penguins. It's all looking good.

And again, two more massive games this weekend, a chance to get to 96 points. And after this weekend, Pat, they'll have a few days off before their next game is Thursday. So a Sunday to Thursday break, a much needed break for the team, also for us a little bit, as well as we get to the final few games of the season. We'll try to bring on a guest or two next week, hopefully maybe during the Tuesday or Wednesday editions of the show, before previewing that game against New Jersey and then getting you all set as well for that huge back-to-back against the capitals. Could that be the final Cid OV game ever? We will have to see when we get there next weekend.

but we're focused on this weekend one game at a time let's see if they can bank four points against the panthers so with that that's going to do it for their friday edition of the locked on penguins podcast thank you all so much take the time to listen to slash watch this one for patrick damp i am hunter hodes thank you all so much for tuning in we appreciate it we will be back on monday