Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get their biggest win yet, and are getting closer to an unthinkable playoff berth

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their hot streak with a 4-1 win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night and Hunter and Pat continue to be dumbfounded by this team. They dive into how the Penguins delivered a masterful playoff-like performance against the Capitals and how they defended their tails off. They look at how the Penguins slowed it down a little bit and how it paid massive dividends overall. They also shout out Ryan Shea and PO Joseph for their contributions and for how well they played, especially Joseph. They also analyze how well Michael Bunting played as he continues to be a seamless fit with the Penguins. Also: Alex Nedeljkovic needs to keep starting gets. Yep, Hunter and Pat look at his performance and why he's playing some of his finest hockey of the season. Finally, they preview Saturday's matchup against the surging Tampa Bay Lightning. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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.

It was Alex Nadelcovich, and it's always been Alex Nadelcovich. You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Well, welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Join by my host, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet. and you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Understore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And the Pittsburgh Penguins get a massive 4-1 regulation win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday night

and are now just two points out of both the final wildcard spot and the third spot in the Metropolitan Division for the playoffs. I am absolutely stunned right now. We have both said on the show numerous times throughout the last several weeks that this team was basically dead. I think a lot of people wrote them off as well, but they have just told all of us, no, you guys are idiots. We still have some prominent hockey still to play. And they are closing in on a potentially unthinkable birth into the Stanley Cup playoffs. Pat, I just have one question for you to start this episode.

Do you have the belief yet? How can you not? I mean, like, here's something strange I was thinking before we got started. And this is going to sound a little silly and it's not really based in anything other than vibes. But when Michael Bunting scored in the second period, all I could think was this is a game Mike Lang would have been proud of. because it was a rivalry game with the penguins and having themselves a chance to pull themselves off the mat and get back into the fight. And not only did they do it, they did it in spectacular fashion. We're going to break down some of the finer points and the X's and O's here, but this was a masterful performance from the Penguins tonight because it would have been very easy for them to think they didn't have it, to think that they were overmatched.

And they took punch after punch after punch and did not seem phased by it. And now here we are with a legitimate chance for this team to go to the Stanley Cup playoffs. They are even more in the race than they were heading into this game after this win in regulation. You can go to natural stat trick and look at some of the underlines. And I'll just say it here. Some of them are definitely not pretty. but I'm not fully going to use the numbers when I talk about this game because what I saw from the Penguins overall was a total team commitment to playing in all three zones, especially in

their own zone. The way the Penguins defended in this game was masterful. That second period overall, they held the capitals to no high danger chances, 0.19 expected goals for. So I guess I'll use a little bit of numbers, but you didn't even have to look at the numbers to see how the penguins were dominating the capitals in that second period. The caps had basically nothing at five on five over on that period. Yeah, the Penn started the game a bit slow. Overall, the capitals were kind of all over them in their own zone, but they were still making it kind of easy for Alex and Delcovic.

Yeah, he was coming up with some pretty big saves, and he was great throughout this game overall, but they were still doing a good enough job in their own zone in that first period. Again, it carried over into the second, And then in the third, outside of that five-on-three power play, and we'll get into that in just a second, the Penguins again played tremendous team defense in their own zone and gave the Capitals nothing.

It was textbook, Mike Sullivan, suffocating hockey that we saw in 2016 and 2017. It's really gone away from this team, I feel like for the most part of the last few seasons, but it's been nice seeing it come back in spurts, and it definitely came back in this one. Yeah, listen, I mean, I have been as tough on Mike Sullivan as anybody. So of you, so has this entire city. But I said it the other day when we were recapping the devil's game.

If we're going to be honest on this show, if we are going to be intellectually honest, we have to give credit where credit is due. And somehow, some way he has broken through to this team in the last two weeks. You know, he's made some curious decisions still, to be sure, with some deployment and some lineup choices. But at this point, they are pulling themselves out of the muck and back into the playoff race. And some of that's the players. Yeah, it's nice to see that Crosby, Malkin and company have woken up, even though Crosby and Malkin really weren't that big of a factor tonight in this game.

But at the same time, the coach is finding the right buttons to push again. and he's making the correct adjustments to give this team at the very least a chance to win again. He made the adjustment that I talked about in the third period against the Devils where he had his team stop giving them so much space. And then that continued in this game against Washington where they really weren't giving the Capitals anything. And then when the Caps did have chances again outside of that five on three and that power play in general, they all came from the outside. Yeah, the Capitals had quite a few high danger chances in the first period. and Delcum, which was there to save them.

But in the final 40 minutes, this team really tightened up and was great in their own zone. And it honestly is crazy to think about. We can just hit on it. Now, Sidney Crosby and Afghani Malkin really weren't big factors in this game. I thought Gino was still having a solid game despite not doing that much. He had a couple of beautiful crisp passes, especially on the power play that almost led to a fourth goal before the empty net goal. being the fourth goal. I still thought he played a pretty solid game. I thought Crosby's working his own zone was great. But offensively, they weren't doing as much as they normally

have been throughout the last couple weeks. And it was nice seeing this team get contributions from other players in the lineup just because it hasn't happened that much throughout this season. No, I mean, you look at the stats sheet, just the top line numbers. Ryan and Shay, congratulations to him on his first NHL goal. He breaks the ice less than two minutes in. And then P.O.J. gets his second of the season. Michael Bunting, who we said on the show yesterday, had to be a big factor in today's game with the way that Charlie Lindgren has been playing. I know that everybody goofs, it was goofing that two shots, two goals for the penguins, but after that, I mean, Charlie Lindgren stabilized very well, and he made a couple of very great A saves to keep this

game from getting fully out of hand. But then you look at everything else. You look at the assists. Riley Smith had, he had two assists. Chris LaTang has an assist, D.OC has an assist, Valteri Pustin has an assist. Something that's been missing all season long is the depth guys starting to produce because it was either Crosby was producing, his line was producing, or nobody was producing. And the fact that you get goals from these guys and you get assists from these guys, and I agree with you overall, Malkin and Crosby were very, very solid tonight in all three zones, but the burden wasn't on them to score goals tonight. No, just because you got contributions from the bottom half of your lineup.

Yes, congratulations to Ryan Shea. Really nice shot that beat Lindgren and P.O. Joseph gets a bit of fortunate luck on his goal. And I should shout out P.O. Joseph for his effort in this game. I think that was one of his best games of the season. He's been really comfortable. That might have been his best game in a penguin's uniform, period, not just. He definitely make that argument. You can.

I don't have a whole ton of else to add. That was just, I'm picking up the ball where you dropped it. He, he was very stout defensively. Obviously, he scores a goal. He, you know what I noticed a lot from him tonight? He was great at the offensive blue line at holding the puck in in making smart decisions on the pinch. Because I talked about that a couple weeks ago with Sullivan's system,

about how it's set up four pinches. I think it's still there. I think they've eased back a little bit. but I also think there's been a change in the defenseman, and they have started pinching smarter instead of constantly. He was not as aggressive as we've seen him be in prior games, and he had a lot of shifts against that Ovechkin Wilson line, and he more than held his own.

He was great against both of those guys because he was seeing a lot of the ice alongside Chris L's hanging just because he's been playing more minutes with him, and he was tremendous all night long. He deserved that goal. He deserved playing against that top line for the Caval just because of how well he was playing. And we should shout out Ryan and Chey as well since coming back. I feel like he's been a pretty solid number six, number seven guy.

They have two pretty decent number six to number seven defensemen in Ryan Shea and Jack, St. Ivany. And I should shout out St. Ivany as well again, I thought he was very ho-hum, solid once again, playing very much like Chad Rueedle did during his previous few seasons here in Pittsburgh. Yeah, I've said it on the show before. He's very much a fifth and sixth defenseman. He's never going to wow you. He's never going to put up gigantic numbers. But he is going to be rock solid all game and he'll be dependable.

You don't need him to score a barrel of points. You don't need them to be overly physical. You just need him to eat up those 12 to 15 minutes that you need from your, third pairing and be solid in them. And I noticed him a handful of times tonight, but it wasn't for anything crazy. He was just in the right position. He was breaking up passes. He was making the simple play with the puck.

And that's all you need from him. And I'm going to keep beating this drum until he makes me otherwise. But I think he is going to become an NHL regular and a very good defensive defenseman on a bottom pairing. He could. And I know John Ludwig is still out with the illness right now, but I don't see how you take St. Ivany out for him with the way that he's humming. I mean, if you want to make an argument for Ryan Shea to come out, I'll listen to it just

because I think Love Vig was playing at least a bit better before he got sick. But it's still a good problem to have when you have three defensemen for your bottom pairing that are playing a bit better than they were, at least earlier in the season when we look at, especially Lundvig, and Ryan Shea. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to dive more into the play of Alex and Delkevich and why the penguins need to keep riding him if he keeps playing. like this, and we're going to dive into more of Michael Bunting with the way he played tonight

as well. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Robin Hood. Did you know that even if you have a 401k for retirement, you can still have an IRA. Robin Hood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robin Hood gold. But get this. Now through April 30th, Robin Hood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. That's right. No count. on the 3% match. Robin Hood Gold gets you the most for your retirement thanks to their IRA with a 3% match. This offer is good through April 30th. Get started at Robinhood.com slash boots, subscription fees apply and now for some legal info. Claim as of quarter 1, 24, validated by radius global

market research. Investing involves risk, including loss. Limitations apply to our IRAs and 401k's Robin Hood IRA available to U.S. customers in good standing and Robin Hood financial L-LC, member SIPC, is a register broker-dealer. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. So we kind of hinted at it during the first segment of today's show, and I let off the cold open with Alex Ndilkevich. Shout out to him for this performance.

It kind of reminded me a little bit of Mark Andre Fleury's performance in Game 7 of that 2017 series against the capital. It wasn't to that degree, people, please. I'm not trying to fully compare it to that. Flory had some better saves in that game against the Capitals. But when you needed a big save in this one, Nadelcovic was there to give you it. And he has been awesome throughout these last seven games.

I know Jari is back from his ownness and he's fully healthy. But at this point, it's a no-brainer. Keep riding him until he gives you a reason not to. Here's the thing. you said game 7, 2017 vibes. I just get 2017 Penguins Capitals series vibes because you look back at that series, the Capitals with a better team. Like, let's be honest here.

The Penguins had zero business winning that series that season. But it was the play of their goaltender, Mark Andre Fleury, who kept them in that series and put them in a position to win in tonight. For the most part, there was bits and spurts here where the Penguins played very well. I think the second period was a defensive clinic by the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the first and third periods, the difference was Alex Nadelcovic. I mean, Lindgren gives up two goals on two shots in the first period, and Alex Nadelcovic makes nine saves. And that's a whole different game if one or even two of those nine for the capitals go in. And then in the third

period, you can't fault them for the power play goal. I mean, they came one second away from killing in extended five on three. And throughout the course of it, Alex Nadelcovich was just everywhere. So realistically, I get the same vibes from that 2017 series that I got him tonight because the difference

was in fact the Penguins goalie. Yep. And he needs to start on Saturday against the lightning and probably going forward after that as well. And speaking of that penalty kill, that might have been the best Penguins penalty kill I've seen all year. They didn't give the capitals anything until the

very end of that power play. Heck Pat, Brian Rust almost scored a three on five goal against, which you really don't see very often in the NHL. I know it's been rare when the Penguins score on breakaways. It feels like it's just them scoring a goal on the breakaway challenge. I feel like that's just the meme I have at this point for the Penguins on breakaways. But his effort, especially on the penalty kill, was awesome.

Yeah, Ovechkin gets the goal at the end of that power play, but that penalty kill overall was awesome. I said heading into this game, you got to shut down the Capitol's power play, even though it's not nearly as good as it used to be. And for the most part, the Penguins very much succeeded with that because outside of that chance or that goal, excuse me, by Ovechkin, the Capitol's really got nothing on that power play. And even the goal was more or less a broken play because there was a clearing attempt that did not work successfully. And then everybody kind of lost their man at the last second as the penalty was expiring. So even that, it wasn't like the capitals set up and went tick, tack, toe and got everybody out of position. The puck just bounced their way.

And on an extended penalty kill like that, that's going to happen at least once. And unfortunately, for the penguins, it happened at the worst time. But, I mean, that was, like I said, the second period and then the majority of the third was just a great defensive performance from the penguins. You look at the shot totals and they're not great. You look at the analytics and they're not great. But when you look at the map of where the shots and the chances came from for the Washington Capitals tonight, the Penguins did not let them have much at all. I again find myself wondering where this type of defensive performance has been throughout this season.

And the fact that it's taken until April to get this type of performance defensively, it's just crazy. But hey, I'm glad that we got it overall. But one more thing before we had to break in preview Saturday. he's monstrous game against Tampa Lightning who have been on fire as of late. Michael Buncing had another amazing game for the Penguins. His goal was awesome. His celebration was awesome.

He honestly could have had a hat trick in this game. He was stoned multiple times by Charlie Lindgren as he was trying to keep the capitals, excuse me, in this game. You had the breakaway, glove save. And then Malcon delivered that pass to Bunting on the power play. He was right in front of the net. And Lindgren made another. massive save right there as well. He played his absolute ass off throughout this one.

He was also great defensively throwing some big hits, responsible in his own zone, great in transition. He was awesome and he continues to be such a seamless fit for this team. Heart and soul guy, or as some of my friends have always been known to call guys like that, a meat and potatoes kind of hockey player. There's nothing flashy about his game. There's nothing crazy about his game. It's a very honest, hardworking game. And as I've said on the show before, there is always hockey justice for guys like that.

And tonight we saw it for Michael Bunting. So again, I still believe he is obviously not Jake Gensel, but he is a whole heck of a lot of what this team has been missing for the past few years. I 100% agree. And man, this just felt like a playoff game. I mean, if you weren't looking at it. the clock the entire third period and counting down minute by minute, then what are you doing at this rate? Because that was a playoff game, I feel like. I know we're still in the regular

season, but that was a bona fide playoff game. And it was a joy to watch. And I know there's still a couple points out, but they have a chance to do something that we all thought was impossible just a week to a week and a half ago. And I can't wait to see how the rest of the season goes, my friend. I'm really excited. But I think that would do it for this second segment, unless you got something else to happen. I was just going to say they got six games left.

They do need some things to balance their way. They, you know, they can, you know, obviously the main thing they can do is win out, which would be absolutely wild considering they got six games left. But, I mean, at this point, we wanted interesting hockey. we got interesting hockey. Oh, yeah. And I know the schedule is really tough for this team down the stretch.

You have games against Tampa, which we're going to preview in the final segment. Nashville, Boston, Detroit, you end the season against the Islanders. And I said it to you before we started recording, isn't the season going to come down to that game on the island against the team that has horrified them? And I also said it during the Thursday episode. It feels like we're trending that way as the Islanders won on Thursday night. They are now two points ahead of the game. Penguins that are in that final playoff spot right now. But it just feels like we're heading down that road.

And I know that's going to terrify you, me, and a whole bunch of people out there. But buckle up, my friends, these final six games are going to be a lot of fun. And speaking of that, we're going to preview this next game against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the final segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about eBay Motors. Passion Drive and Patience, the formula for winning championships is also it keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance.

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Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guarantee that is only available to U.S. customers. All right. All right here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host Patrick Dam. So Penn's Lightning for the third and final time comes your way.

Saturday afternoon, a matinee game for the Penguins, which has been pretty rare for this team throughout the season. I know there are teams that play quite a few matinee games, but the Penguins, they have not, for the most part, this season. And they are getting a lightning team that has been kind of a little up and down throughout the season. But lately, these last 10 to 11 games, they are rounding into form and looking really scary heading into the Stanley Cup playoffs. They've won eight or last 10 games.

They are firmly entrenched in the first wildcard spot right now. If you look at the standings, 93 points there, two points behind the Toronto Maple Leaf, even though the Maple Leafs have a game in hand. and this is a team that nobody is going to want to face in the first round. I don't care if you're the Rangers. I don't care if you're the Bruins. I don't care if you're the Panthers. If you face this lightning team in the first round,

you are going to get one heck of a fight from this team. And it all starts once again with Nikita Kutrov, 42 goals, 130 points in 74 games. I'll say that again, people. 130 points in 74 games. I've been saying all year that Kutrov has been my pick to win the Hart trophy. I still stand by that, though, you could easily give it to Nathan McKinnon,

and he very well may win it. I think it's a very 1A, 1B type thing for me. Kutrov has just been that good for the lightning. I kind of see this season for them as kind of their last hurrah, Stamco's contract is up after the season. I mean, you think he's going to extend, but you never know. But this forward group, it's very good. Defensively, they're not as deep.

Victor Hedman is still one of the 10 best defensemen in the league. But outside of that, there is not too much there, especially after the Mikhail Sergeyevjavejaveh injury. But in goal, the big difference maker. Andre Vasselowski, one of the three to five best goaltenders in the world. He's also been a little up and down this season. But recently, he's starting to round back into that form that we saw a couple of years ago. and if he plays his tail off in the playoffs,

good luck to whoever they play in the first round. I know the penguins have been red hot these last seven games, but this is going to be a very hard game to win overall. I mean, the penguins are hot, the penguins are playing well. They just got this huge win. They're on a three-game win streak. They're on a seven-game point streak.

But here's the thing. The Lightning have points in nine. of their last 10. And let's just go through some of the teams they have beaten in their last 10. Florida, Vegas,

Boston, Toronto. And then you have some wins against teams like San Jose, Anaheim, and the Islanders. But this is a lightning team that like you said, yeah, I think it was their second

cup ring in this, in the last, that little run they had a few years ago, they got engraved with last day of school because they knew that they had to break the team up. Well, guess what? They really didn't. They pretty much brought everybody back, but this time it feels like it's it because not only is Stamcoast a pending UFA, they haven't talked. And Stamcoast has not been quiet about the fact that the lightning have not talked to him. So right now, this feels like a team that wants to send off a guy who captained them to so much success over the past 15 or so years that they're doing

it for him. And this is a team, like you said, with so much talent. Obviously, Nikita Kutrov with 130 points. You still have Stamco's quietly a 30-goal season. Anthony Sirelli is a depth guy, has 41 points and 19 goals. A guy who I have wanted to be a penguin forever that they got at the deadline is Anthony Duclair, and he's got 37 points. And you go up and down this lineup, and it is just killer after killer after killer. And this is not going to be easy for the penguins on Saturday. And for them to beat the lightning, they have to do what they did tonight against the capitals twofold, because if they don't play seriously committed defense, they're going to get run

out of their own building. You can honestly triple that, to be honest. And you didn't even mention Braden Point, who has also been awesome for the lightning this year. 43 goals, 83 points in 74 games. Brandon Hegel, he's been great with a nice 69 points in 75 games. He already touched on Stamcoast. Sorelli's just a really good two-way center overall. Yeah, you get him for his offense, but he's also one of the better defensive centers in the league.

Nick Paul has also been really solid. They are, again, just a pretty sound and deep team. And another thing that really scares me about this matchup, head coach John Cooper. He is one of the three best head coaches in the league. I will die on that hill. He's been with Tampa Bay for quite a while. And he's always great at taking away your best players. And that scares me for a Penguins team that is not as deep as the lining and has been relying on obviously Sid, Malkin,

Russ, bunting, et cetera, et cetera. So I'm just nervous about that aspect of this matchup heading into it as well. And finally, I know I bring up special teams a lot in previews. I got to bring it up again. The Lightning have the league's best power play this year, Pat. 28.9%. Please do not take penalties against this Lightning Powerplay with the firepower that they can put out there for that unit.

You will get run out of the building. Yeah. For my wrestling fans out there, I call John Cooper Triple H, the cerebral assassin. because not only is he great as a tactician, if you get into a playoff series against the Tampa Bay Lightning, you don't just have to take them on on the ice. You got to take them on off the ice too, because there is nobody better at working the media

and working the opposition than John Cooper. And not in a way that you think. It's never a, he doesn't go up to the podium like torts and make a scene and do all kinds of crazy stuff. He will say these biting little comments, that get everybody talking and get in your head. You watched him do it for two years against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's very tactical.

He knows what he's saying every time. It ate away at them, at their players, at their coaching staff, at their management, at their fans. So not only is this team supremely talented on the ice, but they've got a guy behind the bench who's not only going to out X's and O you, he's going to out think you, period. So I can't say enough nice things about the Tampa Bay Lightning. I know they're essentially the evil empire of the modern era maybe behind us. But at the same time, they are a great team. They are very fun to watch.

And hey, if the penguins bring what they brought against the capitals, we're in for a fun game on Saturday afternoon. And hey, you know, there's a chance that if they do get some help on Friday with some teams in front of them losing, there's a chance that this game could be for a potential playoff spot. on Saturday. That is where we are at at this point in the season. But I can't wait for it. It's going to be a lot of fun. This crowd in Pittsburgh is going to be fired up for it, especially after the road trip that they just had with how they've been playing over the last seven games. They are going to need every single fan to fully support them in the building. And overall,

I think that I'll do it for this episode of the Lockton Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Monday to recap this game against the lightning, get you all set for Penn's Leafs on Monday night, and take a look at where the playoff race is overall for the Penguins. Could they be in a playoff spot on Monday? Well, we'll have to see how this weekend goes overall. But again, that will do it for this one.

Thank you all so much for tuning in. We really appreciate it. We'll be back on Monday.