Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins kick-off the weekend with a Metro matchup against Carolina!

Episode Date: October 18, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins are set for another Metropolitan Division matchup tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes! Hunter and Patrick get you set for the second divisional matchup of the year and how they can outlast a Canes team that plays a quantity over quality kind of game. Then, they get you set for the Western Canada swing and preview Sunday's game against the Winnipeg Jets. They discuss how good the Jets have been defensively and how the Penguins are gonna have to make their offense count since they won't get too many quality looks. Finally, with five games down, what do we know about the 2024-25 Penguins? All that, plus much more is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup.  GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelPlace your first FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - guaranteed ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. HimsVisit Hims.com/LOCKEDON to start your free online visit. 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 Penguins have two games on tap for this weekend, including tonight against the Carolina Hurricanes, and Pat and I are going to discuss that and the game against the Winnipeg Jets right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode 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-s, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet, and you can follow

the show's Twitter at L.O. Understory 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 finally, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. Place your first $5 bet and you'll get started with $200 in bonus bets. Guaranteed visit Fanduel.com to get started. So I am back in my home office after traveling to Blacksburg to see Virginia Tech beat Boston College on Thursday night football. Seeing Enter Samin and the Terodome unleashed on Thursday was so much fun. And also, we apologize for the episode coming out a bit later than usual today.

The drive back from Blacksburg is pretty long, especially since, of course, I live in Pittsburgh. So that's about a five and a half to six hour drive. So, but again, apologies that the episode is coming out a bit later today. But getting to this first matchup here against the Carolina Hurricanes, Pat, these two teams play each other so close. I'm going to give you a couple of statistics here to start off for this preview. In their last 27 games against the hurricanes, the penguins are 14 and 8 and 5. So basically 14 and 13. And also, eight of the last 11 games between these two teams, one goal games. They are basically coin flips at this point. And the big key for me, anytime the penguins play

the hurricanes, you got to be able to box out their players in front of the net. The hurricanes are a team. they fire a lot of shots from the point. They look for those deflections from five to 10 to 15 feet out. And that's kind of what they rely on for their offense. Obviously, they're good at forechecking. They work it from low to high. But if you're not boxing out their players, you're going to have a hard day in front of you.

And you saw in the wins last year for the Penguins against the Hurricanes. They were able to do that, keep them to the outside, really only have them just do low danger shots, and the Penguins were able to win those games. Obviously, the hurricanes are very good defensively in their own zone. They're kind of like the Islanders except more fun to watch. They're the more fun version of the Islanders. But that is my big key for this one.

If you're able to box out their players and keep the shooting lanes clear for Yowell Blumquist, the Penguins, I think, will be in good hands for this one because I do think they'll be able to get at least enough offense to potentially win this game, even though the hurricanes are pretty stingy defensively. Yeah, you're absolutely right. The Carolina Hurricanes and Rod Brindamore, I don't know if I have some distant relative or somebody that is in touch with Brindamore because they clearly subscribe to my 30-20 theory, which is if you can get 30 or more shots at the net and hold your opponent to 20 shots or less, I'll take my chances at winning because that usually means you've got the puck more than your

opponent and it's a lot easier to score when you have the puck and they don't. But you hit the nail on the head with them. The best way to beat this team is to let them take those low percentage shots. Let them shoot from the half wall. Let them shoot from the point. Make sure Blumquist, who is starting tonight, thankfully, Mike Sullivan made that very clear this morning after morning skate that he will get the start in net in lieu of Tristan Jari, who we know was pulled in teams win over the Sabres, but you keep them to the outside, you make sure Blumquist can see and has good rebound control, and that's a good way to counter this team's offensive attack. The other thing that I want to add is one thing the penguins in the last few years,

and even dating back to when they were an even better team, is they do something very well against the Carolina Hurricanes that almost makes you feel like we're back in the glory days of 2016 and 2017, they take the Carolina structure in the offensive zone and turn it on its head to the point where if you'll notice, if you go back and watch a lot of these Carolina Pittsburgh games from the last few years, they get a ton of odd man rushes against the Carolina hurricanes because they let them do that low to high. And when they suck them into that trap, they chip the puck out and they turn it into a three on two, a two on one. That way they know that the Carolina Hurricanes forwards are trapped low

because they're in the middle of their forecheck. They're in the middle of trying to pull the penguins' defenders low. So when they don't bite on it, they turn it into odd man rushes. And I look at the team that the penguins have this year with their increased depth and their ability to score goals this year because suddenly the pucks are going in this season so far. And that's a good recipe for success. because with how good Carolina's defense can be, you don't want to turn this into a war of attrition

where you're trying to win the possession. You're trying to win the zone time because you're not going to get much out of the Carolina hurricanes if you just try to pin them in their defensive zone. They're extremely disciplined. They play very well in the defensive zone. So you have to catch them sleeping on odd man rushes, and you have to make sure that their goalie does not get

set because with the way they play defense, if their goalie is set, they are going to make saves and they are going to beat you that way. And there's a chance they could get more odd man rushes potentially in this game compared to the last few years because if you look at Carolina's defense now, there's a lot of changes, especially from last year to this year. I mean, Brady Shea, he's gone. Brett Pesci, he's gone. But they still have Jacob Slavin and Brennan's on their top pairing Slavin, probably one of

the most underrated defenseman in the league. I honestly probably shouldn't even call him. to rate anymore. He is fantastic all around, especially in his own zone. Brent Burns, still good for some offense. They have Shane Gossesbair and Sean Walker. Sean Walker, really nice, free agent addition, by the way, from Eric Tolski. And then Dmitri Orlov and Jalen Chapfield. So it's still a decent defensive group, but I don't think it's as good as last year when they had Pesci and Shay on their defense forward-wise. They also got gutted a little bit. Tara Vinen, he's in Chicago, Jake Gensel. He's obviously in Tampa Bay, but they still have some good

depth. You know, Svetchenikov's on the top line. Sebastian Aho's up there, Seth Jarvis, Martin Natchez, who there's a lot of trade rumors about during the all season, excuse me. He's still there. You have Yes, very cockymi, the ageless wonder Jordan Stahl, who I will forever miss for an eternity. You got Jack Dory on the fourth line, Eric Robinson. So there are still some real good players in this Carolina forward group. It's still not a group that fully scares me, at least when it comes to a playoff series. And I think that's the main Achilles heel for the Hurricanes. They just don't have enough big dogs to go up against other teams who have bigger dogs than them, I think. And that's just been their undoing these last few years.

And also, the regular season system, it works. But once you get into a playoff series against a good coaching staff, those coaching staffs are able to take advantage of the hurricanes. What's the word I'm looking for? I guess short failings, I think, and they're able to exploit that. So I think Carolina still a game breaker or two away from potential. going on a really deep playoff run, but this is still a very good team. I expect them to be in the playoffs.

And you're definitely going to have to shut down that top line of Aho, Jarvis, and Session Agatha if you want to win this. But again, you're going to be in for a grind for a full 60 minutes. The hurricanes, they go zero to 180 right when the puck drops. So the penguins are going to have to play. You cannot take shifts off against the hurricanes. That is how they play. And so I'm curious to see how the penguins adjust to this.

Also from a penguin's perspective, no changes from the lines. You already said, you well, Blumquist is getting the start. Easy call there from Mike Sullivan, considering how great he's been in his few starts. And with how Tris and Jari is playing, you've got to keep him on the bench, get him some reps in practice. But for Blumquist, continue giving him reps, man, you're going up against a team that's probably going to be in the playoffs. Throw him to the wolves, see how he does. But I do hope that the penguins are better defensively in this one, even though the Hurricanes, they don't have as many game breakers as some other contenders do.

They still have four deep lines and you don't want to keep giving odd man rush after odd man rush away, even to a team like this, especially when they have Aho, Setschnakov, etc. You're absolutely right. And another player I like to keep my eye on for Carolina tonight is Jalen Chatfield. He was with the Utica Comets when they were still part of the Vancouver Canucks organization.

while I was working for the Comets. And he was a very good, very consistent HL defenseman and somebody that we watched and thought, man, this guy is not going to be long for the American Hockey League. Now, is he going to raise the level of being, say, a top pair defenseman or somebody that is going to be a true game breaker?

But having that guy on your blue line, he plays a very solid, very honest, second or third pairing defensive game. So he will be somebody who can make a difference on Carolina's defensive core. So that's a guy I want to keep my eye on. And to your point about the way they play, both for tonight and just in general,

you have to treat this like you're going up against a heavyweight boxer in the sense that you're going to have to rope-a-dope them. You're going to have to let them punch themselves out. You're going to have to let them go to that zero to 180, like you said, and let them fire a bunch of pucks at the net, let them punch themselves out. And when you get an opportunity, you have to take it against this Carolina team. And that is why, to your point, that in the playoffs, it's a little bit of their undoing

because they will punch themselves out. And when you play them in a seven-game series, by the time you get to games five, six, and even seven, you have taken their best punches and then you're able to respond. So on a micro level, that's what the penguins have to do tonight. There's going to be extended shifts in their end. There's going to be moments where it looks like the penguins are getting caved in. And the numbers will say that they are getting caved in. But the main goal tonight, no pun intended, is to not give up a goal.

Well, of course, that's the main goal every game. Isn't it? No, I'm just messing around with you. But yeah, the numbers are going to reflect that because, again, they don't call them the Carolina Corses for no reason. They are great with shot attempts, but you've got to be able to, again, box out their high-end talent in front of the net and also clear the shooting lanes. So Plumquist is able to see it pretty effectively. And we could see potentially another big game from Ypresby, two goals, four points in seven games against the hurricanes for his career. So with how good of a start, he's off too for this season, look for him to maybe have a pretty big game tonight for the Penguins.

But that would do it for this first segment, previewing this game against the hurricanes. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to preview Sunday's game. against the Winnipeg Jets and how the Penguins will try to win that game. And also how that is part one of two Pittsburgh sports teams going up against the Jets on Sunday. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is prize picks. Prize picks is the best place to get real money sports action with over 10 million members and millions of dollars in award winnings. Prize picks has made daily fantasy sports accessible to all. You just pick more or less on at least two players for a shot to win up to 100 times your cash.

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Well, we will get the Penguins versus the Jets on Sunday afternoon before the Steelers play the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football in Pittsburgh. The Penguins game, of course, is in Winnipeg as they kickstart their big Western Canada swing. and that's going to be, again, a massive road trip for this team. You'll go to Edmonton, Vancouver, Calgary, play all those teams. Again, I love getting that trip out of the way early just because some of those teams are just kind of not firing on all cylinders at least to start the year, especially the Oilers. But with the Jets here, had a really good season last year. They losing the first round of the playoffs.

And I, at least in my predictions for this year, I was predicting the Jets to kind of take a little bit of a step back just because I kind of want to see it. again overall. But so far this season, the Jets are off to a great start. Three and O in their first three games, good for six points. There are two points out of first place behind the Dallas stars in the Central Division. This team, again, pretty deep at 40. You got Kyle Connor, Mark Schifley, Gabe Valerty, got Nikolai Ehlers, Vlad Nemestikov, Cole Perfetti, another very good young player in their lineup. I'm glad that he's finally getting top six minutes. You got Nino Niederwriter with Adam Lowry on the third line. And then defensively, Josh Morrissey, he has really blossomed into a top pairing defenseman these last couple of years,

very underrated player. You got Dylan DeMello. I don't think he's a top pairing guy, but he's someone that still works at least in a top four role. Dylan Sandberg with Neil Pionk, if they got Colin Miller on their third pairing. And of course, Connor Hellebuck, arguably the best goaltender on the planet. I still will put Schisturkin over him, but I would probably put Hellebuck right behind him in that, you know, two, three spot overall. But you know what you're getting when you play.

the Jets. Another very defensively disciplined team, a team that can also score, especially off the rush, and they have a all-star goalie in net who can basically save anything. So the penguins, they're going to have to try to keep their shifts short in this one. You don't want to make a mess of yourself in your own zone, especially with the high-end talent that the Jets have. And you've got to be able to break down their defensive structure a little bit. They were pretty good defensively under Rick bonus. I know he's not there anymore. But they still are, again, they're off to really good start this year, large in part to how well they played defensively. So the penguins are able to break that down a little bit, especially when they're forechecking

down low. I think they'll have a chance to win this one. This is the other thing that I always think of when I think of the Winnipeg Jets is heavy. This is a heavy hockey team. We talked about in the first segment that you are going to be in for a fight when you play the Carolina Hurricanes. It's no different than when you play the Winnipeg Jets. That is a team that not only is very disciplined defensively and obviously has one of the best goaltenders on the planet in Connor Hellebuck, but they still, they're a team that still

hits. They are a team that is not afraid to play heavy hockey. So you have to be ready, whether it's the Penguins training staff or the coaching staff, getting them mentally prepared, but the training staff should have the ice packs ready for after the game on Saturday. because you're going to take a beating against the Winnipeg Jets. But like you said, underrated part of this Winnipeg Jets team is they have some skill. That top line of Shifley-Connor Valardi is a damn good line.

And they can make you pay. And we talked about Jordan Stahl, the ageless wonder. How about Vlad Nemestikov, the ageless wonder? It feels like this guy has been in the league for 30 years, and he is still a very effective second line center. So this team has a little bit of sneaky depth. They play a very Western conference type of game in that they're defensive, they're physical,

and oh, guess what, you also have to shoot on one of the best goalies on the planet. So this is no slouch. So they're going to find out very early how this Western Canada swing is going to go for them. and for the penguins, you just have to play a patient game. You can't let their physicality get to your head.

You know you're going to take some lumps in this game. Don't retaliate. Don't lose your cool. Take the hit, laugh it off, keep going. And honestly, you got to go a little Carolina hurricanes on them on Sunday. If you have a shot, take the shot. Because as good as Connor Hellebuck is, as good as any goal he is. The more shots, the better against the best goalies in the world.

because eventually they're going to wear down and the dam will break. So any opportunity you get to put the puck at the net on Connor Hellebuck, you absolutely have to take it. Right. I think fans should probably be prepared for kind of a low event game here. I mean, you look in these first three games, the Jets have only given up two goals. They shut out the Oilers in their first game.

And then they gave up one goal in their next game against the Blackhawks. And then one goal in their next game against the Minnesota wild. Again, people, they are playing lights out. in their own zone. And Connor Helduck is also off to another great start. Scardy Arneal, their new head coach. He has them playing well. And this is going to be another tough challenge for the penguins.

Kind of a bit different if you compare to this game against the hurricanes or some of their other games they've played against, you know, like the Red Wings, the Canadians or the Sabres, those three teams. Definitely bad defensively. This Jets team, that's a complete 180. So the Penguins, they're going to have to, I think, kind of muck it up a little bit as well. not allow much in their own zone. But when you get an opportunity in the offensive zone and they're going to kind of be

few and far between with how the Jets are playing, you got to take it because Helibuck, we all know how great his movement is. We all know how great he is as a goalie. You have to take every opportunity you can get against that goaltender. You do. And this is also a game where your big boys have to be your big boys. You're going to have to lean on Crosby. You're going to have to lean on Malkin, Lattang.

in Carlson. Those guys are going to have to be game breakers because this team is so disciplined in plays such a good defensive structure that you're not going to get a lot of breakdowns, especially when the bottom six is on the ice. So at that point, you're going to need something out of those big players. You're going to need them to step up and make as big a difference as possible. And like you said, it will be a low event game. So when you get those opportunities. Don't waste them. If Sid gets a look, he's got to bury it.

And same goes for all the other players. So similar to Carolina, where it may seem like the penguins are getting their butts kicked because they're doing their quantity over quality. When it comes to Winnipeg, this is not going to be the most high-octane, exciting game you watch. But when the opportunities present themselves, you cannot waste them.

Agreed. And you made a point about Eric Carlson. and I wanted to expand on that a little bit before we had to break. He has got to be better these next two games. I think that game against the Sabres was the worst game he's played as a member of the Penguins. He was out to lunch all game long. Felt like he had 10 captain and coax before the game.

He just looked drunk out there. I don't know what he was doing. So I think he's going to be better and he's got to be, especially if they want to win that game in Winnipeg on Sunday. But that would do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to to give some miscellaneous thoughts for the Penguins' first-st-eye games, some things we like, and some things we don't like. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our next

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All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunters, Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pat, let's get into some overall thoughts for the first five games. And I'm feeling pretty positive outside of a couple big negatives. Evgeny Malkin is off to one heck of a star, 11 points in five games. At least right now, looking like a prime. MVP candidate for the season. We'll have to see if that lasts the whole season, but he's definitely off to one heck of a start. You saw Sidney Crosby. After a little bit of a slow start,

he's really turned it on these last couple of games. That's been nice to see. But you're also seeing some depth scoring, especially more this year compared to last year. You have Kevin Hayes. He already has a couple of goals. Anthony Bovillia, he has a couple of goals. He hasn't scored in the last couple of games, but he still has at least two goals to start the year. You have Ricard Raquel. That's another big one for this season. If he's able to rebound, get to 20 to 25 goals, maybe even more than that, that is a big weapon for this team that could potentially get them back in the playoffs with how bad he was last year. He needs to have a rebound this year. And so far, he's doing the part. The power play is also off to a better start this year. It's definitely looked a bit shaky as they

adjust to a new alignment, especially with Carlson playing at the half ball. But overall, the first five games this year compared to last year, the power play does look better, at least to me. You're also getting great contributions from Yuel Blumquist. I'm excited to see again how he plays against Carolina and moving forward. But those are just a few good positive thoughts that I have about the team. They're getting things this year so far that they didn't have last year. And that's a positive for me. It really is.

I'm very impressed with the power play. It currently, as we record this, sits 11th best in the national hockey. League, which pretty marketed positive. Again, it's five games, but this is one of the things I always cautioned people who analyze the team and want to have thoughts and takes on the team. Rather than living and dying with every single game and every single play, try to go in five or so game rolling thoughts on this, because then you'll really be able to start picking up on some trends.

And honestly, if you try to live and die with every single game in an 82 game season, you're going to be crazier than I am, and that's difficult to do. But at this point, I look at the power play. I see a lot of positives on it. Yeah, it's had some blemishes, but they're moving the puck well. They're willing to shoot. They're willing to attack. For the most part, the drop passes very few and far between in the neutral zone,

which is a great positive for this team. You brought up the depth, but you look at the team so far. You have several players with multiple goals. You've got Bolivier with two, Hayes with two, you've got Evgeny Malkin with two, Ricard Raquel has three, Latang has two, Eller has two. And if you can keep this scoring spread out, now I'm not expecting a lot of these players to stay on this same pace.

We have seen that a guy like Michael Bunting is a little struggling a little bit to start the year, but that's pretty much par for the course for a top nine forward who's going to score 20-ish goals. he's not going to score at a torrent pace. There's going to be four or five games where he lights it up. There's going to be four or five games where he goes cold. But overall, the team feels like it has more depth so far through five games. And that has something that has ailed this team for the last few years.

They have been way too reliant on the top six. And now they're getting contributions up and down the lineup. Now, as for a negative, I'm not going to go with the very obvious one, which everybody knows, the defense overall has to be better. Whether it's changing the defensive zone system, which I'm going to continue to scream about until it changes, even if you don't, they have to play a more responsible brand of hockey in the defensive zone. If you're going to stick with this puck side overload that they play,

you have to get to your position, you have to commit to what you're doing. There can't be any more 50-50 decisions. If you're going to attack, attack. Don't go halfway. If you're going to attack the puck carrier, put them under pressure, get to the player, and see what happens. It can't be this timid kind of half in, half out that I've seen from a lot of the defensive zone coverage. Because the puck side overload only works when you're applying pressure. If you're just all over there, you're opening up a lot of very prime scoring opportunities in the defensive zone.

And some teams have taken advantage of that. So that's kind of where I stand right now at this point. But through five games, I'm very encouraged with this version of the Pittsburgh Penguins. Right. We don't need to keep discussing Tristan Jarrett. Everyone knows he's the Penguins' top problem right now. They'll deal with it at some point. But right behind him, kind of like a 1B, is the Penguins defensive zone awareness

and how bad they've been in their own zone through their first five games? You cannot keep doing these shootout games with every team you play. You're going to get burned eventually. And quite a few times during the season, if you keep playing this brand of hockey, you need to simplify things. You need to tone down on the aggressiveness. When there's, for example, a loose puck at the red line pat, sometimes back off a little bit. You don't need to try to make that 50-50 play, and then that leads to a breakaway or an odd man rush. Back off, let it be a two-on-two, make the play to get the puck back, and then skate it out of your own zone.

The Penguins haven't been doing that these first five games. They got to simplify it. The same thing goes for the pinches in the offensive zone. There's been so many ill-advised badly timed pinches that have led to three-on-tos, two-on-ones. And this has been going back, not even to last season, but the season before that as well. Mike Sullivan has got to get his players, especially his defensemen that are doing these pinches, to tone it down. And again, sometimes you don't need to make that play. Pull back a little bit.

Let it be a three-on-three. They can dump the puck in. You can get it back, skate out of the zone with control. get it to your forwards. You can do the dump and chase game a little bit there. But that to me is the biggest thing. Toning down on these ill-advised, aggressive plays, especially the pinches,

and just playing a more responsible game in their own zone. It feels like every time they're trying to skate the puck out of their own zone right now, they're being constantly pressured. It's being taken away. It's not good enough. And it needs to change because eventually you are going to keep putting your goalies in bad spots. Don't get me wrong. Jari has not played well in his starts.

But look at how many great chances, Yo-L Blumquist had to save that game against the Sabres because the Penguins are playing so poorly in their own zone. That has got to change, and it's got to change ASAP. But, oh, go ahead. Yeah, I was just say, just one last quick thing.

You kind of beat me to that about the pinches in some of the way they're playing in the D zone and the neutral zone. And it gets back to what I was saying is if you're going to do this, and I would advise them not to because they're not the team they were five, six years ago. they don't have the same team speed. But if you're going to do that, the biggest thing I have noticed is the hesitation.

You look at the Sabre's third goal. And yes, again, we know Jari can make, it needs to make the save there. But you look at the sort of half of a pinch at the red line by Marcus Pedersen. He didn't fully commit to it. If you fully commit to it and put that player under pressure, there's a pretty good chance he's going to not make his crisp,

of a pass. Now, it might get through and it be a great pass. That is entirely possible. It's a national hockey league. But it was the fact that if you're going to do it, do it. If you're going to be aggressive, be aggressive. There can't be half measures in the NHL because it will come back to burn you. So while I don't want to see them consistently play this kind of style, if you're going to do it, do it. Right. No, I hear you. I agree with you on that. And I think with that, that'll do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Again, thank you also much for taking time to listen to slash watch this one. And I apologize again for the episode being out a bit later than expected today.

Usually these are out by 2.30 to 3 o'clock on Friday. Today it's going to be out by about 515. But that's not going to happen again for quite a long time. I had to go to Lane Stadium to see the Terodome be unleashed. I'm so jealous of that, man. I want to see Enter Sandman in person. It's so cool. It's fantastic, truly.

If any of you ever get the chance to go to Lane Stadium in Blacksburg to see a Virginia Tech game, please do it. It's very worth it. Enter Saman is incredible. And I can't wait for this program to hopefully be a national contender again because the way this program sells out games right now, it's going to be five times that when this team is hopefully back to being a contending team that's 15 in the country or maybe even higher than that overall. But still, that's very wish we'll think of right now with the college football landscape. but again, that would do it for this episode. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a new episode on Monday to recap both games against the hurricanes

and the jets and get you all set for the west of the Western Canada the trip. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in and we'll talk with you all on Monday.