Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins look to continue their WINNING WAYS in Philadelphia!

Episode Date: October 28, 2025

The Penguins got back into the win column on Monday night with a very solid victory against St. Louis, but a big rivalry game looms! Patrick and Hunter begin the show recapping another solid victory by the Penguins, this time 6-3 over the St. Louis Blues. They discuss another historic milestone for captain Sidney Crosby, the play of Evgeni Malkin and the second line, and some of the first real struggles for Benjamin Kindel and Harrison Brunicke. (0:00) Next, the Penguins hit the Pennsylvania Turnpike after their win against the Blues as they'll head to Philadelphia to take on a young, talented Philadelphia Flyers squad. Patrick and Hunter preview the game, give their keys to victory, and give you a look at the Flyers' roster. (14:36). Finally, down in the AHL, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins are an absolute WAGON being led by the phenomenal play in net by Sergei Murashov. They give you an update on all things Baby Penguins and how there's a lot of hope on the horizon. (26:09) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.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 back in the wind column with a big one over the St. Louis Blues. Sydney Crosby sets even more history. And the Keystone Clash is tonight. We get into all of that and more 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.

Welcome in to another edition of the Locked-on Penguin. podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we're free and wherever you listen to podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you're following us on YouTube, which you should be, make sure to hit that

notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we jump into it today, Hunter, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. Download the Fandul app now by visiting fandle.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins more on them later. Real quick, before. we start everything, Hunter, send in our best to the fan who fell from the 200 level during last night's game. As of this morning, the status is still the same. The fan is suffering life-threatening

injuries after they fell from the 200 level, hit a person in the sweet level, and then fell to the 100 level during the first period of the Penguins Blues game. All the best to them. Really hope they pull through absolutely horrifying news from PPG paints arena last night. But let's also get into the game, a six to three victory for the penguins. Sidney Crosby gets point number 1700. And let's just say this about this game, Hunter. Once again, this is a team that doesn't quit. This is a team that can take a punch and get right back up because they rocked.

out of the gate last night, two nothing in the first minute against some really bad blues goaltending. But then St. Louis didn't go away. Just as we expected, this is a team that is pretty talented. You look at their underlying metrics. They play very well. Their problem is they just cannot get a save. They tie the game and it looks like you winced a little bit and thought, oh, are we going to get another one of these games by the penguins where they start off pretty strong. They have a couple strong moments, and then they kind of fall apart down the stretch. Exact opposite. They took that punch in the first period.

And for the final two periods, they were easily the better team. And they cruised to a six to three win. Really happy with that effort last night. This is, I'm trying so hard not to get too excited. But this has been a really, really positive start for the penguins this year. Outstanding start seven, two and one in the first 10 games. Now these next 10, when you go up against more bona fide playoff team slash Stanley Cup contenders from last year going into this year,

it's going to be that much tougher. But these next 10, Pat, they get you really close to Thanksgiving. Again, Thanksgiving is right around the 22 game mark. So these next 10 to 12, we're going to tell us still quite a bit. But let's still focus on this game. Penguins, they go right out of the gate. Two quick goals in the first 55 seconds. of this game. Pat, honestly, when I was watching, I'm like, I think Hofer might get pulled again,

because he looks really bad once again. Ryan Russ beats him really quickly. And then Evgeny Malkin just sends Hofer to the shadow realm there with that move when he just basically pulled him right out of the crease. Anthony Amtha says, thank you very much. I have an empty net. But you knew the blues weren't going to go away. This is a prideful team, a team that has been generating offense all year. And they were able to do that for the rest of the first period. I thought the penguins were a bit too sloppy in their own end. Both of the goals that the Blues scored in the first period, Penguins didn't take away that cross-ice entering pass.

Harrison Brunick-pat, he's got to get his stick down there. And on the second goal in the first period, Eric Carlson has to do a bit of a better job controlling the puck at the point. That was really his only glaring mistake all night. Otherwise, I thought he was excellent. But I do think he has to do a better job there. And also, I think Latang has to do a better job of taking away that pass so that Trishonjari can't make a, you know, it's a really hard save for him

to make there. Like that's not a lot of goals you're going to make that save. So both goals, they just didn't take away that cross-ice pass. But after that period, Penguins get to the locker room. It's tied. They settled down and they played lockdown defense for the most part of the rest of the way. At five on five, Pat, the Penguins only allowed two high danger chances. So they were doing a great job.

clearing the net front, keeping everything to the outside. Did Trish and Jari still have to make some pretty good saves? Yes, but they weren't to the degree that we were seeing in the first period where there were way too many high danger chances. I thought the Penguins really took over the game in the second period. Parker Watherspoon just unleashes a piss missile in that period. And the Penguins were able to take another two-goal lead early in the third. Another great play from Eric Carlson.

Brian Russ gets his second of this game. and he's been on fire ever since the Columbus game. Usually when he gets out of a goalish streak, you see these goals start coming in bunches for him, so I'm not surprised that this happened. And then, of course, Pat, congratulations to Sidney Crosby. 1,700 and 0.7101. He's 22 away now from tying Mario Lemieux for the most in franchise history,

23 away from having that record forever. It's going to be a really big deal when he breaks that record. But all in all, a really sound effort for the final 40 minutes. But I know they have a higher level they can reach. We have seen it in A, the Vancouver game, and B, the first game of the season against the Rangers. So I think this is miles better than what we saw against Columbus,

but I know they can reach a little bit of a higher level. They absolutely can. Like you said, we've seen it at times this season. And that's the other thing is they're going to have to find it because over the next few weeks, they're going to face a lot harder competition. And we'll really see what this team is made of. And we'll find out if they're feasting on some lesser talent and they're kind of in that mushy middle.

Or if this team has more of a spark than we could have ever expected. I also want to touch on, I don't want to call them negatives because they weren't negative, so to speak. But it's the kids. you brought up the Harrison Brunick play on a couple of goals. This was his first kind of off night that we've seen from him. He wasn't bad. He didn't play poorly, but it was definitely his worst outing so far as a pro. And as for Ben Kindle, it wasn't a bad game,

but he just wasn't as noticeable as he's been through the first few games. And we talked about this multiple times. these are the peaks and valleys that you are going to see with teenagers in the NHL. It doesn't suddenly mean that they're on a bad trajectory. It doesn't mean that they're suddenly busts. This is what is going to happen with teenagers in the NHL. They will have a handful of games where you think, oh, my God, these guys are going to be long time, top six, top of the lineup contributors.

And then they're going to have nights where they struggle. And against the Blues team that we still consider to be a pretty hard fought, pretty talented team, you're going to have those nights. They're likely going to have the opportunity tonight against Philadelphia to bounce back. It's a divisional game, a rivalry game, hostile environment, another chance for them to put another mark on the wall that they belong. Also, real quick, got to touch on the second line. Anthony Mantha definitely had a bit of a slow start to his Penguins career.

But him and Gino, they just have chemistry together. It works and it helps that they've also got Justin Brzoe on that line. This is exactly what you and I wanted to see for Hvgeny Malkin coming into this season. Consistent wingers that he meshes well with and helps him elevate his game. And what do you know, Malkin is tied for the lead in points in the NHL. 100% man, 16 points in 10 games. James tie with Jack Eichel and Nick Schmaltz from Utah. Schmaltz has been unreal for that Utah team, which I did pick to make the playoffs this year. So if that happens. That one's looking good. I'm a pat on the back for that. Logan Cool. He's also been sensational. But that's a different discussion for a different day. I 100% agree with you on the second line. There was a sequence in the third period, Pat, where they were hemming the blues in their own zone for 60 to 90 seconds, just zipping the puck around, getting quality scoring chance after quality scoring chance. Justin Brzo had two of them. I thought he was going to score.

again, those three have such great chemistry right now. And it's been awesome to see Gino was all over the ice. And stay tuned for Wednesday, Pat, because he is in very serious consideration for the Warrior helmet for this past week, considering how great he is playing. I've loved the start from Gino. Sid is though right behind him, Pat, 14 points so far. I was another vintage Sydney Crosby game on Monday night. Yeah, the history aside, he was phenomenal again last night.

Gino's taking a lot of the oxygen and the headlines right now because he really has turned back the clock. But for the last week, Sidney Crosby has found his footing once again. And you knew it was going to happen. Yeah, he was producing despite a little bit of a slow start. I test wise, but you knew all of the really good games were going to start coming. And sure enough, they have. And it's funny. I really think that they saw all the projections and the predictions and all that from us knuckleheads to everyone else around the

NHL saying, oh, they're not going to make the playoffs. They're going to have a bad start and not be very good this year. And I think they're like, okay, bet. Let's see if we can prove you guys wrong. And so far through 10 games, they have done that, but it is still very early. As for the kids, I thought this was by far Harrison Brunick's worst game as an NHLer. Was out to lunch on the first school, as I said, has to get a stick down there and take away that cross-ice pass. But later in the game, Pat, as well, he comes out of the box.

The penguins just kill off the penalty that he took. he then tries to do too much in the offensive zone makes an ill-advised pinch. Blues go the other way in an odd man rush. Tristan Jari backs too far into his net there. I think he needs to challenge the shooter a little bit. But that's still a play that Brunich can't make. It was a very classic welcome to the NHL moment. Get away with that with NHL talent out there.

So definitely learning experience for him this entire game. I expect him to be better, especially if he does get back in the lineup tonight. This will be his eighth game. Ben Kindle, I agree with. you. I don't think he was, you know, as bad as Brunick, but he also wasn't good. I think it was also by far his worst NHL game. I expect him to respond as well. And Pat, if he plays tonight, this will be his ninth game. So one last big opportunity here for him to show the management staff that he belongs for full season. I'd like to think that they're not going to just be like, oh, he was bad for one

game. We're just going to send him back. I think that would just be really dumb on their part. So hopefully they've already made up their mind. But hey, in case they haven't, this is his last big opportunity if he draws back in the night, which he's so. I think they both should play tonight. It's a back to back situation.

You're playing a Philadelphia Flyers team. That's off to a fine start. We'll get into that in a little bit. But you want the kids playing in these rivalry games, in my opinion. You really do. You want them to experience that as part of their developmental process. And that means it's time for us to talk about it

because that's going to do it for this opening segment. When we come back, if you've got a visceral reaction to anything orange today, we totally understand it. It's the penguins. It's the flyers. One of the best rivalries in the NHL and sports, if you ask me. We'll get you set for that matchup when we come back right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor, and that is Monarch. Let's be honest, most of us can't name all of our financial accounts, let alone what they're even worth between 401k's savings, credit cards, investments, you name it. It's easy to lose track. And that means you could be leaving money on the table. That is why, as you guys know, I have

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So don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. Use code. Locked-on NHL at Monarch.com for 50% off your first year. That's Monarch.com code Locked-on NHL for half off your first year. Back here on the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp running right alongside Hunter Hodes. And we're getting to it early this season, Hunter. We got Penguins and Flyers tonight at 6 o'clock at, what is it, Xfinity Mobile Arena now.

I've called it like 15 different things this week. Wells Fargo, the Wachovia Center. I was going to say that it's the Wachovia Center always for me. Back when I was a kid, the Wells Fargo Center, I always used to call it as well. Either of those will work, Pat. Yeah. So they are in Philly. It's a back to back for the Penguins.

The Flyers, on the other hand, not a bad start to the year. They've been a little bit up and down. They got a huge win a couple of weeks ago over the Florida Panthers. They've also been able to take down the Minnesota Wild who are struggling, the Seattle Cracken, who have had a pretty solid start. And they're coming off a shootout victory over the New York Islanders. They're in the middle of a pretty, I don't want to say easy by strength of schedule, but just typical schedule.

They have only played a couple of road games to start this year. They have been solely at home. They are in the midst of a stretch right now where they're playing eight games and seven of them are at home, including tonight. So they have had a lot of home cooking, but this is a young, talented Flyers team. And it's obviously still early. We'll see how the season goes. But I also think that they have got the right coach in Rick Tocket.

We've talked about how he kind of has been overvalued by a lot of people. But I've also pushed back and said, look at a lot of the organizations he's coached in. they've been pretty dysfunctional. So he's got some stability there. It is a franchise with a plan, and they've got the young talent to go with it. This is going to be a challenge for the penguins tonight. Especially, you know,

of second half of back-to-back with travel, less than 24 hours after finishing a game here in Pittsburgh against the Blues, it's going to be fairly tough for them to win this game. But, you know, the Flyers, four, three and one, they're okay to start the year. the biggest thing is they're doing this without Matt de Michkov really being that productive.

He's had a really slow start to the season. One goal, three points, eight games. I know he's going to get going. Wouldn't be surprised if it starts tonight just because when he is on, he's one of the top young players in this league. He is so much fun to watchmen. I think he's going to be really annoying to play against for a long time. Sean Couturier, who is the ageless wonder.

I mean, he's been on the flyers since I was in late middle school, early high school. He's off to a great start, two goals, eight points and eight games. And how about Trevor Zegris, Pat? The change of scenery from him from the ducks to the flyers is really paying off so far. He's also at a point per game, two goals, eight points and eight games to open the season. His playmaking ability, his vision, that's really the big thing to look after for tonight. That's when he's at his best, he is zipping the puck around, finding open players when they're not really open. He's had a really nice start to the season so far. Yeah, that's a big get for the Flyers. considering how much young talent they have.

Trevor Zegris, I don't think he is as good as we once believed he would be, but he is still a very good NHL player and is still fairly young. So getting into a new organization that is making a lot of the right moves, painful as it is for me to say, as a Penguins fan, I don't want the Flyers to do well. I want them to do poorly. But they clearly have a good plan in place. They're operating it pretty well.

And Zegras fits right into that. So that is a huge get for them. And here's something else that I am very never used to saying. They're getting some good goal tending to start the year. Dan Vladar has started five games, three and two record, but he's got a 932 save percentage and a 1.81 goals against average. So this is again a Flyers team that the record doesn't quite show it right. now with four, three, and one, but there is talent there, and this is a team that is on the rise

in the Eastern Conference. Dan Wadar, aka Darth Vader, as I like to call him, at least, but yes, I agree. He's been very good. I'm curious to see how long this lasts, to be honest. I don't know if it's really going to last the full season, but right now he's been very good. And the things are going to have to deal with that tonight. Also, a couple lineup notes, Pat, Archer Shilovs. He should be starting in this one second half of back-to-back as they continue the goalie rotation. And Owen Pickering has been recalled from Wilkesbury. Caleb Jones, of course, is out for the next six to eight weeks. Penguins had an extra spot because Ricardo Raquel was placed on IR.

Of course, they brought up the equivalent. But very well-deserved call-up, by the way, from Pickering. He's been lighting it up, excuse me, down in Wilkesbury. And I'm curious to see if he does play tonight. And potentially he's on the third pair with Harrison Brunit. appearing they were really experimenting with during training camp and the preseason. I thought those two looked really good together in the reps that they got. And if they play them together tonight, I'd be all for it.

Clifton hasn't really done enough to take a full-time spot on that pair, even with Jones healthy. I'd say the same for Matt Dumba, Pat, even on Monday night, I don't really think Dumba was that good. So if you want to take him out and put Pickering in there with Brunick, let's do it. Like with the way Ryan Shea is playing right now, don't think you can take him away from Chris LaTang. He was once again, I thought, very good. Parker Watherspoon with Eric Carlson has been a sensational top pairing. You're not going to move that pairing around.

If there's a move to be made, I think it's Pickering coming in for Dumbah tonight. And I think I would want to see him and Brunich on the third pair. Yeah, I know. It's two kids on the third pair. Some people will be spooked by it. But you can't be more spooked than what we saw from Clifton and Dumbah together against Columbus. So come on, man. I at least, I want to see it, my friend. would too and I know that kind of goes against what I said yesterday with Dumba about wanting to get him some more consistency. And while I still stand behind that, it does kind of go in conflict with what we've seen from Dubis in the coaching staff and management is that they are letting the players who are playing well continue to play and giving them opportunities. And while I want to see Dumba get more consistency and more games under his belt, if you are, calling up pickering. You want to see Brunich have a bounce back. Those two appeared to be able to play

really well together. So why not give it a shot and see what they can do together in an NHL game? And a game that for the Penguins tonight, they have to do a lot of what they did in the second and third period against the Blues. They have to be very disciplined defensively. They have to stick to their structure because this is a fast, young, talented Flyers team. And if they start trying to play hero puck or starting to improvise, they will regret it because there is talent and there is speed on this Flyers team. And you cannot give a roster like that, that kind of opening. Got to keep things simple,

especially what we saw in the second and third period. It's against the blues where the penguins did a great job, clearing the net front, keeping the things, everything, excuse me, to the outside. They only allowed a combined two high danger chances at five on five last night, Pat, in the final 40 minutes. keep things simple, keep playing lockdown defense like you did. It's going to be more of a challenge because you're on the second half of

back-to-back with travel. But we saw the blueprint in the final 40 minutes against the blues. We saw it against the Canucks. We saw it in the first game against the Rangers. You bring that here defensively, you'll have a good shot at winning this game, especially with Archer. She loves the way that he's playing. Cindy Crosby, he loves to torch the flyers.

He's on a role right now. I will always want to see that. I've got him allkin, he's also towards the flyers. There's a lot throughout his career as well. Really want to see the second line keep cooking tonight. And also another key, I want to see the third line bounce back. I thought Billy Coivinen was the best player on that line on Monday. And that's not exactly a high bar just because I thought Novak wasn't as good as he was for the last few games.

I thought Kendall wasn't really good either. But I did think Coivinen was the best of those three. He was winning loose puck battles, creating some turnovers, doing well going from defense to offense as a forward in his own zone. But I want to see that third line cook a little bit more. Yeah, that would be really nice. And I do think that there is opportunity for them. They have showed, they showed it in the preseason that they've got some chemistry there.

That is Kindle and Coivinen. So I want to see that start to really pick up tonight. And it needs to be another big game for Archer Sheelabs because, again, we can credit the structure of the penguins so far that's really been a big help for the goaltending. but it needs to be another night where they play well defensively. They keep the structure in place. They give Shilov a chance. But also when you know it's going to happen because it's the NHL, you're going to have some breakdowns.

The other team is going to get their chances. Shilov needs to keep doing what he's been doing in making the saves he needs to make to keep this team in the hunt. So big one tonight. And if you are a true sicko like the two of us, all 32 teams in action tonight. ESPN is hosting the Frozen Frenzy. It's kind of their version of NFL Red Zone.

You can tune into that, get looks at every game. Starts though at 6 o'clock with the penguins and the flyers. It would be nice that the NHL wanted to market this a little bit more, by the way. I barely even seen any marketing with it. I know the World Series tonight, but come on, man. But, you know, it's the NHL.

They only market to hockey fans. because, you know, they don't want to grow. But that's a whole different discussion for a different day. But again, penguins, flyers, 6 o'clock in Philly. You can catch the game on ESPN. And of course, Hunter and I will be back on Wednesday to recap this one tonight. But we're not done yet, folks. We promised you something earlier this week.

And it's time for us to fulfill that promise. The kids on the farm, oh boy, they are tearing it up. A Wilkes-Berry Scranton update is coming. way right after this. We've got one more sponsor to tell you about, though, and that is Fandul. The NBA is back and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or you want to ride the hot hand,

Fandul has live bets on everything from who will score next to fourth quarter comebacks. Plus, you can even combine your live bets into a same game parlay for a shot at a bigger payout. It keeps every game exciting, especially when your team is making that late game push. Right now, Fandle is giving new customers a $300 in bonus bets offer when your first $5 bet wins. So head to Fandle.com to sign up and play your game with Fandul, an official sports betting partner of the NBA. Back here on the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins, Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter

Hodes and the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins Hunter. We might as well just call them the Wagon Berry Scranton penguins because they are a friggin wagon in the HL right now, 7 and 0 in a goal differential of plus 18. Let's start with the guy everybody wants to talk about the goaltender, the one that everybody thinks is the goaltender of the future. and he is doing nothing to dispel that talk because he is 5 in 0 with a 949 save percentage. In those five games, he has one shutout and he has surrendered seven goals. Sergei Murashov is just unfair.

Pat, this is what we want him to do, though, this season. We want him to go down there, get a full starters workload, and absolutely light it up. And so far, he has been doing all of that. He just also was named AHL Player of the Week because he keeps making all of these dazzling saves. He's completely disgusting in net, not giving any quarter to any shooter that is firing a puck on him. And he's been unbelievable for Wilkesbury. And I want him to keep this up, assuming that he does, and he has a fantastic full season down there,

there is a legit chance that he could be the Penguins number one netminder by the start of the 26-27 season, which will be huge because if he pans out the way we hope he can in the NHL, I'm saying hope because goaltending is very voodoo, as you know, as everyone that listens slash watches the show knows, but assuming he pans out the way that we think he will, he could potentially be a franchise goaltending, for this team.

I'm not trying to say that, oh, yeah, he's definitely going to be. I'm saying there's that potential with the way that he keeps dominating every level of hockey that he plays at. He keeps being so calm and composed each time he's in net. He's playing aggressive, challenging shooters. His side-to-side movement is absolutely elite. When you look into some of the highlight, some of the tape from these games, he just makes it look so freaking easy every time he has to make a dazzling save or even just a routine save.

It was everything he was doing at training camp in the preseason, except it's on steroids. He's been awesome for Wilkesbury. I can't say enough. And the biggest thing for him is that not only is he really good positionally, he is incredibly athletic. So even when he finds himself potentially out of position or in a scrambly, scramble or a rebound and tip drill. He is able to make up for it with some unbelievable athleticism.

He is a goalie that never looks like he is truly beat. Now, it's pro hockey. There are going to be moments when he does get beat and he does get beat clean. But he is a goalie who anytime you have him in net, you have got a really, really good chance to win. 100%. And even outside of Neuroshov, Pat, We do have to shout out some of the other top players who've been performing really well.

I will especially give a shout out to Danton Hinen. I'm sure that assignment to Wilkesbury was not easy for him, considering he's been in the NHL for basically his entire career. But he's been lighting it up so far, four goals, 12 points, and seven games. He's been awesome. Tristan Brose has four goals, six points, and seven games. You want him to play really well because I think he's going to earn a call up. He was really close to making this team out of camp in the preseason.

And so far, he's been. really good down there. Atley Calvert also has four goals in six games. He's been really good. Avery Hayes is almost at a point per game so far. Shout out Sam Poulin. He's playing well down there. We already talked about Billy Coivinen.

I'll even say Ryan Graves has a goal in five points in seven games. I'm sure the assignment to Woke's story was probably not easy for him since he's been in the NHL for a long time as well, just like Dan Hinen. But to his credit, he's also playing well down there. Owen Pickedoring. Stat wise, four points in seven games. You know, from the highlights that I saw, he was really starting to clean up some things defensively. He made a play at the blue light to really set up Billy Coy, but it's overtime winner this past weekend.

Really nice job from Pickering there. He very much deserved a call up after his start. So there's a lot of really good pieces down there that are making this team hum. And assuming Rucker McGority is going to get back in a couple of weeks, Kyle Dubis sent on the GM show pad that he is going to go down to Wilkesbury at least to start. that's going to be another big reinforcement for them. I assume he's going to be up here at some point this season, but he is going to start on Wilkesbury just to get his bearings back,

and that's the right call to me. I got to say this too, and I don't want to overstate this. I don't want it to sound like I'm giving way too many flowers for someone when we still have a long way to go. But you brought up the fact that Heinen and Graves are playing pretty well in the HAL, which we want them to do. they should do because they are long-time NHL players. So going to the AHL, they should be doing well.

But it shows the strength of the organization at this point that those demotions for those two had to sting because they have been in the NHL for a long time. It would have been very easy for them to pack it in, for them to pout, for them to say, I'm better than this. I shouldn't be here into just. coast and they have not done that they have both gone down there bought fully in and they have put together good performances and that's a credit to the organization because it shows that there is buy in there is belief in what this organization is doing right now so they deserve the credit for

that here's the other thing hunter if you have the money to buy a single game to watch for the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins, your game to watch is Wednesday night because it is a big fight feel in Wilkes Bear. They will be playing the other undefeated team, the Providence Bruins who are right behind them at 6 and 0. So somebody on Wednesday night is going to have to take an L and it is the two top teams in the HL to start the year. So that is going to be a game to keep an eye on, and that one's going to be a lot of fun. But unless you've got anything to add Hunter, the baby penguins, man, you love to see this when there's a road for these young players to get up to the

NHL. They are going to perform at the AHL level, and they certainly are doing it. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins. Penguins and Flyers tonight. Hunter and I are going to be back on Wednesday with a brand new episode, recapping that game, as well. as handing out our warrior helmet for MVP of the last week. So make sure you join us for that.

But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Wednesday.