Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins look to get their 5th straight win tonight against the Islanders!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Today on Locked-on Penguins, the Penguins will look to make it five in a row with the New York Islanders in town. Mike Sullivan pushes back on a narrative that a lot of us have discussed over the years. And once again, the Penguins are going international. Hunter and I are going to talk about all that and more right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Welcome, welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at synonym for wet.

Starting point is 00:00:45 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 L0 underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts, well as the Roku channel and YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, go ahead and hit that notification button. That way, you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes.

Starting point is 00:01:17 Before we dive in today, today's episode is brought to you by Game Time. Download the app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off of your first purchase. Against all logic and reason, Hunter, the penguins could win five games in a row. if they can squeak out of victory tonight against a team that both recently and historically has been a thorn in this franchise's side. That is the New York Islanders. And I said it to you before we hit record, these are two mediocre teams staring one another in the mirror because you pull up the

Starting point is 00:01:56 standings and you look at the New York Islanders. They have played 66 games to the Penguin 69. Nice. They have all of. of two more points than the penguins they have 68 to the penguins 66. The penguins, their goal differential, it's pretty bad. It's minus 48. The Islanders being the Islanders, it's minus 17.

Starting point is 00:02:17 The New York Islander's home record is 16, 13, and 3. The Penguins is 17, 13, and 5. On the road, the penguins are 11, 18, and 5. The Islanders are 14, 15, and 5. So these are two teams who are just deeply mediocre going head to head at PPG. Paints Arena tonight. But the thing I want to start with is this is once again, one of the most Islanders teams to ever Islander. You pull up their team stats and pretty much nobody has more than 50 points. They have exactly three goal scores who have scored 20 or more goals.

Starting point is 00:02:57 And the biggest thing for me is they will be without some big names tonight. Semyon Varlamov on IR, so is Matthew Barzal. Adam Boquist is day to day and Adam Pelich also day to day. So those are some key contributors they'll be without. Just like the penguins, however, they have done pretty well in their last 10 and identical 5, 4, and 1. So two teams kind of going through the same thing. The Islanders kind of feel like they want to get into the playoffs, the penguins. That ship has kind of sailed.

Starting point is 00:03:30 but at the end of the day, we talked about it with Jesse yesterday. It's not the worst thing if this team plays some solid hockey down the stretch. So it would be nice for them to get a win tonight against the Islanders. Especially against one of your biggest rivals, a team that you're right, every bad thing that has happened in this franchise, you can basically be like, oh, yeah, it was the Islander's fault. Like, literally, man, like it's been that crazy with what the Islanders have done historically. And as you said recently to do this franchise,

Starting point is 00:04:00 especially in the playoffs. So yeah, you can play a little bit of spoiler tonight. The Islanders, though, they're not very good people. This is a poor hockey team. I'm not going to sit here and say, you know, there are Chicago or San Jose, but they're still not very good. They're without Matt Barzel for at least the rest of the regular season.

Starting point is 00:04:15 If not the playoffs, we'll have to see it, even if they get in because right now, I don't think they're going to make the playoffs. But Pat, you also forgot to mention one name that is also not the lineup tonight. And that is Penguin Killer Brock Nelson. Thank the maker that he is not on the, Islanders anymore. He has 21 goals in 40 points against the penguins in his career. 40 points in 46 games against them. Goodbye. You won't be missed. I don't want to see you score any more

Starting point is 00:04:42 goals against the penguins. See you. You're out of here. But I will say they still have Andersly in the lineup who is also very much a penguin's killer. He is very tough to move out of the net front. You see that on display in all three games this year against the islanders. The penguins have had a lot of trouble with him. And that's been historically speaking as well. Like they always have trouble with him. As you said, Matt Barzell, I think their biggest game breaker, he's not playing in this one.

Starting point is 00:05:11 That's also a big loss. But the thing with the Islanders is they're not the Barry Trots Islanders anymore. They're a little bit more offensive, but they're still a bit stingy to play against. You're still going to have to work for your offense a little bit. It's not as much as the Barry Trott stays, but you still have to. work for your offense. And then once you work for that offense, oh yeah, they have Ilya Sorokin, Annette, who when he's on his game is one of the best goaltenders on the planet. You know, this year, it hasn't been as good greater recent years, you know, 25 and 20 and 5.

Starting point is 00:05:42 He's played 50 games this year. 9-07s, 8%, it's 2.74 goals against average. They're really going to be riding him for a lot of starts down the stretch here as they try and make their push to the playoffs. They actually just had a really nice win over the Panthers. They were out playing them in that game a couple days ago. They were down to nothing in the third period, and they just splits them in that period. It was a really nice comfort behind wind for the islanders. But still, this is a team that can be had.

Starting point is 00:06:09 They are not very good this year. Very similar, obviously, in the standings to the Penguins. And as we've said these last few games, I still want to keep seeing the Penguins have some fun, showing some hard. I want to see the big guns keep producing, Siddy Crosby, getting closer to breaking that point per game record that he and Wayne Gretzky have.

Starting point is 00:06:26 as 19 in a row. That's really what I'm looking for tonight. And I want to see how hard they'll be, they'll want to work for their offense against this very stingy islanders team. If Pellick does not play, he's one of their best defensemen. He's by far their best defense of.

Starting point is 00:06:41 And I think when you stack all them up, Noah Dobson, especially with the offense that he can produce, is probably a little bit better to me. But Pellick, he is so responsible in his own zone. He is really good at shutting things down. So if he does not go tonight, Pat, that's a pretty big loss. So those are just a few of the things I'm looking for.

Starting point is 00:06:59 And also, of course, Sydney Crosby loves to torch the Islanders throughout his career. He has scored some absolutely highlight real goals against the team that is known for not allowing those kind of goals. So we'll love to see that tonight. The one thing, I know it kind of goes without saying, but just for the good of the order, I'm going to say it. This is not going to be like some of the teams that the Penguins have played over the last couple weeks. It's not going to be like Toronto, Colorado, Vegas, or even New Jersey where this isn't going to be a team where we're going to say, hey, you can't get caught in a track meet. This is a game where patience is going to be required. This is a team.

Starting point is 00:07:39 We know this as well as anybody else as Penguins fans with the battles that they have had with the New York Islanders over the past probably decade. This team is a boa constrictor. If you allow them to get a lead, if you allow them to get ahead, they are just going to wrap you up and put you to sleep because that is just what they have always done. Sure, it's not the Barry Trots Islanders anymore where they play a very boring, very bland form of hockey, but it's still a team that plays a very responsible brand of hockey. They don't take a lot of risks.

Starting point is 00:08:16 They don't play with a lot of speed. They take what the game gives them. and it's a boring style, but it's a tried and true style. And the thing I always say when it comes to teams like this is, yeah, us as Penguins fans who have been blessed with some of the most high octane teams in the history of the game, you either want that or you want to win. And it's boring hockey when you play against it,

Starting point is 00:08:44 but if it's your team and you're winning, you're perfectly fine with it. So for the penguins tonight, got to be ready for that. The other thing, Tristan Jari gets the nod tonight. That was confirmed this morning, and it will be his fifth start in a row. For me, I want to see him continue to play well. I know that everybody's making their jokes that, oh, he's prime LeBron now that the season's pretty much cooked. But we know what it could mean for this franchise moving forward if Tristan Jari continues to play well.

Starting point is 00:09:16 Maybe you can convince another team that he's worth taking a chance on in the off season. You can get something back, maybe not a lot. But at the very least, the value is to get his contract off of the books. At the same time, good for competition as well. We talked for a long time yesterday with Jesse Marshall about the depth of goaltending prospects in the penguin system. If Tristan Jari can somehow refine his game down the stretch and over the offseason and in the next, season, suddenly you've got a bunch of goaltenders who are battling for what is essentially one spot. So I think really the worst outcome is him regressing back to what he was.

Starting point is 00:09:58 The best outcome is him figuring it out. And especially against a team that he has historically struggled against me, Pat, we don't need to go back too far to see how bad he played against the Islanders in the playoffs. And even since then, some of the last few starts just hasn't been the greatest for him against the Islanders. So I want to see him. try and buck that trend tonight. Also one more thing, Penguins still have a top 10 power play. Islanders penalty kill, Pat, 31st in the league. Pretty big special team is vantage in that department if you get some power plays tonight. You should be expected to score because the Islanders penalty kill. It's not aggressive. They play very far back. They give you a lot of shooting lanes.

Starting point is 00:10:35 They're really not, again, not even close to the devil's power kill that you saw over the weekend, which is very good. Same thing with Carolina, Dallas, all that stuff. Teddy here agrees with that as well because she's wanting about it. But yeah, those are a couple more things I wanted to say before we get to the second segment. Yeah, one last thing. I just wanted to mention before we go to break real quick. Nothing we got to talk about.

Starting point is 00:10:55 Just something to keep an eye on tonight. Sidney Crosby, along with the point per game record, is actually on milestone watch once again tonight after getting an assist against the devils. That tied him with another Wayne Gretzky record or milestone, I should say. He has 1,669 points with a single franchise. in NHL history. That's fourth most. Any point he gets from now on, as soon as he gets that next point, it moves him into sole possession of that spot above Wayne Gretzky. So it would be a huge, huge milestone point for Sidney Crosby, should he get it tonight

Starting point is 00:11:33 or sometime in the coming weeks. But that is going to do it for our opening segment. When we return, our good pal Josh Yo, he had a nice little interview and sit down with head coach Mike Sullivan. And while there wasn't a whole lot to discern from it, there was one narrative that Mike Sullivan felt the need to push back on Hunter and I will talk about that when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about a couple of sponsors, starting with Upwork. Scaling your business requires the right expertise at the right time. With Upwork, you can find specialized freelancers in marketing, development, design, and more experts ready to help you take your business to the next level. Upwork gives

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Starting point is 00:13:27 I love looking at that to make sure I'm not hit with any of those annoying fees at checkout. That way I know exactly what I'm going to pay for the tickets that I'm getting. So take the guesswork out of buying tickets with GameTime picks. Download the GameTime app, create an account, and use code locked on NHL for $20 off your first purchase. purchase. Terms apply. Again, create an account and redeem code L-O-C-K-E-D-O-N-H-L for $20 off. Download game time today. What time is it? It's game time. All right, welcome back to the Tuesday edition. I'm Patrick Damp alongside Hunter Hodeys and his pup who just seems to really want to be a part of this episode. And who doesn't love having

Starting point is 00:14:08 a good dog as you say that, they just left and they're just whining while my mic is on mute the entire time while you're doing your two wonderful ad reads there. They want something. I don't know what's going on. They'll be all right though. They're excited for tonight's game. Meanwhile, my dog's just downstairs sleeping on the couch. Appreciate that from you, Penny. But let's get into something we talked about right before we sent it to break. And as I said, Yo, he spoke with Mike Sullivan in a nice little quick sit down that went across all things. His loyalty to the penguins, his commitment to the franchise, him wanting to be the guy who is here once this team turns the corner and is once again a good team. And one thing that got brought up, we've talked about it on this show.

Starting point is 00:14:55 You've undoubtedly his fans talked about it throughout Mike Sullivan's tenure. And it's the fact that there's a narrative that he does not like to play younger players. And before we dive into it, I do want to read his quote. And he said, of course I hear it. I'm not stupid. I would argue against it. The players I put on the ice are the guys I think that are going to give us the best chance to win. That's it.

Starting point is 00:15:22 I don't care how old they are. Look back at our two Stanley Cup teams. There were five guys called up from Wilkes bear on those teams and nobody knew who they were. Connor Sherry played with Sidney Crosby and nobody knew who Connor Sherry was. Don't tell me I'm not willing to put out young guys in prominent roles. I'm absolutely willing to put them in prominent roles, but they have to be effective and they've got to be ready. So I kind of go back and forth on this Hunter

Starting point is 00:15:48 because I've brought this up on the show before. Because of where this franchise has been for the last, I don't want to say 20 years because we can't go all the way back to the start of this era with Sidney Crosby because those guys were 18, 19, 20 years old, but they were also franchise players. I also look at it this way. The team has been in such a win now mode to where not only are they selling off prospects,

Starting point is 00:16:15 they're selling off draft picks. They were picking low in the draft. They were picking very infrequently throughout several drafts where they would have two, maybe three picks the whole entire draft. And it's easy for us to see a player get picked and think, okay, this is our guy. They drafted him. He's going to be great.

Starting point is 00:16:35 We look at a lot of the young guys outside of especially 1617 when he brought up Connor Sherry, you bring up Brian Rust, Tom Koonockle, Scott Wilson, Jake Gensel, guys like that. Those guys turned out to be for the most part solid NHL players. They were ready to play in the NHL. You look at the last five or so years, a lot of the young guys who have come up, we've kind of artificially inflated. we've been like, well, he's a young guy. He just has not given him a chance. He's not giving him a chance.

Starting point is 00:17:07 And then you look at their time in the NHL and their time in the H. And it's like, well, he's just not very good. The Penguins really haven't had, at least not recently, a lot of good young players to play. So I kind of get where Sullivan's coming from. I get it to a little bit of an extent. Though I just want to see him put this more into practice. Like, yeah, it's great that you're saying this to Josh. But, you know, it's taking him a wild.

Starting point is 00:17:34 put Tomasino with Evgeny Malkin, which you and I both have wanted to see more of a full-time basis just because of how fun he's been to watch this year. Yeah, it's nice that he's playing Connor Dewar a bit now, even though he had bad underlines in Toronto. You know, he's being rewarded here in Pittsburgh. Don't think he's going to keep up that level of production, by the way, but it's at least a start, you know, playing him in a good role in the bottom six. It took forever path for him to play Kloyachana this year. You know, he just kept playing the same defenseman that we kind of know who... They are, like, for example, you know, Ryan

Starting point is 00:18:05 Jay before he got hurt, you know, P.O. Joseph before he got hurt, et cetera, it just took forever, it took forever, excuse me, for him to play, so like that. And now, underlying numbers are pretty good. You know, yeah, it's nice that he put Connor Timmons in the lineup right away. Kind of had no choice, but still, I think when everyone healthy, I'm still curious to see if Timmons would be in the lineup. I mean, I would do it every single time, considering how good he's been as of late.

Starting point is 00:18:27 But still, like, it just, it's sometimes taking him a bit longer to put in some of these younger players where it should be more of a quicker process. Again, that's just me, though. Yeah. And I also, I think coming up in the next couple of years, he's not going to have much of a choice because this team is fully committed to a youth movement. The thing that I would push back on Sullivan about is kind of what you were starting to say there is that I would like him to have a longer leash for some of these younger guys.

Starting point is 00:19:02 Now, obviously, this is fully with hindsight because now the team's committed to getting younger, to having a youth movement, to getting younger prospects and even younger NHL-ready talent. So he's not going to have much of a choice. But in the previous couple of seasons, you could see it was one mistake. The guy gets yanked. He gets benched. He gets put in the press box. But I still keep coming back to there was a lot of overinflation of value.

Starting point is 00:19:32 of these players. Were they disasters? No. But were they going to be every night big time? I don't even want to say big time. Were they going to be every night contributors? Probably not. He just needs to do a better job of giving them some runway, I think.

Starting point is 00:19:47 It can't be one or two games. Oh, you make a mistake, Pat? Oh, you're back in the press box. Like that's, what is a young player learning from that? Oh, if I make one mistake, I'm coming out of the lineup. Like, that's not going to work, especially for next season, if he's still the head coach. and by all indications it looks like as of right now, he's going to be the head coach going into next season.

Starting point is 00:20:07 It feels like to me his seat is cool. My opinion of that is that I would disagree. I think his seat, excuse me, should be very hot right now, but that's, looks like that's not how Kyle Dubas and the ownership see it. That's, okay, that's their call. But that stuff that I just mentioned is not going to fly next season when someone like Rucker McGority is basically going to be ready.

Starting point is 00:20:28 Same with the late coiffin. We have to see about Ponomerov. Tristan Brose, is Harrison Brunick going to be ready next season? Is a player that they potentially select in the top 10 get a push for a roster spot? Again, outside of the top four, it's unlikely that that player will be ready, but you still have to at least consider it even though, again, maybe 15, 20% chance that player will be ready.

Starting point is 00:20:49 But still, you need to be able to be prepared to give a lot of these players reps, especially some of these kids in Wilkesbury, who are, in my opinion, are going to be ready next season. That's for sure. And here's the thing that I don't want to completely disagree with what you're saying about him not being on the hot seat anymore. Because I think the organizational shift to what they're doing now keeps him safe. Because if they were still pushing for championships, yeah, you probably got to get rid of them. But between seeing what this team's core players of Crosby, Malkin, Le Tang, and I'm going to put Brian Rust in that bucket as well say about him,

Starting point is 00:21:36 I think with the idea that you want to push for this youth movement, your four biggest contributors and leaders are locked in and like this guy and believe in this guy. And with how hard these guys are still playing, I think it's a testament to how they feel about him as a coach, because let's be honest, we have seen this happen multiple times, especially under the big three, whether it was Eddie O, whether it was Michael Tarian, Dan Bilesma, Mike Johnston. You could see it near the end of their ten years.

Starting point is 00:22:10 These guys just did not believe in that coach anymore. They may have liked Dan Bilesma. It seemed like he was a very likable person and a very good dude. But you could kind of tell by the end of his tenure, the players were like, all right, what he's doing is no longer working. no longer resonating. We got to make a change here. That is the complete opposite of where we are now. All of these guys are deeply going to bat for Mike Sullivan.

Starting point is 00:22:36 It's not like, it's not cliche. Like, oh, he's a great head coach. We won with him and he's, he's a good dude. Like these guys go out of their way to talk about how good of a coach he is. So if you pair that with you're going to bring up some of these younger guys and you're going to have them get mentored by Crosby, by Malkin, by Latang, by Brian Rust, if they're in lockstep with the coach,

Starting point is 00:23:00 it's going to be easier for those younger guys to come up and believe in what Mike Sullivan wants to do. So if they were still in a point in the organization where, hey, they're pushing for a championship. They need to make the playoffs. They need to go on a deep run. And the expectation is a Stanley Cup, I would be much closer to,

Starting point is 00:23:20 okay, you got to go find a new coach. But given what they're stated, goals are now, maybe not stated, but you can tell this is what their goals are, I think it's fine to hold on to him for now. I get what you're coming from. It's just so unprecedented when you see an NHL head coach last for this long without any playoff success. I mean, again, I last, they haven't won a playoff series, Pat, in almost seven years at this rate. So while I get what you're saying, and while I understand that Crosby has very much gone to back for him, he has said that he doesn't want to play for another coach.

Starting point is 00:23:53 I think the same can be sent for Evianney Malkin. Chris Lattang very much defends him. You know, Brian Russell was defending him in that article. It would still be at least, you know, I'm curious to see what they would look like with a fresh voice at some point. I don't think we're going to get it right now. I don't, especially going into next season.

Starting point is 00:24:10 Again, I think his seat is very cool. But over the last year, year and a half, I've kind of wondered, okay, what would they look like with a fresh new voice? Like, would they have a better record? you know, would they be better defensively, all that stuff? I've at least pondered that thought quite a few times. So again, I understand the piece that Josh wrote. It was very good.

Starting point is 00:24:31 I understand what Sullivan said. But again, it goes back to what I said a few seconds ago. You need to put this into practice a lot more, especially going to the next season where there's going to be a lot of new faces and especially young faces on this team. There's not getting there. I think that'll be, I don't want to say final test, but that'll be kind of when we really,

Starting point is 00:24:50 find out how does FSG and Kyle Dubus feel about Mike Sullivan when he's really going to have no choice but to play the younger players. And if that runway isn't given, we might start seeing the temperature increase a little bit on that seat. But that is going to do it for our middle segment. When we come back, the penguins once again, even after all these years, are going international. and I are going to talk about that when we come back right after this. The NCAA tournament is here, and so is the Brackett Breakdown. Locked-on Podcast Network and Amazon Fire TV channels are teaming up to deliver NCAA tournament coverage like never before.

Starting point is 00:25:38 Watch Studio shows featuring former players and Lockdown's local experts as they guide you through every upset, buzzer-beater, and bracket matchup. Stream it all for free on Amazon Fire TV channels. Search Bracket Breakdown to see it all for free. It's your team every day. All right, we're back here on the Tuesday. I almost said Thursday. This week is not moving that quickly, but whatever.

Starting point is 00:26:03 I'm Patrick Damp alongside Hunter Hodes. And it got announced this morning that the Penguins will be part of the NHL's 2025 global series when they will play two games in Stockholm, Sweden, against the Nashville Predators at Avichy Arena. And this is very funny to me and to you. you, Hunter, because what have we been talking about all season long and even post-trade deadline? The penguins are probably going to this summer or some point next season, find the time to trade their two biggest names from Sweden in Eric Carlson and Ricard Raquel.

Starting point is 00:26:48 And that is kind of the selling point of the announcement that the penguins are going to Sweden that Eric Carlson and Ricard Raquel are returning home for an NHL game with the Penguins. But as I said to you this morning via text message, I don't think it's really going to modify the Penguins' plans. I don't think that they're going to suddenly change course because the NHL tells them, hey, you're going to play two games in Sweden next season. Plus, the games are on November 14th and November 16th. very early in the season. It's not like that they're going to play these games in, say, February

Starting point is 00:27:31 2026 and suddenly they're going to be without the two Swedes. I do think it probably does delay it a little bit. There's probably going to be a bit of an understanding between the NHL and the Penguins of, hey, listen, unless you get a king's ransom for both, at least hold off on making the trade until you guys get back state side. Number one, this is awesome. This is going to grow the game so much more, especially in Sweden. There are plenty of Penguins fans over there. Heck, Pat, you and I both know we have European-based listeners. For everyone out there that's listening in Europe to this podcast, if you have an opportunity to go there and see the team, please do it. Like, it's going to be an unbelievable experience in mid-November. And as for the second part, I can't lie, man. I laughed at

Starting point is 00:28:21 Crosby's quote here where he said, I know Raquel spent time in the off season there. Carlson's pretty aware of the good spots in Stockholm. So they'll be great host. It's been a great while since I've been back. So I'm excited about that. We're the right guys to show us around. There's no doubt. Well, Sid, are you with the right guys to show you around?

Starting point is 00:28:37 Because, hey, who knows what's going to happen this off season? Will they get dealt? Will they stay going in the next season? Who knows? My thing is, I just don't want these games to kind of alter their original thinking. I think they're still going to have their same thoughts on these. two players heading into the offseason no matter what. Again, the thought did come in my mind in my mind, though, that like, oh, you announced

Starting point is 00:29:00 this, you have Raquel and Carlson on those posters. What's going to look like if you trade one, if not both those players before next season? So I'm sorry, guys, I had to point it out. I really did. Well, on the other hand, the last time the Pittsburgh Penguins were part of the NHL's global series and the last time they played in Sweden was the 2008-2009 season when they played a NHL Premier Series game against the Ottawa Senators in Stockholm. What happened at the end of that season, Hunter?

Starting point is 00:29:40 So what you're saying is they're going to win the Stanley Cup again next season at the very end of the year. I'm not saying that. I mean, it sure sounds like it guys that Pat is saying now that they're doing this series, no matter who's on the team, they're going to win the Stanley Cup next season. But hey, at the end of the day, I have all for this. These games are going to be sold out right around my 28th birthday, which is pretty cool. And I'm excited for it.

Starting point is 00:30:04 I love these series. I love putting on these games when I can each year when the NHL does its global series during each regular season. This is going to be great. Again, time will tell. Who's to say? Well, in that case, whether it's good with Raquel or Carlson. Well, in that case, Hunter, since it is close to your birthday, I'd say, go ahead and get that passport renewed and take a little birthday trip over to Sweden and do some reporting on the ground for us from the NHL Global Series. Hey, it's awfully tempting. I'm doing a very rare in-season trip in two weeks because my girlfriend got a free trip to Puta Kana for work because she finished top three in her division for last year.

Starting point is 00:30:42 So podcast is going international in two weeks for bringing the laptop. Maybe I'll have a beverage in my hand outside when I record with Pat or some of the. like that, but don't get me wrong. We'll have to see if I go over to Sweden for that as like a little birthday trip. But hey, podcast is definitely going international in two weeks. So one last time, it's the penguins and the predators from Avichi Arena on November 14th and 16th, 2025 in Stockholm, Sweden. We will obviously be very excited for that because like Hunter said, it's really cool to see

Starting point is 00:31:13 the NHL still doing these initiatives. It's going to grow the game globally. We know that they're finally. committed to getting back to the Olympics as well as putting on international hockey, which is only good for the sport as a whole. But that is going to do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back tomorrow with a new episode, recapping the game tonight against the Islanders as well as breaking down any other news that might happen between now and then. But for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always for tuning in.

Starting point is 00:31:47 we will be back on Wednesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins look to get their 5th straight win tonight against the Islanders!

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