Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins looking to end their two-game losing streak TONIGHT!

Episode Date: November 26, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins will look to break their two-game losing skid tonight when they take on the Buffalo Sabres in the annual Thanksgiving Eve game. Hunter and Patrick begin the show by giving you a look at tonight's opponent, the Sabres (2:00). Despite their struggles for a long time, they come to Pittsburgh on a bit of a heater, and the Penguins can't take them lightly. As the Penguins prepare for the game, they'll be getting some lineup changes, including the return of Tristan Jarry and Ville Koivunen (12:45). They will also be without Ben Kindel, and Hunter and Patrick give their thoughts on all of that. Finally, they give out their warrior helmet for Warrior Helmet Wednesday (22:55).Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.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 Penguins will look to get back in the win column tonight against the Buffalo Sabres, and Pat and I are going to preview that game for you guys right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp.

You can follow him on all social media platforms at Sindenfrewette. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can follow the show's Instagram at Lockdown, underscore 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, today's episode is bought to you by Fandool. down the Fandau app right now by visiting Fandle.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Pat, we picked a great time to start recording this because Arsenal just took a 1-0

lead over Bayer Munich in the Champions League group stage game today. So good vibes for my fellow Arsenal fans out there. Pat, if you want to make the 1-0 joke, you can, it's literally the same thing. It's okay, but it's a big game today. Arsenal is trying to keep their undefeated record in group stage play in the Champions League going. So anyway, enough about my favorite soccer team. Let's get to the main event. Penguin Sabers comes your way tonight. 7 o'clock Eastern time from PBG paints arena. The Penguins will look to end their two-game losing streak and start banking points. Pat and I have talked a lot about that this week where it's put up our shut up time. You woke up today out of a playoff spot and it's time to

start banking these two points because as we know, December is going to be hell with the condensed schedule. And there's a lot of really tough tests coming up. So it has to start tonight. They will play a Sabres team that I love making fun of. Pat loves making fun of. The entire hockey world likes making fun of. Though to their credit, they have been solid as of late. They've won two straight, one of which was a nine to three dismantling of the Chicago Blackhawks who have not been bad this year. Connor Bernard is potentially playing his way on the team Canada. But Buffalo killed Chicago in that game. And the Sabers have also won four of their last five games. Overall, they have a nine and 13 record, though four of those games are

overtime losses. So by national standards, it's nine and nine and four, but, you know, nine and 13 is what they actually are. Seventh in the Atlantic, you know how their high end talent goes. Tage Thompson, he's been outstanding once again, leads a team in goals with 12, 21 points in 22 games. He's a penguin's killer. He's playing his way on to team USA. If he doesn't make team USA at the Olympics, Pat, I think there is something wrong with the decision making process because he deserves to be there. Alex Tuck has also been awesome. Eight goals, 21 points in 22 games. He's been one of, if not their top playmaker so far this season. Dahlene in 19 games has 16 points in those 19 games. You know what you're

going to get from Dahlene in the lineup. He's on the top pair. Bowen Byram is on the second pair. Former Penguin Connor Timmons is on the third pair. Then you also have other players like former Penguin Jason Zucker, Zach Benson, who I still to this day. that the penguins would have drafted him if he fell one more spot to them a couple of years ago in the 2023 NHTRA draft you have jack quinn brian mccloud pick and crebs etc and then in goal it looks like pat one of the best names in hockey looks like he's going to start uco peka lukinan it looks it appears that he is going to get the start for the sabers tonight he's been fine this year he's only made uh six starts three two and one in those 8 97 of say percentage 2.6

goals against average so again he's been fine um for the penguins though it will be tristan jari that starts tonight which hey we thought yesterday was going to be archer she loves we'll take the l on that it's going to be jari tonight we'll get to a couple other injury updates a bit later on in the show but pat it really is that simple for me you have to do whatever it takes to bank these two points and with the way your head coach called you out i got to see a 60 minute effort tonight because he was not thrilled after what happened on Saturday. They've now had a few days to really decompress. Think about what Mew said.

It's time to go out there. It's put up a shot of time. They were put in the corner to think about what they've done is essentially what you're saying on that one. But back to the Sabres, let's not discount what they have done in the month of November so far because you talked about that they are in the midst of winning four of their last five. And a lot of these wins didn't come against slouches. Detroit has been surprising this year. They get a five, four overtime win against them. They beat the Oilers five to one. And I

know the Oilers are struggling, but they still have the super weapons in Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal. So being able to do that, pretty impressive. You said the nine three dismantling of Chicago, a surprise of this season so far, a team that's been pretty solid. Four one win over the Carolina hurricanes earlier in the month. They're able to sneak out a shootout win over the capitals. They're able to take the Utah mammoth who were still on the end of that hot start in a 2-1 loss. But sticking with that team at that time was not an easy task.

So this is a team that I'm still not convinced is going to be one of the better teams once we get to the end of the season. But right now, they're playing some solid hockey. And you look at their lineup right now. You look at their stats through the first 20 plus games. They've got nine players with 10 points or more. So they are getting production from a large portion of their lineup. And again, we joke about how Ouka Pekalukinen is the most fun name in hockey to say.

But you look at their team right now. And really, if their goaltending starts to stabilize and starts to get closer to league average, Because right now you've got UPL with an 897, Alex Lyon with a 907 himself. If one or both of those guys can get to and stay above 900, this is a Buffalo team that I think could, at the very least, be competitive for the majority of the season. They're just kind of early in the year. They fell victim a little bit to subpar goaltending. And we've talked about it on this show plenty over the past. couple of seasons really doesn't matter what you want to do with your team. If you can't get a

save, it kind of derails the entire operation. So if those two can stabilize and get to league average, I can see a competitive Buffalo team this year. As for tonight, this is a team that's going the opposite direction of the penguins right now. Penguins are on a slide. Sabers are on the up and up right now. You have to find a way to blunt that momentum. You couple that with Muse's comments. This has to be an all-out 60-minute effort. And just because it's the Buffalo Sabres, I know we have all made our jokes about the Sabres.

They're playing well right now. Forget about the name, forget about the Crest, and just play the game in front of you. Right. So a few things there. It's funny, the first month of the season, the Sabers lost 12 of their first 17 games. So over the last couple of weeks,

it has been much better. I still need to see more of it on a consistent basis. for the Sabres, but they're at least starting to stabilize a little bit. They're not fully out of the playoff race in the Eastern Conference. But honestly, Pat, I don't think really anyone is fully out of it in the East right now. The standings continue to be really cluttered overall. I felt like a couple of weeks ago, the Sabres were trending really downward, where it looked like they were going to be out of it well before Thanksgiving.

And then this next couple weeks happened where, again, they've won two in a row for their last five. They're getting more contributions from other players on the lineup, Tage and Alex Tucker continue to be good. Rasmus Dahlene. They have played three goalies this year. Alex Lian has actually played the most with 12 games. Pekulukin has six, and then Colton Ellis has five games played under his belt.

So it's been interesting with their goaltending situation throughout the year. As a team, they have a 902 percentage, which is actually not terrible. So sometimes it's been very meh this year. But as a whole, when you combine the three goalies, 9-02, I think they'll take that. So I think for me, for the Penguins, I got to see the power play get back to where it was before the past few games.

It just felt like, you know, I know even against Seattle, they got the power play goal, but it still felt like the movement in everything else wasn't there as much for the last two, three games. Again, I know they got the power play goal. Which that is going to be a big test tonight because you're taking on. the league's best penalty kill in Buffalo. They sit first at 87.7%. That is, you don't get to 87.7 on a fluke.

That is a very good penalty kill. So to build off of what you were saying, they have to get back to what brought them early success on the man advantage. It has to be constant puck movement, constant body movement, taking the shooting lanes when you have them. and if nothing else, if all else fails, you've got the players on this team, even with, which we'll talk about in the second segment, Ben Kindle getting some rest tonight, if nothing else fails, you've got the kind of players on your power play units

that throw it to the front of the net, look for tips, look for rebounds, look for a little chaos in front, because even though the last couple weeks, the Sabre's goaltending has stabilized a bit, you still want to plant that seed in this team's head that the goaltending still might be shaky. So if you can pop an early one or you can get a greasy goal on the power play, that can really help your case throughout the course of the game. An unstoppable force meets a immovable object in this one. Penguins have the top ranked power play, Sabres have the top ranked penalty kill. I'm excited for that one. Penguins PK pat, as we know, It's been one of the top units in the league this year.

So I'm curious to see how that continues. And then for Tristan Jari, I want to see where he picks up off of. You know, that last game that he played, that third period, he was brutal. Yes, he did get hurt, got like during that game, but he still wasn't good in that third period. How is Jari going to bounce back now that he's coming back from injury? Are we going to see the Jari that we saw before that third period? Or we're going to see some inconsistencies because he is starting again tonight? night. So that's also something I'm really really curious about. But I think that's going to do it for

this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I have a whole bunch of injury updates to get you guys up on because someone is coming back from injury. That's not Tristan Jaright tonight. And Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. Let's be honest. Most of us can't even name all of our financial accounts, let alone what they're worth. Between 401k's savings and investments, it is easy to lose track. And that That can mean leaving money on the table. That's why I started using Monarch, an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or on your phone.

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episode of the locked on penguins podcast i am one of your host hunter hoodies joined by my co's patchedamp and pat we have a whole bunch of other lined up news to get to because Dame Hughes talked a lot after the morning he skate today. So we already discussed Tristan Jari. He is coming off of injured reserve. He is starting tonight. Archer Shilov will be the backup. And then both of those guys will split.

They haven't officially announced it yet. I haven't gotten the notification. But I imagine Sergey Mureshav is on his way back to Wilkesbury. So that's going to be announced either during this recording or probably right after it ends because that's always how our luck goes with these things. Brian Rust is returning tonight. He has missed the last couple of days. with an illness he was at the morning skate he confirmed after the skate that he will be in

going back to the top line but pat ben kindle will be a healthy scratch in this one dame you said it is for developmental reasons i know some people are not happy about that i get it to a degree but i also understand where the penguins are coming from with this he has played a lot of hockey as of late i know some people may push back and be like well hunter he's only played a few times in the last couple weeks of the global series yes i hear you on that. But I think they're taking the long game with this. They're giving him a night off because December, as we know, is going to be nuts. They want him playing, my opinion, a lot of those high stakes games where they're going up against some of the top teams in the league.

You can give him a night off now, even though I know you need the two points, but you can give him a night off now. And then you have the weekend back to back. And then you have a lot more games coming up in December. They have a set plan. They are sticking to it. So I'm fine just because I'm imagining he's going to be back in the lineup this weekend. Also, Dilley Kovinen is going to be back in the lineup tonight. He is coming off of injured reserve. He was on the third line during practice this week. So that's really good news.

He had been playing well before getting hurt during that first global series game against the Predators. He's come so close numerous times back to scoring his first initial goal. Maybe it happens tonight. Maybe not. I was liking his game before he got hurt. So those are all of the individual players news before tonight. Pat, your thoughts. Right now, this is probably the best opportunity to continue with the development

and load management plan for Ben Kindle because you look at where the schedule is right now. It's kind of the best way to get him a little bit more rest before really throwing him into the fire you brought up that this weekend they're going to have another back to back they're going to be in columbus on friday and then toronto comes to town on saturday so that is you're going to want to have him in both of those games and then you move to december and there's only two back to backs and one of them is a back to back at home when they'll play san ozay and then utah and then they have the home at home against the montreal canadians but you look at December and they pretty much play every other day for the first three weeks of the month.

So right now is the best time to get him a little bit of extended rest and you'll be able to keep him fresher for this big nightmare of a December schedule that's coming. And I know that in the first segment we talked about, hey, you got to take this Buffalo team a little bit more seriously. They're playing well lately. but when you look at the quality of opponents coming up over the next couple of weeks, this probably was, again, the best game to let him take a seat, put Coyvenin back in, let Tristan Brose make his NHL debut.

You're also going to get Brian Rust back tonight, even though he didn't miss any games. He did miss a couple of practices with illness. So I'm totally okay with this. Again, we know what the expectation from the outside of this team is. From the inside, we know they're competitors. We know they want to make the playoffs. We know they want to be good. But on the outside, we're worried about what Ben Kindle is going to be able to do with this franchise in 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 years from now.

You don't want to burn him out as an 18 year old rookie. You don't want to stunt his development. So it sucks for us as fans and consumers that we don't get to watch him tonight. But for the long run, this will help him. Right. I agree. And considering again, just how crazy December is, You want him playing against some of these top teams.

So I'm not trying to disrespect Buffalo. It makes sense to sit him out in this game. Again, they need the points, but you're still going to get to see some of the younger pieces tonight. Tristan Brose is making his NHL debut on the third line with Dilly Coivin, who is set to return and Tommy Novak. I'm really excited for that line, especially Bros, because I've loved what he has done in the HL this year, even going back to last year. And I'm excited to see what he can do at the NHL level. I've already discussed how I'm excited to see Coyvin

and come back because I felt like he was starting to get some momentum going before he got hurt. Novak, I've already said, I want him to get going again, excuse me, felt like earlier in the year he was playing a bit better, but his play had been sliding. But maybe that changes now that Coyvin is coming back and now that he's playing like Tristan Brose. I am sure Kindle is going to be on the third line once he gets back in the lineup

probably this weekend. They're going to have to figure out a few things. you know, maybe you still have, you know, Kindle with Novak and Bros, potentially still, maybe if you want to go Kindle with Coyvenin and Bros, you could do that as well and kick Novak to a different line. They have a whole bunch of different options. Pat and I have talked about how Damuze is going to continue to be a mad scientist. There's no shortage of options once Kendall returns to the lineup this weekend. So I know some people are going to be upset about it.

It's probably just going to be a one game thing. That's fine. Ask for some other injury updates, though, Pat, Justin Brazo and Nolachari were both participating in the morning skate today. No contact jerseys, but it's another step in the right direction and another sign that this team is getting closer to finally, thank God, getting healthy. Which we really need because I, again, you know, to echo Dan Muse's comments from the other day after the Seattle game, they're obviously not in the business of moral victories or. or to quote the other head coach in Pittsburgh, Mike Tomlin, who I know everybody has their opinions on. You can feel free to drop those in the comments.

They're not going to seek that comfort of, oh, they're injured, they're injured. But it is playing a role because when this team was at full health, they looked like they were better than anybody expected them to be. So if you can get some of those guys back, you can really start to rebalance the lineup and get more out of your top six. And you also, I was waiting for you to bring this up, but I'll bring it up now. You still have the prospect of Rucker McGority looming in the, in the wings,

because he's still getting his legs back in Wilkes Bear. So, yeah, I'm probably in the next few weeks to maybe a month. He'll probably be up here. Like, I don't think it's here 30 games, but they'll probably give him, again, 10 to 12-ish, 15-ish games before he's up here. So it's cold comfort in a moral, in a quote, unquote, moral victory. But this team has been bitten pretty hard by the injury bug. And as much as we are excited and happy to see how much better they're playing this

year, you take away some of these players and there's not much depth around them. So once they get healthy, this team should get back to a higher level. So you have to hope it begins tonight because you're getting that injection of youth, which interesting thing to note, with Tristan Brose playing tonight, he will be the ninth rookie to suit up for the penguins this season. That's the most in the NHL. And what have we talked about the last couple years? Penguins are old.

suddenly they're the team that's played the most rookies this year and a lot of them have shown they can pretty much hang so we'll see how bros does tonight but end of the day this team getting healthier especially with December looming is exactly what no pun intended the doctor ordered right and with that you're going to take some of these other players out of the lineup that not trying to be rude but some of these guys are cardio merchants pat where it just feels like they don't really belong in the lineup on an every night basis. You know, Kevin Hayes in the second line role, he's not getting the job done.

Dan Hinen, he's not getting the job done. You know, Copeland, he's not getting the job done. That's also allowed Connor Deer to move back down to the fourth line where he and Blake Lazot can start cooking again. You and I've been hard on Noah Chari, but once he comes back, those three can reunite on the fourth line, and that can be the energy line again. So we're inching closer, people.

They're not there yet, health-wise, but we're getting closer to this team being a bit more healthy, No, Ricard Raquel continues to skate. He's still a bit further away, but the fact he continues to get on the ice is a good sign. So, gosh your fingers. It's hopefully fully coming in the next few weeks. But that's going to do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday.

Yins know what that means. It's time for one of our favorite segments of the week, Warrior Helmet Wednesday, where Pat and I will give out our weekly MVP. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor, which is Fandall. The NBA is back, and there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Even if you miss the start of the game or want to ride the hot hand,

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We're back here on the Wednesday edition of Locked on Penguins. do not adjust your radio dials, your iPhones, or your YouTube platform. Yes, as I do every Wednesday, I wrestle the host chair from Hunter Hodes to host my favorite segment on Locked on Penguins, Warrior Helmet Wednesday. If you are new here, we do this every Wednesday, we hand out our MVP of the week in Penguins land as we pay homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins, where During that season, after wins in the locker room, they would give out a Warrior Helmet to their player of the game. So we took that concept for our show and made it our MVP of the week, as previously mentioned for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. So Hunter, I'm going to kick us off here. And wasn't a great week for the Penguins, all things considered.

But there was a lone bright spot that we also kind of missed on this show this week. I'm giving my warrior helmet to the captain, Sidney Crosby, because against the Seattle Crackin, he put up two points, and that was his 500th multi-point game in his NHL career. Just think about that in context, right? There are players who get celebrated for putting up 500 points in their NHL career as well they should because scoring a point alone in the NHL is tough enough, putting up 500 points is a pretty big feat. But putting up 500 games where you have more than a point is absolutely bonkers. So my warrior helmet goes to number 87, Sidney Crosby. That is a perfect pick and

he definitely deserves it. I'm going to go a little different. And I'm going to go to the other half hat of the two-headed monster. Evgeny Malkin gets my warrior helmet, got a very well-deserved goal against the Seattle Cracken. Probably should have been the game winner. The Penguins gave up the lead late in the third and then lost the game in overtime. But he continues to play outstanding this season,

six goals, 24 points, his 24 points lead the team. He has also scored in three of the last four Penguins games. I know this is only for last week of games, but still I wanted to point that out. he continues to play better and better in each game. You know, we're going into December. He's been, in my opinion, the Penguins best player this year. You can argue, sit if you want, and I'm not going to say anything to go against that.

But I think Gino has been a little bit better than him this year. And he very much deserved that goal against the Cracken. He was working his ass off all game, got the goal there. The celebration, as we've talked about, was fantastic. So, Evgeny Malkin gets my warrior helmet for this past week. I really, I think I'm with you in the sense that I think he has been the penguin's best player this season and not to be the skunk at the garden party. But as we've seen the last couple of years, the challenge now is for him to keep it going. We don't expect him to be at a torrid pace all season long, but he does have to stay a little bit more consistent because we have seen this over the past couple of years.

He just rockets out of the gate, and as the season progresses, he starts to slow down a little bit. If he can keep this pace up, I'm really excited to see what the penguins can do for the rest of the season, especially as we talked about in the previous segment, if they get a little bit healthier and can stay healthy through the majority of the season. One other thing I wanted to add about Sidney Crosby getting his 500th multi-point game. he is only the sixth player in the history of the National Hockey League to have 500 or more multi-point games, an absolutely unbelievable achievement for the captain. But without further ado, let's bring up the tracker. If you're watching us here on YouTube, you can see it on your screen. With Hunter's pick of of Gennie Malkin, he takes sole possession of first place for Warrior

Helmets this season with three. Crosby gets his second of the year, joining Justin Brzo, Ben Kindle, Sergey Mureshov with two, Kyle Dubus, Eric Carlson, Dan Mews, the penalty kill, and the power play all have won a piece through this season. What we are doing this year with Warrior Helmet Wednesday is we are keeping track all season long. So once we get past game 82 or maybe past a couple of playoff games, who knows how this season's going to go.

Once we're doing our season recap, we will hand out our season long warrior helmets. Up until this week, it looked like we are going to have a couple. But right now, Gennie Malkin takes that top spot with the most warrior helmets on the season. Hunter, unless you've got anything else to add for this episode, that is going to do it for our Wednesday edition. And it's Penguins, Sabers, 7 o'clock tonight at PPG Paints Arena and make sure you got your podcast feeds up because we aren't going to have a traditional 30-ish-minute episode on Thanksgiving, but we will have a mini-recap episode 15, 20-ish minutes talking

about tonight's game up in your feeds on Thanksgiving morning when you're getting breakfast ready or you're starting your dinner for Thanksgiving Day. You'll have us right there in the kitchen with you to talk a little penguins. but that'll do it for this Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins for Hunter Hodes. I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in, and we'll talk to you on Thanksgiving morning.