Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins one step closer to the playoffs with COMPLETE win over Detroit!

Episode Date: April 1, 2026

The Penguins put in a very professional victory over the Detroit Red Wings on Tuesday night, getting them that much closer to a playoff spot! Hunter and Patrick begin the Wednesday show by recapping the Penguins' 5-1 win over Detroit. They discuss how they expected a desperate Red Wings team, but didn't get one. How the Penguins' depth once again showed up to help them get a win, and finally, Stuart Skinner put in a solid start, so is it time for him to get an extended look? (0:00) Now, with four points in two games, the Penguins are creating some separation in the playoff race. They look at how many more points they'll need to clinch, what their odds are, and how they can get there. (13:05) Finally, it's Wednesday, and it's time to hand out their MVPs of the week in another Warrior Helmet Wednesday! (23:43)  Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Robinhood You’re no longer just a spectator. Play by play. You decide. Trade Every Play with Robinhood. Now available across the U.S. Download the Robinhood app now to begin. Futures and cleared swaps trading involves significant risk and is not appropriate for everyone. Event contracts are offered by Robinhood Derivatives, LLC., a registered futures commission merchant and swap firm. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. During the tournament FanDuel is offering $300 back in Bonus Bets every day for ten days. Visit https://FANDUEL.COM to get started — Play Your Game.   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 are inching closer to a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs after Tuesday's 5 to 1 win over the Red Wings. And Pat and I are you going to break that game down. Plus give you our picks for Warrior Helmut Wednesday 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 the Wednesday edition 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 Sendin Verwet. You can also follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Lockdown, underscore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on our platforms.

Pat, Penguins now have 92 points in the standings. they are getting even closer to a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs, which are set to start in two and a half weeks after a five to one beat down of the Red Wings on Tuesday night. These two games, they were the two biggest games of the season to date. You can throw the Ottawa game in there last week, too. So honestly, over the last week, Pat, they have played their three biggest games of the season. They have gotten all six points in those games. If you just want to say it to this week, Penguins got the four points in their biggest, most

important week of the season. And they're starting to slowly but surely separate themselves from a few of the teams that are trying to chase them down. More on that in our second segment. And of course, in the third segment, we're going to give our picks for Warrior Home at Wednesday. Starting off, Pat, a very business-like win by the Penguins last night. You couldn't tell that they played on Monday.

And you and I were talking about this on our Tuesday episode. They kind of mailed it in during the third period against the Islanders when they got up by so many goals, but they were also just so professional with that third period in general, where they didn't have to go all out in that period so they could, you know, conserve some energy. And I felt that was very much on display in the first period where they took it to the Red Wings. The Red Wings, that was their biggest game of the season, and it felt like they were playing a preseason game in September. That was very weird, the way they came out.

The Penguins blitz them right away. Three goals, John Gibson gets yanked. I was a bit surprised that he was yanked, considering. that he's been really good for them this year. But I guess on another way, it was his 12th straight start. So I guess Tom McClellan is trying to save him for some of these other games. But I was still surprised when they did yank him. The Red Wings, through their credit, they did respond a little bit in the early portion of the second period.

But the Penguins were able to find their game halfway through the second, get that big goal from Justin Brazil. Congratulations to him, by the way. Gets off the Schneid. He had not scored in his last 11 games, dating back to that game against Vegas. on March 1st. So he scores in the first game of the month, and then he scores in the final game of the month of March.

Anthony Manta gets his 30th goal. Igor Chinakov with yet another insane release. I'm running out of things to say about that release. And then Noah Chari also scores, of course, in this game. And congratulations, Patrick Ricardo Mikhail. He gets his 20th goal this season. But all in all, I thought this was an excellent effort from every skater on the ice. everyone understood their assignment.

They were great defensively. They forechecked the Red Wings into an oblivion. Stuart Skinner made the saves he needed to make. I think he should start on Thursday against the lightning. It was a very professional, very playoff-like, business-like win for the Penguins in a game that, you know, it wasn't as important to them as it was for the Red Wings. It was still really big, and they got the job done. You hit the nail on the head.

It is a business-like win for the Pittsburgh Panthers. penguins. It was, they looked like they were playing a team that had no business being on the same ice as them. They looked like a team that is ready to go to the Stanley Cup playoffs and is ready to win around in the Stanley Cup playoffs, if not more. And the Detroit Red Wings looked like a team that are ready to hit the golf course, go on vacation, and get on with their lives after this season, which was genuinely surprising. Because if I didn't say, it on the Tuesday show, I'll say it here now. I expected a Detroit team that was fighting for their lives because they were. They were a team that was running out of opportunities to return to

the Stanley Cup playoffs. And they showed up like it was a preseason game. They did not have a lot of fight. They didn't have a lot of pushback. When they chased Gibson, that felt more to me like Todd McClellan taking it easy on his goalie. He looked at the way that team was playing and went, you're not the problem, John. Everybody else is, I'm not going to subject you to the rest of this. Take a seat. You've done well enough.

Now it's on the rest of these guys to figure it out. But overall, I mean, Anthony Mantha, 30 goals. What can you say about him now? Igor Chinakov, Big Knight. And here's something that is a discussion we've got to keep going from yesterday. I thought that was a really, really quality start from Stuart Skinner. The Red Wings didn't threaten a lot, but when they did, he was there to make the saves he needed to make.

He didn't let up anything that was soft, I would say. He didn't look shaky in net. And if I'm Dan Mews moving forward here, Stuart Skinner gets the net. And obviously, this coming weekend, when they've got the back-to-back against Florida at home, you'll split them. But at least for now, with a potential playoff birth looming, it should be Stuart Skinner's net. Yeah, Skinner has earned another start. He should go on Thursday against Tampa Bay, which that game to me right now is almost like a bonus,

just with the way that this week has gone so far. If you win, the playoff odds go up to 98%. They're at 95 right now if you look at MoneyPuck. But it's also like it's almost like a test game as well to see how well you stack up for the third time against Tampa Bay. They've played Tampa Bay really well this year. We'll preview that game more in depth on our Thursday episode. But yes, I agree.

Skinner should start. And if he plays well on that one, I would start him Saturday against the Panthers in the first half that back to back before going to Sheelovs on Sunday. Both goalies are going to get one of those games this weekend. But I just think that the way that Skinner has played a little bit as of late, he's had an edge over Sheelves. I would give Skinner another start.

because that's falling save on De Brinket. That was huge at the time. Made a couple other really nice glove saves. He was just very cool, calm, and collected in the crease. I really liked his effort. I also thought second game in a row, Chris Lattang, building. These are small building blocks,

and I like what I saw. I thought he was exiting the zone a bit more with control. There was a couple instances on the power play where he couldn't corral the puck of the blue line. You know, ho-hum. He'll still work on that stuff. but otherwise I felt he was better in his own zone. I thought he was breaking the puck out better.

And I thought especially the way that he played getting some more pucks to the net, I thought was better too. So he's starting to get a little bit more comfortable. It's only been a couple of games. But I like the way his game is trending at least right now. Small sample, but that's been nice. I hope that continues, especially if this team makes the playoffs. Speaking of Latang, this is something I've been noticing over the last week or

So this is a sneaky physical penguins team. Yeah. And he's part of it. He has been playing a physical brand of hockey lately that I don't want to say is uncharacteristic for him because he's always been a bit of a sneaky physical player. But it's kind of fitting into a trend with this team where I'm not going to confuse them with the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Florida Panthers or anything like that. But the last few years, if there has been a word to describe the Pittsburgh Penguins,

it's kind of been vanilla. They've got some skill. They don't have a ton of depth. Their goal tending isn't good. This season, however, they're a little bit tougher to play against. They got some big bodies who aren't afraid to mix it up and play a little bit physical.

They've got skill. They've got depth. And their goaltending is league average, but it's an improvement on what it's been. So I like Latang's game in the last two nights. and put on that little bit of edge with him, I like where he's heading. Yeah, he's been very solid.

You know, who else was also really physical last night? Sid, he was throwing the body around quite a bit. He had a couple of really big hits in that game. And I also just say it here, Pat, I wanted to keep it a secret. I went to the game a bit undercover last night. I had to break the curse. Sure enough, they won. I'm allowed back at BBC Payne's Arena now, I think, at least for the playoffs if they do get in.

But I was like, you know what? Screw it. I got offered tickets. I'm going to go undercover, not tell too many people they got the win. So I guess we can go with that from now. And I also switched up the jersey and a few other, you know, switch up the section, of course. So I think I'm all good now, man. But I love the fourth line in this game to Elmer Soder Blom.

He really stuck it to his team last night. I thought the way that he was protecting the puck, especially down below the dots, the way that he was forechecking was great, how to shoot first mentality. also been playing better defensively, too, but he is an absolute force when he has the puck on his stick. You can see why the penguins wanted to take a bit of a flyer on this guy. You know, I've liked his game since he was acquired from Detroit, but especially the last two games, he's been especially really good. I know, you know, if this team does get fully healthy, it's going to be a tough call about who comes out. It's probably going to be Soder Blom,

even though he's been very good. By the very least, Pat, he has shown that he can be a capable player when someone like Lazot goes down or even someone else in the bottom six. God forbid that happens, of course. But he has been a very solid 12th to 13th forward so far. I'm liking what I'm saying. It felt like a little bit of a screw you by him. I mean, not that Detroit is on their way to a Stanley Cup. They're more or less on their way to missing the playoffs again.

But it did feel like he wanted to stick it to Detroit last night where he was like, you guys lost faith in me and you wanted to trade me for nothing. Okay. All right. I'll keep that in mind. And obviously the players have nothing to do with that. But they're the ones who are going to feel the brunt of it. And the last week, he's been a very good player for the Penguins. And it's going to make Muse's job really difficult because I don't think there's a case to take him out of the lineup yet, but it might just end up being a victim of the numbers game. It's just mainly because Blake Lazot is obviously the heartbeat of the PK. He does a lot of other little things for the bottom six as well. it wouldn't be anything against Soder Blum. Again, I think he's been really good, especially these last couple of games, also in most of the games since he was acquired. But it's just because Blake Lazot is also a really big catalyst of the bottom six,

especially the fourth line. So I think he probably comes out when Lazot is healthy. Maybe Dammeu surprised us all. That's the vibe I get. But right now, man, really liking his game, also really liking the way Nollachari is playing to. He continues to go to the dirty area, has got another goal. last night he's been great but pat unless you have anything else to add about this game i think think that's going to do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment pat and are

going to take a look at the playoff race right now and what the penguins probably need need to do to make sure they clinch their spot in the stanley cup playoffs that's coming up right after this but before we get to that we have to tell you all about our first sponsor which is fan duel the NCAA tournament is here one of the best times of the year brackets buzzer beaters up It's nonstop action from tip to the final cutdown. And right now, Fandah was giving new customers a way to stay in the action all tournament long. And here's the best part. You get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days.

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All right, we're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I, one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Damp and Pat. Let's do an updated look at the playoff race, the standings, all that. So we basically have two weeks left in the regular season. Happy April to everyone, and it's April Fool's Day. Watch out for dumb stories on the internet. people just letting you all know also pass over so happy pass over to all my fellow jewish people

out there but we got two weeks left i'm kind of doing this in tiers for the eastern conference race you have tier one the playoff locks i have buffalo i have carolina and i have tampa bay they don't have exes next to their name yet pat but their locks 100% odds they are getting in i'd be stunned if they did they're locks to me Then you have tier two where you're not locks, but you're almost there. I have Boston. I have Montreal. And now I have the Pittsburgh Penguins.

I have them there where it's not set in stone. You still have some work to do. But as long as you take care of business, you will get in. You can say the same thing for Boston. I think you can say the same thing for Montreal. And again, the Penguins, everything is right in front of them. If they win, you know, three-ish more games, I think they're good. maybe two if you get some help, but I think three to four, that especially, four I think probably

gets you home ice in my opinion. Three, I still think gets you in and the schedule is really opening up. And then tier three is where I have right now, the Islanders, the blue jackets, the senators, Red Wings, Flyers, all through the capitals in there because they're playing their way back into this, all of those teams that are jockeying for the third spot in the Metro right now. And of course, the final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. Those are kind of the teams that are, you know, coin flips, you know, 30 to 40 percent odds a little bit below. That's kind of where I rank it right now. And Pat, if you look at the standings, the penguins have a six point cushion on the ninth place team,

the first team out of the playoffs right now. Anything can happen, but six points is still a lot to make up with only two weeks left in the season. And a couple of those teams have a game in hand on the penguins. But the penguins are in a really good spot right now, thanks to banking these four points. points this week. Their playoff odds, if you look at Moneypuck, 95%. Hockeystats.com with Jafresh, 97. Dom's model on the athletic has them right around 97% as well.

You can start getting up to 98, 99% with a win in Tampa, sweeping the back-to-back this weekend against the Panthers. You can be almost a lock by then. So right now, Pat, everything is looking really good. here's a couple things on this one to your to your tier one i'm going to add one team okay i'm going to add the canadians okay because yeah you look at they they've got the bruin's breathing down their neck at 94 points to to montreal's 96 but they're in the middle of a six game win streak they they're seven three and oh in their last 10 they're cruising right now and they had

themselves a night against Tampa Bay last night beating them four to one. So I would put the Canadians in that maybe if I can do like a 1.5 tier where like they're a lock, but not totally. You know what I mean? Like a lot of things would have to go wrong for them to not make it. But those things that could go wrong are not impossible. But I digress. As for the penguins, most places have their magic number at 11.

They've got seven games remaining. That's obviously going to fluctuate with wins, losses, et cetera, et cetera. They're at 95% to make it. Here is the biggest thing that's working in their favor right now. The first tiebreaker is regulation wins. And in the metro, they've got 31 regulation wins. Islanders have 28. the blue jackets have 27,

the Flyers have 23. One team that's scary, but they've got a big hill to climb is the caps because the caps have 32 regulation. Yep. So you got to hope the caps don't catch fire and turn this into a tiebreaker for the Penguins, which would be the doomsday scenario for me.

But regardless, this is, Penguins still have them twice, by the way, next weekend, that home and home back to back. I think if you split that back to back, you're pretty fine. This is a big week.

And it's what I said yesterday about the rest of this week. This week won't clinch you a playoff spot, but it will be a down payment on a playoff spot where essentially if you can get a winner two against Tampa in Florida, I want to see a sweep against Florida because you're essentially playing Cachuk, Bennett, and the Charlotte Checkers with all the injuries that they have. but it's the Florida Panthers. They're well coached.

They've got bubble guys who are trying to prove that they belong on that team next year when they get healthy. So you're not going to get a team that's coming in for a Sunday skate. You're going to get a Florida Panthers team that is going to play hard, that is going to push you. So if you split with them, I don't think it's the end of the world. But if you can get one or two wins over the next three games, or two wins over the next three games, I should say, I think that is putting you in a position

where you can really start to plan for the first round of the playoffs. Yeah, 96 going into next week, you're just about there. Hell Pat, if you win all three of these games, say you go down in Tampa tomorrow, you beat them, and then you sweep that back to back against the Panthers.

You're up to 98 points. You're basically a lock at that point. Like, I think your playoff odds, I think MoneyPuck would have them at 99. 9.999% if not 100, even though they wouldn't be clinched, their odds would be right around there. So you win all three of these. I think you're in, no matter what,

unless something very weird happens in your final few games of the season. Again, the schedule is easing up now, which is nice. The Penguins finished the month of March, that huge gauntlet, 8 and 6 and 3. And I know some fans will be like, well, Hunter, you combine those overtime losses. That's 8 and 9. sure but you know what they started the month of March in second place they ended it in second place and no one passed them in the standings hell they even gained a little bit of ground on some teams

that were trying to chase them down sure there were some stretches where teams gained some ground but the penguins were able to start building a little bit of that cushion back as we got into April these two wins were really huge for that here's the thing i'll say about the March schedule all it's about now it's all about finish finishing this off now that you have six of your last seven games against non-playoff teams. And especially after this game against Tampa, your next three games are against the Panthers and the devils. Those teams are 100% not making the playoffs. Agreed.

And here's the thing I'll say about the March schedule. I know 8, 6 and 3, like you said, breaks down to 8 and 9 because you had three overtime losses. But 13 of the 17 were against playoff teams. Teams that are currently in playoff position. Here's the other thing. 10 of those games were without Cid. nine of them were without Gino. Yep.

When we talked about this gauntlet of a month before the Olympic break, we operated under the assumption that they were going to be moderately healthy. We figured they'd probably have Cid. They'd definitely have Gino because Gino got his long break after not going to the Olympics. The fact that they played that many games without those two and came out eight, six, and three is very impressive. and the fact that not only did they come out eight, six, and three, you set it yourself.

They started the month in second place in the metro. They are ending the month in second place in the metro. And they're ending the month in second place in the metro finally after a few weeks with some separation. Yeah. They are up three points on the islanders. That's big. There's finally a little bit of breathing room.

So they don't need to relax or anything like that. you can't relax this time of year, especially until you are clinched. You have to keep playing every game like it's game seven until you're in the playoffs. But there is at least a little bit of separation right now compared to what we saw, you know, last week, the last 10 days. But still, job's not finished. You got to keep going here. And it continues tomorrow in Tampa Bay.

That's going to be a big game. You know, for the lightning, it's not as meaningful as it is for the penguins because the lightning are basically locks. They're trying to chase down Buffalo for that top spot in the Atlantic. they're not going to have Brandon Hagle. It looks like Victor Higman is still not back with them. But in terms of which, you know, team the game is bigger for, it's for the Penguins.

I don't really think it's close. So that should be a fun game. And then, of course, he had the back-to-back this weekend against the Panthers. So let's see. As Pat said, you win two of these next three. Your playoff odds are probably up to 98, 99%. If you win all three of them, your playoff odds may even be up to 100% on Montypuck, like you see right now with some of the other teams.

around the league. But I think that's going to do it for the second segment of today's episode. Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday. Yins know what that means. It's time for Warrior Humm at Wednesday. Pat and I are going to give out our weekly MVP award coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our second sponsor, which is Robin Hood. What is sports were traded like markets? Now you can put your sports IQ to work in real time with Robin Hood prediction markets. It's not just you against the house. It's participating in a life market. You can buy or sell your positions live all game long. Use your sports knowledge in the moments that matter.

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Download the Robin Hood app now to begin. We're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp, right alongside my good pal, Hunter Hodes. And as I do every Wednesday, I rip him out of the host chair for the final segment if I'm not hosting the show. Because it's my favorite day of the week. It's Wednesday. And that means it is time for us to give out our MVP of the week in another. Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

If you're new here, Warrior Helmet Wednesday is us paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins when in the locker room after victories throughout the season and all the way through their Stanley Cup championship. They gave their player the game a Warrior Helmet. So that is what we do for this show. So Hunter, there are a lot of good candidates this week because the penguins had themselves a week. They had themselves individually and as a collective a really good week. There were a ton of candidates.

This was a difficult decision. And I know for you, this is why I'm going to let you go first. You couldn't decide on just one player. So the floor is yours, my friend. You're splitting your helmet in half. Who's getting half? This was so tough because, as you said, there are so many great candidates. Chino Kov had another great week.

Ricard Raquel, especially had another. outstanding week for this team. Eric Carlson, a ho-hum. That's the easy choice. I feel like if we just give it to Carlson again. Carlson was named the second star of the month. So I think we'll let him keep that award. And we'll give some other people some warrior helmets today.

I agree. And I'm going to give some love to the fourth line. Noah Chari and Elmer Soderblum get my helmets for this past week, man. Achari scored that goal against Detroit. Now has 11 goals in 22 points this season. also got an assist against the Islanders. That was a really big pivotal moment of the game. It didn't, that goal that he got the assist on,

it didn't flip the game like the shorthanded goal did, but it got the Penguins back in it when they were down to nothing. He four checked his butt off right around the net front. And speaking of that goal, Elmer Soderblom got credit for that goal, and he gets also the other half of my helmet. He got three points over his last three games, a goal against the Islanders, as I just mentioned. He also got an assist against the Red Wings last night,

got an assist against the Stars as well. Chari, two goals in his last three games, three points overall. I'm just liking the way these two are meshing man. And Soderbaum continues to be an absolute puck count. He's very tough to get the puck off of his stick. He's skating better than I thought he would for someone who was so big. He's been physical as well. Players are trying to get under his skin.

It's not working, considering that he's almost seven, feet tall, but I just like the way that he is playing in all three zones. And Achari on the fourth line, you know, he's dragging that line into the rest of the fight. He's also been, you know, still good on the PK. That unit has been struggling overall, but I don't think a lot of it has to do with Achari in general. I think this has been overdue for Achari this year. I think he's been, again, it's been a 180 this year compared to the last couple of years

as a penguin. but I especially like the weeks of both him and Sotom. They get my helmets. I've long been an advocate of this team's fourth line. They have been really good regardless of who you throw on there. It's been a huge asset to this team's success up to this point, how good the fourth line has been. Because they're not just eating minutes and you're hoping to split to even. They're controlling play.

They're bringing momentum. They're helping the team to victories. It's really big for them. So I like those two picks, but you did kind of mention, and spoil a little bit, who is getting my warrior helmet. And if you're watching us on YouTube, this week you are going to get the weekly tracker. I had some issues with Canva this week. So I wasn't able to get the full list updated.

So keep an eye for that next week. But if you're watching, you can see the weekly tracker on your screen. I am giving my warrior helmet to Ricard Raquel. Huge week for him. Four games played. five goals in those games and all of them were huge. He had himself one hell of a week. Not only does he get five goals, he's got seven points on the week.

He looked like Ricard Raquel again. Yeah. Had his hand injury earlier in the season that kept him out for a while. And we know, especially with top six goal scoring wingers, hand, wrist, finger, arm in general, kind of injuries. When they come back from that, they struggle a little bit. He had some sluggish moments, but he's getting it together.

He's picking up steam at the right time. He's putting the puck in the net. It's really, really good to see a very deserving warrior helmet for him. And he's shown a lot of flexibility in the lineup because with the injuries to Gino, the injuries to Sid, Gino's suspension. he has been up and down the first two lines. He's been at wing. He's been at center.

All the while, he's still putting up a great effort. And the production is there as well. Yeah. Even when Malkin came back, he was still at center last night for the Penguins. And he's been adjusting to it better as of late. They've been putting on the PK still at times as well.

I will still want to see him get going a little bit more on the power play. But at five on five, he has been electric, not even just for the last week, bad, but for the last, you know, two plus weeks, honestly. This is the Rickel that we saw for basically all of last season on that miserable penguins team that were well out of it going into April this time last year. But he's having a blast. He's had different linemates throughout the year.

But that hasn't mattered. He is playing so freaking well lately. So I'm glad that you picked Raquel. I felt bad not picking him, but I just love the way. that a Charlie and Soter Obama played for the last week. If it wasn't for that, I would have picked Raquel because he's been awesome. He's honestly been a little overdue these last couple weeks, too. He definitely has.

So like I said, I had a little trouble with Canva today. So I can't get the full Warrior Helmet Wednesday tracker up on the screen for you. But I will read it out to you. Sidney Crosby leads the pack with five. Eric Carlson, Evgeny Malkin, and Anthony Mantha all have four. Justin Brzoe has three. A lot of people have two. one, let's start with two. With two, you've got Kyle Dubus, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindle, Dan Mews,

Sergey Murshov, and Arter Shilov, and with one, you've got Igor Chinikov, Connor Doer, the special teams unit, Ricard Raquel, Stuart Skinner, Omer Sotom, and Noel Achari. All of them get added to the list. So this is us keeping track of it because at the end of the season, whether it's after game 82, maybe after. some playoff games, ideal world, after a Stanley Cup parade, we will hand out some season awards, including a season-long Warrior Helmet Wednesday award. So keep around for that.

And obviously, drop us a comment, drop us some social media posts about what you think about the Penguins this week, who gets your helmet, and any other takes you might have. You know, we love talking about it. But that is going to do it for the Wednesday edition. of the locked on penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back on Thursday with a brand new episode to get you set for Penguins Lightning on Thursday night.

But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. We will talk to you on Thursday.