Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins salvage a point on Saturday, looking to rebound on Monday!

Episode Date: October 27, 2025

The Penguins battled back from a 4-2 deficit to earn a point against Columbus, but it could be a warning sign. Hunter and Patrick begin the show by discussing Saturday’s loss to Columbus in a shootout, and while they deserve credit for battling back, some concerning trends are potentially emerging for this Penguins team. They talk about how the effort needs to improve, the defensive zone coverage needs to bounce back, and more. Then, the Penguins will welcome the St. Louis Blues to PPG Paints Arena on Monday night, and it’s a chance for them to “get right” as the Blues have been off to a sluggish start. Finally, the next week could be a big proving ground for the Penguins as they’ll face a lot of good competition.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The penguins were able to squeak out a point against the Columbus blue jackets on Saturday night, and Pat and I are going to discuss that. Plus get you guys set for Penguins Blues tonight right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. joined by my co-s, Patrick David, you can follow him on all social media platforms at Sinan Verwent. 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 today's episode is brought to you by Fandul, down the Fandle app right now, by visiting Fandul.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.

So if you watch the Pittsburgh Steelers embarrass themselves on Sunday night, you have come to the right place because the Pittsburgh Penguins are six and two and one to open the season. And it looks like Ben Kendall and Harrison Brunick will be back in the lineup tonight after both were healthy scratched on Saturday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. And Pat, let's get into that game. Penguins lose in a shootout, five to four against the jackets. And I would say the penguins were at the same time.

A, lucky to get a point, but B, they also could have had the extra one in overtime because Ivan Proverov made a very lucky play right around the goal line where that Crystal Tang shot was literally inches away from going in. But let's start with the first 50 minutes of this game. I do not think the Penguins played very well. They were outskated to an oblivion by a team that played the night before. That's not something I like seeing, especially when the other team is on the second half of a back to back with travel. The Penguins had an advantage in that department coming into this game,

having an off day game-wise on Friday. You can't be outskated like that by a team that played the night before and travel to Pittsburgh. I know Columbus to Pittsburgh is not that far, but you can't get outskated like that. They also got badly outchanced. They weren't playing well in their own zone. I thought Archer Shilov was saving them quite a bit during regulation. they just weren't working as a five-man unit on the ice. Didn't matter what zone they were in. They were up at the end of the first period because Elvis Mers-Likins was bad to start the game. He got a little bit better as the game went on, Pat,

but especially that Anthony Nantha goal that made it to one, very leaky goal there. That was, I think, the biggest reason why they were up. But then Columbus just kept taking it to them in the second period for most of the third. But I will give credit to the Penguins for really finding their game in the final five to six minutes of the third period. They battle back when they were down. Crystal Tang gets the power play goal to make it four, three.

And then Brian Russ, you see his celebration, Pat, just almost looks to the heavens like, finally, I got a goal. It looked like it was going wide, got a little bit of lucky bounds, pass Merseleekins, but they're able to tie it at 4-4 late in the third. They're pulling the goalie as he tied it. And then they're able to get the point, losing a shootout. We'll get to the shootout in a little bit. but Pat, I did really like the comeback effort, the never say die attitude that this team has to start the year.

That's been impressive. However, first 50 minutes unacceptable to me. They deserve their flowers for being resilient, for staying in the game. It would have been very easy at 4 to 2 for them to pack it in and accept that it just wasn't their night. They weren't playing well. Columbus was taking it to them for the majority of the game, but they kept fighting. And they deserve a lot of credit for that because that's what you want to see from a team in this position. You want them to be scrappy.

You want them to battle. It falls in line with my hobby horse of I would rather this than a team that just accepts that it's tanking and is miserable because that builds a better culture. But these last two games have been troubling for the penguins because Florida, you can kind of hand wave away. It's Florida. They're the best team in the league. There's a reason they're the defending two-time champs and looking to go to a fourth straight Stanley Cup final. But then against Columbus, it was more of the same. They were getting out skated. They were getting out chanced.

Their goaltender was bailing them out. And they got really lucky that the opposing goaltender was not having a good night. You can't depend upon that as a strategy. And I'm not saying that the penguins do. Let's be completely fair here. we know this is a average team at best for the penguins. But at the end of the day, I really did not like a lot of their game against the Blue Jackets. They're very lucky to get a point.

They were very lucky to get that to overtime. But I am curious to see what happens and we're going to talk about it later in the show over this next week because this schedule is going to get a lot harder. their opponents are going to get a lot better. And we're going to learn a whole hell of a lot about who these penguins are. On Saturday night, though, the effort for 50 minutes just was not great, whether it was just effort in the way they were working, or if it was the way they were playing strategically. They were not cohesive in the defensive zone.

There were a lot of turnovers. They were careless with the puck on all 200 feet of the ice. Whether they get put in the state, that cheat or not, there were a lot of turnovers, a lot of giveaways. And it was another night where for whatever reason, they just seemed reluctant to shoot. When you have a goalie like Mersleikins, who is not playing well, it should immediately become a shot first mentality. And there was a lot of over, there was a lot of overpassing. There was a lot of hesitancy to shoot. So we'll see what happens the rest of the week, but they deserve credit for working and battling and staying alive.

But there's a lot of concern under that credit. Right. I felt like they were trying to be like the Harlem Globetrotters and just kind of try to pass the puck into the net or, you know, have like a sports center top 10 play the next day on the show. I felt like that a few times during this game where they were just looking for the highlight real play where it's like, hey, Symbol's best. Look what Ryan Shaded to open this point.

Had literally a minute into the game. And by the way, shout out to Ryan Shea, these last four-ish games. He's been really strong after really struggling in his first three games of the season. I have liked his play since then. I think he's been really solid in the top 40, even though I still think he's playing a bit above where he should, but I will give him credit. He's been very solid since the first three games.

We do have to give a lot of credit to the Blue Jackets. I do think this is a team that is better than the record, excuse me, indicates they have some really good talent. in their top six, Marchenko was really good in this game. Chinakov was also really good. Fantilli is going to be a pain in the ass to play against for a long time. I thought Werensky also played really well. So there is a lot of good talent here.

I still think they're a top six forward short, but you can see their young pieces really on display in this one, and they were taking it to the Penguins in this one. I also do want to say moving on a little quickly, I don't want to see the Dumbachlifton pairing really ever again. it's only been a game maybe two but this was the first real game that we got to see it like the first legit sample size i think i'm good pat i don't want to see that pairing again i know what they're doing with brunuch i know what they're doing with kindle even though kendall's a forward but

clifton i appreciate the physicality i don't think he did anything else that really wowed me on the ice he was constantly out of position in his own net matt dumba had that really nice clean hit on boon jenner i will give him his flowers for that otherwise I don't really think he played that well. So if you want to play one of them, sure, I just don't think they can play together at this rate, especially Pat, if you want to keep Harris and Brunick for the full season. For sure.

And I think at this point, Clifton, I appreciate the physicality. I don't mind using him from time to time, especially when you know you're going to play a more physical opponent just to have him as that asset. But on the whole, he has been pretty deep. disappointing. Dumba, I want to see, especially now with some injuries, I want to see him get a longer look with some different partners because we saw it in preseason. It kind of seemed like

he was starting to find a little bit of a game again. But having a stop and start kind of season for him already where he's in for a game and then back out of the lineup and then back in. I want to see him given a little bit longer of a runway just to really get an idea of can he figure this out? Can he rebuild his value? And can they move him if he does well? If you keep shuffling him in and out of the lineup, I don't know if we're going to see that. Now, I don't think he needs to be in every game player. I don't think they need to have them in every single game moving forward. But letting him play four, five, six games at a time, see if he can. stack some good performances on top of one another, I think is best for all involved.

I understand that he's not what he was even a couple of years ago, but if you don't give him consistency, he's not going to be able to build on any sort of performances. I do hear you on that, and it does look like Dumba is going to be in a lineup tonight against the Blues next to Harrison Brunich. So I think they're trusting him a little bit more. again, I just don't want to see him pair with Clifton. Again, it was a train wreck as it was expected to be. I knew it was going to be bad when I saw that was the pairing and the lineup announcement

that the Penguins tweeted out on Twitter and all the other places. I was like, yeah, don't think this is going to go very well. And sure enough, it didn't. One more thing, Pat, before we get to our next segment in preview tonight's game against the St. Louis Blues, the shootout was, oh, the Penguins struggles in shootouts, knows no bounds. I still hate shootouts, but this time it was the goaltending that was really bad for the penguins in the shootout. You had Cindy Crosby and Brian Rust making really nice moves.

It's pretty rare when you see the penguin score, not one but two goals in a shootout, Pat, but then Archer She-Lovs after a great overtime, a great 60 minutes, he got absolutely destroyed on all three attempts. Just look like a pee-wee goalie in there. And again, I know it's one shootout. I hate shootouts to begin with, but you would have liked at least one save there. I mean, five of six shooters scored in that shootout. So let's, it's very true that Sheelovs was bad in that shootout. But let's, we can't give Merzleekins any quarter to hide here.

Because even Malkin's attempt, if you watch what Malkin did, he had him beat. He just missed the net. He hits the net. we're probably going to round four in that shootout. It's also funny because I felt like when he was coming in on his attempt, you are right, by the way, but I felt like when he was coming in, I was like,

he was kind of saying, please get me out of here. I'm done with shootouts, but you are also right that he had him beat. Yeah. So, I mean, She loves deserves the scorn for giving up that,

those three easy goals. But same time, Merz-leikins on the other end wasn't any better. So, yeah, shootouts are dumb. And that was a pretty poor. effort by Sheelovs, but at the end of the day, I mean, I continue to think that NHL players as a

whole are over this and they're just, they're not given any actual effort anymore. Hey, at least Sid made a move, man. That's what I'm here for. He usually just comes in, does the same little flick shot, but he made a really nice deke. Brian Russ had a really nice move as well. Small victories, even though the penguins continue to struggle in shootouts, but Pat and I also hate shootouts on that.

the show. And I think most fans around the league, I would say if you had to do a poll about shootouts for every NHL fan, I would say most of them probably hate shootouts at this rate. But I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Penguins are back on the ice tonight at home against the St. Louis Blues, and Pat and I are going to get you all set for it. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandle. The NBA is back. And there is no better place to get in on the action than Fandall, 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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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patch, Dan Mood, Pat. Let's get into a few lineup notes for tonight. Dammeuse confirmed after the morning escape that Tristan Jari will start in goal for the Penguins. No surprise there as they continue the goalie rotation between each game with She-Laws and Jari. It also appears that Ben Kendall and Harrison Brunich will be back in the lineup tonight after both were healthy scratched on Saturday. I know some fans had some issues with that on Saturday,

and I get it to a degree, but it still is apparent to me that they're very much playing the long game with these two players. And the more that they do this and they kind of have them on a pitch count, the more that I believe that they're going to be here for the full season tonight, if they're in the lineup, which it looks like they will be. This will be Kindle's eighth NHL game. And if he plays tomorrow Pat against Philadelphia, more on that later, that'll be his ninth game.

And then they'll have a decision to make. tonight for Brunick, this will be a seventh game. And then if he plays also tomorrow, that'll be his eighth game. That's kind of what I think they were doing. I felt like they were saving both of these players for a back-to-back as a kind of like a learning experience saying, hey, you may not be ready for three games and four nights just yet, just because the annual schedule can be really rigorous. But we're going to give you an opportunity here to really play on the back-to-back.

That's what I personally believe will have to see if it comes to fruition. but it does appear that both are going to be in the lineup tonight. And Dili Coivinan has also been recalled from Wilkesbury that happened on Sunday because it sucks that Rickard Raquel is going to be out for the next six to eight weeks. Looks like Patty broke his hand after blocking a shot with that left hand. Really unfortunate because Raquel is going to have to miss the two games in Sweden playing in front of all of his friends and family in his home country. I feel awful for him just because I know he's been looking forward to that.

but the only Coyvin has been called up. We'll get to him in a second, but those are some of the lineup notes for this game. Yeah, that's a big loss for the penguins because he was starting to heat up too. He was starting to really look like the Ricard Raquel we saw last year, the last couple games and breaking his hand or getting hand surgery, whatever it was, that's a real tough blow.

The same thing for Caleb Jones. He's going to be out six to eight weeks as well. So the opportunities are coming for. some of these younger players, some of these guys in Wilkes, and it's going to continue for Brunick and Kindle. And I think you kind of nailed it. I know that people were annoyed that they were both scratched in a home game against a divisional rival, but you have a back-to-back coming up this week.

You've got the blues tonight, then you've got the Flyers tomorrow. And this feels like another box to check for their development. Okay, we're going to sit you out of this game. and whatever happens happens, but you're probably going to be a full go in the back to back. So we're going to see how you handle that. We're going to see how do you play, especially Tuesday when you play against the Flyers.

And what's going to be a weird game because it's a six o'clock start in Philly? So this is going to be another test for them to see how they handle the rigors of an NHL season. If they play well both games, I think we're very much in the territory of they're going to stay. for the majority of the season. They're not going to play all 82. They obviously can't now, but we're going to continue with the pitch count.

But if they perform well tonight and they perform well against the flyers, that's a big moment. And now this is also Coivinen's opportunity. He absolutely dominated in Wilkes-Barre, which we'll probably talk about them more tomorrow because they are off to an unreal start. And there's been so much going on with the big club that we haven't had a chance to check in on Wilkes-Bare, but he went down and dominated, did exactly what he was

supposed to do, and now he's going to get his shot with the big club for this season. And he didn't pout when he went down there. Like, yeah, was I a little disappointed that he went down there? Sure, because I wanted to see him play more with Ben Kendall, but I also knew with a situation at the time, it was a bit of a numbers game, and that was really the only move they could make with him. And he doesn't go down there and pout, he doesn't get down, go down there and get pissed off. He goes down there and absolutely dominates the competition. Four goals, 11 points in six games.

And he sees how he has helped Wilkesbury start out 7-0-0 this season. That team is on fire. Sergei Miroshov, Pat, he is also undefeated to start the season in Wilkesburg. We'll have more on this, as you said, on Tuesday. But there have been a lot of bright spots on that team. Miroshov, Koivinen, Pickering is also dominating. I would not be surprised they see him back up fairly soon as well. Tristan Bros is playing great.

Avery Hayes. Atley Calvert is also playing well. Heck, even Ryan Graves has actually gone down there and done a nice job. Denton Hinen has also been dominating the HAL. I wouldn't be surprised if they figure out something with that situation. At some point, whether it's here, a different team is probably the more likely one just because I don't think he's going to be down in the HL all season. But there's a lot of really big positive developments going on with Wilkesbury.

But I'm excited to see what Coivinen can do now. it looks like if you really read into the practice lines, he's going to get some time starting with Ben Kindle, which I am excited about. I thought even though the minutes were limited very early this season, I thought those two looked really good together, so I want to see more of that. He also has the ability to play with Crosby,

but it looks like Philip Hollander is going to be getting the first crack of that, which I'm not really too upset about. I think Hollander has been totally fine in his minutes this season. And Pat, I also like that Tommy Novak is starting to heat up a little bit on the third line, especially with Ben Kindle there. I think he and Kendall have some really nice chemistry and putting covenant there. You could have the makings of an even better third line. And I actually liked it with Hollander and Novak next to Kindle.

I thought Novak was one of their better players, in my opinion, on Saturday against the Blue Jackets. But going away from the lineup notes, let's get into this Blues team here real quick before we look at the rest of the week ahead for the Penguins. So the Blues really poor start to the season, three, four, and one. did you see them blow that 4-0 lead to the Red Wings? Just not very good. Their goal tending has been rancid this season.

If there's one advantage that the Penguins really do have in this one, it is goaltending. Jordan Baineston has been atrocious this season, two, three and one record. 3.12 goals against average, 872 say percentage. Look at his backup, Joel Hofer. He has played in only a few games this year, 789 save percentage, 6.2, three goals against average. Again, if there is one big area, the Penguins have an advantage in tonight, it is

goaltending. The Blues cannot buy a save from either goaltender so far. It's really killing a lot of their really solid underlines, Pat. You look at their five-on-five metrics, their second in expected goals, they're also second-in-scoring chances for at five-on-five. Their top-tenant-times-tenths per 60 minutes at five-on-five as well. So their offensive underlying numbers are fairly solid. They just can't get saves.

That's the biggest thing. I don't want to call this a get right game because it's not like the penguins are struggling or anything. But after the way the last two games have gone, you come out with three of a possible four. In that third point, you probably didn't deserve. This is a game where you can kind of steady the ship a little bit. You're playing a team that can't buy a save. Sounds like it's the third game in a row. This is going to happen for you because we saw how Bob,

Brofsky and Merzleekins played against this team, but they have actually been pretty solid to start the season. On this instance, neither Blues goalie has been good at all. So this has to be a game where you take advantage of that. But the other side of it, to what you were saying, this is a team in St. Louis that you pop the hood and look at all of their underlines. They're a talented team. They are probably a good team. If they can eventually get at worst average goaltending, which they are not getting. So the penguins do have to get back to what they were doing early in the season that brought them success.

They have to get back to their structure. The effort has to be there. They have to commit in all three zones and especially in the defensive zone because they have been, with the exception of the previous two games, making life pretty easy for either Archer, Sheelovs, or Tristan Jari. They're not seeing a lot of high danger chances. They're not seeing a ton of chances in general or a lot of shots. So if the penguins want to get a win against the St. Louis Blues tonight,

they have to be willing to shoot. They have to be willing to take advantage of poor goaltending on their opponent's end. And they have to defend well because this is a blues team again that gets a lot of chances, controls a lot of the possession and shot attempts. They just can't buy a save. So you have to play well defensively, and you've got to take advantage of whoever the blues put in that. Right. And they do have some really strong offensive pieces. Jake Neighbors leads the team in goals, six goals and eight games, also seven points in eight games as well. Robert Thomas,

he was actually banged up during the game against the Red Wings. He sustained an injury and did not return to the game. So Pat, he's up in the air for tonight. If he is out, that is a fairly big loss because he is also one of their best players, a goal in six points in eight games to open the season, during, Kairu, you always have to know where he is. Pavel Buchennevich is also off to a good start. Colmerego doesn't have a goal, but he's at half a point per game so far. You got Pew Souter still in there. Dylan Holloway is back fully healthy, which is huge for them.

I think he can be a really big piece for them this upcoming season. I like this Blues team. I like the pieces that they have. They just need to really start getting better goaltending. And if you're the penguins, you got to have some better starts. You've got to do a better job around the net front, especially after what we saw against the blue jackets on Saturday of, you know, just not really controlling the high danger areas as often.

Got to get back to that tonight, excuse me, against the blues. Crosdy was really good, in my opinion on Saturday. I thought Malkin also had a good game. So I'm excited for them as well once again. And hey, excited to see what Tristan Jari can do here as he tries to potentially wrestle this starter's job away from Shilov, but you can also say the same for Shilov's trying to take it away from Jari. And I'm also, of course, excited to watch the kids tonight.

So Penguins Blues tonight, 7 o'clock, do you have any other keys to victory before we look at the rest of the week? Because it's going to get also even more challenging. Just got to bounce back. This is going to be a really tough part of the schedule early on here for the Penguins. So you need a good start. You want to continue to build on what you've been able to do against the likes of Vancouver and Florida. and if you can put the Columbus game in the past, at least a little bit.

You got the point. You were resilient. Have a better effort tonight. And you can put yourself in a pretty good position going into the second month of the season. 100%. And with that, I think it's going to do it for the second segment coming up to end the show. Pat and I are going to look at the rest of the week ahead for the Penguins

as there are more challenging games ahead that's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our final sponsor. and that is game time. Hockey season is officially here and nothing beats being in the arena for those opening games. But let's be real,

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Sure did. Yep. Text me pictures, videos. He used that code on game time for Sabrina Carpenter. But again, that's code locked on NHL for $20 off. Swipe, tap, ticket, and go. All right, we're back here on the Monday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host.

Patchdam and Pat after tonight's game against St. Louis Blues, the Penguins will travel to Philadelphia on Tuesday for a rare 6 o'clock start time. So if you want to make an earlier dinner tomorrow, say 5, 5.30, you can sit by the TV, have some dinner, watch the Penguins try to take on the flyers, and also watch Cindy Crosby try to keep owning the Philadelphia Flyers, as he has done for his entire career. The Flyers are to start the season so far. They are four and three and one, nine points tied with the New York Islanders right now.

Trevor Zegris is having a really nice start to the season. It could be a potential bounce back candidate. Matt Vei Michkov, he's going to get going. He's been a little bit, you know, I don't want to say, you know, slow, but it's taking him a little bit to get going here. It's only a matter of time. So you always know games against the flyers are going to be tough. It's a rivalry game.

After that, Pat, you have games against the Minnesota Wild, who they have started out poorly. They had a really bad road trip to open the season when they lost four out of five games. They were one in three and one on that road trip. They have a lot of really good offensive pieces. They just signed obviously Carrillo Caprice off to that mega extension, but they are just not playing that well right now.

And then we all know how tough Winnipeg is going up to Winnipeg. It's one of the toughest places to play in the NHL. So, Pat, especially this week, even though some of these teams have started out a bit slow, for example, like the Blues, like the wild, you are playing some bona fide playoff teams from last year this week. And the Jets, that's obviously one of them. They got to the second round before losing.

We're going to see what this team is made of when they play some really good tests this week. Yeah, this is going to be a big challenge in the schedule here because you look at the rest of this week. Obviously, you got St. Louis at home tonight. And then you're on the road for essentially a week and a half because you go from Philly. and then you go to Minnesota, then you go to Winnipeg, then you go to Toronto, then you get a little bit of a reprieve. You got the caps at home coming up on November 6th, and then right back on the road, you're playing the Devils.

Then you got the Kings at home. And then mid-next month, you head over for the global series, which is going to be a big challenge. So you look at this week, let's keep it to that, because I know I've switched a little bit further ahead. these are all challenges here. The blues we just talked about. They play well.

They just don't get goaltending. So you have to hope that trend continues tonight, but it's not going to be an easy out. The Flyers are young. They're hungry. They're talented. And you can always, even though it's not the same as the 2010s

when this rivalry burned really hot, still a rivalry game. You know how a Philadelphia crowd reacts when ever Pittsburgh comes to town. So that's going to be a. tough environment to play in Minnesota extremely talented. They're going to figure it out. They always seem to and they're too good not to.

And then Winnipeg, genuinely one of the best teams in the West. So you have a chance here to not only make a statement that the start of this season was not a fluke and that you're probably better than people thought. But there's also the peril of it where we're going to find out how good this team actually is because the next week and a half, they're playing a lot of very good teams that have, some of them have Stanley Cup aspirations.

A lot of, probably all of them have playoff aspirations. So you can make a statement here. And we're going to learn quite a lot about how good this Penguins team actually is. Right. I think we're going to find out, Pat, was the start of the season just then beating up on a bunch of middling to below average,

to flat out bad teams? Or is this, sustainable where, okay, you can go out there and beat legit playoff contenders like the Panthers who they beat last week, even though they weren't that good for the last couple of periods. They still were able to find a way to win that game. They were opportunistic. They got the better goaltending.

Can you bring those qualities plus better overall play into these games against the blues, against the wild, who have also really good pieces against the Jets who have one of the best goaltenders on the planet and also have some really good top six options, including Kyle Connor. I discuss Minnesota, and we'll discuss them a bit more later this week with Carill the thrill. Caprisov, he's been fantastic.

The Flyers, even though they're off to a fine start, Madh de Meichkov only has three points in eight games. Sean Gouturier is off to a really good start. He's at a point per game. Trevor Zegris is at a point per game. Noah Cates is also playing pretty well. Oh, and Tippett has five goals in eight games. So they do have some solid young pieces there,

and this is also not going to be an easy game for the Penguins. A rivalry game like this is. never easy for them. And then you mentioned Toronto next week, Pat, that's also going to be a tough game, even though the Maple Leaf's vibes are not very good right now, just because they're really struggling to generate offense at five on five. When you look at their actual goals compared to expected goals, they're all performing their expected goals. I just don't think it's going to last all season, in my opinion. They've been really struggling to generate offense, which, hey, not surprising when you lose a 100 plus point player. But we're going to find out quick, was this a

Marage or is there something more here? And that's why I said multiple times last week, let's see where they're at come Thanksgiving. There's a lot of tests to come and let's see if they can pass them. But I think unless you have anything else to add, that's going to do it for the Monday edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with a fresh episode for you guys on Tuesday,

breaking down this game against the blues and also previewing Tuesday's game against the flyers and then on Wednesday we'll recap that game against the flyers and get you guys set for the rest of the week and oh yeah we're going to break down wilkesbury's very hot start to this season because they have been a wagon so far but that'll do it for today's episode thank you guys so much of tuning in we appreciate it we will be back on tuesday