Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins stumble against Colorado with a HUGE matchup on the horizon

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

The Penguins' push to the playoffs took a bit of a hit on Tuesday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Patrick and Hunter begin the show by breaking down the Penguins' 6-2 loss to the Colorado Avalanche. They first take a look at the defense and goaltending, which have been subpar the last couple of weeks. Is it who the Penguins are, or is it the opponents being very good? (0:00) Then, they get into another controversial goaltender interference call that didn't go the Penguins' way once again. Is the league out to get the Penguins? Unlikely, but the numbers paint a daming picture. (15:48) Finally, it's Wednesday once again, and Patrick and Hunter hand out their MVP of the week in another Warrior Helmet Wednesday! (29:45) Everydayer ClubJoin the Everydayer Club for ad-free audio, access to our group chat on Discord, and more. Use code DEADLINE ahead of the trade deadline for one month free. Tap here to learn more: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnhl. 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.COMto 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 Colorado Avalanche returned the favor a little over a week later to the Pittsburgh Penguins, handing them their butts at PPG Paints Arena. Hunter and I are going to recap that game as well as give out our MVP of the week right after this. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Wednesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Sinem for Wet. Join, as always, by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore

Penguins. You can find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins and TikTok at Locked on Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we are free and available wherever you get podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, which you should be. Make sure you've hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Colorado decided they were going to get their lickback hunter, 6 to 2 at PPG, Paints Arena. And this is going to be a two-segment type of recap. We're also going to hand out

our weekly MVP award at the end of the show and Warrior Helmet Wednesday. But we are going to need two segments to recap this game because it was a very complicated game to to break down. Because on the surface, you look at six to two and you think, boy, penguins got their lunch fed to them. and in a way they did. But at the other hand, I didn't hate the way they played. I also didn't love the way they played. I think that there's a pretty simple explanation. Well, I'll say two explanations actually for what happened at PPG paints arena on Tuesday night.

One, penguins fell asleep for about a two and a half minute long stretch in the first period. and when you're the league's best team in the Colorado Avalanche, that's more than enough time to kick your opponent in the proverbial chest and knock them down the stairs. They also were not great defensively, nor was the goaltending all that great. You put those ingredients together against the team like the Colorado Avalanche, you get a 6 to 2 loss.

It's funny. I liked the first half of that first period. Hell, I even liked the five minutes after that, especially after the Penguins tied the game pat. I thought they were carrying the play. They were getting really good chances. Scott Wedgwood, he was really good in this game, way better than the last game against between these two teams when he got pulled and did not look very good. He got his second chance and he took it and ran with it. He made some really nice saves in that period.

And for the final five minutes, that's all it really took. for me for Colorado to just take over this game. Part of it is on the penalty kill. That has been a big struggle as a last couple of games that unit right now. Really missing Blake LaZotte, but I still didn't like the way that they gave up a goal so quickly in this one. That's not going to, if you combine that with the way they played against Carolina, I understand how important Lazot is to this unit,

but I still think this unit, considering how good it's been all year, Pat, they're better than this, even without Lazotte. Like, that's not good enough for me. But the issues are twofold. They're not defending well in their own zone, and they're not getting saves. Both were on display last night. If they get average goaltending last night, I think they win that game and get two points. That may sound weird to say.

People may yell at me in the comments, but I think if the goaltending is average for the penguins last night, I think they walk away with the win with the way they were playing. Even in the final couple of periods when, you know, the game was, you know, quote-unquote, out of reach, I still like the way the penguins are playing. They were generating good looks. They were in the offensive zone quite a bit. Scott Wedgwood was making the saves. Archer Sheelogs did not.

But until the penguins, you know, start getting saves and they start defending better because a lot of the defending right now is kind of lazy. You're just going to keep seeing performances like these. And that's not good enough for this time of year, Pat, when you're fighting for your right to get into the playoffs. They have to fix their end zone coverage, and they have to get saves.

Those are the two biggest issues plaguing the team right now. They absolutely are. And when you break down the numbers, especially when it comes to goal prevention, they are ugly. I got it written down here. So I got to look over at my screen to make sure I get this correct. Because if I don't, it's going to sound even worse.

But in their last nine games played, they are giving up 4.4 goals per game and 21 goals against in their last four games played 5.25 per game. Listen, that is not a recipe for success. The problem is, and this is going to sound contradictory, but I promise it isn't, they're not playing poorly in this stretch. I think they're playing perfectly fine.

The problem is they break down too often. The Carolina game was the poor performance. That was the no-show. Yes, but then you look at, you know, you look at their last week. week and it hasn't been all that terrible. The problem is just they're unable to outscore their problems because that's not the type of team that it is.

You look at the last week, six, five overtime game against Carolina. That actually was more just the fact that in the third period, both the penguins and hurricanes said screw it. We're just, we're playing last goal wins. Shinny pond hockey here. So who cares on that one? I will give them a pass. five four shootout win against Winnipeg did not play very well for certain stretches that led to the puck

and put in the back of their net obviously you just said it Carolina was the no show and then last night they give up three goals in about a two and a half minute long span and then they don't really ever find their footing defensively for the rest of the game but they're doing okay in the neutral zone they're doing okay I think they're doing better than okay in the offensive zone with their four check the way they're getting pressure the way they're getting chances. The problem is they're not getting good defensive coverage. And when the defensive coverage inevitably breaks down of the last couple weeks,

they're not getting the saves. Yeah, that's really what it comes down to. The goalies are failing them. They're not making the saves they need to make. And the penguins are not simplifying in their own end. And that was something I talked about on social media last night. This team needs to get back to playing simple hockey in their own end. clean breakouts, clean transitions,

not enough high danger chances against. Right now, everyone is kind of just flopping around like a fish in their own end. No, you take the puck, no, you take the puck. And you're wasting time trying to break it out. And these teams with heavy four checks, they're putting pressure on the penguins right away, forcing turnovers, and then the penguins are just completely out of position on a lot of these goals. Just players are not making smart and simple decisions with the puck.

that's also again another big issue right now it's one of the two biggest issues so it's up to dam use and the staff to really nip this in the bud because the regression for that and the goaltending is coming at the absolute worst time you have literally 10 to 11 games left you're fighting for your right to get into the playoffs these are such huge games the standings are so close you can't afford to have this type of stretch at the end of the season especially when your schedule is still really nasty. Now, the schedule overall, it's getting below league average in terms of difficulty because after the next week, your final six games are against non-playoff teams. But you just got to survive this next stretch here where get as many points as you can.

I don't know if you're going to win all these games, but get the points that you can before you have favorable matchups at the end of the season. Two games against the Panthers, one against New Jersey, two against Washington, the Blues. Now, those aren't Jimmy wins. Teams are obviously going to show up and play their hearts out on a nightly basis. But I'm just saying the schedule does ease up over the next week. So it's up to Dammeuse and the staff to get them back to playing simple hockey in their own end because for a while they were like you saw it. The goals against numbers were coming down.

The expected goals against numbers were also coming down for a good stretch of the new year. But as of late, creeping back up again to kind of what we saw at the beginning of the season where they were still giving up too many goals. This has to change. And both goaltenders, Pat, need to start making the regular saves because I don't think that has been good enough at all. I know we've seen some people clamor for Sergei Marasov to come up.

I'm sure we're going to get a couple of comments today about it on our YouTube and our DMs. All I'll say is this. I don't think it's a good idea for him to come up and be playing behind the way the penguins have been playing defensively in front of them. I just think that's a way to ruin his confidence. His numbers also as of late, very up and down in Wilkesbury.

I want him to get a full Carter Cup playoff run. He can make the team next year. Maybe people think I'm out to lunch on that take. That's fine. But I would keep him down there right now. I'm with you. And listen, I saw the discourse. I saw the people saying, oh, you know, go ahead and tell that to 2016 Matt Murray.

That was a way, way, way different time. You had Mark Andre Fleury with him, who Hall of Fame goaltender on his own, and you had a genuine contender in that team. That's true. A team that played smothering defense, a team that played a style that not a lot of teams could keep up with.

The difference now is, yes, Sergei Murshov is the hot shot goaltending prospect who's making a mockery of the HL. He doesn't have the same team to come up and play with. That is a huge, huge difference. One last thing before we go to break because we will. I promise if you're watching us on YouTube, you can see it on the rundown. We are going to talk about the controversy from last night. But before that, I wanted to build off one last thing that you brought up and that was the

schedule. Listen to this run right now. Carolina, Vegas, Utah, Colorado, Carolina, Winnipeg, Carolina, Colorado. That is a murderer's row. And that was eight games that I named. They have only failed to get points in three of them. So we talked about this briefly yesterday. You can't go get. Unfortunately, we would love to go game to game in an ideal world. They just win these games. But you've got to go chunks here. You got to go, hey, they're playing X amount of games this week. They're going to need Y amount of points to stay in the race. That's why we do what we do every Monday when we look at the week ahead and we give our, you know, projections for how many points we think they'll need and all that.

Like, that's, we give you these games in Clusters. I didn't mean to interrupt you there. And the final point I'll make on it is this. It's going to be a little twofold here. One, yes, you eventually do have to beat these good teams. Yes. If you want to be a good team, you've got to beat other good teams. You can't just feast on non-playoff teams, coast your way to the playoffs and then become

cannon fodder in the first round. The other point of it is they have beaten these teams in the past. But when you have this strength of a schedule and this tight of a race, you are going to falter a little bit and I'll add this one final thing. And I know this is going to sound like cope. I know this is going to sound like excuse making. But just keep in mind where we were at the start of this season. They're going to be in the race for Gavin McKenna.

They're not going to be very good. here they are in a playoff race with just a few weeks left in the season and nothing else about the plan other than where they're going to draft this summer has really changed. You've still got the cap space. You still got the draft picks. You haven't moved on from any prospects. This is house money.

We want them to make it. We will be disappointed if they don't. It will be a bit of a failure if they don't. But at the end of the day, we are playing with some house money. money here as we get even closer to April in the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. Now, stop me if you've heard this one before. There was a goaltender interference challenge.

It did not go the penguins way. We're going to talk about that and the rest of the game when we come back right after this. But before we do that, we've got a couple of sponsors. We've got to get to starting with our friends at Quo. Spring is a natural reset point. And if there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses, money. It's messy communications. Mist calls, scattered text, no clear threat of who said what.

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Event contracts are offered by Robin Hood derivatives LLC, a registered futures commission, merchant, and swap firm. Welcome back to the Wednesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And all right, we got to get into it. We got to get into it. Justin Brzo has a goal wiped off the board due to goaltender interference. It was called a goal on the ice. Colorado challenges for goaltender interference.

They win the challenge. The goal is taken off of the board. And I'm just going to put this number out for you. when the penguins challenge for gold tender interference this season, they are 0 for 8. When their opponent challenges for goaltender interference, four for five. Now, do I think that there was a league-wide memo, email, text, phone call that said, screw the Pittsburgh Penguins, do not give them any calls when it comes to challenges, especially on goaltender interference?

No, I don't. But I also know that the NHL, whether it was his time in Toronto, or just the way he is discussed among some of the older NHL decision makers, they don't like Kyle Dubus. They never have. Dan Mews is a first time head coach and he was not a former legendary player. So he is not in the club. Kyle Dubus is also not in the club. And I do think there's an element of human by. bias in this, where it gets to the challenge room in Toronto, it gets to the challenge room in

the NHL head offices, and they just go, yeah, we don't like these guys. Dan Muses is new. He's got to take his lumps. Yeah, reverse the call or leave the call on the ice. That's fine. No problem here. And I don't think they're using those words verbatim. I think that's their thought process and they kind of make it up as they go. But I'll end with this, Hunter, and then I'll let you go and say what you got to say on it, because we got more to talk about from the game itself. It's time for Dan Muse to embarrass the league back. Not this whole, you know, I didn't agree with their decision.

They made their decision. I disagree that. No, it's time for him to sit down and say, this is BS. They're, even if you're Kyle Dubus, whether it's Fenway Sports Group or the Hoffman family, whoever is signing the checks right now, you got to go to them and say you're about to get fined. And there's no two ways about this because we're going to go dress the league down.

Because it's absurd at this point. There's no consistency. There's no precedent. They make it up as they go. And all season long, it has come out on the end of the penguins getting the crap end of the stick. And do I think that Brazil's goal would have swung the game last night? probably not. They weren't playing all that.

They weren't playing poorly, but they weren't also playing great. But 4-2 is a whole hell of a lot different than 5 to 1. So at this point, it's time from using Dubus to pick their route. They know they're not getting the calls. They know they're not getting the benefit of the doubt. So sit down in front of a microphone and embarrass these guys. So you're saying no more Mr. Nice Guy by Alice Cooper.

That's where we're at. Yeah. I mean, I don't disagree with you. I do think it is time for Dam Euse to really go off and kind of take off the nice guy glasses and all that. Just go full John Tortarella for one rant during a press conference. We've already seen Kyle Dubus kind of do it in a way, Pat, where he was at the pre, at the trade deadline conference, I should say. He was as nice as he could be about goaltender interference without telling the league a lot of cuss words. Like he said it in very PG language.

And apparently, according to Elliot Freeman on 32 thoughts, there was a pretty big call between the Penguins in the league before that happened. And I think after a few other situations, this probably prompted Kyle Dubas to really say something. And then you see the wool going around the press box. I'm pretty positive that Kyle Dubas probably told Penguins PR to do that. I have zero doubts that he did. I think it was probably him.

That is something, I'll say this, having worked in this industry, whether it's media or media relations, especially in sports, that is a mandate that is handed down from the president, the owner, whomever is in charge. Because if I were to, when I was doing digital in the ECHL and the AHL, obviously that's not the NHL, if I would have had something like that happen, if I would have gone into the rulebook, highlighted a rule in. handed it out to all the reporters in the building without getting prior approval, I would not have just gotten the team in trouble. I would have gotten fired. Yeah. So I think it's definitely dubus and the entire front office were like, you know what, screw it.

We're going to have PR pass this along to everyone. And then we want them to post this on social media as a message to the league saying, like, we are fed up and we are done with the inconsistencies. So last night, do I think Justin Brzoe, went in there a little bit unimpeded, sure. However, and this is just me speaking, I think Wedgwood really sold it. I thought he flopped around like a fish there,

went down very easily, and I think that was part of the reason why that goal got called back because he sold it really well. I think if he doesn't sell it like that, there's a chance that goal stays on the board. But, hey, I think if you're a goal in that situation, you kind of have to sell it the best that you can't, because there really wasn't a ton of contact there.

It's funny. I'm still way more mad about Saturday's goal than the situation. I just think I'm at the point now where I'm not surprised anymore because they keep getting boned. I would say the whole process is just a sham. I would say in this instance, last night was more 50-50 than Winnipeg. I agree with you on that.

Yes. Saturday I was 99% sure. that was getting called back. Yeah, I was way more upset. Winnipeg was way more clear cut. Eric Carlson gets launched into Artersh. She loves and it's like, what more, like, are you telling me not to believe my lying eyes?

But last night, you can tell me it's 50-50. You could, that, if we isolate it in a vacuum and just go to that game, no context, you're looking strictly at that moment, you can convince me of both calls. You can convince me it's goal tender interference. Call it back. You can convince me, hey, that's Justin Broseau has owed that space outside of the crease,

Wedgewood's the one in the wrong here. And I'm fine with either explanation. But when you put it into the context of what goaltender interference has been for the Pittsburgh Penguins this year, I look at it and go, this is becoming a pattern of behavior and a pattern of outcome that I know that it probably isn't, but it's really hard for me not to look at it and go, the league has it out for these guys.

It is weird because I'm not a conspiracy guy either. I never have been. But, you know, when I keep seeing, you know, calls like this to go against them, you know, that trickling thought just comes into my brain. Like, are they just like doing this on purpose? Like, is there some sort of weird little conspiracy against Dan Muses and Kyle Dubus? Again, you know, I will say it again. Not a conspiracy guy.

Just like that little thought comes into my brain when they keep getting boned like this. but the whole process is a complete sham. And this isn't even just isolated to a Penguins thing. Obviously, it's been horrible for this team. But league-wide, there's just no consistency at all. I may think the double IHF rule is a bit soft for goal interference. At least there's a standard. At least they call it consistently there.

And I think if you were to have that type of standard where you call it consistently, players would adjust. But nobody knows what goaltender interference is in the NHL. And it's a joke, man. Like the league just looks so bad with this. Not even just for the penguins, but on a nightly basis for other teams. Like, again, I brought up the Columbus Islander one, which I found hilarious to. You know, there's plenty of others as well.

There was one, I think, from the Tampa, Minnesota game from last night, which I also laughed at. Again, like, it's a sham that the Department of Player Safety. They're both just such bad looks for the league. But I don't want to spend too much more time on it. You know, it happened. Let's leave it there. We got a couple. I want to hit two more things before we get to Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

First, let's do, let's have our dessert and then we'll have our vegetables before we go to Warrior Helmut Wednesday. As we saw with the results of last night's game and the rest of the games from last night, the Penguins are now in third place. They have been leapfrogged by the Columbus Blue Jackets, but ready for this, this shoe in I'm going to do, this shoe horning I'm going to do. Igor Chinikov, the former Columbus Blue Jacket, man. Listen, I think outside of Nathan McKinnon and Kail McCar, who are two of the best players on the planet,

Igor Chinikov was in the running for best player on the ice last night. He was everywhere, including the goal. He got a bunch of chances. He was really good defensively. And I continue to ask the question, how could Columbus not make this work? It's very strange. And I agree.

He was one of the penguins' best players. Last night you can make an argue that he was the penguins best player. And I probably wouldn't disagree with you. I thought Rickel was also really good last night for the penguins. But he was everywhere. He was throwing his body, making some really nice hits. You know, his release is so good that even from 60 feet out, it's still just a piss missile, man. Like that release was just totally unfair to Scott Wedge when he had no chance.

that but you know he continues to play at such an elite level for the penguins i'm super excited for them to resign him after the season but he is just fit like a glove ever since they acquired him from columbus but yeah he was a big bright spot for me last night again i wanted a shot out rickel i thought he also played a really good game last night brian rusk continues to play well as well i still want to see sit up his game a little bit more pat yeah he got a point towards the end, but I want to see Sting string together some vintage-like performances here. Again, he's not bad right now, but I just, I want to see a bit more from him, especially with how tight standings are right now.

And I know everyone is down right now because that's a second straight regulation loss. The Bruins just lost to a bad team at home last night. The Maple Leafs a team that is not going anywhere. The Islanders also just lost to a really bad Blackhawks team in regulation. they're still in a playoff spot. However, Thursday's game is their biggest game yet. You're playing an Ottawa team that is now in a playoff spot. They have climbed from the abyss to get into a playoff spot.

It's a building where you haven't had a lot of success in. That's going to be a humongous game on Thursday. So just I want everyone to take a deep breath. They're still in a playoff spot. This is what you're made for. Again, I'll keep saying it. I love this stuff. Meaningful games, close races, it doesn't get better than lists.

Let's see if they can pull themselves out of it and just get back to Penguins Hockey for what we have seen for most of the 2026 calendar year. I agree. This is the best part of the year. This is what you live for. You don't want it to be too easy because then it doesn't feel as good when you pull it off. It's not supposed to be easy, Pat. It's not supposed to be easy to make the playoffs. And I'll finish with this thought, and we'll get to Warrior Helmet Wednesday.

We also do got to remember. It's the best team in the NHL they played last night. Sometimes you get beat. Sometimes you play a really good team, and they're a really good team, and you're not on their level. It doesn't mean that the penguins suck. It doesn't mean that they're cooked. It doesn't mean that we got to start shouting that it's over. Colorado is just that damn good.

But that is going to do it for this middle segment. We've made you wait long enough. But you're going to have to wait a little bit longer because we've got to get through an ad. It's Wednesday. That means we're handing out our MVP of the week as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday. So hang with us and find out the probably obvious pick for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. But we got one more sponsor to get to. Our friends at Fandle.

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We're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can, or you know where you can follow me. Send it in for what? All social media channels. I don't know why I'm doing the main intro, Hunter. It's Wednesday. I guess I got a case of the Wednesdays.

people say that? I don't know. Anyway, welcome back. That's Hunter Hodes. I'm Patrick Dam. Warrior Helmet Wednesday, if you are new here and you're not flustered like I am, every Wednesday, we give out our weekly MVP. It's us paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins when they would get victories all the way through their Stanley Cup championship in the locker room. Their player of the game would get a warrior helmet. And that's how we give out our weekly MVP. I feel like it's a pretty obvious one, don't you think, Hunter? At least for me, I am picking Eric Carlson. Huge week for him, four goals, one assist, five points, big week for him. And even without the points, he has just been arguably the penguin's best player,

whether it's injuries, whether it's just tremendous performances. is I can't say enough about how good Eric Carlson has been over the past month, I guess, overall, but really hard for me to pick anybody else except for Eric Carlson this week. Yeah, Carlson has been fantastic. He's been putting the team on his back during the stretch. He was also doing it when the team was playing without Crosby for a while and even during the stretch where Malkin was suspended for five games. He was still putting the team on his back.

Again, it makes me excited to hopefully get playoffs. Carlson, just because we haven't seen playoff Carlson in quite some time, even going back to his tenure before he was with the Penguins. But, you know, he will the Penguins back in that game against Winnipeg multiple times. The way that he played against Carolina last week, the 6-5 loss, with two goals and three points, just absolute amazing stuff. I am going with Carlson for this week, but, man, I was really close to giving it to Chinakov as well. If you allowed me to do half and half this week, I'll just say people, Pat did not allow me to do that this week. So, I'm, again, this is, this is our own made up segment.

The rules don't really apply. There are no rules. But Hunter has done a couple of split warrior helmets over the past few weeks. I was like, you know what? Let's take a break from that. Let's just pick one. If I had to do a split, I would give half of it to Chinakoff, though, because he has also been ridiculous for this past week. I mean, you look at what he has done.

with three goals and four points during that time he's been again. Absolutely sensational. He now has 17 goals and 32 points overall this season. But for one player, I do have to give the edge to Carlson. I think he's been the Penguins team MVP this year with the way that he is playing in all three zones. Just elite level stuff right now from Carlson. So between the two, I will go Eric, but I did want to shout out Chinakov as well. No, that's totally fair.

That was the thing for me. I don't want to say it was a coin flip because of how good Carlson has been over the past month. It's just really hard to pick anybody but him. But the close second absolutely is Chinikov. And I'll just, I will keep saying it just to rub salt in the wound. But Columbus, man, imagine how much better you, how much better you'd be right now with how good you are right now with this version of Igor Chinikov. It would make you even better. but hey, their loss is our gain.

So let's dive into this real quick before we end the episode. Here is our tracker for the season because you know what? Let's keep track of this because at the end of the year, whether it's after game 82, after some playoff games, who knows, we'll give out our year end awards, including our year end warrior helmet. So if you're watching us on YouTube, you can see it on your screen.

Leading the pack still is Captain Sidney Crosby with five words. Weir helmets. Coming up quick on him, though, he's got some competition. Eric Carlson, Evgeny Malkin, and Anthony Mantha, each with four Warrior Helmets this season. Justin Brzoe, he's got three, plenty with two, including Kyle Dubus, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindle, Dan Mews, Sergey Murashov, and Archer Shilovs, and quite a few with one warrior helmet, Igor Chinikov, Conard Dewar, the special teams units, and Stuart Skinner. So big week coming up, we are obviously going to keep you guys informed for all of this,

including tomorrow's episode when we go over the latest news, as well as get you set for a massive game against the Ottawa senators with a lot of playoff implications. So make sure you are subscribed. Make sure you've got your notifications on because we are your place to be as the Penguins push to the 2026 Stanley Cup playoffs. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp.

Thank you as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Thursday.