Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins wrap up the California road trip on a HIGH NOTE with a win in San Jose!

Episode Date: October 20, 2025

The Penguins are coming back from California with a winning record after a 3-0 shutout over the San Jose Sharks! Patrick and Hunter begin the Monday episode with a recap of the Penguins 3-0 shutout victory over the Sharks, giving them a winning record coming home from California. They discuss the play of Tristan Jarry, Sidney Crosby, and the second line continuing their hot start. (0:00) In the second segment, they discuss a Penguins prospect who was put on suspension after refusing an assignment to the Wheeling Nailers in the ECHL. They then talk about the looming decision for what to do with Benjamin Kindel and Harrison Brunicke. The two have more than proved they belong, but is it the right decision to keep them in the NHL? (12:43) Finally, the Penguins are back home on Tuesday, and with a three-game stretch looming, we're going to learn a lot more about the Penguins as they'll play some of the better teams in the NHL after a start against some lesser competition. (27:53)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase. Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.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 Pittsburgh Penguins are coming home from California with a two to one record after a three to nothing shutout of the San Jose Sharks over the weekend. Hunter and I are going to break down that game as well as get you ready for the week ahead 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 back to another edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes.

You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can also find us on Instagram at Locked On underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, be sure to hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul.

Download the Fandul app now by visiting Fandul.com and you could win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins more on them later. Hunter. The penguins have a pretty successful West Coast road trip as they come home with a two and one record finishing their trip with a three nothing shutout of the San Jose Sharks. And this was not a three nothing shutout that was kind of just ho hum. It wasn't like the penguins went out, dominated, got a three to nothing victory, wrapped up their trip and came home. It was a pretty up tempo, pretty high pace game. against, as we discussed, a younger talented sharks team, but a sharks team that is still very much in the early stages of a rebuild. And like I said, this was a back and forth fast-paced game. Both teams got quite a few chances. And we got to start with the guy between the pipes. And that is Tristan Jari. We don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves because, yes, it is still the San Jose sharks, but first two periods, the sharks got quite a few good looks at the penguins net.

And Jari was very equal to the task. This was a very well-earned shutout by Tristan Jari. And the seesaw between the two goalies so far continues to go up and down. But this was a very, very encouraging performance from Tristan Jari. Right. And it's funny, Pat, you know, the penguins already have two shutout victories in their first six years. teams of the season. The first one coming against the Rangers, and that was a very low event game, at least to me, where the Penguins did such a great job, limiting the Rangers breakout from their own end. And this one, I did like how the Penguins played defensively, especially in the third, but there was a lot more up and down action, especially in the first 40 minutes, compared to what we

saw in the season opener against the Rangers, where Jari, it felt like in the shutout victory, was tested more than Sheelovs was tested in that first game of the season. And, you know, I will give credit to Tristan Jari. He played outstanding in this game. There was a sequence in the second period, Pat, where he came up with not one but two saves back to back in great fashion. He was playing aggressive. When he is actually out challenging shooters, playing aggressive, that is when he is

at his best. That's when he has his confidence. And you saw that throughout this game. He's also talked about starting games a bit faster. That was a quote in Josh Yoey's story that I was reading over the weekend where he was talking about how he's really worked on starting games quick, unlike last year, Pat, where I thought like he was giving up the first shot in a whole bunch of his starts. So far this season, that hasn't happened yet. Though again, it's only been three starts. And I know I was on record talking about giving Sheelovs to start on Saturday just because I felt like he earned a second start in a row.

But I know what the Penguins are doing here. They're doing a true goalie rotation to see who can really take. the reins as that 1A. So far, they're both kind of matching each other, Pat. When one guy punches, the other guy punches back. So it's been good at least for a good chunk of these starts, seeing these goalies kind of match each other, you know, Sheelovs against L.A. Shaky it a little bit, but he still played really well, especially towards the end.

With this one against San Jose, Jari was great throughout. Now, does he go back to Sheelovs against Vancouver? does you stick with Jari. So it's been a true rotation so far. I'm excited to see how DMUs keeps handling this. We're going to talk more about the goalies in the second segment of this show as well as the young guys. So let's not spend too much time on that in the first segment. I do want to make sure we have that saved up.

But let's continue with the Sharks game over the weekend. It may not have been a vintage Sidney Crosby performance, but it was a vintage Sidney Crosby goal. That was a deflection goal that only Sidney Crosby can make, and it was an absolute beauty from him. Malkin punctuates the game with an empty netter. And the first goal of the game, or not the first goal of the game,

the other goal for the penguins, what a sequence by the penguins for that second line of Malkin, Mantha, and the big man, Justin Brzo. So that line has been very good to start the year. And you can see that the chemistry between the three of them, it's just clicking. It was a great move by Brazo, a better finish by Mantha. And you just have to really like what you're seeing from that line so far. And I'll say this, as much as I am taking my victory lap on Justin Brzoe, being my

dark horse sneaky good signing candidate over the off season. One thing, and I think it actually does connect both, and this is going to sound silly, the way Tristan Jari played against the sharks and the way Brazil has been playing all season long, it all comes down to confidence. Both of them are playing with such confidence. They're making decisive decisions, and they're not hesitating. That has kind of been the issue with both players over the last. last couple of years. Brazo has shown the potential, but then he starts to question himself.

He starts to hesitate in his game isn't as good as you'd like it to be. Same exact thing for Tristan Jari. He hesitates, second guesses himself, gives up those soft goals, but against the sharks, Brazzo and then that line as a whole, they were really, really good. Brazo has some silky hands, man. That passed to Mantha to make it too. Nothing was disgusting. and it was only a matter of time also that Anthony Mantha was going to get going. A little bit of a slow start, but again, Pat, he's coming off a torn ACL, but that was a really nice release on that goal. I did think Alex Ndilkevich was mostly matching Tristan Jari throughout the night.

It was actually cool seeing Ned have a really nice start here, but that pass from Brazo. It really is Justin Brzo's world, and we are all just living in it right now. And I even said before this season, I thought this was just going to be a playoff. holder type situation until someone like Russ comes back or McGority. Now Pat, he keeps this up. There's no reason to take him off for a good chunk of this season. He has all the confidence in the world right now playing with H. McGee Malcon, playing with Anthony Mantha.

I mean, when you look at his career to date, this is probably arguably the best stretch of his NHL career so far. He's just been fantastic, blown away every expectation that I had of him to start the year. Hell, I don't think anyone in the fan base saw this level from Justin Brzo coming. It's been a very welcome site for the Penguins. I just want him to keep this up because, again, Pat, like, he's been a true difference maker in the top six. You brought up Sydney Crosby's goal.

Allotang shot past to Crosby, Pat. We've only seen that about 200 times throughout their careers. Just beautiful stuff. And again, even though Sydney Crosby has not had a quote-unquote great start to the year, Again, Pat, he's still very much a point per game. That goal was fantastic. It goes to show that he's such a great player when he's still at a point per game and he hasn't taken over a game truly yet.

But again, we've talked about it. It's coming. I thought this was a really nice step for said he continues to just make it look so easy with those deflections. And then again, he Malkin, Pat, nine points in six games. He continues to turn back the clock. I know he has a history of fast starts. He had another one last year,

but this has been another great start so far from Gino. It really has. And at the end of the day, the biggest challenge now for Evgeny Malkin is to keep that momentum going. I don't think we're going to see this kind of torrid pace for 82 games. You know there are going to be peaks in valleys. You know he'll have a stretch where the pucks aren't going in, or he's just not at tip top shape.

You can't expect that from him at this age. But to consistently be good, let's say he remains healthy. You want to see him keep up this level of play for charitably, let's say, 65-ish games, maybe 60 games. You can give him a week or two here and there throughout the season where you know it's not going to be at this level. but if he can continue this and have more good games than bad, you're in a really good spot. As for Sid, same kind of deal. We know that the last couple years stumbles a little bit out of the start.

And saying stumble is even being a little unfair. He just isn't the best player in the world anymore. But once he gets going, you know what you're getting with Sidney Crosby. And because he's one of the best in the game, he's still producing even when he's not at vintage Sydney Crosby levels. So you know that breakthrough is just right around the corner. So really solid win, really solid California trip for the Penguins. And as we have been talking about,

we don't have high expectations, but play good solid competitive hockey. And even if you come out on a losing end, that is going to happen. But really good trip, really good win and the penguins will be back at it this week. We'll dive into what you can expect this week later on in the show. But when we come back, we're going to jump back into the goalie talk as well as talk about the two young guys because everybody wants to talk about them right now.

And we will do that when we come back. So stick with us right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor. And that is Monarch. Let's be honest. Most of us can't name all of our financial accounts. let alone what they're even worth. Between 401k's, savings, investments, and everything in between,

it's really easy to lose track, and that can mean leaving money on the table. That's why there is Monarch, an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or your Boval device. You guys have heard me talk about Monarch before and my long-standing rivalry with both math and Excel. I don't get along with either of them.

So Monarch is perfect for someone like me who needs to keep an eye on all of his finances, whether it's my bank account, savings, credit cards, retirement, you name it. Monarch helps me out. It puts it all right there in one place. And I don't have to touch any of those spreadsheets. And I don't have to count on my fingers. It does all the counting for me.

So don't let financial opportunity slip through the cracks. use code locked on NHL at monarch.com for 50% off your first year. That's monarch.com code locked on NHL for half off your first year. Back here on the Monday edition of Locked on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And I do want to mention this since we are going to talk about the obvious guys, Ben Kindle and Harrison Brunich, who both had some solid performances out West. but this story kind of came out of nowhere,

and we would be remiss if we didn't mention it for the penguins in their prospects. Defensive prospect, Emil Piananemi, has been suspended by the organization. This news comes from Taylor Hoss, one of the goats at D.K. Pittsburgh Sports, and essentially this is what happened. Pian and Mie did not make the penguins out of camp, as we know. He got sent to Wilkes Bears camp,

and then after Wilkes-Barre's camp concluded, he was sent to Wheeling. He refused to report the penguins in PN and Emmys camp tried to come to some kind of solution. He ultimately refused and flew back home to Finland on his own. And essentially, the organization has suspended him as a result. They still hold his rights, but they could loan him to another club, kind of the way they've done with a couple of other players over the, the past year, but I'll just say this. I don't want to spend too much time on it because it's kind of a story in limbo right now. This is not a good look for PN and Emmy because 10, 15, even more

years ago, I can totally understand being upset at a demotion to the ECHL because back in those days, being in the E was essentially a death sentence. You were probably going to be buried there. you'd have to more than dominate to get out of the ECHL nowadays. The ECHL is very much a developmental league. You are not sent there to rot. You're sent there to develop. In him essentially saying, I'm not going. That's not a very good look.

Number one, I agree with you. Number two, Pat, it feels like to me he's kind of taking a stand and being like, I'm too good for the ECHL. And it's like you really can't do that when this is set to be your first professional season. You got to start there, work your way up, and if you play well, you'll come back up to Wilkesbury. I'm not comparing the two prospects because I know one is more talented than the other. But, you know, goaltender, sorry, I'm a shot pat.

He started last season in Wheeling. He dominated that on that team and dominated that league. He comes up to Wilkesbury. Oh, yeah, he's ready for that. He then has a really good stint in Wilkesbury. Comes over for camp this year is the best going in camp. And now look what he's doing to start the year in Wilkesbury, Pat. He has been fantastic for the baby penguins and the AHA.

But he got his start also in Wilkesbury. Again, I'm not comparing it to his players. I'm just looking at the situations because he also had to start in Wheeling last year. So it's not a good look. You can't say to the team, oh, I'm better than this. Like this is your first pro season in the organization, excuse me. Go down there. And if you dominate, you'll get rewarded.

It's as simple as that to me. Right. I'm as pro player as it gets. I do think players got to stand up for themselves and do what's right for themselves. But in this instance, even putting aside that the ECHL is very much in the modern NHL era, a place where players do get a chance to move up, even before that, the penguins going all the way back to Ray Shiro were one of the first teams that really developed a baseball developmental model where they didn't just have an ECHL team because,

they needed to have one. They had one because they put their longer term prospects down there to really get a runway and a feel for pro hockey. So him doing this is just not a very good look on his part. So let's move it over to some young guys who are doing really well for themselves. Both Ben Kindle and Harrison Brunich each had a game where they were healthy scratched out in California. As the coaching staff said, this was just part of the developmental plan for both of them. It wasn't an indictment on their game. They weren't being punished. They're easing them into the rigors of an NHL schedule because as we know for these two, it's either the NHL or it's back to juniors. I will say this. With each passing game they play, their stock continues to rise.

and I'm really starting, I originally believed, and I said it after camp, that for Harrison Brunick, even if he doesn't play a full NHL season, which now is not possible because he was scratched for a game, he's not going to play 82, the math doesn't math on that one. But I did say that I thought it was better for his development to stay at the NHL, get that experience, get that challenge, learn what it's like to be an NHL. And I said for Ben Kindle, give him a few games and then send him back. But let's start with Kindle. I don't know if he's got anything left to do at Junior.

Because there have been some moments where he's not all that great, but he's 18. We don't expect him to be perfect. But I look at the aggregate of everything that he does, he just looks NH already. I don't really know any other way to say it. That's the thing. like even coming into this when he made the team pat i was starting to get towards you where i was like okay you get him a taste of this you then send him back and even after he had a couple good games or his tenure i was still like i got to see more i have now have a point he has played five

games i continue to get more and more comfortable with the idea of him playing a full season here and starting his ELC he was outstanding against the san Jose sharks there was one play in particular I want to start with first. It was that hockey IQ and defensive awareness really standing out, Pat, when he backchecked like crazy, knew exactly where to be positional wise, and prevented a scoring chance against the sharks. If he was not there, Pat, that puck was going in the back of the net. But because of how defensively responsible he is, because of his hockey IQ, he was able

to make that play. It's stuff like that. You can't teach. and he's only 18. This is still going to get even better as he matures a bit more in the NHL. There was a shift in the first period where it felt like he had four prime scoring chances

in the offensive zone. He was absolutely flying out there on that shift and throughout this game. That's the biggest thing that I wanted to highlight real quick. Sorry to interrupt you, Hunter. Is that when you look at 18-year-old forwards, especially one like Ben Kindle, who we raved that he put up 99,

points in juniors, when you look at a player like that, your first thought is they're not going to be able to handle the two-way game. They might get their chances. They might be good offensively because that is so instinctual and ingrained in you that you really can't teach it, but you can teach a player how to get better defensively. His two-way game, it's got a little, it's a little rough around the edges overall. I'm not saying it's perfect or polished and ready to go, but he's doing things in a two-way capacity that is really encouraging and I think really puts him ahead of schedule. And it's really rare, especially among 18-year-olds that you see in the NHL. Like, this is so far beyond advanced, in my opinion, so far. So again, it's been five games,

but I am getting more and more comfortable after every game he plays for him to stay the full year and start his ELC. I'm just about there. I can't believe I'm saying that, Pat, because going into camp, I even said, hey, I want to see him have a good camp, go back to junior. He then goes out there, makes the team. And I'm like, okay, maybe he'll get a couple games, so go back to junior. Now I'm at the point where it's like he continues to get better over these next four that he plays in whenever that is because they're managing his workload. Why not keep him up and start the ELC and play him 50, 55 games like Harrison Brunich. And speaking of Harrison Brunich, Pat, he was also fantastic in this game.

There was a move from him in the first period where he put one of the Sharks players in an absolute blender, fires a puck off the pipe. He continues to get more and more comfortable. He was in position all night long. The scanning ability continues to be rock solid. This was a great performance from him on the third pair. The underlines were also very strong for him in this game. He played in this one a little over 17 minutes, 54% shot attempts,

floor rate, also a 74% expected goals full rate, 58% scoring chances for rate, 81% high danger chances for rate at 5 on 5. The numbers very much match the eye test. And one second, Pat, before we get back to Brunich, Kindle at 5 on 5 in this game, 1225 of 5 on 5 ice time, 62.8% of the shot attempts, 81% of the expected goals, 60% of the scoring chances, 75% of the high danger chances. Both of these players were absolutely awesome. And this 3-0-0-1 against the sharks.

With Brunich, it's kind of a no-brainer that he's going to stay beyond the nine games. At this point, I would be a bit surprised. Just he's also ahead of Kindle age-wise and all that other stuff. But it's still kind of a no-brainer, at least that's what it's feeling like to me right now. Kindle, I'm still not fully sure. But I'm, again, I'm getting more comfortable with this. Right. There's not a whole lot I can add on Brunich just because he is simply one of the penguins' best six defensemen at this point. And there's not much of a question on that. And it's not a best six by default where everybody else is not at that good of a skill level because we know that he is still developing.

He's still young. He's just already solidly in the top six defensemen in the organization overall. So keeping him is really not, I think, a question at this point. just managing his workload so he doesn't burn out by the end of the year. Real quick, before we end the segment, I do want to have a quick discussion on the goalies. And I want to go back to something you said, and I also hinted at in the first segment. I don't know what, and I'm not ready to declare him cured. Okay. So let's stop there.

Let's let's park that there. But the thing I saw from Tristan Jari against the sharks, and I've seen it in spurts throughout the start of this season, is that he's playing confidently. When Jari has been at his best, he's challenging shooters, he's playing decisively, he's making the right decisions,

and for him, that needs to continue because you looked at it against the sharks. And again, we know the sharks are still very much a team that is rebuilding and at the very early stages of it. He was on top of his crease.

He was challenging shooters. He was taking angles away. And when he does that, he's not a half bad goalie. As for Sheelovs, the rebound control needs some work, but it's the same kind of deal. He has been on top of the crease. He's been on top of shooters, and he's making the right decisions. So when it comes to what to do for goaltending, I think Dan Muses' idea of just going one and one and splitting them down the middle until somebody rises to the top, it's the right call.

And that's something we talked about at the end of last week when we were doing a preview for this game. because, yeah, I even said I would give Shilov another start because I felt like he earned it, but I still wasn't going to be surprised if Jari got the start because he's been going back and forth between goalies to start the year. So you saw the latter, and I guess that means, Pat, we might see Shilov on Tuesday. We'll just have to see what happens with the morning skate before the game against Vancouver. It's right now very much 1A1B. Who was going to take over and be that bona fide number one goalie? throughout the season. Both guys, again, they're kind of just trading haymakers with each other

with some of these performances. You know, Jari, I felt like, has been pretty sound in two of his three starts. Yeah, I know. The one against Islanders, I think he'd want back a few of those goals, but when it really mattered, he closed the door. That elevates that start to above average to me. This game against the sharks, he was great throughout. That's one of the better starts that he has had over the last year, 18 months to about two years. really feel that way. He was also really confident moving from left to right in this crease. You didn't see him swimming in his crease. When you're seeing that stuff happen, he has absolutely no confidence. So I like that aspect from his game as well. So this is going to be fun to track throughout

the year. And even for Sheelogs, two of his three starts, he's been fairly good. Shut off the Rangers, has a really good start in L.A. It was a little bit shaky at the start. But he kept the Penguins in that game pad, especially in the first period where the penguins were getting absolutely blitzed. It was lucky that they were only down to nothing heading into the second, but it was because of some big says that he was able to keep them in that game, and then he was great in the final 40 minutes, obviously had that done against the Rangers. So I feel like each goalie so far has had a dud and two pretty sound starts. Now let's see what else happens.

Definitely, definitely good quote unquote, good problems to have. for Dan Mews and Kyle Dubus when it comes to a lot of these players because difficult decisions lie ahead for all of them. And obviously, we're going to be your place to talk about all of that. But that is going to do it for our middle segment when we come back. If you really enjoy hockey on Tuesday, Thursday, Thursday, and Saturday for the third straight week, that's the Penguin's schedule. We'll take a quick look at the schedule for the week ahead when we come. back right after this. But first, we got to tell you about today's second sponsor, and that is Fandul.

The NFL season is in full swing, and Fandul has an offer you don't want to miss. Right now, new customers can bet just $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win. That's right, pick a bet, put down $5, and if that bet hits, you'll unlock $300 in bonus bets to use across the app. Fandul makes watching football even more exciting when you've got some. writing on the action. Whether you're a casual fan or you love diving into the stats, Fandul makes the game day experience so much better.

So what are you waiting for? Visit fandul.com to download the Fandual app today and get started. Wrapping up the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And for the third street week, we know when the penguins are going to be playing hockey. It's going to be Tuesday, Thursday. And Saturday, they will be at home for two of three.

On Tuesday night, they've got their old pal, Jim Rutherford, and the Vancouver Canucks coming to town. Then on Thursday, the first big test of the year, they head down to sunrise to take on the defending champion Florida Panthers. And then on Saturday, it's a rivalry Saturday, as well as Penguins Hall of Fame induction ceremony when the Columbus Blue. Blue jackets come to town for a date at PPG Paints Arena. Now, Hunter, we have been very excited by the Penguins start this year, the way they've played, everything they've done from the young guys to even get wins. But let's be honest, looking at the first six games of the season, Rangers twice, Islanders, Ducks, Kings, Sharks, hasn't exactly been the class of the NHL. that changes this week. Vancouver, still a competitive team in the West.

They've got their eyes on getting to the playoffs. The Panthers, well, we know who the Panthers are, and the Columbus Blue Jackets are a team on the rise despite a bit of a slower start. So it's going to be a challenging week for the Penguins. Well, I get to go up against one of my favorite players in the league first, Quinn Hughes. I love watching him play.

Anytime the Canucks are on late, I will put them on just because Quinn Hughes is just breathtaking. awesome when he's on the ice. I can't wait to see him on Team USA. So I'm really excited for this game. Elias Pedersen had a big game against the Capitals over the weekend. And the Canucks, they had a 4-0 league. They almost blew it at the end. They were able to win the game, Pat.

But they did look pretty solid for a good chunk of that game before they started, I felt like to chartle towards the end. But they've won three in a row. That's going to be a solid test. After that, they do play a Panthers team that the Penguins could be getting at the right time. Panthers won their first three games of the season. they were blowing these teams out. Since then, though, Pat, they've lost four in a row. They did not look good in Buffalo over the weekend. They got blown out pretty bad by the

struggling sabers who they need all the good vibes they can get right now because if they continue their slow start, you could potentially see big changes there. They're two and three. They've won two in row, which is huge. But that's still not a good loss for them. The panders are going to be fine in the long run, especially once they get to Chuck back. We all know that Barkaws out for the year, but they're also battling some under injuries right now. Still, this could be a right time moment for the Penguins just because the Panthers aren't playing that well over the last four games, but still always going to be a tough game when you play against the Panthers who are a bunch of rats. And then you face a Woojackets team who they've lost three of their first five games.

You could be getting them at the right time as well. The Penguins, they usually play the jackets very well at home. It's rare when the jackets beat the Penguins, by the way. at PBG Paine's Arena. So this is also another week of big opportunities. You play a Canucks team that has had a good start. You play a Panthers team that's struggling a little bit. And then you play a Blue Jacket team about struggling a little bit as well.

So for as good as the start that they've had, and it's been solid, you have a chance to really build on that this week, especially now with two home games. There's a lot more road games coming up. But even though there's some tough teams in here this week, you're getting at least one of them in my opinion at potentially the right time.

For sure. And I look at this schedule the same way I've looked at the first two weeks. If you can take two or three or if you can take one and maybe go one, one, and one, that's a very good week for the penguins. Again, we don't have high expectations. We're not gaming this out for them to get to the playoffs, but we want them to play good, solid hockey. And through the first two weeks, they have done that.

They have been a team that has its high moments, has its low moments, has good games, has bad games, kind of exactly as we expected. But like you said, you look at the week ahead, Vancouver's been pretty good to start the year. And then the other two, they've gotten off to slower starts. So you could really make hay against two good teams who are struggling early. So it's a big opportunity for the penguins. And I'm really excited despite the injuries, despite the, the struggles. The Panthers are still a very well coached, a very hard to play against

hockey team. And when you look at some of the guys on the penguins, the young guys who we just talked about, Brazil, who's having a good start, depending on which goalie gets the call in Florida, it's a really good learning opportunity and a really good challenge for those guys this week. Oh, yeah. I mean, when you play a team that has Sam Bennett, Brad Marchand on it, And by the way, did you see the Brad Marchand clip from the game against the Sabres? Just very typical Brad Marchand stuff. The young kids are going to get the full Brad Marshall experience, I think, on Thursday. That'll be like one of the true welcome to the NHL moments that.

I know they've only played five games so far, but if both are in the game and they're not managing their workload on Thursday, I think they're going to have some true welcome to the, welcome to the NHL moments, excuse me, when you play against Marchand and Bennett. That team, again, just full. of rats, they go zero to 100 for the entire 60 minutes. You're going to walk out of that game, very bruised up just because of the style that the Panthers play.

So that's going to be fine. Vancouver, they play a lot of up and down hockey. I think you can take advantage of some of their defense at lapses, in my opinion, even though goaltender Thatcher Demko has been awesome to start the year. He's potentially playing his way on a team USA at the Olympics and then Columbus. I expect them to be better, but you also could be getting them at the right time here. So really intriguing week coming up here. For sure.

And we are going to wrap this episode up because we're recording it around 11 a.m. on Monday morning. And our boy Hunter Hodes has to make his way to the UPMC Lemieux Complex to cover practice for the hockey news. So that is going to do it for our Monday edition. Thank you as always for tuning in. Hunter and I will be back with his recap. of Monday practice and our preview of the Canucks game on Tuesday. So be on the lookout for that. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in.

We will be back on Tuesday.