Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby breaks yet another record in a massive Penguins win

Episode Date: April 2, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins upset the New York Rangers on Monday night thanks in large part to Sidney Crosby. Crosby made NHL history with his 19th straight point-per-game season and that's where Hunter and Pat start today's episode. They dive into how he continues to carry this team and how Sid continues to be the model of consistency in the NHL. They also look at where he stands in terms of being one of the 5 greatest players of all time before diving into other parts about the win. They look at how well the Penguins defended and how that should be the blueprint for their games before getting into Emil Bemstrom's play. They analyze what they liked about his game before moving on to preview Tuesday night's game against the New Jersey Devils. It's all of a sudden a massive game! Hunter and Pat give their keys to victory and how we'll see what the Penguins are really made of. They also look at the playoff race as the team once again has a small shot of making things interesting.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHLfor $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. 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.

On Monday night, Sidney Crosby continued to cement his place amongst the immortals in the sport of hockey. 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 Penguins fans to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet, joined as always by the one-and-known-on-known.

only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow the show's account at L.O underscore Penguins. We thank you for making this your first listener watch of the day because we're your team every day and you can find us on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200. If your bet wins, visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. So we have to get right into it. Sidney Crosby once again makes history and continues to cement his legacy as one of the all-time

great players in the history of not just the National Hockey League, but all of the sport. With a three-point night last night, two goals and one assist, he officially ties Wayne Gretzky's once seemingly untouchable record of 19 consecutive point per game seasons. It was a marvelous performance by the Pittsburgh Penguins last night, right on the back of their captain, Sidney Crosby, who refuses to let this team die, who refuses to let this team go quietly into the night. And it was another example for us as Penguins fans to really see. How spoiled we have been for the last 20 years to not just have this guy as the Penguins Cornerstone

player, but representing the franchise, representing the city in everything that he has done both on the ice and off the ice. And you could just feel it last night. 18 seconds in, he gets an assist on Brian Rust's goal. And then later on, he gets another classic vintage Sydney Crows. Crosby deflection goal. And then to cap it all off, he gets the empty net goal, which was so classic Sidney Crosby. It wasn't him basket hanging and fleeing the zone early, trying to get that easy one. He blocks a shot with just seconds left in the game, takes the puck through the neutral zone, and buries it into the empty net, sealing a very surprising win for the penguins against the New York Rangers.

and he continues to do this. At age 36, is he as dominant as he once was? No, but is he still top 10 in the league? I would certainly argue he is. So Hunter, aside from it being a huge win, it was a historic night for the captain and for the Pittsburgh Penguins. He is such a great model of consistency in the NHL.

You know what you're going to get from him on a nightly basis. and he hardly ever disappoints. Sure, he had a couple of rough games after Jake Gensel got traded, but after that, it was just like, ho-hum, he got right back to doing what he was doing after a couple of meh games when he just lost his star winger. And he is continuing to try and sneak this team into the playoffs. I know it is still considered a long shot for this team to get in.

We'll touch more on that later on in this episode, with all of a sudden the devil's game being important. and if they win that game, the Capitals game on Thursday could be even more important. That's later on. But with the way Sid is playing, it just irks me that this team is where it is in the standings right now because this has been a marvelous season for Sidney Crosby. 82 points overall. If this power play had been average, I think, for most of this season, he'd be over 90

and would potentially be cracking 100 at this point. That is how good Crosby has been on a nightly basis. 19 straight point per game seasons. I mean, it's crazy to even say it out loud with how good he's been throughout his career. And I think he's going to break the record next year. I know he's going to be another year older. But if you are able to make good changes around this team for next season and bring in some younger pieces that can help him in the core, I say he breaks it next year and we'll hold the all-time record after next season.

he continues to get record after record. He's now three assists away from 1,000 for his career, six points away from tying Phil Esposito for top 10 all time among NHL scores. And at this point, I don't know if he's even number five all time in terms of the best players in HL history. I think we can bump him up to number four. I know that might hurt some people, especially some of the older hockey fans, but I think at this point, he's number four, in my opinion. Yeah, I mean, I would definitely put him top five all time without a doubt in my mind.

And it's what you said is the consistency of it all because we have seen it even with some of the all time greats and some of the best of all time to where they have some down seasons or as they start getting toward the end of their career, they really start to trail off. And I don't want to say that they're a shell of who they were in their prime because that's unfair. You know, just like I say it all the time, that Father Time is the only undefeated entity in professional sports. It comes for everybody. But you look at the fact that he's still doing this. He's still this consistent night after night. And yeah, it's not 2010 or even 2015, Sidney Crosby, but he still has these moments in these games, in these stretches where you remind yourself how good he really is. But enough about Crosby for now. We were going to have an entire offseason and probably the rest of this season to talk about the greatness and the milestones that he's chasing. Huge win last night for the Penguins 5-2 over the New York Rangers. And the most impressive thing to me last night was the Penguins defensive game. Because they, sure, the Rangers had a ton of zone time last night.

They had the edge when you look at the analytics in shot attempts and position. But the penguins for the most part kept them to the outside. Their high danger chances were very minimal. And Alex Nadelcovich getting called into action at the last minute because Tristan Jari gets sick played a marvelous game. Pat stole a little bit of my thunder there because that's kind of where I was going a little bit as well. My biggest takeaway from this win outside of Sidney Crosby doing his thing was that this is a classic boring win for the penguins.

and that's totally okay. Sure, the Penguins didn't have a lot of offensive zone time. The Rangers had the puck for most of the game, especially in the first two periods. But the Penguins did a great job getting their sticks and bodies into shooting lanes and blocking a lot of shots. I know it sounds so cliche to say, but the Penguins' ability to block a lot of shots in this one was great to see.

And that was very evident if you watch that second period penalty club. the very end of the period. The penguins are up to nothing. You're trying to at least hold that two-goal lead heading into the second intermission. And the penguins made Alex Dendelkevich's job so much easier on that PKK because whether it was Chris Lutting, Marcus, Patterson, Brian Russ, whoever else was on the penalty kill at that time, they were all sacrificing their bodies, getting into shooting lanes so that Nadelcovich doesn't have to see so many pucks.

And that was also leading to easy clears for the penguins. was a textbook, beautiful penalty kill by the Penguins. And that was also the same five on five overall. At even strength, the Rangers only had four high danger chances, MAA had 1.35 expected goals at five on five. Tremendous job defensively by the Penguins to win this game. And that type of boring win, that has to be the blueprint overall. We've seen them do that in plenty of other wins so far this season. I hate when they go away from it. But that was, again, a classic boring win and when they also had chances to score, they made sure to finish them, which I can't even believe I'm saying because this team has been so bad at finishing for most of the season,

but I really like a lot about that win. Sure, were they the better team for most of this game? No, they weren't, but it didn't matter because of the Penguins' ability to defend well in their own zone and get a great night from their top line, notably Sidney Crosby, 18 seconds in. You knew it was going to be a special night when, six. was doing his thing in the offensive zone, takes a shot, leads to Brian Russell goal, and then that deflection goal was superb as well.

I honestly found it hilarious that Peter Lavillet continued to try to ice the Truba Miller pairing against Sid. Sid was just cooking Truba all night long. I don't know why Peter Lobelette thinks that's a good matchup for him. Sid will take that any day of the week and we'll keep cooking Truba until the end of time. So again, I don't really know what he was thinking there. The eye test showed that Truba Miller really struggled against Sid, and the numbers really back let up they were two of the worst skaters on the ice or the rangers last night they they really were

and that you know that's a coaching blunder by la violette who as much as he does annoy me as a penguins fan i can't deny how good of a hockey coach he is and you would figure a guy with that much experience and success frankly in the national hockey league would understand that okay i know that i put my trust in these two they're my top pairing i i ride them to take the big minutes and the big moments And it's not even, you know, as much as I know fellow Penguins fans are going to hate this from me. You know, Truba and Miller are a good defensive pairing. They are very good at what they do. But that night, they just didn't have it.

And if you're a coach of LaVuette's stature, you have to acknowledge that and go, okay, listen, this is not an indictment on you two. Tonight, you just don't have it. I'm going to match you up with somebody else. And I'm going to try to mitigate the rest of the Penguins roster. Because let's be honest here, outside of the, that first line, the penguins weren't that good last night. And it was pretty much that first line that kept everything rolling last night.

The other three lines were in survival mode for most of the night. It was minimized the chances that the New York Rangers get and try to capitalize on mistakes. Meanwhile, the Crosby line was taking it to them all night long. And usually if you're a coach like LaVuette, you should acknowledge that and try to flip the tables on the penguins, which they didn't. Finally, the last thing I want to add about this game is we talked about it Monday, about how this team all season has been mentally fragile.

The minute things go against them, they seem to fall apart. And when Roslavik scored, you kind of winced and thought, oh, no, here we go. We've seen this before, but they tightened up. They continued to play very well defensively. and they closed this one out in what is a very hostile environment in MSG. Oh, that crowd was into it last night. Even though the penguins were up 3-0, they were taking the crowd out of it a little bit. They were still getting fired up every time the Rangers had the puck.

And I even tweeted after Roscovich scored, I would be stunned if the penguins won that game in regulation. Well, I was surprised because the penguins were able to play pretty solid defense. After that goal, you get that empty netter from Ryan Russ before. Crosby did his thing with blocking the shot and then turning that one into an empty that goal. It was good to see them finally close out a game in that situation when it looks like they are going to blow yet another lead. And I do want to push back a little bit on your Miller-Truba comment. That pairing has honestly not been that good for the Rangers this season.

They've played over 400 minutes together at even strength. They're below water and shot attempts. 19 goals for, 23 goals against. They're below water and high danger chances against, high danger goals for. I think it's a pairing that actually needs to be split up for the Rangers that they want to go far, to be honest. And whether that's putting Fox with one of those two, Lingren with one of those two, whatever.

I don't think that pairing really works, and you saw it on full display in that game on Monday night. But even outside of all that, I also liked Emil Benstrom's game coming back in the lineup. He cooked Shisterkin on that breakaway, fire that top cheese over him. I know he's struggled quite a bit since his first game with the Penguins, but it was nice seeing him come in for Poulin,

who I think has been okay in his short sample size, but he wasn't wowing me like maybe I thought he was going to at least a little bit more. I didn't expect him to light the world on fire, but I wanted to see a little bit more from Poulan, and I haven't been getting that. So that's why I wasn't too upset when Poulin came out of the lineup for Ben Strum on Monday night. For sure. Pullan had to do a little bit more, and he just kind of had, and I said it to you before

the game when the lineups came out. It's not that I thought he was going to be great, but I really couldn't point to anything specific he did in his limited time, but that's a whole different discussion for a different day. Solid win by the penguins last night. And now, tonight offers a huge opportunity for this team to maybe rise up a little bit from the dead and exercise some demons when they go to face off against the New Jersey Devils at the Prudential Center. We are going to preview that game and more right after this, but we have to tell you first about our next sponsor, and that is Fandul. The sports calendar is loaded and Fandul is making it even more exciting to get in on the action, because right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet.

That's $200 you can use to bet the tourney, MLB, NBA, NHL, NHL, and so much more. Visit fandul.com slash locked on and make your first bet a big win. Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. All right, we're back here on the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am Patrick Damp. That is Hunter Hodes. And tonight, all of a sudden, means quite a lot.

The penguins are heading to New Jersey to take on the Devils, a team that they are mired in a six-game losing streak against. this is a team in the Devils that despite their struggles this year are really a struggle for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We have seen it the last couple of seasons. They do not match up well against this team. The young legs, the speed, and even some of the skill of the Devils, which is crazy to say, because you never think of speed and skill when you think of the New Jersey Devils, but in the modern era, that's exactly who they've become.

and it's just not been a good matchup for the penguins. And now you put that on top of having a back-to-back. You played the Rangers last night in a very hard-fought emotional win. And now you've got to go take on a team that you have been unable to beat going all the way back to last season. And this is a tough one for the penguins because we're going to find out right now, even though we pretty much know who this penguins team is, we're going to find out exactly what they are made of tonight. when they go to take on the devils.

Agreed. And this doesn't go back to just last season, Pat. This goes back to the 2021-2020 season. They haven't won in the last two seasons against the devils so far. And you're right. Their speed gives them massive fits. They skate circles around the penguins virtually every time they play them. And it's a really hard matchup for the penguins overall. If this were back in 2016 and the 2016 penguins were playing this version of the devils,

I would obviously favor the ones. the penguins because I think they will be able to skate circles around them. But times have changed and the penguins have gotten older while the devils have embraced some of the younger players are some of the best players in the league. What I want to see from the Penguins tonight overall is similar to what I saw from the Rangers game last night, but a little bit more offensive zone time. I want to see them forecheck a bit more, not rely on just one line to win this game against the devils.

And I want to see them defend the way they defended against the Rangers in this game as well. Yeah, I understand you're on the second half of the back-to-back, but travel is not really that big here, right? You're just going across the river to play in Newark. That's not far at all. I know you can factor in New York traffic, but still, compared to flying two to three hours or even more to another city and you factor that in, it's not for this game. I still want them to go out there and get a little bit more offensive zone time, which could lead to some more chances and defend a bit harder. And in net, if Tristan Jari is able to go, I want to see a bounce back from him. He was supposed to start against the Rangers. He got sick. That's what led to Alex Nadelkevich starting, and he was

very good. I know I challenged him on Monday show to make a couple more saves, and he did just that against the Rangers. But now I'm challenging Jari. He's had a really awful last month. If he's able to go tonight, I want to see him have a massive bounce back game and get back to the level that we saw him play at during the first half of the season and into January and a little bit into February as well. If he can give them that level of goal-tending, and if the penguins can defend the way they defend it against the Rangers, and they get a little bit more offense outside of the top line, I do like their chances of snapping this six-game losing streak to the devils. And this is a sneaky, big game for the Penguins. You look at the standings right now, my friends, I'm not trying to give you

all the Hopium over here, but they are five points out of a playoff spot yet again. Yeah, I know the capitals have a game in hand, but there's still five points out. If they win this game in regulation against the devils tonight, and the capitals lose in regulation to the Buffalo Sabres, the Penguins are all of a sudden three points behind the capitals with a game in Washington looming on Thursday. You win that game on Thursday in regulation. You're all of a sudden one point out of a playoff spot. I know that's a lot of things that need to happen. It's still very unlikely that they get in. You and I have written this team off. I would say quite a bit over the last three to four weeks probably going back a little bit more than that.

But there is a small opportunity to actually get back into the race and get your season off a little bit of life support. And they have a chance to really do that starting tonight against the Devils. What we're going to really see if this team is fully back in the race or if this is just a small little mirage like it's been kind of for the last couple of weeks. And here's an underrated thing. I agree with pretty much everything he said about the devils. I mean, it would be a great opportunity for this team to galvanize themselves and get a win somewhere they haven't been able to in a couple of years.

But I know the results have not been great. But the last five games for the Penguins, they have been stacking points. They got a point against Colorado. They beat Carolina. They beat Columbus. They get a point against Columbus in the shootout loss. They get two points last night against the Rangers. And for the penguins, yeah, you know, you would like to see more of an extended winning streak.

You would like to see them actually beat Columbus and hold on to that lead. You would have liked to see them hold on to the lead in Colorado. But in a moment where they keep telling us when they talk that they are not going to say they're done until they are mathematically eliminated, they are somewhat backing up what they are saying because they have been stacking points and steadily trying. to climb. And if you can get a win tonight, even regardless of what happens with the capitals, you're putting yourself in a position to at the very least fight until the end of the season. And I'm a huge believer in the only thing you can ask for in life and in sports is a chance. And right now the penguins still have that chance. But then you look at who the devils could

ice tonight. If they put in Capocacan and in net, I think this is a goalie the penguins can take advantage of. Yeah, you have to throw out a lot of his stats from this season because he was on San Jose. And San Jose has been just terrible this season. But at the same time, he's been a pretty middle of the road goaltender since he's been in the NHL. So the penguins will have to take advantage of that. Right. And that's if he starts.

If they do go to Jake Allen, that's going to prove to be the tougher of the two goals. and I don't think Alan has been that good for most of the season, but with the Devils, he has had quite a few pretty solid starts. I mean, you go back to some of his games last month in March. He was 946 against the Dallas Stars, 944 against the Golden Knights, 947 against the Penguins, 947 against the Jets. He was also 933 against the Maple Leaf, 912 against the Sabres. He had a 800 to say percentage game in there where they got blasted by the Ottawa Senators,

but he has had some really strong starts for the devil since being acquired by the Canadians. So he's found kind of the fountain of youth ever since being acquired by the devil. So the penguin's going to have to find a way to beat him in this one because he was great in that last meeting against him. And made a couple of beautiful saves, especially on Crosby and Pedersen where the penguins were trying to get a big goal in that one. So they're going to have to get bodies in front to really take away his visibility and just make his life a living hell overall in this one. And I should correct. Actually, Penguins are 06 and 1 in the last seven against the devils. That's how bad this has been the last several years. I mean, that one is still a loss. Regardless of where it happened, you still lost. But yeah, I mean, I want to see the same things

I saw last night. I want to see them defend very hard. I want to see them keep the devils to the outside. They owned the front of the net against the Rangers last night, which made Nadelcovich's job a lot easier. I would love to see them do that again tonight, especially to, maybe start and kickstart a bounce back for Tristan Jari, especially against a young, talented team, like the New Jersey Devils. That could be a huge galvanizing win for this team. And should they get that win, suddenly the rest of the week could mean quite a lot for the rest of this season. And we are going to get into that in the final segment.

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See Sleeper's terms of use for details and locational availability. Penguins fans welcome back to the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp as always joined by Hunter Hodes and should the penguins find a way to exercise their devils in Newark tonight all of a sudden this week is a big one. Are you a believer again if they win this game in New Jersey? Do see here's the thing. I said this last segment. I'm a huge believer in all you can ask for in life and in sports is a chance. And the penguins, for all their faults, for as poorly as this season has gone, have given themselves a chance.

Realistically, they should be dead. The way the power play has been underachieving and just genuinely awful all season long, they should not be where they are right now. They really should be at this point thinking about keeping the pick they sent in the Carlson trade. and getting a top 10 pick at the entry draft this summer. But because of guys like Sidney Crosby, because of guys like Brian Rust, because of guys like Chris LaTang,

Evgeny Malkin, and a couple of others, this team refuses to die. And again, even if they somehow miraculously pull this off, I think they're cannon fodder for whoever they face in the first round. But at this point, point, we spent the first segment talking about the greatness of Sidney Crosby and how good

he has, he continues to be. Would it at all be shocking to you for one of his final acts? Because we don't know how much longer this is going to last. He's going to be 37 this summer. He's said multiple times he wants to play until he's about 40. So we may only get a couple more years of this. But would it not shock you if one of his final acts as captain of the Pittsburgh Penguins and one of the best players in the National Hockey League were to drag this husk of a team to the Stanley Cup playoffs. Nothing will surprise me about this team anymore. Because this team has been so hilarious all season.

Yeah, they probably need to win out to get in and probably get a little bit of help. I think at the very least, you have to go 60 and 2, 7-0-1 and then get a little bit more help. but nothing will surprise me about these final A games. They could lose most of them and fall back in the standings and potentially keep that pick. That wouldn't surprise me. They could win out, finish within a point of getting into the playoffs.

That wouldn't surprise me. They could also win out and sneak their way in the playoffs. That wouldn't surprise me. Just because this season has been so unhinged overall. But Sid is trying to do everything in his power to will this team in. And I wouldn't be surprised again at all. all if we do see another massive performance some Crosby in this game, despite it being a back-to-back and on Thursday against the Washington Capitals, a team that he has also tormented throughout

his career as well. The Penguins do have an opportunity of these final eight games to make it interesting. Outside of this game against the Devils, they play the Capitals on the road. That could be not only a big game for the Capitals, but a big game for the Penguins as well. And at the very least, the Penguins could be trying to play a little bit of spoiler for the Capitals, as they are more in the race right now compared to the Penguins. But a couple of their other games on the horizon as well, the Red Wings, who are very much in the race, and the Islanders who are right now two points ahead of the Penguins.

That's actually the final game of the regular season. So the opportunity is there for this team to get some regulation wins against teams they're chasing in the standings, but it has to start tonight against the Devils. If you have any hope of willing your way, into this race to where the capitals are, to where the Red Wings are, to even where the Islanders are a little bit after their big win against the Flyers. Even the Flyers also just because they got the point and they have 83 points right now, it has to keep going against the Devils

after the way you played against the Rangers. It is honestly hilarious how this team in the span of the week can beat the Carolina Hurricanes and the New York Rangers, but lose to the Columbus Blue Jackets. That doesn't sum up the 2023-2020-Pitspur Penguins that I don't know what does. And finally, this Eastern Conference playoff race for the wild card spot, the last one, it

continues to be a massive joke. It's the Spider-Man meme. Oh, you want it. No, you want it. No, you want it. No, I want it. No, you want it. Nobody wants that final spot. And it's comical to see these teams rotate, win, loss, win, loss. and then a couple of these teams are losing multiple games in row. And that allows a team like the Penguins who are once nine points out,

just a few days ago to be five points out again with a chance to be three points out if a couple of things go their way on Tuesday night. This is just the most pathetic wildcar race I think I've ever seen. As it's Jeff Merrick and Elliott Friedman continue to call it, it's a turtle race. But you look at the remaining schedule and if they want to do this, it's going to be Herculian because you've got Tampa who continues to be Tampa. They look like again they're a team that could do this in the Eastern Conference. You've got Toronto who is looking more ready than ever to actually exercise some demons in the postseason this year

because that's a pretty good hockey team. The Red Wings have been up and down, but they remain in the race and they have some serious talent. The Boston Bruins, my God, will you ever stop being one of the best teams in the league and the Eastern Conference, my God. And then the Preds who have been the second half's best team, I think, outside of Colorado, and then the Islanders. So if you're going to do this, if they are going to do this, there are no nights off. There is no, and I don't mean that just because of where they are in the standings.

They are playing teams that there is no, oh, this team season's done. They're packing it in. They're ready to go. They're looking forward to next year. It's everybody who's got aspirations to not just go. to the playoffs, but possibly win a Stanley Cup. So we will see. I mean, I think there's a very real chance they could make this a thing.

I don't know if they're going to do it. I'm still extremely skeptical that they make the postseason. But at this point, I keep saying it, they have given themselves a chance. And that's all you can ask for. And we will see what happens. But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. We will be back tomorrow to recap this game. let you know where the state of the race sits and then get you ready for the rest of the week.

But for now, it's Penguins and Devils tonight at 7 o'clock in Newark. Hunter and I will be back tomorrow. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for listening to the Locked-on Penguins podcast, and we will talk to you on Wednesday.