Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins have BIG OPPORTUNITY against the Leafs before the break!

Episode Date: December 23, 2025

The Penguins will play their final game before the Christmas break and have a chance to take advantage of a struggling Maple Leafs team. Patrick and Hunter begin the show by taking a look at the Toronto Maple Leafs and trying to answer the million-dollar question about them: What is wrong with them this season? The usual suspects are producing for the Leafs, including William Nylander, John Tavares, and Auston Matthews, but a lack of depth and poor special teams play have been their undoing. (0:00) Then, it's time to put the focus on the Penguins for this matinee game against the Leafs. First and foremost, it's time for Stuart Skinner to have his first moment as a Penguins' goalie. While he doesn't need to steal the game against the Leafs, a solid start would go a long way. The special teams also need to be special against this Leafs power play. (13:30) Finally, with Patrick flying solo, he takes a look at all the milestones ahead for Sidney Crosby after he passed Mario Lemieux as the Penguins' franchise leader in points. (26:09)Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.MonarchTake control of your finances with Monarch. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at https://monarch.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelToday's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. 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 have just one more game before they head home for Christmas break, and it is against an opponent they are all too familiar with the Toronto Maple Leafs. We're going to get you set for that game and more 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 another 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 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-U-U-Square-Penguins. You can find us on Instagram at Locked-on underscore Penguins and TikTok at Lockedon. on penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, which you should be. Make sure you've hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through

Friday episodes. Before we preview this afternoon's game against the Maple Leafs, this episode is brought to you by Fandul. If you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fandul.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. More on our friends from Fandul later on. Hunter, going to be a bit of a goofy episode today because as our viewers, maybe not our listeners know, you are on the road, so you are fully in the barrel of the holiday season, running around, doing everything you got to do with family.

So Hunter and I are going to talk about today's game against the Leafs for a couple of segments. Then Hunter's got a jump. And I've got some fun stuff coming up on Sydney Crosby to end the show. But let's start with the game. It is the Penguins and the Maple Leafs at Scotia Bank Arena in Toronto. This afternoon at 4 p.m. It is a late middle to late afternoon game because this is the last day of action. for the NHL and it is a wall-to-wall day and the penguins are right in the middle of that.

This is also going to be the final meeting between the penguins and the Leafs this season. They have played twice already. You remember the first game. They blow a three-nothing lead in the third period and losing regulation. And then just a couple of weeks ago, the Penguins were boat raced by the Maple Leafs 7 to 2. But as we get to today's game, These are two teams kind of in a similar spot. They have had some real disastrous play in December.

The Leafs are currently 4-4 and 2 in their last 10, but they have lost five of their last six and are currently on a three-game losing streak. The Penguins, as you know, just came out of a seven-game losing streak beating Montreal in a shootout eight game. That's right. I'm being a little too nice to our Pittsburgh Penguins. But it's two teams that have struggled through December,

but it feels like for the penguins, at the very least over the last couple of games, they've found their footing a little bit. I don't want to say they're fixed. I don't want to say they're better. Long road to go here, but you can see some positives over their home at home with the habs. For the Leafs, though,

they just fired assistant coach Mark Savard, and they have just looked utterly lifeless for the past couple of weeks. It's been bad. The vibes are pretty rancid in Toronto right now. In two of their last three games, Pat, they have one goal. In their last three games, in general, if you want to add it all up, they have four goals in their last three games. They cannot score right now. And this is a team that I feel like is just waiting for something big to happen. I know the Leafs did fire assistant coach Mark Savard on Monday night. It doesn't look like they're going to be fired. in Craig Barubi or Bradshaw living right now, but hey, Pat, if they lay another dud today against the penguins, maybe that changes things. Like, I'm just going off of what Elliot Freeman reported earlier than the day on Tuesday that it doesn't look like either those two are going anywhere, but again, things can change pretty quickly in this business. The Leafs, I figured they would take a step back this year. I didn't think it would be this each name. However,

they've not been able to figure them out this year. That first game, they were dominating them, through 40 minutes took a third period off you paid the price and that second game archer she loves was completely out to lunch at the start of the game i actually like the way the penguins were playing at the start of the game but you and i talked about at the time pat when the goal he wasn't giving the penguin saves i think the players are like okay i think we all know the way this one is going to go now granted i know we've harped a lot on the leaves this year they've not been particularly pretty a lot of their underlines are not very good they're being 23rd and expected goal share so towards the bottom of the league even with their actual goals for rate pat

49% which is again in the bottom half of the league they're just it's been really hard to come by goals especially again over the last stretch but even throughout the entire season as well even when you just look at the counting sats it's three guys driving the bus and it's three people that everyone knows pretty well willie neelander 11 goals and 36 points this year John Tavares, 14 goals. He's tied for the team leading goals. And, of course, Austin Matthews, 14 goals in 30 games. Yeah, I know Matthew Nyes is still a good playmaker.

He just hasn't been the goal scored this year. They still have Morgan Riley. You know, Ekman Larson is still there, Bobby McMahon. But most of their offense goes through the big three of Nealander, Tavares, and Matthews. If you're able to shut them down, there's a good chance you're going to be able to win this game. I think for the Penguins, it's really about building a lot. on what they did well against Montreal. They were skating them off the rank.

They were getting to the high danger areas. They were defending better in that game than they did. The game was prior. I mean, they only gave up a few high danger chances at five on five. They had 19 of their own at five on five, which was pretty impressive. So when you see a team down like this, you have to pounce on them. Because the Leafs, it feels like they are pinned down on the mat a little bit. And if you're the penguins, you really want to go for that kill shot because it kind of looks like a lot of the players on this team are waiting for a coaching change.

So when you see a team struggling like this, I know the penguins are coming off a big losing streak as well. You want to get after them early. I want to see a fast start today. Yeah, that's the biggest thing is this is a Leafs team that they are very fragile right now with everything that they're going through. I again, you know, I hate talking about effort and heart and all that stuff for pro NHL players, because as I'll frequently say, I'm just a goober with a microphone who never played any higher than ACHA D2 club hockey. So who am I to criticize pro athletes?

But it looks like a team that genuinely is playing to get its coach fired. It feels like they have given up on Craig Barubei. And I don't think that that is an. indictment on Baroube, I think it looks like the kind of team where this just isn't a good mix. What Barouba does compared to what the Maple Leafs are built to do kind of feel like they are in conflict. So it's a difficult spot for them to be in. But looking at their team, and this is something that I never thought in this era of Toronto Maple Leafs that I would say about them, I like their defense. I like their defense quite a bit.

Morgan Riley and Philip Myers, that's a solid first pair. McCabe and Stetcher. Stetcher has been a great pickup for them, and all they did was pluck them off waivers from the Oilers, and he has really found his place there. And then OEL and Benoit, your third pair, that's a good little defensive core you got. The problem with them is what you said at the top.

You look at their offense, and it is extremely top-heavy. It's Nielander, Tavares, Nyes, and Matthew. And then the rest of the team on offense, it's not that impressive. Matthias Machelli, he's been okay. Max Domi's been in and out of the lineup to the point where he's getting healthyed every now and then. It's so funny how they thought they could replace Mitch Marner and the aggregate on the fly. I'm like, you're losing a 100-point player.

You're really telling me you're going to try to replace him with Matthias Machelli and a couple other guys during free agency. no man you got to go out there and make a big swing obviously it's not a one year thing but I know a lot of least fans harped on marner at the end of his tenure they are really missing him this year though because he would go ahead I do think that is a bit of a straw man argument though just because you brought it up early in the segment this was going to be a transitional year for the Leafs no matter which way you cut it because you get rid of that one or you lose that 100-point player, it's not going to happen overnight.

You're going to have to develop a few players. You're going to have to eventually swing a big trade or make a big signing. And they were due to take a step back. And you could kind of tell going into the end of last year and going into this year that the Leafs knew that they needed to reset the way they were building their team if they wanted to have success. They obviously identified guys like Matthews, Tavares, in Nieland, as their core group and then they were going to try to fill it in from there and that takes a

little bit but at the end of the day though to build off what you said i expected them to take a step back i expected them to be a playoff team but not really a threat when they got there and that would have been fine because you still see a ton of talent and a ton of opportunity with this group but it was going to take another year or two for them to get back to being a legitimate threat. I didn't expect them to fall this hard. So this is a team, as we said, that is pretty fragile. They are going through a real rough patch. And if you're the penguins, you just pulled yourself up off the mat against Montreal

in a game where it would have been really easy for you to throw up the white flag because you were in such a tough stretch. So you want to continue that into today against the Toronto Maple Leafs because this is a team where the vibes are rancid and they have been struggling. So we'll leave it there for this segment. When we get back, we're going to talk about what the penguins need to do and what we're looking at for the penguins this afternoon when they take on the Leafs. So stick with us.

We're going to flip the focus to the Penguins when we come back right after this. We'll be right back previewing the Penguins versus Leafs game for this afternoon. But first, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor. and that is Monarch. The holidays, they are absolutely amazing. It is one of the best, if not the best times of year, but they can also get overwhelming fast. Whether it's travel, gifts, parties, year-end expenses, you name it,

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Use code locked on NHL at monarch.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarch.com with the code locked on NHL. Back here on the Tuesday edition of Locked on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And not a lot of changes coming for the Pittsburgh Penguins today when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs. We'll see who's in the net. I imagine it is probably going to be Stuart Skinner since Archer Shilov's played the second

half of the back to back against the habs. But that's where I want to start with this is I don't want to put undue expectation or unrealistic goals on the back of Stuart Skinner or anything like that. But I want to see him have a really solid game. I want to see him. I'm not asking him to go out and steal the game. I'm not asking him to be the only player who helps them win. But Stuart Skinner needs to have his first moment as the Penguins goaltender.

Even if they end up with a loss today, I don't want to come on here tomorrow to recap the game and say, ah, you know, they were right in it, but a couple saves that Stuart Skinner wants back. If he plays well and they still lose, not going to be too. upset, but I want to have a solid start from Stuart Skinner this afternoon. It's so funny you say that, Pat, because that's exactly what I was going to lead off with at the start of this segment goes to show how cohesion Pat and I have co-hosting this show. We disagree with each other sometimes, but usually, you know, we're on par with each other's

takes a lot more and I completely agree. I think Stuart Skinner since coming here, he's been pretty pedestrian, I think is the right word you know start against edmonton there's a goal or two there that i think he'd want back the others had no chance on his last start a lot of the goals really can't pin on him though i think maybe he would want one of those back if i had to say i think i really want to see you have a true good start where i'm not being like i think you should have had that shot or you should have had that shot like i really want to see a good start because he's had good starts plenty of times of the Oilers. Obviously, he's been inconsistent throughout his career. And again, I've never really

been that big of a fan of Skinner with his Oilers days. But he has shown the ability to put together good starts at times for them. So I want to see him do it here to the Penguins. If he does get, does indeed, excuse me, get the start. I could see Danny is going back to Shee Lodge, but just because of the way he played against Montreal over the weekend. But he continues with the rotation that he's had dropped in the year. It would be Skinner to So if it is indeed Skinner, I'm with you, I just want to see a first good start where I'm not at the end of the game being like a 3-2 loss. I really wanted one of the saves there. If it's a 3-2 loss and you really couldn't do much on the goals that you allowed, okay, but I don't want it to be a situation where you potentially lose. And it's like, you definitely needed a save there. So I agree with you on that. Special teams-wise, we always highlight those during each show. Maybe police have the worst power. power play in the league right now, Pat. And I can't believe I'm saying that because of the high-end talent that the Leafs can throw out there with Nealander, Matthews, Tiberis,

Morgan Riley, Matthew, and I's, et cetera. This, I think, needs to be a get-right game for the penalty kill. I have not liked the Penguins P-K over the last couple of weeks. I do think part of it is because Blake Lazot is not there. He is an absolute puck hound on that unit. He's a big reason why that unit is so successful usually. But over the last couple of weeks, I'm seeing way too much passiveness. They're not getting the clears. The goalie needs to help out a little bit more. But in terms of the players in front of them, just not seeing the aggression that I was seeing. They're not getting to the loose pucks along the boards. They're sitting back a little too much. Just not liking the PK. So I want to see that change, especially when you're going

up against Elise PowerPlay Unit Pat. That has been, again, flat out awful. I mean, you know, it's worse than the plane this year. It's worse than Washington. And Washington has not had a good power play last year either. So that needs to change. Pengland's power play, you know, it's been over the last week or so, it's been fine. I still think it has another level to get to, especially with Evgeny Malk and hopefully coming back here soon. But I did want to highlight the PK today because I think if that gets back to basics, I think that'll also go a long way as well. And now that they have this win, just as a team, is that going to galvanize them a little bit for this game. Are you not going to be, you know, holding your sticks too tele? Are you going to be

able to play more free now that you've got that monkey off your back? So I'm going to be looking for that one today. Now it's all about stacking performances. You've won that last one. That's good. Make it two. If you do that, okay, let's make it three. This is a Leafs team we talk about on Monday. They are there for the taking. They're very fragile. And we all know how fragile the penguins have been the last couple of weeks. The Leafs might be that fragile, if not worse, with the way that they are playing. So again, start early, start fast, get in their heads a little bit.

Once, if you take a lead, they're going to start, I think the weeks are going to start thinking as well, here we go again, just because of the way they've been playing over the last couple of weeks, especially. I would definitely agree with that. It's a team that is in a very fragile spot.

We keep saying that about Toronto, and you have to use that to your advantage. You really have to, you said it best. You got to get the kill shot against them. You put them down on the mat, especially early. Do not let them up. You have to keep your foot on the gas.

You have to keep pushing. You can't take a lead and think, all right, we've got a lead. That's all we need. We're done here. Close it out. Go into a shell. Keep pushing against them. They're not in a good mental spot.

It's a team that is very much for the taking. And I want to build off of the special teams here. I think that the power play has been the only word that I can, come up with for them as of late is average have they been bad no have they been good nowhere near what they were through the start of the season when they were absolutely lethal so i want to see them really get back to that level and i'm hoping with the win against the habs over the weekend they're starting to feel themselves a little bit because again i keep bringing it up over the past two games you saw the seeds being planted this team was starting to figure some things out and getting out of their

funk take that next step on the power play you can see the puck movement getting better especially on sunday you could see the decision making being a lot better on sunday take that next step today against the leaves where just keep doing the things that you were doing well and build upon it as for the pk perfect get right game for them yeah this is a leif's power play that can't do anything right right now they are just completely mired in mediocrity if you want to be aggressive that that is an even more microcosm of how you can get to this team that power plays struggling so if you got if you feel the need to be a little bit more aggressive than normal you should do it because it's a team that is in their own heads they are absolutely struggling and nothing

is going right add to that misery on the peak put them under pressure, force them into bad decisions, and really, really pile on. Because even without Blake Lazot, who I agree and we'll continue to say is one of the more underrated important factors of this Penguins team, you still have plenty of players on your roster who are capable of killing a penalty and killing it well. So this is a perfect game for them to get back on track and really write the. themselves. And just overall, I think this is, I, I'm trying to think of the right way to say this. It's the kind of game where if I'm the Penguins and Dan Mews, I'm just kind of letting it all hang out because Toronto's struggling. They had actual expectations this year.

They might not have been as lofty as they have been in the past few years, but they still have designs on getting to the playoffs and doing well when they get there. Penguins, on the other hand. No real expectation. Had a fun start, fell off, came back to Earth. If you're the Penguins and Dan Mews, just go out there, play good hockey, have fun, take it to the Leafs, and go into the holiday break on a high note. Right. I agree. I just really want to see them carry over the play that they had on Sunday against Montreal into this game. Toronto, I know you like some of their defensemen, but defensively as a team this year, they rank in the bottom half of the league and scoring chances against it five on five. They've given up.

814, which again, you know, that's close up there to the Blackhawks, the ducks who I like the ducks offensively, but they can't defend at all. So you don't want to be down there at the bottom of the league. And yes, I know. Part of it I do think is some of their injuries, Pat. I mean, they're without right now. Chris Tannad and Brandon Carlo both on injured reserve. I will say Dakota Joshua is also out right now. And then, of course, their goalie Anthony Stolores is on injured reserve. We don't even know when he's coming back. But So I think defensively, the Leafs are, excuse me, right for the taking, just when you look at some of their defensive metrics.

So that's another area that I'm focusing on for this one. Weird start time, 4 o'clock, something you don't really see every day. But hey, this can go right into your Christmas Eve dinner. If people do that, I know everyone does Christmas Eve dinners, but if you do something two days before Christmas as well, you get the whole rest of the night ahead here. But, you know, this is the least the end of the Penguins have struggled again. these last few years, Pat. Penguins are one and six and their last seven against the

lease. It's got to start changing just because especially this Leafs team is not very good. So I'm excited for this one. It's the final meeting between the two teams this year. And the Penguins have an opportunity to continue to try to get back into a playoff spot, you know, as we get to close out 2025. Like Hunter said, weird start time today, 4 p.m. Penguins and Leafs in Toronto at Scotia Bank Arena. and just so everyone knows, it is a nationally televised game. It will be on TNT, True TV, and HBO Max, if you need it for streaming. Hunter has to jump because it is the holiday season,

and he took time out of his busy day to obviously join us here on Locked-on Penguins. I'm just being a bachelor for the holiday. I'm by myself, no dog, no girlfriend, so I got all the time in the world right now. But Hunter, appreciate it throwing me a lifeline. because I don't think people really enjoy when it's just Paddy Damp solo, but you're getting one segment of me solo to close out the show. Sidney Crosby is officially the Penguins franchise leader in points, but there are many other milestones ahead.

Can he reach them this season? I'm going to talk about that when I get back right after this. We'll be right back with the Tuesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins, but we've got one more sponsor to get to. that is Fandul. NFL Sundays, they move fast, one big play, and suddenly everything feels different. That's what makes live betting with Fandul so exciting. You're not just watching the game. You're reacting to it in real time. With Fandul, you can place bets as the action unfolds, every drive, every momentum swing, and every hot light moment. Live betting, it's the best when

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So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fandle.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. Fandul, the game moves fast, and so can you. Welcome back to the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp, fly-in solo for the final segment. as I said, Hunter had to jump. And of course, we got to talk about Sidney Crosby once again. As we talked about on our Monday episode, as you all know,

he is now the Penguins' all-time leader in points at 1,724. So every single point from here on out will be a record setter for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But when you look at his place in the record, books all time for the National Hockey League. There are a lot of milestones coming up around the corner. Chief among them is one that I'm sure is on the minds of quite a few people, and that is 1,800 even points on his career. He is currently 76 points away from getting to 1,800 total career points. And that to me is probably a little unrealistic for him this season. It would mean he would have a 113 point season for the Penguins this year. And while he is

doing really well this season and there has been a lot of talk and he is on a close to a 100 point pace for this season, I don't see him hitting 113 this year. but while not impossible, I would definitely go with improbable. So that feels like a milestone that is going to come up for him early next season. I would say in the first couple weeks of the NHL season, he'll hit 1,800 even points on his career. Though, as I love to say, it's always Sidney Crosby, tell him he can't do something, and he is going to find a way to do it.

So while I do think, again, that it's improbable, it's not impossible. I certainly wouldn't be complaining if he ends up putting up 113 points in one season as he is in his 20th NHO year. That would be absolutely incredible in just so, so Sidney Crosby. Meanwhile, you look at his place all time in points in the NHL record books. He's 32 points away from overtaking Steve Eiserman for seventh over time. That would give him 68 points on the season. Currently, he has 37, so he is all of 31 away from being able to get to that milestone.

And again, really think that's completely doable. I can see him absolutely putting up another 32 points this season overall, being able to get to that marker for his all-time, the all-time record books and passing Stevie Y. That would be a huge feat because we know how much reverence and respect in how Stevie Y was Sidney Crosby's idol growing up. That was his favorite player. So being able to pass him on the all-time points list would be a remarkable achievement. And it very much is in play for him. Then let's also take a look at goals.

He is currently 15th all time in goals, 12 away from catching Brendan Shanahan's mark of 656. Again, that's another one I think is entirely doable that would give him if he were to pass it 32 goals on the season. He had 33 last year and 42 the year before. the pace that he's on this season, I absolutely think that that is going to be a doable milestone that we're going to see coming up this year. Another one for Crosby that I am looking at this season, he is currently tied with Adam Oates in assist for eighth all time. One more, he overtakes him.

I don't think he's getting held without an assist for the rest of the season. He's also 31 assists from passing Joe Thornton for 7th all time. And that is a mark of 1,109, giving him 48 assists on the season if he is able to get to that point. Again, that's really doable considering if he plays close to or all 82. He has had 50 or more for the last four seasons. So getting to that mark, getting to that mark of 48 assists on this. year incredibly doable incredibly something easy i don't want to say easy probably the wrong word to use but definitely something that is in his purview and in in his grasp for this season another

one that i want to get to he can climb as high as 12th in all-time goals combined regular season and playoffs. He currently has 716 goals between the regular season and the playoffs. He is 10 behind Luke Robatai's mark of 726 and 12 behind Timu Salani's 728 with 13 goals on the season already. Those are two marks that I think are right there in his grasp. So a lot of milestones for Sidney Crosby still to come after reaching the Penguins lead in points all time passing Mario Lemieux. Those are just a couple things I wanted to get to real quickly, but one last thing that I wanted to mention about Sidney Crosby breaking Mario Lemieux's franchise record in points. We forgot about this on the Monday episode in all the pomp and circumstance of

him finally breaking that record in passing that mark and doing it against the Montreal Canadians, the team that drafted his dad, the team that he grew up cheering for, a lot of things that made it a really cool moment, but one that we overlooked that I think is really important and something that is a really cool almost maybe not full circle moment, but a very, this is how small the hockey world is kind of moment. The coach of the Montreal Canadiens is none other than Marty St. Louis, one of the better players of the last 30 or so years. And after the game, Hunter and I both forgot to mention this.

Talking to reporters at PPG Paints Arena, Marty St. Louis obviously gave Sidney Crosby all of the props in the world for who he is as a player, what he's achieved in his career and deservedly so. But he brought up a moment that he said, hey, if you guys remember during the 2014 Stanley Cup playoffs, which we as Penguins fans most certainly remember because that was a rough series against the New York Rangers at that time. But Marty St. Louis, his mother passed away during that series. He went home for the funeral and came back to play for the Rangers in that series. And he recalled that before a playoff game,

Sidney Crosby, the ultimate competitor, the most petty athlete, as I like to call him, took time out of his pregame routine to go visit Marty St. Louis and offer his condolences and talk to him for a few minutes when he was going through what obviously was a devastating time in his life. and Marty St. Louis said, you know, for all the props and all the accolades that Sidney Crosby has, being one of the best players of all time, he's also one of the best people that you can meet in hockey. So a really cool moment when Sid breaks that record on Sunday against the Montreal Canadians.

But that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. Hunter and I will be back with a new episode for you on Wednesday to recap this game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as give out our MVP of the week as part of Warrior Helmet Wednesday. I think early you know who it's probably going to be, but that could change depending on what happens against the Leafs tonight. But as always, we appreciate you taking the time to tune in to Locked on Penguins, especially during the holiday season. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp, thank you as always for tuning in, and we will be back on Wednesday.