Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins head west to take on the best

Episode Date: March 22, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading out west to take on two of the NHL's best teams: the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche. Hunter Hodies is once again joined by his co-host Patrick Damp and the usual duo breaks down some roster decisions, how good the Dallas Stars are, and what they can do to win. Then, it's on Denver to talk about how the Colorado Avalanche will be another challenge, but how the Penguins were able to beat them before. Finally, while the math may still be there, the Penguins are likely done this season. 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 LOCKEDON for $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.

The Penguins have a couple of massive games on tap for this weekend, and Pat and I are going to preview those two games 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. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Honor Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. And yes, my friends, Pat is back. Off of injured reserve, his teeth are perfectly okay. Joined by my host, Patrick Damp, for this episode. You can follow him on Twitter at Sinan N Verwet, and you can follow these shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms.

And finally, today's episode is brought to you by fans. We'll make every moment more. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. that's 200 bucks if your bet wins visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. So you are back just in time because the penguins have two massive games on tap for this weekend. They go to Dallas to take on the stars tonight and then they go to Denver to take on the

Caudill-Avill-W-Wanche, a team that I think is the best team in hockey right now, in my humble opinion. But before we preview both of those games for the penguins, we do have some lineup notes for tonight. Mike Sullivan, in a way, kind of listen to my episode on Thursday because Jack St. Ivanie is going to be making his NHL debut on the back end for the Penguins. Ryan Graves will be coming out, but it's not for him being a healthy scratch. Ryan Graves is going to go be a family man for a little bit, but in all serious, congratulations to him. He is welcoming his child with his wife. So congratulations to him overall. So that's why he is going to be out of the lineup

for this game against Dallas. And his status for the game against Colorado, that's TBD. this time. So that's one change. And then obviously, Tristan Jari, he is going to be getting the start in net. I went into detail about St. Ivaney a little bit during my Thursday episode. So that's where I'm going to start this episode with you. What are your thoughts on him making his debut for the Penguins tonight? I'm looking forward to seeing it. I mean, that's kind of been what I've been looking for for this team for the past, I don't know, a couple of weeks, I guess, as this season has kind of slid out of the playoff conversation into the focus of next season. I want to see what some of these younger guys can do.

I want to see how some of these younger guys react being thrown into NHL situations such as this one because these next two games, like you said, you beat me to it. You're playing two of probably the best teams in the National Hockey League in Dallas and Colorado. I mean, you look at Dallas. There's 7, 3, and 0 over their last 10. Colorado's 9-1-0 over their last 10.

Colorado is actually in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. These are great hockey teams. And I want to see how some of these young guys, and sorry, listeners, I'm two days post-wisdom teeth surgery, so I may struggle a little bit here today, but try my best. But you want to see how these young guys react to being in these situations, whether it's playing against elite NHL talent or getting the call at the last minute because anybody who has had a child, I have not,

but anybody who has had a child knows that when you get close to the due date, it's unpredictable. It could be at any moment. So, you know, Ryan Graves taking the night off to wait for the birth of his first child, if you're an HL defenseman, your number is probably going to get called here. So you've got to be at the ready. So I do want to see how he reacts. I like a lot of what you said yesterday about him.

I'm very curious to see how he fits into this lineup and what he can bring to the lineup. So overall, I'm excited to see his NHL debut tonight. Yeah, he'll be on the third pairing. It looks like with John Ludwig for this game, they bumped P.O. Joseph up to the top pairing during practice on Thursday. I expect that to stick. I already went into the numbers on my Thursday episode. I don't think I need to rehash them at this point.

And the second pairing, Marcus Pedersen with Eric Carlson, which, in my opinion, I think that's the best defensive pair that this team has to offer. right now. But yeah, I'm excited to see what he can do in his debut as well. I don't think he's as physical as Ludwig is, so he's not going to bring maybe that type of element for the Penguins, but I think he's decent at moving the puck up the ice. He's not known for his offense overall, but he's usually been in Wilkesbury more responsible in his own zone. If you can just get 11 to 12 minutes out of it tonight, solid minutes, I should say. I would say that's a win for the Penguins overall. And then Jeff Carter, he will be out as well for the Penguins.

England's tonight and yes, he pull Yarvey will officially be back in for the penguins in. I touched on that a little bit during my episode on Thursday without you there. I'm excited to see him back in the lineup. I think it's been weird that Mike Sullivan has been, you know, treating him the way he has been. I don't fully know the reasoning why he's been out of the lineup, whether that's conditioning or just bad play from him, according to Mike Sullivan. It's been a bit weird, but I'm just glad that he's going to be back in the lineup tonight because, as I did say on Thursday, I do think when healthy, he is one of their best

options in the bottom six. He's definitely one of their best depth options. I'm right there with you. I don't quite understand the hesitancy to put and keep him in the lineup for extended stretches. He hasn't been phenomenal. I'm not going to sit here and pretend like he's been one of the best forwards on the penguins this season.

But when he's been thrown into action, he's been an effective bottom six forward. He's exactly what we said he would be. He's effective on the forecheck. He helps drive. offense, but just like everybody else in the Penguins organization this season, he drives offense, but doesn't score. So either way, you know, I'm with you. I don't understand the hesitancy to not constantly have Pull Yarvey in the lineup. So it'll be nice to see him back. I would like to see him maybe do a little bit more here to try and consistently stick in the lineup, but we'll see how it goes.

Agreed. I have nothing much to really add on that. And with that, let's get to the Dallas one of the best teams, not only in the Western Conference, but in the NHL as a whole. They have 93 points. They're 42 and 19 and 9. That's good for a three-way tie in the Central Division alongside the Avalanche and the Jets. As you said, the stars have won seven or the last 10 to in a row. And when you look up and down this lineup, there are not many weaknesses. Jason Robertson, I think, is one of the 20 best players in the league.

He can do stuff with a puck on his stick that not really many other players can do. Rupé Hens, I think he's a very underrated two-way center in the league. And then Joe Povilski, he's the ageless wonder. Their second line is great with Marchman, Dushane, and Tyler Sagan. Jamie Ben is still kicking, even though he's a bit older. Wyatt Johnston is also really good. Stan Kovin is an awesome young player. They got Sam Steele down in their fourth line, Craig Smith, Rodick Fox, and then Miro Hayskin.

I think he's one of the 10 best defense in the league. And even though Jake Ottinger has struggled at times this season, he can turn it on whenever he wants. is a bona fide Stanley Cup contender, and the penguins are going to have to be ready to play right when the puck drops tonight. This is a genuinely great team. There's no two ways about it. They've got six players with 20 or more goals. Sagan, Dushan, Robertson, Pavelski, Johnston, and Hintz all have 21 or more goals.

This is a team that plays a very good structure and system, because like you said, Jake Ottinger has not been great this year, despite having a couple of of seasons where he looked like he would be one of the best goalies in the league, a true bona fide Vesna contender. But because this team is so well balanced and this team plays such a solid system, they don't have to worry about Jake Ottinger being great. They can make up for it because you go to just the general top line numbers and you look at how this team has played this year, they have the second most goals score.

in the National Hockey League. And it's two behind the Colorado Avalanche. They have 256 total goals four. This is a team that can score. And I know that we don't expect that from Dallas. We expect Dallas to be a kind of well-balanced, almost defense first team. But this is a team that can kill you in all three zones. So the penguins, well, if nothing else, they better be ready for tonight because it could be a rough one for them.

Their power play is also beautiful to watch. And I hope the Penguins really do not take mentally penalties in this one. But I still want to watch the Dallas powerplay at least once, just so I can see how beautiful it is once again. And you're right about Ottinger. Yeah, he's 897 this year, but they really only need him to be average. Anything more than that? And that's a bonus for the stars who can score it well.

And they can defend really well. Pete DeBore, I think he's one of the better coaches in the league. he definitely wears out his welcome after a few years, but that hasn't happened so far in Dallas. But they are such a fun team to watch overall. And also, I should add, they have the best goal song in the league. I'm sorry.

Dallas, Dunn Stars, Dun Dun Dallas Stars, the Pantera playing. It's remarkable overall. And they're obviously one of my teams that I just love watching whenever I get the chances because, you know, I try not to only. watch the penguins. I try to watch other teams around the league at night when I'm not doing anything.

And whenever the stars are playing, I'll always try to find time to watch them because they truly are a blast to watch. Oh, yeah, this is going to be a fun game, even if the penguins get beat up, because as Penguins fans, we're going to get to see a very good hockey team tonight. And to what you were saying about their power play, it's ninth in the NHL. so it's not, you know, turn the lights out every time they get a power play, you're screwed, but still very good. But it's the inverse of what we see with the penguins.

This is what my good pal and former co-host, Jesse Marshall, was talking about and has been talking about for quite a while. They run essentially the same system the penguins do, but there's urgency. There's puck movement. Guys fill in lanes. People get to the front of the net. They take advantage of the mismatches. They don't just get to their spot, stop, and wait for the puck to come to them. they are urgent.

They play fast. They play with an urgency that the penguins just don't. So if the penguins can take anything away from tonight, it's to watch that Dallas power play and go, oh, that's how it's done. Oh, yeah, we can implement that on our power play, maybe heading into next season. Hey, at least that's maybe a small silver line

to come out of this game if they do lose it. And all signs point to them probably losing this game just because of how good the stars are overall. But I think that would do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we have another team to preview. And yes, the Penguins go to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche, the high flying avalanche, and they're ready to try to win their second cup in the last three years, especially with the way they're playing right now.

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And Indeed delivers four times more hires than all other job sites combined according to Talent Nest. Join more than three million businesses worldwide that use Indeed to hire. great talent fast. Start hiring right now with a $75 sponsor job credit to upgrade your job post at Indy.com slash Lockdown. Offer is valid through March 31st. Go to Indeed.com slash locked on to claim your $75 credit before March 31st. That's Indeed.com slash locked on. Terms and conditions apply. If you need to hire, you need Indeed. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick So for those that think this game in Dallas is going to be really hard, well, it's going to go up 10 notches for this game in Denver against the avalanche.

This team is a flat out machine right now. I've already said they have 93 points. They've won 7 in a row. They've won 9 of their last 10 games. Their top line of Natchewskiy McKinnon and Ranton is killing teams on a nightly basis. And speaking of McKinnon himself, in my opinion, he is one of the two favorites. win the Hart Trophy right now. If I had a vote, I would give it to Kuchner, but if McKinnon won it, I would not be mad at all. He's been tremendous for the avalanche this season. And then you keep going

down their lineup a little bit. Art Terry Lekinen, Casey Middle Stat, Jonathan Druand. I loved that move to get Casey Middle Statt from Buffalo. I kind of see it as almost a win-win overall because Buffalo got Bowen Byram, who can really help their defense for the next several years. But middle stat, he is a legit number two center and is way better than someone like Ryan Johansson, who I think is basically cooked at this point for his initial career. You go down a little bit. Zach Resey, he signed during the season. They got Ross Colton, Andrew Cogliano.

He's the ageless wonder down there as well. And then defensively, Devon Taves with Cal McCar and McCar, in my opinion, I think he's the best defensive on the planet. And then, goaltending-wise, all they really need is average goaltending, and they'll be fine overall. and they also could get Gabriel Landisog back in the playoffs, as I've said, probably 5,000 times on the show so far this season. This team is disgustingly filthy.

And if the penguins want to win this game, they need to do exactly what they did to Colorado earlier this season when Colorado came to Pittsburgh. And that is completely shut them down, keep them to the outside, and not let them get to the high danger areas of ice. That was one of the quote-unquote blueprint games that I really liked how the penguins played overall and that they need to bring that game plan into Denver if they want to win this one. Yeah, they really have to play a minimum mistake kind of game to where their biggest focus

has to be countering the risks that Colorado will take because if you can keep them in a close game eventually, they're going to take risks and you have to capitalize on said risks and hit them on the counterattack rather than trying to get into a track meet or even at the very least pushback because this is a truly great hockey team that in my estimation is the favorite for the Stanley Cup this year. They are just that good. And Nathan McKinnon is doing his best possessed Sidney Crosby impression. He is just playing like a guy who, excuse me, absolutely cannot be denied. So that's huge for them. I will say this though, 75 points for Kail McCar, only 17 of them are goals.

I mean, is he really that good? Like, I don't know, maybe he could score some more himself. Do you guys see how ridiculous that sounds? Do you see how ridiculous that sounds? Anyway, off my high horse. No, this is a great team. And I mean, these are going to be the two really biggest tests for the penguins this year. And by the end of this weekend, we are going to find out once and for all,

whether or not this team is dead or has a little bit of a pulse. I mean, to be honest, right now they probably are dead. They're still a little bit on life support when you look at the standings just because no one wants that second wildcard spot. But by all intents and purposes, it's very likely that by the end of this weekend, they will officially be dead and the cord will be pulled overall. Just going up against these two teams overall, I just see back. dives for the penguins when I look at their lineup and then when I look at Dallas's

lineup and then when I look at Colorado's lineup I mean Colorado they are tops in the NHL 3.71 goals per game they have a top 10 power play in the league at basically 25 percent just behind the New York Rangers you do not want to take penalties against that avalanche team because when they can put out McCar McKinnon and Ranson on their power play and they can throw out other players as well like Nichushkin or they can put Devon Taves out there if they want to. It will be a bad time for the Penguins penalty kill, even though that unit has been one of the better units in the league.

I am really frightened for this team in terms of then potentially taking dumb penalties against the avalanche. Now here is the one thing I will say about the avalanche. And again, this isn't me downplaying them. I still think they're the top contender for the Stanley Cup this spring. Their schedule in March has been kind of soft. they've played the likes of Chicago. They're playing Detroit during Detroit's very tough slide, Minnesota, Calgary, St. Louis. They have played some teams in this streak that are definitely not amongst the class of the NHL.

But again, you can only play the games that are in front of you. You can't treat it like a restaurant and say, excuse me, Mr. Waiter, these aren't good teams. We're not going to count these. Please take them back. But overall, I mean, they should. showed earlier this season. They have a blueprint and a way to beat this Colorado team. And they are going to have to stick to that blueprint and plan or it could be a very, very long afternoon in Denver. It has to be a low event game. You are not going to go into this

game trying to trade chance for chance with the Colorado freaking avalanche. You will lose every single time. And I mean, I'm excited for these two games, but I'm also. not expecting much from the penguins overall. But if they can somehow sweep this back to back, I mean, all of a sudden, Pat, you know, there's still somewhat in the race that they're able to get a little bit of help. But that's very, I think, wishful thinking at this time. But I think that I'll do it for this second segment of today's episode coming up to end the show.

Yes. Is it officially over for the penguins or do they still have a little bit of life in them potentially after this weekend, even if it goes bad. Well, Pat and I are going to give our takes on that to end the show. But before we dive into that, we got to tell you all about Fandle. Say goodbye to busted brackets because Fandle lets you bet on every game of the NCAA tournament. Whether you're betting on a big upset or a one seed, it's time to go dancing on America's number one sports. But right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.

That's $200 to use on point spreads, money lines. You can even pick on who's going to win at all. and all you have to do is visit fandal.com slash locked on and bet on college hoops until they cut down the nets. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join by my co-host Patrick Dampen. Speaking of March Madness, shout out to Duquesne for taking down BYU on Thursday to advance to the second round of the NCAA tournament. And by the way, my bracket on day one, I was 12 and 4. Was undefeated for a while, but I lost my perfect bracket, just like almost everyone in the country.

and also around the world has lost at this point. But anyways, enough about the NCAA tournament. I could go on about that for hours, but this is not a college basketball podcast. In terms of the Penguins with this season, 14 games left. We've already discussed these two games in length on the show. No matter what happens, I still think this season is chalked,

even if you somehow sweep these two games, and that is very unlikely with the way Dallas and Colorado they're playing right now and just with how the Penguins have been playing since the Jake Gensel trade, even if you sweep those two games, it is still going to be a big hole to climb out of for the rest of the season. I still think at this point it is over for this team. I do too. I mean, I think maybe if they can get a split tonight and then after Sunday, maybe you've got a little bit of a chance because then you play Carolina, who is definitely going to be a tough out. But you've shown you can play.

against them. And then you've got two against the blue jackets who are just a genuinely bad hockey team. But then you get into April and it's all teams that are still either in the playoffs or fighting to get in with the Rangers, the devils, the caps, the lightning, Maple Leafs, Red Wings, Bruins, Preds and I. Preders are good, man. They are kicking butt right now. So, you know, I mean, the thing is there is no rest for the weary the rest of this way out. I mean, the, the penguins still are not mathematically eliminated, but I think at this point we can say they're pretty much spiritually eliminated because this is just way too hard of a schedule and they dug themselves too big of a grave too early. If they would have been three, four points out

with all these games remaining, you can look at it and go, you know what? They have a very realistic chance of getting in, but at this point, they're all of nine points out going into tonight's game against the stars. So you dig yourself that kind of a hole and then you have this kind of a schedule to wrap up the season. This is pretty much it. So, you know, with a guy like Jack saying, I have any coming up tonight, I would like to see Sam Poulan get some time up the rest of the way out.

And I would really like to see a lot of the guys who you aren't expecting to get that big of a role to start getting a bigger role down the stretch here. This is where I want to see Mike Sullivan and Kyle Dubas say to this, roster to some of these young-ish guys, some of these newer guys, like, okay, let's see what you got. You are under the microscope for these last 14 games so we can figure out what direction we want to go next season. And another one of those players that I do want to see more out of in these final 14 games, Emil Benstrom.

He had a couple of decent games right after the trade with the blue jackets that sent Alex Nealander to Columbus. But since then, man, I just really haven't seen that much from. man and it was always a long shot that the late pick was going to turn into a higher pick if he scored six goals down the stretch for the penguins that was never going to happen even unless now he goes on a heater which I'm going to say chance is still there hey I'll take my suppose expose myself if he gets five more goals in the last 14 games for this season but overall I just haven't seen enough out of him since he came over from the blue jackets

and I want to see more because you know the penguins will have a decision to make on him for next season. And these 14 games, I think, are pretty important for him. Yeah, they are. And, like, he, I don't think he's been as bad as, say, someone like Matthew Phillips. There's a name you probably haven't thought of in a while. But he's had his moments, but eventually you've got to do something more. I don't want to say he's a cardio merchant because he's not just skating up and down

the ice and doing nothing of value. He's solid on the forecheck. He's very good defensively, I think. But outside of that, you've got to maybe score a goal or two here. You've got to make yourself available to draw penalties or things like that. And in reality, it's just he's a very good middle of the road player, which is, yeah, he doesn't do anything overly impressive, but he doesn't do anything that hurt you either. So eventually you want to see something more from him because, you know, we look at the likes of who they're playing this weekend in Dallas and Colorado.

Everybody up and down that lineup chips in at some point or another. They're not just along for the ride. Everybody at some point does something that leads to a goal or offense or wins. And there's nobody who's just there that you go, well, you know, he's all right. He doesn't hurt us, but he's not exactly helping us either. Right. No, I totally hear you on that. and just outside of even some of the depth players on this team,

I do want to see a couple of big, and I mean big games from Eric Carlson. I don't subscribe to the thought that some people do that he has been bad for the Penguins this season. If you want to call him somewhat disappointing, I'll understand that argument, though I might disagree with you. I think, as you said on the podcast,

people had unrealistic expectations for someone that hit 100 points last season. but I feel like I haven't seen Eric take over a game in quite a while like he was doing earlier on the season. And if the Penguins do want to win one or both of these games out west, they're going to need Carlson playing at a really high level. He's not going to have Graves attached to him. That pairing has been a disaster all season.

He's going to have Pedersen attached to him, who is a great partner for Carlson overall. But I just want to see him up his game a little bit. Again, I don't subscribe to the notion that he's been awful or anything like that. I would make that trade 10,000 more times. I will go to my grave with that. When you have a chance to acquire Eric Carlson and ship out a bunch of bad contracts, yes, I'm going to do that. You took the swing.

Yeah, I know they're not going to make the playoffs this year. But you know what? That's not just his fault. It's everyone's fault on the team overall. It's management's fault. It's the coaching staff's fault. It's everyone's fault when you look at the organization. But to bring all this together, I just want to see him out.

have a couple of big games because I feel we haven't seen that from him in a little bit. 100%. I mean, like, I make sure I add this caveat all the time when I talk about Eric Carlson. It's totally fair to say that he's been disappointing. Yeah. But everybody wears that. Everybody's been disappointing on this team outside of maybe Sydney Crosby.

Like, everybody else on this team has been disappointing from Kyle Dubus on down. So saying that, oh, Eric Carlson has been disappointing this year. Yeah, no kidding. So has the entire team. And yeah, unrealistic expectations, sure. Like he was never going to do another. He was never going to put up another 100 point season.

He just wasn't because if you look at, you know, if you're a 90s kid like me, I'm going to make a Doug reference from Nickelodeon. He was like Chalky Studebaker on the football team. He was the quarterback and the wide receiver and the defense. He was doing everything for everybody on San Jose. That's not how it works here. There's more talent. There's more structure.

There's more things for him. or less things for him to do to take over because he's got help. But yes, I agree on the whole. There needs to be a game or two where you look at it and go, oh my God, Eric Carlson was head and shoulders, the best player on the ice that night. And that's the end of the discussion. But at the same time,

I also think I just want to see, and this will be my final point, I've been saying it for a couple weeks now. I just want to see desperation out of this team. I just want to see some pride. I'm not saying drop your gloves and fight and become goons or anything of that, but your season has not gone the way you expected it to. You fully expected this to be your stretch run getting ready for the playoffs,

not fighting for your playoff lives. And yet here you are. So I would like to see some pride out of this team. We've seen it in bits and spurts. We've seen it in little bits, but now I want to see it consistently. Your guys season hasn't gone the way you wanted it to. Fight back. Right.

I mean, I don't have anything much else to add on that. I want to see this team look like they're fighting for their lives to try and make it. Even though it's a fantasy to you, it's a fantasy to me. It's a fantasy to most fans out there that follow this team. I still want to see some fight in this team overall. And as we've been saying, don't go quietly into the night over these last 14 games. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.

Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Monday to recap both of these games and then get you all set for next week's games, including Carolina as Jake Gensel returns to PPG Paints Arena, but not as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins as a member of the Carolina Hurricanes. But again, now we do it for this one. Thank you all so much for tuning in,

and we'll talk with you all on Monday.