Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins still lack key elements seen in the NHL's conference finalists

Episode Date: May 21, 2024

The NHL's Conference Finals are set and all four teams have qualities that the Penguins lack. To start the show, Hunter and Pat dive into those qualities and what the Penguins can do to try and get them for next season. They discuss the Stars' depth and how deep their forward group is before looking at how the Florida Panthers have a lot of pests that can piss you off and score. They then discuss the Rangers and the quality they have that the Penguins lack before ending with the Oilers. After that, it's time for another season in review with Noel Acciari. Hunter and Pat discuss his disappointing first season with the Penguins and what he needs to do in order to be better for next season. They also discuss how Mike Sullivan needs to give him more offensive zone starts (as well as the bottom six). Finally, they give their picks for the Western Conference Final after the Oilers beat the Canucks on Monday night.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedThere is no “I” in “team.” But there is one in “Indeed” and that’s the hiring platform you need to build yours. When you’re hiring, you need Indeed.Claim your SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT now at Indeed.com/LOCKEDON. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed. PolicygeniusCheck life insurance off your to do list in no time with Policygenius. Head to policygenius.com/lockedonnhl to get your free life insurance quotes and see how much you could save.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.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! 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 NHL's conference finals are set to begin this week, and all four teams that are left, how qualities that the penguins are missing. You're Locked-on Penguin, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Join on my host, Patrick Damp.

You can follow him on Twitter at Cincinnati. them for wet and you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins, of course. Thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms and finally, today's episode is brought to you by. Fans will make every moment

more. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 bucks with any winning $5 bet. Visit fandul.com slash locked on to get started. So the Eastern Conference Final and the

Western Conference Final are officially set. The Rangers will take on the Panthers. We previewed that conference final during the Monday episode. And a little later on today, we'll preview the Western Conference Final between the Dallas Stars and very unfortunately, the Edmonds and Oilers after the Vancouver Canucks could not come back from 3-0 down in Game 7 on Monday night. But I will say, all four teams that are left have qualities that the Penguins are very much lacking right now.

And let's start with the Dallas Stars. I kind of discussed this a little bit during my solo episode last week. I want to get your thoughts on this before we go to the other teams. When I look at the stars, they are just so deep. And the penguins really don't have four lines that can score. Well, the stars do. I mean, for God's sake, they have Tyler Sagan as their third line center. They have Mason Marchman on their third line.

He's a top six winger on at least two thirds of the teams in the NHL. Even Jason Robertson isn't even on their top line right now. That's Jamie Ben with Wyatt Johnston. But that forward group is so deep. They're such a nice, well-oiled machine. And after winning those two series against Vegas and Colorado, I think this one against the Oilers might be their easiest one. Again, we'll discuss that a little later on.

But just when I look at this Stars team and I compare it to how the Penguins look at least right now heading into next season, the Penguins don't come close in terms of. of depth and they will need four lines that can score if they want to get back to the playoffs next year. Absolutely. And that's going to kind of be an overlying theme for me this entire segment is depth. You look at the Dallas stars in this postseason. Everybody that's played two or more games for them in this postseason has at least a point.

Everybody has produced. There is exactly one player on their playoff roster, not counting goalies, that doesn't have a point. and that's Alexander Petrovich, and he played all of one game. Everybody else, whether it's six games, 13 games, five games, 11 games, everybody's got a point or more. And this is an encapsulation of how good that team is because they play such a solid system like we saw in the second round. They were able to limit some of the best offensive players, not just on Colorado, but in

the league, to get past them. but then they don't just play you into a grind-em-out, two-to-one, one-nothing style. No, they'll play three, two, five, four hockey, but they will also make it so everybody else on your roster who isn't your big guns has to contribute. And as we saw with Colorado, the depth really did not come through outside of the top guys

and that put Dallas into the conference final. And their depth also did a great job for the most part on McKinnon, on McCar. outside of mainly game five in that series, that's when I feel like the avalanche big guns really woke up. They weren't that big of factors throughout that series. And a big reason for that was because of the star's depth and the way that they were able to shut them down again. Heck, they also have Rodick Foxa on their fourth line.

This is just a very deep team overall. They also have a good chunk of youth in their lineup. I mean, the penguins don't have anyone close to a Wyatt Johnston in their farm system, a Stan Kovin either. But again, depth, that's the big thing when I look at the stars. Moving on to the Florida Panthers, I can easily say the same thing because I think the Panthers are the deepest team in the conference. But I'm going to say something different for them.

They have more pests, rats, whatever other word you want to call it than the penguins do. The Panthers do a great job at baiting other teams into playing their game. and the penguins just don't have the personnel to do that. I think they can go out there this offseason and get one and two to maybe three players that play like a couple of the Panthers players, namely someone like a Sam Bennett. I mean, he pisses off a lot of players around the NHL. Maybe someone also like an Anton Lindell, a Nick Cousins, etc. The Penguins, they don't have a lot of those types of players mainly outside of Michael

Bunting, and I do think the Penguins could use another player or two like that in their lineup. And don't get me wrong. I'm not just asking for the usual toughness, a player that's only going to score five to six goals for you during your season. If you want to bring in some physicality and toughness, I'm all for that, but it's got to be similar to what the Panthers have, where these guys can chip in 11, 13, 14, 15 goals while also being a pain in the butt to play against. And the Panthers lineup, it's filled with those types of players. I've said it on the show before. the pendulum is swinging back to a more physical, more nasty style of hockey. I think we are starting to see that through this playoff.

And like you said, it's not your 1980s, 1990s, early 2000s, Goon, who only fights and throws hits and is big just to be big. These are guys who are guys who have foot speed. But I set it on the show yesterday. The key for me going into the Rangers Panthers series is the match. Rempe factor in not whether or not he plays or what impact he has on the series. But if the Florida Panthers force the Rangers hand into thinking, okay, we've got to let Matt Rempey play now to play their kind of game because that's what the Florida Panthers do. They get you off of your game and take advantage of it.

And I'm fully on board with the penguins becoming, for lack of a better term, bastards again. You remember those 16, 17 teams, and yes, they get their flowers very correctly for being fast and very skilled. They were difficult to play against. They were in your face all game long. Who do we always talk about that they are missing since those runs? Patrick Hornquist. He was in your face. He was pissing you off.

He was playing physical. He was getting under your goalie's skin. And you know what he was doing it with? a smile on his face because the minute you went after him was the minute he knew, yep, you're more worried about me than you are winning and that only helps my team win. And players would take stupid penalties in those situations too. And you know what he would be doing once again, smiling on his way back to the bench being like, okay, you're putting this vaunted power play unit on ice.

So good luck. If you want to keep taking penalties against me or against this team, also good luck. And of course I should mention Matthew Kachuk, but I don't. think any other team has a Matthew Kachukh. But again, you look at Matthew Kachuk, and he leads them in points with four goals and 10 assists. And he's not just being a pest. No.

He's being productive. And I think this is a really good way for the NHL to go because you know that there's so many people who want to take it back to the days of basically MMA and pro wrestling on ice. It's not that anymore. The definition of toughness is changing. It's guys who can play that blue collar sandpaper kind of game, but they can also score. They can also produce.

And I think the sport is going to be better for it. It's why I wouldn't mind if the Penguins were to go after, you know, maybe one of Max Domi or Tyler Pertuzzi in free agency. Both those players can score. They can defend and they can play that type of style. You saw it for Toronto in the playoffs. I know they didn't win that first round series against the Bruins, but they were still difficult players to play against, and they can play that style that you saw Michael Bunting play

down the stretch for the Penguins. And you add him to this team along with Bunting, or one of those two, I should say, I do think this team gets harder to play against, or just a player like those two. Moving on to the next team here, we'll discuss the New York Rangers. I could easily say the power play for them,

but I'm going to do that for the Oilers a little later on for this show. But I think for the Rangers, it's very simple. the Penguins don't have a true number one goalie that can steal games. Igor Shisterkin, I know, you know, Tristanjari, Alex Delkevich, Blumquist, I don't think they'll ever be Shasturkin. I mean, he's at worst up top three goalie in the league. They're never going to be that. I don't think anyone the Penguins are going to get this offseason will ever be able to

play at the level that Shasturken has been at these last few seasons. But overall, the Penguins just don't have someone that can. go out there in steel games and make big saves when the moment is really big. I mean, you look at how Sturkin has played this postseason, eight and two overall, 923 save percentage, 2.40 goals against average. He's been fantastic for the Rangers. And it's been a long time since the Penguins have gotten goaltending like that in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I think if this team wants to get back to making a deep run at some point,

potentially even next year, they need to find an answer to the goaltending position. and be able to bring someone in that can give them a little bit above average goal tending because you need someone that can stand on his head in the playoffs. And right now, I think the Penguins have that answer in that. They don't. And that's the very obvious answer. And it's easy to say harder to execute. But again, going back to my theme for this segment, it's depth again.

because yes, Vincent Trochec, 14.6 goals. Obviously, he was one of their key contributors in the season, but then you look a little bit deeper. Jack Roslavik has seven points, two goals. Barclay Goddreau has three goals. Alexis Lefrenier greatly ripping away the bust label, and they are getting contributions from up and down the lineup, and it's a little bit skewed because they've only played 10 games

because they had a sweep, and then six against Carrey. But in those games, the guys further on down the lineup are contributing. And yes, they're big guns getting their cookies, doing their jobs, Abenejad with 14 points as well, Artemi Panarin with 11 as well. And yes, you want your big guns contributing. You absolutely need your big guns to contribute. But you need those secondary players to help out. Right.

And I will say, I'm definitely eating a lot of crow for Lafranier. I didn't think he was going to be much of anything for the Rangers this year. I mean, I knew it was going to be a make or break year. But I felt like he was just going to continue on that bust trajectory. But he's been great for the Rangers all year, especially in the playoffs. So here you on the depth. I easily could say that for the Rangers, but I felt like with goaltending and how it's just dark in his play,

the Penguins again just don't have that true difference maker. And then for the Oilers, I teased it. I mean, you look at how their power play has played in the playoffs. I mean 37.5% heading into the conference final. I'm not going to sit here and say their total power play merchants because the Oilers have played really well at 5 on 5 during the playoffs. I don't think it's similar to how the Rangers played just a couple of years ago where I think it was very much live or die by the power play.

The Rangers 5 on 5 play has improved since then. But the Oilers, they're able to beat you at 5 on 5, but especially on the power play. And when I watch that unit, it's so interesting to me because they keep that same top unit out there for the full two minutes. They never put their second unit on the ice. It goes to show how great all five these players are, especially with their conditioning,

the fact that they can stay out there for the entire two minutes. But it also goes to show that once the puck gets in the offensive zone, it hardly leaves it. I mean, these players are really never gas. They're not having trouble with zone entries. They're getting a lot of pucks. And obviously, Connor McDavid is the main factor on there with the way he moves the puck with it on his stick.

But that unit has been such a difference maker in the playoffs in the Penguins zone. I have even close to a powerful unit that can touch that. And also for the Oilers, I'll throw in their penalty kill. You look at that unit right now, 91.4% heading into the conference final. that is also tops in the league. I've said it on the show before. You can win in the NHL with one real good special teams unit and one kind of Mets and not that good special teams unit,

but you can go a lot of places with two very good special teams units. And that is one of the biggest reasons, if not the biggest reason, why the Oilers are in the third round of the playoffs. Yeah, it's the power play, plain and simple. They have a incredible top end power play with so much talent on that first unit, and they take full advantage. The crazy thing, though, is that in this postseason, Connor McDavid on the power play, has one power play goal. That's it.

So he is distributing the puck on the power play extremely well. It's running through him, and everybody else knows where to go, because their system works so well that they know how to distribute the puck around because they know everybody's going to key on McDavid and they take advantage of that mismatch. Sound like something the penguins could do with the amount of talent they have on that unit. It sure does. Yep. And they have that true net front presence in Hyman.

They have someone at the point in Bouchard who can just fire the puck like no other. Got dry sidled who has a great shot and is a great passer. Nugent Hopkins can do it all as well. It's just a potent unit. And if you put the orders on the power play, you're more than likely going to get score. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to continue our season in review series and discuss Noel Chari and how he can do heading into year two of his contract. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all

about our first sponsor for today. And that is Fandall. It's winner to take all time in the NBA and NHL. And Fandle is giving you a shot to bring home a big win of your own. Right now, new customers get $150 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $150 to bet on spreads, money lines, player props, and so much more. Visit fandle.com slash lockdown and make every playoff shot count. That's Fandle, America's number one sportsbook. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes.

Join on my host, Patrick Dam. So let's continue our season and review series here with Nolachari. And let's face it. He definitely had a very disappointing first season with the Penguins in 2023, 24. Just looking at his counting stats alone for the season, only played in 55 games, but four goals, seven points in those games. I'm going to go into the data in a little bit, but for someone who signed a multi-year contract and for someone who also has a modified no trade clause in that contract,

that's just not good enough production overall. And he still has two more years left on his contract at $2 million per year. He needs to be a lot better for next season. I understand he is one of the better penalty killers. I think this unit is better when he's on the ice. I also know that he can bring some physicality for a team that really needs it. But I need to see more offensive production from him. I don't need everyone in the bottom six to contribute 13, 15 goals per season.

But if he can get into that maybe 9 to 10, 11 goal range, I'd be more than happy with it because I think other players in the bottom six can pick up the slack score, you know, again, 15, 16, maybe even upwards of 20 goals if the right moves are made. I do think there could potentially be a spot for him in this lineup for next year. But at the end of the day, he needs to show a lot of improvement heading into next season. We need the Nolichari from not this past season, but the season prior, when he put up 14 goals and 23 points across two different teams when he finished the year with Toronto. He did have that, he did sustain that nasty concussion against the Winnipeg Jets around the middle of the season.

I think that certainly played a factor in him not being as productive as expected. he's a very good bounce back candidate for me for next season, just because we have seen better play out of him, maybe so much not in the counting stats over the past few years, but he's a very effective when he's on his game, bottom six player. He kind of brings us back to some of the things we were talking about. Last segment with the Florida Panthers where he can play a physical game,

he can play with some speed. he's a guy who can wear down opponents in the offensive zone, giving an opportunity for your top talent to come over the boards and feast on a tired unit on the ice in the opposition. But overall, I mean, you look at, like you said, the deal that he has two more years at $2 million, modified no trade now. I don't think that's as big of a deal because NHLGMs at this point

hand out no trades and no moves like candy for whatever reason. So at this point, I almost expect every contract to have some kind of clause in it. But like you said, overall for the contract he has in the year that he had this past season, we need a lot more from him going into next year. Agreed. And his underlines this past season, just getting into the data right now, not good enough in 55 games. He played almost 600 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.

When he was on the ice, the penguins only had 40.7% of the shot attempts, 17 goals for, 25 goals against, less than 40% of the scoring chances, 41% of the high danger chances and the nine high danger goals for 13 high danger goals against. So the underlying is really not pretty for him this past season. But one thing that I do want to see Mike Sullivan do for Achari for this upcoming season is maybe give him some more offensive zone starts. I felt like he was giving Achari too many defensive zone starts. and I honestly could say that for the entire bottom six for this past season.

That's one thing that I really want to see Mike Sullivan change for this upcoming season is giving the bottom six, which is going to see some change. Give them more offensive zone starts and not defensive zone starts because he just, he deploys his bottom six very weirdly right now compared to other coaches. And it's not how he used to do it in 2016, 2017, 2018, heck, even a couple of seasons ago when the Penguins played the Rangers,

he was deploying the bottom six a lot more in offensive zone situations. I think maybe it was because the team was a bit deeper, but I want to see him get back to that overall. And one thing that I think could definitely help Achari for next year is that he won't be attached to Jeff Carter for a full season. I think getting Achari, a better linemate or two, could go a long way towards him,

living up to that contract a little bit more. For sure. I mean, there's definitely going to be the prospect of he's probably going to have better talent to play with on his line. I also agree on the zone start thing. Now, obviously, we got to see who comes into the fold as the fourth line center or even the third line center depending on who they go after. But at this point, I mean, you know you have one of the best face off men in the league

in Sidney Crosby. And then you've got Lars Eller who's dependable. And if you get another good faceoff. guy for your fourth line or third line depending, you have three guys who can take defensive zone draws. I understand to an extent not putting Evgeny Malkins line out, the second line in defensive zone starts, because he's about a 50-50 guy in the face-off circle historically. He pretty much hovers around 50% in the face-off circle. But at this point, you've got, you'll hopefully have three people, three centers, who can win draws. So you don't.

have to exclusively put your bottom six out in the defensive zone to take defensive zone draws because you have guys who are fully capable of it. So if you can throw out Sid's line and even get a mismatch or you get that mismatch and then you can give your third or fourth line a start in the offensive zone after hopefully an extended shift by the first line or even the second line. That makes sense. I hear you on that. I just want to see Sullivan use his lines a bit better for next season and potentially beyond if he is here after that season as well. But I think for my grade for Achari this season,

I'm not going to give him an F. I think that's too harsh. I think an F grade is really only going to be used once or twice for our season reviews this year. And I'm sure if you're listening or watching this, you know at least one of the players that's going to get an F for this year. but I'm going to give him C minus to a D somewhere around there. That's kind of the grade that I think I'm giving a charge for this year.

I'm sitting in a C minus just because of that concussion against the Jets. Yeah. I think that really harmed his season and put him in a bad place because that was a very, very vicious hit, a very dirty hit. And you could see when he got hit, he was out. He was, the lights were on, but no one was home. so I think that really harmed his season. But yeah, C-minus is pretty much where I sit for Nool Chari.

I agree. I didn't like that hit at all when it happened. And I'm just glad that right now he is better overall. But I think that I'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to preview the Western Commons final after the Oilers beat the Vancouver Canucks in seven games on Monday night. And that's coming up right after this. All right.

We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Sandra Hodes, join on my host, Patrick Dam. So we preview the Eastern Conference Final on Monday. I went Panthers in seven, and I'm going to go stars in six here. I almost went stars in five, and I think that has a real possibility of happening. But I'm going to go stars in six just because I don't think McDavid is going to allow the Oilers to lose this series in five games. But when I look at this matchup overall, I see one team that is very, very deep, and I see another team that is very top-heavy. I don't think the stars are going to get fully crushed by the Oilers Special Teams. I mean, it definitely could happen. The Oilers Special

teams have carried them this far as well as their five-on-five play, but I think the stars are going to do enough to be able to at least contain the Oilers power play. In net, I trust Jake Ottinger a lot more than Stewart Skinner. Skinner, he was brought back into the net for the final two games, but he really didn't have to do that much for the Oilers. I thought the Oilers played really well defensively against the Canucks in game six and seven. But they're going to have to really up it a few notches against the stars. And with how Ottinger played against the Avalanche, I trust him a lot more than Skinner.

But again, it just comes back to the depth, man. The stars are deeper. I think they're faster. I also think even looking at the Oilers, I know they're very top heavy, and I know they have two of the five top players in the world. I still think the stars are a more skill team overall just because they have more skill in their lineup when you look at their four lines compared to the Oilers, four lines. And with how the stars played in the first two rounds, I think this series is the easiest, in quotation marks of the three, I would be stunned if the Oilers beat the

stars in the series and went to the stand like a final. Give me the stars in six games. I think they advance. I'm really struggling with this one. I'm going to go Oilers in seven. And here's the thing that Dallas has to do to win this series. They cannot take penalties. And not just because the Oilers power play is so potent, their penalty kill has not been good in this postseason.

They're just a shade under 70%. and if you're a team with Stanley Cup aspirations, you have to do better on the penalty kill, at least a little bit. If they were sitting at 75% or something like that, I would not be too worried. But then you look at the other end of it, Edmonton's penalty kill, 91%.

Yep. So this series really hinges on special teams to me. and I look at it this way. For Dallas to win this series, along with special teams, they have to find a way to replicate what they did against Colorado. Shut down Edmonton's top line, which we know you're not going to do. You're not going to shut that line down. You just aren't.

They are going to get their points. They're going to get their cookies because they are just that good. but you have to match that top line and make the depth beat you. And if they can do that, I can see Dallas winning this series. But watching Edmonton throughout this postseason, we kind of said this about Nathan McKinnon, so maybe it's a kiss of death for us. But Connor McDavid is playing like a guy who said,

this is my playoff, my team is winning, you will not stop me. he's obviously been tremendous for the Oilers. Drys Idol's been great. Nuschen Hopkins, Hyman. I can go down the list. I mean, Bouchard is playing like one of the five best defensemen on the planet right now. He was great in that second round series against the Canucks. In some ways, I played Quinn Hughes, who I think is going to win the Norris for the

NHL this year. But what I keep coming back to is that the stars are a better five-on-five team, I think, than the Oilers. and I just trust them more in that situation. And with how the stars have also played defensively in these playoffs, especially at 5 on 5, I think they're going to do enough to win this series. I do think for the stars with their low penalty kill,

part of the reason was also going up against the avalanche powerplay. I mean, you know what the avalanche can throw out there on their powerplay. I mean, Miko Ransan, Nathan McKinnon, Kail Makar, at least for a time, Natchewskih was out there as well before everything happened. with him, but they also have some of the top players in the world. And going up against that unit, not easy at all. Obviously, it's going to be an even harder test for the stars here.

But I still just keep thinking the stars, they match up well against the Oilers. I really think that. And I would kind of be shocked if the Stars lost the series. I appreciate you going a little bold there with the Oilers, just because I think not that many people are going to take the Oilers with how the Stars have played in the playoffs so far. I mean, they showed a lot of Cajonis coming back from two nothing down against Vegas being to Avlanch in six games. And now going up against the Oilers with more top talent, I just think this really might be the Stars year. Even if we get a Stars Panthers final, I would take the Stars to win that series.

I think of these four teams left right now, the stars are the best team, and they're playing like it. So I'm going to go with the stars again in six. I mean, the thing for me is it's really hard for me to handicap and predict this series because it hinges on so many important things. You hinted at it earlier. I already said special teams. There's also the goaltending matchup. Yeah. I don't know how much I trust the tandem of Stuart Skinner and Calvin Pickard.

And then there's Jake. on the other end because I was talking about this with a friend last night. The thing that Edmonton has is Stuart Skinner, Calvin Pickard, pretty underwhelming tandem, right? But they are good enough for a team like Edmonton to outscore their goaltending problems. But now that runs into playing Dallas, who has one of the best goalies, I would say probably the second or third best left in the playoffs behind Bobrovsky and Shasturkin. But we don't have to worry about those two guys.

They're battling out. They're battling it out in the east. So, like, this is going to be a fantastic series because it's, we got the four best teams in the, in the conference finals now. These are the four best teams in the playoffs. So this series is really difficult for me to even predict. I'm going to stick with the Oilers just because. because they have that it team factor for me,

because we saw that last night, Hunter, I'm so sorry. But they came out and asserted their dominance and basically said, yeah, get out of our way. We're going to the conference final. But you don't need to apologize. For God's sake, I adopted them as a small mistress team for a playoff run just because I had such a blast watching them. But don't, don't worry.

You don't need to apologize because the Canucks lost in this around. I just feel bad for their fans just because they haven't. been to a conference final since 2011, but it was fun seeing the Canucks almost come back yet again. But I said to you before recording this, you can't show up for 10 minutes in the game seven. They dug too deep of a hole. And those first 45, 50 minutes, the Oilers were just steamrolling the Canucks before the Canucks finally decided to turn it on like they have, or like they did excuse me, for that entire series late in the third period. They were a team this playoff, the Canucks. They just existed on vibes, man.

And there was no rhyme or reason for anything they did other than vibes. And they wrote it as long as they could and good on them for it. It was the friends they made along the way, I think was this run for the Canucks. But that'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Wednesday. to discuss more news during the Pittsburgh Penguins. But until then, for Patrick Damp, I am Huntser Hodes.

Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll talk with you all on Wednesday.