Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins are GOING BACK to the Stanley Cup Playoffs!!

Episode Date: April 10, 2026

For the first time in four years, the Penguins are playoff-bound!! Patrick and Hunter begin the show by…well, basically screaming because the Penguins have officially clinched their spot in the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs! (1:40) They recap the victory over the Devils and how, despite some hiccups, they gutted out another massive win. Then, they talk about how the Penguins “Flipped The Script” on everyone’s expectations, who played roles, and how the Penguins’ brain trust should get some hardware this summer. (14:00) Finally, could this weekend be the final chapter in Crosby vs. Ovechkin? They preview what could be the final two meetings between the Penguins and the Capitals. (26:00) Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! QuoMake this the year where no opportunity — and no customer — slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go tohttp://Quo.com/lockedonnhl. Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcast right now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Gametime Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get two-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   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.

As the great Mike Lang once said, you can spit, shine your shoes because we're going dancing with Lord Stanley. 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 the Friday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's Twitter account a follow at L.O. underscore Penguins.

You can find us on Instagram at Locked on underscore Penguins and TikTok at Locked 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're following us on YouTube, which you should be, especially with what's coming up around the corner, make sure you've hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. For the first time since the 2021-22 season, the Pittsburgh Penguins are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. And not only are they going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, games one and two

will be at PPG Paints Arena. The Penguins with a huge, huge, gutsy, five to two win over the New Jersey Devils. And this was not at all the Penguins cleanest game of the year. There were some mistakes. There were some hiccups. There were some, I would say troubling things, but we got plenty of time to worry about that. This is a celebratory episode because I can't say it enough and not smile.

the penguins are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's crazy to say it out loud, considering what the expectations were heading into the season. But yes, this is reality. For the first time in four years, Pitts or Penguins are going back to the Stanley Cup playoffs, and they will have home ice in the first round. You know who's also pretty happy about that, Pat?

The NFL, because they don't have to compete with penguin playoff games that weekend. and I assume the penguins will start that Saturday or Sunday, April 18th or 19th. They'll play the next game, Monday or Tuesday, and then games three and four, Wednesday, Friday, and then they'll be coming back next week for game five, and then obviously no game six, game seven, and all that good stuff. But playoff hockey is officially returning.

We're going to get at least one more run with Crosby, Malkin, and Letang as Pittsburgh Penguins. So let's save the talk about this season as a whole for the second segment of the show. And then we will preview the back to back over the weekend, the home at home with the Washington capitals. But before we do that, let's talk about the victory tonight. Brian Rust gets the party started after a pretty sleepy start from the Pittsburgh Penguins. And the more I think about it, because we're recording this just minutes after. the penguins put the finishing touches on that win.

So I haven't had a ton of time to think about it, but this has been my entire evening is just dedicated to this, this penguin's victory in this show. I do actually have to give more credit to the New Jersey Devils than I do the, then I do scorn to the Pittsburgh Penguins. For a team that had nothing to play for tonight, yeah, we're recording us on Thursday night.

So just we're going to get some wires crossed here. but for a team that had nothing to play for, I do have to give the devil's credit. They came out and they played like a motivated team. When you've got nothing to look forward to but the off season, I can respect that. Yeah, they played hard, especially the first five, 10 minutes,

Stuart Skinner was really saving the penguins. It felt like to start that first period. You could tell Pat, they had been off for the last few days. I mean, this team, they had played 22 games in 38 days, basically a little less than, every other day, but you can finally get a few days off.

You can rest your legs. You can tell they didn't have their legs to start this game. But once Brian Russ made it won nothing, that really got them back into the game. They were forechecking a lot harder. Were they giving some things back defensively? Sure, the devils were kind of cherry picking as I was texting you at the red line. They were kind of doing that throughout this game. But the penguins, they were slowly but surely getting to their game.

Igor Chinochinov had a little bit of a sleepy start himself, and he's been awesome ever since he was. acquired but little sleepy didn't handle the puck at his blue line right leads to a breakaway obviously the devil's hit the post there that's huge but he more than made up for it right after that i mean he was one of the best players on the ice after that little you know mess up at the blue line felt like he had like lips there but that's an unreal passive i thought he like he was going to shoot it at first unreal past to brian rust and then oh yeah pat low and behold his backhand might be just as good as his regular release he is disgusting as a

player. And then the play that he made leading to Evgeny Malkin's goal that made it for two, also insane. Like what a player he has turned out to be since he was being, since he was acquired, excuse me, from Columbus. He's going to get a really nice extension this offseason and very deservedly so with the way that he's playing. He was honestly, probably their best forward on the ice night. I also pat the top line in general. I thought Sid was flying tonight, touched on Brian Rust, big night as well from Tommy Novak.

They really needed Tommy Novak tonight. I felt that his game had just gone downhill the last few weeks. Obviously, well, if you're new here watching this, I'm the president of the Tommy Novak fan club. I've liked this player all year, but he had not been giving the Penguins enough in my opinion as of late. Tonight, though, one of the best foot players on ice. I loved Novak's game against the devils.

And yes, the goal was nice. It was finally nice to see him get on the board. But his game as a whole was fantastic against the devils. He was creating offense. He was getting scoring chances. He was really good in the defensive zone. His wheels were going all night long. It was one of the better games we have seen out of Tommy Novak in quite some time.

We also got a touch on this. The Penguins are tied 1-1 in the second period. Tommy Novak. scores a nice little goal set up from Evgeny Malkin to give the penguins the lead back. And then nine seconds later, Igor Chinikov makes it three to one. And the penguins, they never looked back from there. Jack Hughes did Jack Hughes things near the 15 minute mark of the second period. But I will say the only reason that goes in, it hits Parker Watherspoon stick and deflects past Skinner.

Not a whole lot you knew about that. Skinner played it right. It somehow hits Watherspoon's stick and goes in. And then Gino in the third period, like a dog on a bone, after Crosby comes so, so close to scoring another highlight real goal. If Getty Malkin just, I'm going to make an old washed reference here, but he Leroy Jenkins his way into that crease in, buried it to give the penguins the four to lead. Gino was another one tonight. Had a great game.

Had that dog in him, Pat, as the kids liked to say, he was all over the place, but continue. It was, as Hunter Hodes would say, a vintage Gino performance against the devils. Yeah, he was a Pockeld all game. He was hunting for it. Every shift he was out there making small, simple, but very effective plays, had some some really nice passes. The goal that he scored going to the net mouth, jamming that puck through after Sid almost had a crazy highlight, real goal,

excuse me, he was everywhere for the Penguins. And again, now he's going to get his shot going back to the playoffs as well as Sidney Crosby, Chris LaTang. I thought Eric Carlson had another pretty good game tonight, Pat, and we're going to get playoff Eric Carlson for the first time since the 2018-19 season,

which is crazy. He hasn't made the playoffs in forever, but I am stoked. for that. I thought Sam Girard also had another really good game on the second pair. He continues to improve over the last week to 10 days. He's been getting more comfortable on that second pair with Chrysletang. And I know if you've been listening throughout the season, I have said I have not liked that pair a lot. But slowly but surely, Dam Euse has been sticking with it and it has been improving.

That's why he's the head coach and I'm here behind a microphone. But I really liked his game tonight. And I did want to shout out Stuart Skinner as well, Pat. made a lot of really big saves. It's funny. I felt that save on Segantholler in the third period, that totally flipped the rest of the period for me. Huge save there.

The Penguins had a little bit of a breakdown in their own zone. Skinner, cool as a cucumber, makes the glove save. Everyone after that, relax. He goes, hey, I got you guys. And from then on, I thought it was a defensive clinic for the rest of that period. It was a little nerve-wracking at the start, Pat. I will say because the devils are coming up them pretty hard. But once he made that save on Segan Thaler,

it was smooth sailing the rest of that period. The Zeganthalor save happened just around the five minute mark. And then that final five minutes in a game like this, and I know it was just to clinch a playoff spot, but we have been, if there's any Buffalo fans listening, I'm so sorry for what I'm about to say, we have been so starved of the playoffs. the last couple of years that you expected that final five minutes going in to feel like

five hours. But the penguins played it so well defensively and played it so smoothly defensively that it did not feel like five minutes. It went a lot quicker than that. And that clock ticked down in the pen. Before we had to our second segment to talk about how great of a season. This has been, this is how I'm going to transition to it. Josh gets off at the end of the broadcast on SportsNet Pittsburgh said what we were all thinking. This was supposed to be a lottery team. This was a team that was not supposed to compete for a playoff spot. This was a team that was barely going to be competitive. And here we are tonight on April 9th, going into April 10th, in the Pittsburgh Penguins, will be in the Stanley Cup

playoffs with home ice advantage in the first round, if you can believe it. So with that said, that is going to do it for our opening segment. When we come back, we're in a great mood. So you know what? Let's talk about what a great season it has been for the Pittsburgh Penguins. We will do that right after this. But we got to tell you about a couple of sponsors first, and that begins with our friends at Quo. Spring is a natural reset point and there's one thing that can quietly cost businesses

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on penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And if you pull up the standings page on NHL.com, there is that beautiful, beautiful X right next to the second place team in the Metropolitan Division are Pittsburgh Penguins with a record of 41, 22, and 16. With this win, here's a good place for us to start. With this win, Dan Mews gets his 41st win in his first season as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Penguins, tying the legendary Badger Bob Johnson. What a rookie season it has been for Dan Mews. I can't say enough about the job that he has done with this team, the puck support that this

team plays with is absurd. The way that this team generates offense, finishes their chances compared to what you saw towards the latter stages of the Mike Sullivan era is absurd. It's literally night and day when you look at the final couple of years to Mike Sullivan, compared to where the team plays now. Like, yes. Are there still some defensive zone issues to clean up? Sure.

I thought, you know, later in the third period, they were making some strides in that area. They're still, they're not perfect or anything like that. But the way that this team plays, the way that he gets the most out of every single player in this team, it's outstanding. He needs to get Jack Adams consideration. I don't know if he is going to win it, considering what Lindy Ruff has done in Buffalo. Like that team is an absolute wagon this year. But I think at the very least, you might have to at least have him as a finalist for this award. Again, he has been the breath of fresh air that this franchise has needed for the last year or two. And he has pushed every single right button with this team this year.

The way that Eric Carlson has played under him has been absurd, the way that Parker Watherswin has played his best hockey under him. I can say the same thing for Ryan Shea. Anthony Manta has a career year. Under him, Noel Chari has his best season as a penguin under him. I can keep going if you want me to. So many players just had, you know, career year slash bounce back seasons. for the penguins under damn muse and again i can't say enough about the job that he has done

to take this a step further pat kyle dubus needs to win gm of the year right now his work over the last 12 to 18 months putting this team together the way that he's been doing this even though they've been kind of rebuilding on the fly has been second to none the acquisitions he made over the offseason the igor chinakov trade the damn muse higher i can keep going down the list if you want me to. He has also pushed every single right button as the GM and president of this team for the last year, year and a half. I'd honestly probably even say the last two years if you want to say that. He needs to win GM of the year. And finally, congratulations to the players. They came into this year with no expectations. But as I said at the start of the season, when a team comes in with nothing to lose,

they can be really dangerous and they quickly became one of the better teams in the Eastern Conference. Yeah, there were times where I was kind of holding off saying that this is a legit good team because I wanted to see it a bit more.

But once we got after that losing streak into January, into February, I was content with saying that this is a good team and that they are good enough to get in. I still had to see it to believe it in terms of making the playoffs. But I knew that this was a good team

once I think we got into 2020. I just had to see it after the losing streak. And if you haven't watched that video that they put out on their socials of the flip the script, just cooking everyone in the national media, please go watch it. It is deserved. I was texting you about this. I almost wanted them to go full, stone cold Steve Austin. They said we were going to be in the lottery.

What? They said we were going to be bad. What? But what happened? We made the playoffs. Just something funny like that. That's my really. Zero out of 10 stone cold Steve Austin impersonation there.

But just hats off to everyone around the organization. And we will be getting playoff hockey here in Pittsburgh. Just what a magical season. And it's not over yet. I didn't want to interrupt you because you were, you were spitting. You were absolutely spitting. So I did want to give you some grief for you were real hesitant this season. You were real hesitant to file a claim with the we're back to

And I was not. I thought we were back. I knew we were back, especially like you said, once we got into 2026. We saw the way this team responded to some real adversity. They didn't let it knock them down. They didn't let it destroy them. They came right back at it. They strung together a bunch of wins.

One of the best moments for me was, I believe it was in February. They went to Western Canada and they walked through it. just absolutely walked through it. It wasn't their strongest set of games, but they gritted out wins on a trip that is usually a nightmare for everybody, and they came out of it pretty much unscathed, which not a lot of teams get to do, especially a team in a precarious competitive division,

like the penguins have been this season. So that was huge. The moment for me was the Columbus comeback. That's when I filed a claim. and said, okay, this team is back. They were down by three goals. They come back. They tie it late.

Sid wins in overtime like he often does in Columbus. I remember I came on here and said, okay, this is different now. But go ahead. But to your point about Kyle Dubus, you went through with Dan Mews, it was a hire that had a lot of us scratching our heads. We understood it because you saw what he did as a developmental coach with the national development program as an assistant coach. A lot of the younger players from both the NHL and the development program said he was

one of the best coaches they had ever worked with. So there was a lot of hope there. We were curious to see what he was going to do with the big boys. And guess what? He didn't disappoint. Sidney Crosby, ho-hum, 29 goals, 74 points, and another point per game season. Eric Carlson, his best season as a Pittsburgh penguin. 15 goals, 66 points.

Brian Rust, another career year, 65 points of Gennie Malkins, 61 points in 55 games. And then you talk about the offseason acquisitions and in-season acquisitions. Igor Chinikov, not only is having a career year, he had a career year just as a penguin alone. 18 goals. 18 assists, 36 points, home run acquisition. Anthony Mantha, 61 points, 31 goals, 30 assists. Ricard Raquel, another big year, 24, 24 for 48. And then Tommy Novak, who he acquired last season, played a single game, big year for him,

16 goals, 41 points, Justin Briseau, 17 and 17 for 34. and the most important one for Kyle Dubus's case to be general manager of the year. 18 year old Ben Kindle. You can go back in our, you don't have to go that far back. If you go to our YouTube channel and you go to the live tab, you'll find our draft night live stream from night one. We were shocked.

We were stunned. Kindle was not on any of our radars. None of us knew. He might have been on the radar, but at 11. He was on my board. That's for sure. It was a little further down. And I remember if you go back, I did say at the time that this one's a little bit

of an old take expose. I said it was I thought it was a little bit of a reach because I liked Actolin. But if you did a redraft now, I mean, he's probably going top five. Ben Kindle was one of my early guys, though. I remember talking about it on the pod during last season saying I really liked this kid. I mean, I don't think I expected him to be ready. this early and be one of the top rookies in the NHL this season. But I had liked him going into the draft.

I just had him a little further down my board than some others. But hey, I'm just glad he was on my board. To that point, he gets taken into 11. The consensus from just about everybody is a good player. He's got talent. He's got potential. But at 11, it's a bit of a reach. He has been in the end.

NHL all season. And not only has he been in the NHL all season, he has put up 17 goals and 34 points. And he has been a reliable two-way player in the National Hockey League at 18 years old. And then the final case, and unfortunately, it comes at the

expense of another general manager. For the Tristan Jari, Stuart Skinner trade alone, Kyle Dubas should win general manager of the year. because he didn't retain any money. He didn't have to give up any premium assets. He didn't have to give up any real prospects. And he gets Jari's salary off the books,

opens up more cap space. And Stuart Skinner looks like he is poised to be the Penguins game one starter. And Tristan Jari might not even dress for the Edmonton Oilers. I think he would dress as the backup. He's not the starter right now, though. I think if you want to be. be cap compliant in the playoffs. That's your cheat code. I think he's the backup to start the playoffs for the Oilers. I don't think he starts. I think that is Connor Ingram. And you if you look at like the

game logs, you see who's starting. I think the Oilers are kind of strongly hinting that Ingram is going to get the net to start the playoffs. I think Charlie will be the backup. I would be surprised if he was the third goalie. He's going to be the backup to me. But still, you get out of that contract. You add a pick, a high pick that is. You also add Brett Kulak, Stuart Skinner, you then send Kulak out to go get Gerard. And yeah, I know. Gerard, the early returns at first were not very good. But slowly but surely, he has been playing a lot better as he's been getting more comfortable in the system.

You also added another future asset. So he's been great, Kyle Dubus, man. I can't say enough great things about him as the GM, as the president right now. His fingerprints obviously well all over this team. So what a season it has been. Pat still got three more regular season games, even though they're pretty much meaningless just because they cannot go up the standings, but they cannot go down. But could this be the final Cid-OV matchup? I guess we're going to have to see. We are going to have to wait and see because like Hunter said, there still are three games left to go in this season. But they don't really mean anything. But we do still have to talk about them.

and we will talk about what could be a historic weekend home at home. So hang with us for a little bit longer. We're going to get into that right after this. Finishing up the Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I am Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And is historic and fun as this season has been for the Pittsburgh Penguins, with them returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs, which one last thing that I should have mentioned,

mentioned in our second segment. With this playoff birth, since the 2006-2007 season, when the Penguins made it to the playoffs, for the first time with Sidney Crosby, of Gennie Malkin, and Chris LaTang, the Penguins now lead all NHL teams in playoff appearances at 17, breaking the tide that they had with their opponent. this weekend, the Washington Capitals. And I know that we do got to preview the game. The Caps, they are still alive. Technically, they've got 89 points.

They have not been mathematically eliminated from the postseason yet, but more likely than not, they are not going to qualify for the Stanley Cup playoffs. And as we learned this past week, Ovechkin, hasn't made a decision on retirement yet. And I'm just going to throw out my theory real quick. I would not be surprised if this weekend is the last chapter in Sydney Crosby versus Alex Ovechkin, because there was a lot of reporting from last season when he chased the goals record that he felt really bad about it taking away from his team, their push to

the playoffs and kind of leaving the entire spotlight on him, which I know saying that about Alex Ovechkin does sound weird, but he is still a hockey player at heart, and that's how they're wired. I get the feeling he doesn't want the pomp and circumstance of a farewell tour. No. And I think this might be it. It could be. I mean, I could still easily see him wanting to return for one more season before potentially going back to Russia to maybe play there for one more year before officially calling it fully quits on his career.

But it sounds like I watched the interview with John Walton of the Washington Capitals. And he, Ovec Kimbeji just said that he's going to take his time. He's going to talk to his family. He's going to talk to the Caps management, the Caps ownership with Ted Leoneses. And he's going to come to a decision at some point this offseason. If this is it, though, I just want to say how much fun it has. been to watch him go against the penguins for 20 plus years. The rivalry between him and Sid has been, you know, just one of my favorites, two giants

of the game. And, you know, Penguins Capitals is not going to be the same when those two hang it up, both of them, that is. And I'll throw Evgeny Malkin in there, too, because he's obviously been a huge part of this rivalry. You know, there are in so many great moments over the years. You know, you think back to the dueling hat-trick. came Chris LaTang's winner in game three to really save that series, save the penguins overall in that series.

You think back to obviously Benino, Benino in 16, Game 7, where in 17, that is, where a lot of people were counting them out, penguins go into Washington, and Washington just puts up a goose egg. The penguins do such a great job, especially in the third period of limiting them. Early on, it was a bit scary, but Mark Andre Fleury, you know, makes the sticks. with his paddle and then he has the celebration. You know, obviously the cap struck back in 2018 with their Stanley Cup, but it has been such a pleasure to watch both of them go at each other for 20 plus years.

It's been one of my favorite rivalries, not even just Crosby versus Ovi, but Penguins Capitals in general. So if it is the final chapter, Pat, it's been one heck of a ride. But, okay, let's focus, though, on the caps this year. It's been a disappointing season for them. the pier look dubois injury really screwed them for a lot of this season when he's healthy he has been good this year like he's been one of their better play drivers he's been able to finish this year when he has been healthy you know ovechkin even though he can't move like he used to he still has

31 goals this year tom wilson is on the verge of hitting 30 goals jacob trickman defensively has also been really good with almost 60 points they have alexi protis who's closing in on 30 goals They also have the other protist brother who is now up from Hershey, and I think he's going to be a decent player in the NHL this year. I like Ryan Leonard quite a bit. They still have Justin Sordiff, Connor McMichael, Rasmus Sandeen, former Penguin Anthony Mavillier, of course, is there. This is still a team that has solid pieces.

It's just that their road record has not been good. Their power play for a lot of this season has been bad, and they've just been banged up for a lot of this season. I think that's also a big thing. And I think I knew that the caps weren't going to repeat what they did last year. I mean, look at their shooting percentage. Like it was insanely high. They also had the goal chase going with OV.

You know, I expected them to regress this year. I just think, I didn't think it would be this much where they're fighting for their playoff lives going into these games. I don't think they're going to try. They're not going to get wildcard too. They're five points back with three games to go on Ottawa. Ottawa, I think is probably going to lock that down. I think they're going to get in.

And if they get Carolina, that will be a fun series. I think the path for Washington is Metro 3. Pittsburgh obviously has Metro 2 locked up. Washington right now, there are three points back of Philadelphia, but they only have three games left. I think, Pat, you're probably going to have to win all three of these games if they even have a chance of getting in the Islanders also won tonight. They're one point back to Philly.

It's still going to take quite a lot for Washington to get in here. It's going to be a big lift for the caps to keep themselves alive. So we'll see what happens with that. But I have seen some concern from people that they think this magical season by the Penguins is going to be followed up by what happened to the Capitals this year. And I'll say this about the Caps this year. I don't think this was as much of a regression as it was a bad luck year. There were injuries. Their shooting percentage wasn't as great.

And they didn't really get a lot of help outside of Logan Thompson and net. Charlie Lindgren, 9-8 and 3.5 GAA 879 save percentage, that you don't need, especially when you have a goalie like Logan Thompson, who is really, really good. You don't need a great backup, but you need a steady backup who can take some of the workload away from him. And it feels like they almost couldn't trust Charlie Lindgren to do it. So they probably rode Logan Thompson,

a little too much this season. Couple that with the injuries and the shooting percentage regression. It was just a tough luck year. I don't think that the Capitals next year are going to be any worse for where. They've got plenty of really good young talent on the roster and in the system.

And you mentioned the Protis brothers, man. If you don't know about them yet, study up because they are going to be a problem for a while. They are big. They are talented and they are fearless. So good luck everybody else. And Cole Hudson is also here full time. And I think he's going to be a set for them on their back end too. That's that's their John Carlson replacement after they traded him at the deadline. I like their front office quite a bit. They're pretty aggressive. Their pro scouting has been very good. but, you know, I'm still curious to see if they make a pretty big,

aggressive move via the trade market this offseason. But, again, you know, keys to victory here. You know, I like the Penguins P.K. against the Capitals Power Play. It's not the vaunted Cap's power play that you remember when they had. Nick Backstrom, T.J. O'Shee, John Carlson, Alex Lovetchkin with his bombs. You know, you still have OV with his bombs, but a lot of those other guys are no longer there. Tom Wilson, Pat, Pat, you know what you're going to get out of him.

He plays like a rat. He annoys the hell. out of you. He's good around the net. He can score it well. Been a penguin killer for a long time. That's one of the biggest priorities for this weekend. If all going to come down to Pat, for me, also, does anyone get rest this weekend? Does Dammeuse decide to rest some of his starters in one of the two games this weekend? Because I think he's definitely going to do it on Tuesday in St. Louis. I have to double check how many standard recalls they have left. But if they still have quite a few, going to call up some guys from Wilkesbury.

Wouldn't be surprised at Sergey Murashov, gets that start, at least to kind of reward him for the season that he has had in Wilkesbury. But curious to see how they attack these two caps games because there's really nothing on the line for the Penguins. Washington is everything still to play for, but curious to see how many regulars get in this weekend versus how many, you know, potential healthy scratches,

you see, to kind of put it like that. For at least one of these games, if not both, considering it, a home at home. I want to see the big three. Go up at OV at least one more time. Because again, I'm still very much convinced that he's done after this year. So you got, I know that the playoffs are the bigger fish to fry. I get all of that. But sometimes history is staring you right in the face and you just got to look at eye to eye and you owe it to the sport to do something like that.

But two big games, big, big for the caps, not big for penguins. We're going back to the playoffs, ladies and gentlemen, but three o'clock, both Saturday and Sunday, Saturday at PPG paints arena, Sunday in Washington. Both games are nationally televised games. Saturday will be on ABC and then on Sunday, TNT and HBO Max. So our boys at SportsNet, Pittsburgh, get themselves a nice little weekend off to celebrate clinching the Stanley Cup playoffs. And so do all of you. And I just got to say, as we're closing it out, get ready.

This is your place to be as the Penguins get ready for the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs. We're going to have a lot of guests. We're going to talk to some people here from Pittsburgh. We're going to talk to the enemy from Philadelphia to, if it is Philly. They get in. Columbus. I feel like it's going to be Philly though. So, you know, maybe I'm just manifesting.

But we're going to have all that. We're going to talk to people here. We're going to talk to the opponent. We are going to make sure you are as prepared as you can be for the Penguins return to the Stanley Cup playoffs. But that is going to do it for the Friday edition. and this week of Locked-on Penguins. Hunter and I will be back to recap the weekend and start getting you ready for the Stanley Cup playoffs on Monday. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp.

Thank you, as always, for tuning in. We're back, baby. We're back in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Talk to you on Monday.