Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins are one resilient bunch!

Episode Date: April 1, 2022

What a win by the Pittsburgh Penguins! They played perhaps in one of hockey's best games of the year against the Minnesota Wild that could be a Stanley Cup Final preview if both teams are able to go on runs! Hunter touches on how this game had a playoff feel to it and commends the Penguins for staying in it, despite the game looking bad at times. He especially praises the team for weathering the storm in the third period after Kaprizov tied it and how they dominated play for the latter half of that period. He also gets into Rickard Rakell continuing to make an impact in more than one way. What's jumping out that he didn't do a lot of in Anaheim? Is he a very mini-version of Patric Hornqvist, but with a better shot? He also gives his thoughts on Jason Zucker and how he was looking before he got knocked out by a dirty hit. WHat's his prognosis looking like? Is there a positive update? Hunter provides what info he can as there hasn't been much said from HCMS before breaking down Geno's OT winner. After he breaks that goal down, he looks at Casey DeSmith's performance and how it was another step in the right direction before dumping on the officials (it was bad for both sides). Finally, Hunter previews Saturday's massive game against Colorado.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HelloFreshGo to HelloFresh.com/lockedon16 and use code lockedon16 for up to 16 free meals AND 3 free gifts.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

What's up, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. What a win for the Pins for Penguins. It's probably a top five game of the year for the Penguins, of course, a four-to-three overtime win against the Minnesota Wild. I have a full game recap episode coming up for you all right after the shop. We're going to get into everything that happened. Getting Malmkin's winner, Ricard Raquel, scoring two more goals.

Jason Zulker and why, you know, he just basically cur. at this point, the officiating, of course, Casey DeSmith's play, and so much more coming up right after this drop. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Hunter Hood. He's going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter. hoodies, all the shows, Twitter at Ellen for Parenthood. And of course, thank you all so much for making your first listen of the day. I am recording this right now. April 1st, happy April Fool's Day, everyone at 1230 in the morning. Yes, I am a late night owl, as you all cannot tell. I am also drinking a wonderful corona here to celebrate the victory. Anyone that listens to this podcast is underage, no drinking. I can't, I know. I don't want to have bad habits here. But, you know, just what a win for the penguins.

It looked like at times, especially when the wild tied it early on in the third period. You know, the penguins were going to just wilt, you know, fall over and just, you know, or on their face even. Maybe it was going to be a 5 to 3 Minnesota win or a 6 to 3 Minnesota win. But credit to the penguins, they stuck with it. They skated the wild off the rink those final 10 minutes and only really gave up one shot attempt or actually one shot in the 3-on-3 overtime. overall, I mean, this game was nasty.

It had a lot of stuff. And, you know, I say that just because it felt like a playoff game. You know, I know the Penguins have been playing playoff like hockey for the last couple of weeks now. The schedule has been brutal. It is going to continue to be brutal. Now that we are in April, there's four weeks left of the regular season. If you all can believe that before this team will be playing some meaningful playoff hockey,

assuming, of course, they do clinch. You know, we've got to knock on wood here. even though the magic number is down to 10. But, you know, these are measuring stick games. You know, you're playing against teams that are not only going to make the playoffs, but could go on a very deep run in a Stanley Cup playoffs. And I definitely think the Minnesota Wilde Qualify is one of those teams that could make a run. I know they're not as good as the Calgary Flames or the Colorado Lively.

We may do a little bit of a preview for that coming up here later in today's episode. But, you know, they're probably to me the third best team in the conference. And you saw that on display tonight with how fast they are. Caprisov is a one-man wrecking crew. Zuccarello is great. Ryan Hartman has turned into a top six player with the Wilde, even when he was a third or fourth liner in Philadelphia and Nashville for all those years. Defensively, they're solid.

Cam's Halbot is a nice 1B goalie behind Mark Andre Floreen has had a pretty decent season for Minnesota. And, you know, Deena Vason is a really good coach. So, you know, it's not hard to see why this Minnesota team, can definitely win a round or two. Can they beat Colorado or Calgary? Probably not. But this is a team that, you know, again, they can do some damage.

And, you know, that was on display tonight with the Penguins just really struggling with the zone exits. I think that was one of the main things that jumped out to me, just, you know, with one of my thoughts, obviously, all I was watching. Penguins were fighting it to get out of their own zone. Usually they're a team. They excel at zone exits.

especially with Madison in the lineup. John Marino is actually pretty good at exiting the zone. They both were having trouble. I thought I'm not department tonight. Heck, even Chris LaTang at times was having trouble with some zone exits. And that was leading to Minnesota getting some really quality scoring chances and some sustained zone time. If I may, you know, Minnesota had more high danger chances in the Penguins in this game.

It was only seven to six. But, you know, just I test wise, you know, it definitely. back that up just because, you know, they were in the zone for a lot of this game. You know, up until, you know, I would say the last 10 minutes of the third where I thought the penguins really took it to Minnesota. So I think that's one area where the penguins, they're going to have to clean up their play going into Saturday, especially in Denver against an avalanche team that they will make you pay worse than what Minnesota did tonight.

That's for sure. They have, they're even deeper than Minnesota. And, you know, that says a lot just because the wild can run four lines at you. And honestly, there's not really many teams. I don't think I can stack up to the Penguins. For Depwise, Minnesota can, and I know Colorado can. Again, I'm going to get to Colorado a little later on in the show. But, you know, another thought that I had, I also really love the Penguins' resiliency.

You know, they go up 1-0. Nice goal from Ricard. Raquel, John Marino gets the primary assist on that really nice shot on net. Minnesota ties up just a few minutes later. The Penguins go up 3 to 1. But then in the second period, Freddie Goodrow, excuse me, old friend makes it three to two. Minnesota then ties it three, three. And again, you know, I just said a couple minutes ago, it looked like the penguins are going to wilt

just because, you know, that's happened in the past with this team. But no, you know, they stuck to the game plan. And, you know, the wild, they're lucky they even got a point out of that game because the penguins had some really good chances in that latter half of the third period. I really liked the penguin's response each time they gave up a goal tonight. So I'm going to be curious to see if that can continue here down the stretch, but I was really impressed by that. And overall, I mean, Ricard Raquel, speaking of him with his two goals, he continues to really impress me as well. You know, he goes to the net a lot more than I thought he would, almost like a mini Patrick Hornquist in a way.

There was one chance that, you know, it didn't go in, but of getting Malkins doing his thing with the puck, you know, almost doing like a spinnerama around the ice here. and Riccard Raquel obviously just parks his ass, excuse me, in front of the net. And, you know, Cam Talbot's lucky he made that save. You know, he went off his pad. He didn't even see it. If Malcon got, I think, a little bit more wood on that, though the Penguins probably win that game in regulation. But, you know, two nice goals tonight.

Obviously, the first one was a deflection. Sidney Crosby gets the primary assist on his second one. He is now up to 1,396 points, just two away from tying out. Alex Ovechkin for a really it's 21st, all time in the scoring waste and he's also four-way, well, 21st in all-time in actual history, four away from 1,400 career points.

But, you know, again, speaking of Raquel, just another strong game from that's now three goals for Raquel since coming over from the ducks. You know, this trade continues to look like a slam dunk for the penguins, to say the least. He was one of their best players on the ring tonight. that's for sure um you know obviously it really really sucks what happened with jason zucker um i i feel gutted

you know i put this on my social media for those that follow me you know that listen to this podcast i'm like you don't um i'll just say it here too i just you can't help but feel bad for someone like that he works his tail off to come back he's missed 30 plus games it looks like he's going to make a difference here down the stretch hell. He has his first shift of the game gets a secondary assist on it. I know John Marino got the primary, but, you know, he's forechecking hard and a couple other shifts. I can see why Mike Sullivan loves putting him on the Afghani Malkin line.

And then, boom, he gets knocked out of the game because of a really dangerous and garbage hit from Kevin Fiala. There is no need for that in any NHL game. I hate those cross ticks at the back, especially when the other player is, he has, you know, his, his head is looking at the boards. There's no need for it. I mean, it's a dirty play, you know, Michael Russo of the Athletic. He's one of my favorite writers covers Minnesota Wild. He even said, apparently Kevin Fiala knew he was dirty right after the lake because he went over to check on him.

And, you know, Russo also said himself that he thought it was a dirty play as well. And I also saw some Minnesota Wild fans on social media saying that, you know, it was not a good play. So, you know, at least, you know, they know what they're talking about when it comes to this stuff. It's just, you know, I hate plays like that. I don't care what team it is. There's no need for you to cross-check a player when, you know, his back is turned towards you and he's looking at the boards. The puck wasn't even on him at that point. Even worse, there was no penalty on the play.

I have no idea why the officials do not call a penalty there. It just goes to show how badly this game was officiated. I'm going to get to that a little later on. in the show. But, you know, I will say it looks like there's a small update by the time you all are listening to this on a Monday morning. So, Gennie Malkin gave him the little warrior helmet that they do after the game. And Zucker was still there wearing a suit, did not look like to have crutches, did not look like he was limping. I don't know if he was wearing a walking boot. We couldn't see that on video. But that's still really positive news.

It looks like he didn't break his leg. That was one of my fears. Hopefully it's not an ACL. That's for sure. Hopefully it's not long term. If it's maybe week to week, that's okay. Hell, even day-to-day would be great at this point. I think someone actually messaged Jason Zooker on Instagram

and he even said, yeah, thanks for checking in, man. I am okay. So it looks like, you know, for right now, it's a positive update. We're going to learn more when Mike Sullivan talks to the media, either sometime on Friday if the team does practice or on Sunday before the game. against the avalanche because obviously, you know, we don't know if he's going to play or not right now. I'd probably lean towards no.

But I really hope this is not a season ender or anything like that for him. Because even in the few shifts that we saw from Jason on Thursday night, you can see just, you know, how much he does mean to the team. And, you know, just I know how hard he worked to come back from that sports or any injury. So hopefully it's nothing too serious. And I obviously, I wish the best for Jason as, you know, he hopefully comes back from another injury here. But coming up in the next segment, we're going to get to a couple other points from tonight, including the officiating and Evgeny Malkin's performance, Casey to Casey Smith's performance, and a whole lot more before I get to that, though. This is the time of year that I pretty much

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So again, for that code, hellofresh.com, slash locked on 16 for 16 free meals and three free gifts. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L. L. Oner to Port Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day.

So, I'm a Gany Malkins winner. This was funny. I don't think I did a reverse jinx on this one for those to follow me on social media. So, Gino, I personally didn't think he was playing well. I thought he was fighting the puck all game long. His passes, I didn't think for Chris, let me take us in my beer. Sorry, how about it. I've always thought about now that I have to have some kind of beverage as I'm recording

because my voice just starts to get tired as I talk for 25 to 30 straight minutes. Anyways, back from original point. So, again, I thought his passes. were not that crisp. You know, defensively, he got worked by Ryan Hartman in front of behind the net. That was a caprice's tying goal a little over a minute into the third period. Just it wasn't look like he was all the way there. You know, he was making weird decisions with the puck as well.

But, you know, that he put that all to rest when he had that amazing overtime winner. That is his 78th career game winning goal in a penguin's uniform. That ties Yarmier Yager for the most. and franchise history one more, he will have the all-time record. It'll be him and Sid that are one and two in that record by the time their careers are done in Pittsburgh.

And, you know, that was just an awesome play there after a great sequence in the Minnesota zone. The Penguins were playing that three-on-three overtime a little conservative, but also really low defensively. And they were getting some great zone time, you know, in Minnesota's defensive zone. It was honestly, it was all started because of, for some reason, Dean of Aeson decided to ice Dmitry Kulikov.

And for those that don't know, you know, don't follow the wild that much. You know, Demetri Kulokov is not a good player. And don't, trust me, I'm not a Minnesota wild expert. Don't follow Seth Topal. You know, he's the wild expert for Locked on Wild. But I feel like I know enough about the sport to know that Dmitri Kulokov is not good. He's never had to go and underlying numbers. he basically just he makes a hit and that's it he's not good defensively or offensively

and you know the wild have the penguins gas are in their own zone it's sid jake and it's tangor and he throws that kulukov out there and he basically almost shoots the puck back into the defensive zone that allows the penguins to make a change and the penguins are back into the minnesota offensive zone brian russ puts the puck to the net and he'll beinemolkins right there goes behind the net first, comes back, stuff a couple times doesn't work, the third time eventually does, and the Penguins walk away with the win.

That is, Gino's 17th goal already this season three now until 20. But, you know, Malkin not being denied. And again, putting, you know, away, I guess a more rough performance from me speaking. I know some other people are going to disagree with me on that. That's totally fine. You know, that's what I'm here for. That's what we're all here for. You don't have to, you know, listen to this podcast and agree with everything I say.

Trust me. You know, I disagree with plenty of people I love talking about this sport with. So if you thought Gino had a good game, that's totally fine. And I'm sure, you know, your eye test is, you know, maybe even better than mine. You know, that's what mine was telling me. I then looked at hockey stats cards and, you know, Gino had one of the best game scores on the penguin. So I guess my eye test was not lining up to the underlying numbers tonight. that's for sure but just a nice winner there looked like it was going to go to a shootout for a while

there did not want to see Casey DeSmith curl up into a ball in that situation so I'm really glad Gino was able to get the win and you know just just a really heads-up play I thought from Ryan Rust in that situation Jake Gensel he also got another goal tonight his 30 second goal I love how Jake I've said that's a lot on the podcast before for those that are here. I love how he's able to slide down towards the front of the net. And this is the

perk of the Penguins playing Western Conference team that hasn't really seen them in a while. And, you know, the wild, they don't game plan for Jake as well as some of these Eastern Conference games. Eastern Conference teams do, excuse me, like the New York Rangers, Washington Capitals, like all and all those other teams, you know, just because they don't

see them very often. But Jake, you know, on that sequence on the park, play, Latang, shoots it juicy rebound from Cam Talbot, and Jake is able to put his stick right around. I believe it was Matt Dunba, puts an end of the wide open cage. It didn't even look like he saw Jake coming down. And that goes to show how sneaky Gensel is so many times during games. Once he does that, you know, you're toast. So, you know, it's another example of Jake continuing to, you know, just add to his repertoire a little bit.

one of the best goals scores in hockey. You don't score 32 goals by accident, to say the least. So really nice goal from Jake there. And also, you know, Casey DeSmith, I was surprised that he got the start tonight. I will say that. Sorry about that. I said on the preview episode with Settoe, I thought it'll be Trish and Jari. Obviously, I was wrong.

I'm sure Jari will get both games against Colorado, especially just how good Colorado is. But, you know, I think maybe Mike Sullivan is starting to see that he's gassed a little bit of his play. I mean, it has dipped a little bit. You know, I will say that. You know, he's played a lot of hockey this year. And overall, I like to Smith's game tonight. He's been playing much better this last month or two. He's actually found his game again, which is huge.

Had some really nice saves in this one. I really can't follow him for any of the three goals. There was really nothing he could do in those situations to say the least. So, really nice start from it. And this was against, again, like, one of the best teams in hockey. So I'm definitely really excited for this month. And I can't wait to see what other game he starts here moving forward.

And again, you know, I understand that the fan base has bit down on him. I understand that he did not have good starts of the year. You know, he has improved his eight percentage almost up to league average, which is, you know, funny because, I mean, it was well below 900 at the first half of the season. But, you know, he's been much better lately. And I'm really happy about that to say at least. One more thought before we get to the commercial break and we'll do maybe a little preview for Saturdays matinee against Colorado Avalanche.

The officiating tonight was absolute dog crap. You know, again, I try my best not to really cuss a lot on this show. You know, it's just that's a no-no for me. I cuss enough in real life that, you know, my girlfriend and all my family have to deal with it. So I had to make this very, at least family-friendly. That said, the officiating could not have been worse tonight. And that goes both ways. They're calling everything at the start, little hooks, you know, little holds, all this other little stuff that you see them call at the beginning of the season.

But yet you don't really see them call it right now, especially in the playoffs with those are about four to five weeks away. But you have the Kevin Fiala situation that a dirty cross check to the back of Jason Zucker, seriously injuring them, that's not called. Jake Gensel gets a breakaway with less than five minutes left in the third period. He is obviously hacked on the way there and you're not going to call even a penalty, let alone a penalty shot because, oh, I guess you're done calling penalties and you just want to swallow your whistles for the end of the game. Where is the consistency with NHL officiating? It is insane to me that the officials can be this bad on an every night basis.

This is why I will always laugh at people that say, oh, wow, the penguins get all the calls. And, you know, it's biased for the penguins. That team always gets what they want. And, you know, even for other teams, I see this too. Well, you know, they have the golden boy and all this blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's just like, no, I mean, this is this is the standard for officiating. It is bad for every single team every night. and it gets worse and worse as each season passes.

You know, I'm not, and I'm not going to be, it's one of these national media people that, you know, kind of just shills for the officiating or for the league or whatever. But, you know, it's really a disgrace how far, excuse me, it's a disgrace, you know, how officiating us on in this sport. I would say of the four major sports in this country, and it's all officiating is by far the worst. It's disgusting how awful it is.

And, you know, this is, this was probably, probably one of the three worst officiated Penguins games I've seen this year. And again, you know, it went both ways. There was a couple obvious penalties that they missed on the Penguins, I think. And there was one with about six, seven minutes left. City Crosby had a blatant cross check on a Minnesota player. That's not called a couple high sticks were not called that the Penguins definitely committed. There was just no consistency at all.

And again, I wish I was surprised at this point, but I'm not. I mean, this is the NHL. This is what they want. it's a shame that these officials are not made available to the media after the game. They should have to answer for, you know, the games they just called. I feel like if that were the case, you know, maybe we would get, you know, more clarity on what they were seeing versus what they were not seeing and all this stuff. But it was just a joke, to say the least.

And also, you know, Minnesota, they play a little dirty. There were multiple instances tonight where I was like, okay, yeah, some of these hits are, they're not clean. I mean, Nick DeLoree is throwing himself around like an absolute fool. Obviously, the Kevin Fiala situation. I think it was Dumba on Balkin. He was a little shaking up there for a bit. You know, Minnesota was really laying the body on Pittsburgh. And again, I haven't watched a lot of wild games this year. But I have, you know, spoke with a couple people that, you know, that have, obviously fans, not people in the Penguins organization here that have said, you know, this has kind of been the normal from them at time. So I'll have to watch a little more of that if I can watch the wild down the

stretch here. But I just, I did not like some of the hits they were thrown around to say the least. That was just, it didn't sit well with me overall. But coming up in the final segment for this podcast, we are going to get into, you know, a small preview for the game against Colorado on Saturday. If we finally get to play the avalanche, my Mitch, my mister's team, I absolutely love watching the avalanche play. Before we get to that, after Monday, of playing college basketball has determined the top teams for the final floor and will determine this year's national champion this coming week. Betelmine.com.net is your number one source for all of your betting needs and sports info

for all the latest odds, contests and prayer props, you name it. Benelheim remains the best ball for our latest sports developments, including podcasts and reviews for all the leagues this season. You can head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action that is Benin Online where the game starts. Now, as promised, here's some selections from our mattress factory museum, Twitter proms that we ran a member about a week or two ago, and an official response from the museum. You all are not going to want to miss this. Trust me.

So when prompted with a sports art bowl that we had, Sam Alves said art for sure and linked a video of Ron Hainzey converting the goal. In 2017, against Nash, remember he split the two predators players, one of them was James Neal. that was the goal that made the 5-0. The Penguins go up 3 to 2 in the stand-lick-up final. Mattress Factory did reply and said, well, 100% art. Any time a team wants to play aggressive, they have to consider that the Penguins' back line are just as dangerous shooters as the offense.

Now, all of this comes from Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh's premier site-specific contemporary art installations, Musam. That's just a fancy way to actually say, you know, immersive art, say the least. Now, you can visit mattress.org slash go pens to get a free one-year membership to Mattress Factory when you buy tickets for the Penguins game on April 21st against the Boston Bruins. This is the only time Penguins will be playing the Bruins this season in Pittsburgh. I believe they have one more game in Boston.

Again, they have obviously the home game in Pittsburgh. So remember, you can go to mattress.org slash gopens to get a free one-year membership to Mattress Factory when you buy tickets for the Penguins hosting the Bruins on April 21st. All right, we're back in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show, Twitter at L.O. Rensk, or so a massive game coming up on Saturday.

3 p.m. start time for the Penguins and the Abilene. This will be the first of two meetings against Colorado this year. The Penguins actually have a home-in-home. against them. They'll play Colorado at PBGP and Serena on Tuesday night. This game on Saturday, for those that are unaware, this is a nationally televised game on ABC and ESPN Plus, so it will not be televised regionally in the Pittsburgh area. But, you know, Colorado, I mean, they're a machine this year. Nathan McKinnan, he was back tonight.

The abs were able to win. Miko Ransin's been incredible. Nazan Cadre is having a career year. He's actually playing clean. for once in his life, and he is setting himself up to get a lot of money at the start of free agency. He actually leads the avalanche in points, which is something I never thought I would say, to say the least.

Andrei Burakowski, you know, Natchewskins, one of a very underrated player for them. Cal McCar defensively with Dev is probably the best top hair in hockey. Cal McCar is the closest thing we'll get to a prime Eric Carlson. He is a one-man wrecking crew with the puck. I don't care if it's on defense. I don't care if it's on offense. He will make you look silly anytime he has it. He's going to win a lot of norrises, to say it least.

He is a treat to watch. I highly encourage everyone when you are watching this game, if you listen to this podcast and you watch the game on Saturday, keep your eye on Camel Carr because he is absolutely breathtaking. I just, I feel like, I feel like, you know, a little teenager kind of, you know, when I was watching a prime Eric Carlson, just absolutely own players left and right. Yes, Jack Johnson is on the avalanche, and yes, he will be in the starting lineup. So hopefully the Penguins can take advantage of that.

You know, J.T. Comfer on the third line, Alex New Hook, Andrew Cogliano, Darren Helm is somehow still in the league. They are still missing. Gabriel Landisog, obviously their captain. So that's a big loss. and I don't think, if I recall correctly, I don't think, yes, Sam Gerard is also not playing right now either. I don't think he's expected to be back for the game on Saturday. You know, this is a banged up Colorado team, but this is also a team that, you know, the Penguins cannot take lightly.

Underlying numbers twice, they have 53% of the expected goals this year, 57% of the actual goals, plus 39 goal differential. They're on the ice for 53% of the shot attempts at even strength. That's another very good number. defensively, their goals against pro 60s is 2.13. Goals for per 60s, 2.85. So they score quite a lot, and they also don't give up a lot the other way. Darcy Kempers been one of the best goaltenders in hockey this year.

21 goals saved above expected. That's fourth in the NHAL per money buck has a 924, say, percentage. 2.37 goals against average. He was a player that, you know, I was kind of looking at for the Penguins to go after. And if they didn't want to bring Tristan Jari back. But then I saw the price that they had to give up for him. I'm pretty sure it was a first rounder. And I'm going to look it up right now.

Darcy Kemper. It's one of their defensemen that they had to give away. Yeah, Connor Timmons, who's pretty decent to say the least. He was going to be in their top six on this show. That's a price of the penguins were not going to pay. That's for sure. I'm glad they didn't because obviously Tristan Jari has been incredible. but this is a potential Stanley Cup final preview.

I'm excited to watch, you know, the avalanche are very well coached, and I can 100% see them coming out of the West. I think if it's them against Calgary, the Western Conference Final, that will be seven, you know, amazing games of just, you know, pure theater in all honesty. But, you know, the abs are deep. They're fast. They can probably outskate the penguins, you know,

for as fast as they are, very mobile on defense. They forecheck very aggressively. They have a great goaltender. and that, I mean, this is going to be a very tough game for the Penguins to win. I know they're one of the best teams on the road this year, but Colorado is also one of the best teams at home, and their crowd is incredible. You know, a funny story, you know, the Avalanche, you know, when I was getting into hockey, obviously I was rooting for the Penguins.

The Avalanche were one of the teams that I would follow a bit more than some others. Obviously, just because my favorite player growing up was Peter Forsberg. Everything he did, I modeled that. I remember when I played street hockey with my friends. friends, I would always just want to imitate the Floresburg move, especially in shootouts, because he was, you know, he was one of the kind. I loved watching him so much. So I'm excited for these next two games. The schedule is not going to let up. That's for sure, the Penguins are going to continue to run the gaunt and we'll see if they can get a result

on Saturday afternoon. So that'll do it for this episode of Logman Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to this one. I also will say I was able to check, you Apple, you know, the podcast on charitable.com. Locked on Penguins podcast right now is the 49th most listened to podcast in the country for hockey podcasts per Apple. Of all the podcasts that are above the Locked on Penguins podcast, there are no other penguin shows. So that just, that warms my heart.

Thank you all so much for continuing to listen to this show and support this show. We actually had a record number of listeners slash downloads in the month of March over 20,000. of those. So I can't thank any all. I can't thank everyone enough. I really appreciate it and no, it's April now. It's the home stretch of the regular season. We're going to smash 20,000 for this month and hopefully

just hopefully, Pains are going to go on a very deep Stanley Cup run here. We're going to smash more records. So that'll do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to another episode of the show and I'll be back on Monday for five more episodes next week. I will talk to you all then. Have a wonderful weekend.