Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The United States wins GOLD and the Penguins return this week!

Episode Date: February 23, 2026

For the first time since 1980, the United States men's hockey team has won gold, and the Penguins make their return this week! Patrick and Hunter begin the week by recapping an INSTANT CLASSIC gold medal game between the United States and Canada. They go over the incredible effort by the Americans, especially goalie Connor Hellebuyck, and how they were able to score their first gold medal in nearly 50 years! (0:00) Then, they turn their focus to Team Canada, specifically the absence of Sidney Crosby. Reports from Italy show that Crosby made the decision to sit out, feeling like he wasn't ready to contribute, but was it the correct call? (15:06) Finally, after weeks away, the Penguins' season resumes this week, and they've got three games on the schedule. They get you set for games against New Jersey, the Rangers, and Vegas! (26:12) 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! Indeed Now, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/podcastright 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 Use your Profit Boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA Finals.Play your game with FanDuel, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto 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.

For the first time since 1980, the United States men's hockey team has won the gold medal at the Winter Olympics. Hunter and I are going to break down an instant classic between the United States and Canada and get you set for the return of Penguins hockey on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. 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 Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet,

joined as always by my good friend and co-host, 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 L0 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, we are free and available wherever you listen to podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you follow us on YouTube, be sure to turn on your notifications.

That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episode. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandul, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. More on them later because now, oh, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, children of all ages, play Freebird because the United States for the first time. in 46 years are the gold medal champions at the Winter Olympics. And I pretty much just had one thought when my heart rate wasn't jacked up during that

entire game. And it was, damn you, Gary Bettman, because this was such an incredible game. Outcome, notwithstanding. It was two of the best teams, on the planet, packed with some of the greatest hockey talent on the planet, going head to head in the highest stakes tournament. And it was just awesome. The fact that we had to wait 12 years to get this back is just a crime. But the United States comes out victorious two to one in overtime. thanks to the Hughes brothers. And overall, man, forget the goals, forget the outcome.

The story of the game is Connor Hellebuck. An absolutely unreal performance to steal a gold medal from Team Canada. He shakes off all of the allegations, all of the he doesn't show up when it matters, narratives. He was reasons. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, however many numbers you want to put on it, reason that the United States got their first gold in nearly 50 years. Connor Hellebuck has officially cemented himself in my eyes as a Hall of Famer after this game. You have the Olympic gold. You have the MVP. Multiple Vesna trophies. He is going to the Hockey Hall of Fame, Pat. Like, the Stanley Cup, if he wins one, that's just going to be.

a cherry on top. This performance, especially with the way that he played, standing on his head, going full God mode, it was unbelievable what he was doing throughout this game. And you said it. He beat the allegations. Oh, yeah, he's a choker. He doesn't show up. You look at his road playoff stats in the Stanley Cup final. Oh, you know, I saw all the talk. Oh, that's what's going to happen in this game. Nope. He shut everyone up and had the game of his life. He finished his tournament with almost six goals saved above expected. He was unbelievable for this team, made a couple of insane saves. I mean, that Devon Tave's save, that is one of the best saves I have ever seen for as long as I've

been following this sport. That and the Braden-Holpsey save, 2018, the Stanley Cup final, I would say those two are probably the two best saves I have ever freaking seen. It is crazy how great he played. He also robbed McDavid. He robbed Celebrini. He kept them alive. long enough to get it to overtime to allow one of the game breakers for the U.S. to win it.

And, you know, that's just been the biggest question for the U.S. for a while now. When is a game breaker going to step up and have their moment? And it was Jack Hughes. And I had people a couple weeks ago come in my mentions on social media. Jack Hughes was bad at the Four Nations. And yeah, he wasn't great. But I had people tell me that he should be scratched, this, that. when Jack Hughes is healthy,

he is one of the best players that this sport has to offer. And you saw it during this tournament. Yeah, he started on the fourth line, but as he gradually got better, they moved him up a lineup. He was zigzagging through basically everyone on the ice. It didn't matter who the U.S. was playing. He was awesome.

And he delivered a moment that we can finally now talk about for many, many more years to come back. Miracle's great. It's awesome. Probably the greatest upset in sports history. But you know what? I'm kind of sick and tired of talking about it. I wanted a new memory.

You know what? We finally got one. Winning gold for the first time in 46 years. I also say this man, seeing the dro jersey on the ice was a beautiful touch, seeing his children come onto the ice for the photo. That got me, man. Like it was really, really awesome to see all that.

It was a really nice touch by Team USA. say. You definitely had to have seen it if you have been watching this tournament as closely as we have just like they did at World Championships, just like they did at Four Nations. There was a jersey saved for him, a stall saved for him, because we know good and well if Johnny Goddrault was still with us. He absolutely would have been on those teams. He absolutely would have been in Milan for the Olympics. So it was really, really cool to see Team USA do that for him, for his family, and his loved ones, because we know that guy was among the best American hockey players going when he was still with us. Now, not to take such a

hard turn away from that, because it is a beautiful moment. Because this is the Locked-on Penguins podcast, a Pittsburgh Penguins podcast. And as I like to say, Pittsburgh is and always will be the center of the universe. Here is a nice little feather in the cap for us yinzers. With both the women's team and the men's team bringing home gold at this tournament, we now have our first ever Pittsburgh natives to win gold medals at the Winter Olympics. Goaltender Ava McNaughton with the women's team, she did get into a game so she gets a medal. will be a gold medal winner, is a gold medal winner, I should say. And Vincent Trocheck with the men's team, they now go down as the first Pittsburgh natives, not just to win gold medals

in hockey at the Winter Olympics, but to win gold at the Winter Olympics, period, an absolutely awesome achievement for both of them. I know there's going to be a bunch of people yelling at their phones, their radios, their screens and saying, what about J.T. Miller? What about J.T. Miller? J.T. Miller is from East Palestine, Ohio. He played his youth hockey in Pittsburgh. We're going to claim him, but if we're going to be completely accurate, those two are Pittsburgh-born Pittsburgh natives. So congratulations to both of them for that achievement. Yes. And I'll say this. I went at Bill Guerin pretty hard when this roster came out. I did not like a few of the choices that he made. He can laugh at me. He can laugh at everyone

who was critical of him. They won gold. He was smart. I even said, I didn't understand why someone like Miller was there. Trotrick was there. I would have brought him, you know, Robertson and Caulfield. But you know what? P.K. did go 100% during this tournament. I will give Trochek his flowers. I thought he played fine throughout this tournament better than I thought he was going to play. I will say that. So Bill Garon, I'm sorry for doubting you. Pat, don't put it on the news or in the newspaper that I said any of those things or you said any of those things. I will say this to his credit. The vision ended up working. The vision ended up being, now that they have gold, we can say it in hindsight it worked because I will say this throughout the tournament, this team was

very, very good defensively. I agree. Obviously, the penalty kill goes 100% throughout the entire tournament. They get a absolutely unbelievable five on three penalty kill in the, in earlier in the game. I still don't know how they did that considering Canada's super weapon. I was waiting for the goal to happen during that time. That was a crazy good PK. And then especially later on in the third period, you know, when the U.S. didn't score on that four minute power play.

I was thinking, oh, no, like this is where it's going to end. And they had a really nice PK to get back to O.D. And the thing I will say is this. I normally do, and we saw this fail multiple times over the past nearly 50 years, especially as the United States program has started to catch up, that the U.S. has chased its own tail trying to create a team to compete with Canada. And we have been among the people who have said, forget trying to do that, just put together your best team.

I will say this much with hindsight, looking back at the way this roster was built. If you are going to do that, Bill Garon and his team did it in a way that was smart. They brought a top six, and I can even maybe say a top nine, that was very talented defensively, or offensively, I should say, excuse me.

And then the fourth line and your bottom pairings were very stout defensively. So, yes, they sacrificed some offense by leaving your Robertsons and your Caulfields at home. But they brought enough talent and balanced the roster enough that you saw it in this game against Canada, that they played very well defensively. They, yes, they got hemmed in the majority of the game. And we'll talk about it more in the second segment. But they were good enough defensively that they were able to withstand those counts.

runner punches. And it helped that you had right now what might be one of the best goalies on the planet. Yeah, I mean, that was just an unbelievable performance from Hella Buck. I can't say enough about the level that he played at today. Defensively, you know, I thought the U.S. was fine. I just wanted them to go north a bit more. And I was texting you this during the game. It still felt like throughout the last 40 minutes when Canada was really pushing. It felt like the U.S. was parking the bus a little bit. And I say that because the U.S. has been able to take it to Canada at times. Like I felt they were a better team in the first period.

You go back to the Four Nations final last year. I actually thought the U.S. was the better team in that game. Bennington just stole that in overtime. I made a couple of really big saves. One of them on Matthews bought his team enough time, and then McDavid was able to get the winner. Today, I just felt like the U.S. wasn't generating enough offense or regulation.

They were just kind of relying on HalaBuck to, again, by them time. And thankfully, he did. He got the game to overtime. I know, three on three. I don't want it deciding the gold medal game. I've made that perfectly clear, but that was still one hell of a moment from Jack Hughes. But still, I thought the way they defended was fine, Pat.

I just wanted to see a bit more going north. But at the end of the day, it don't matter because the U.S. won gold. And I'll say this, man, I can't wait for the World Cup in two years because you know a lot of these top Canadian players are going to come back with a vengeance. You saw the look that Nathan McKinnon had today. Connor McDavid. I know Sid is going to be on that team. TBD for 2030, of course.

But, you know, the U.S. is now arrived as a hockey superpower, in my opinion. They have finally arrived. And, you know, they're going to be co-favorants with Canada. And basically every best on best tournament going forward until, you know, something changes. And we do got to talk about Team Canada in a very, very, very, notable absence that affects this very podcast, and that is the lack of Sydney Crosby in the gold medal game. We will talk about that when we get back right after this. Before we do that, though, we've got to tell you about today's first sponsor, and that is Fandul. Have you ever wanted to

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Visit fandle.com to get started. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandle, the official sports betting partner of the NBA. Back here on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast, I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And before, before, we get into Sid and his what sounds like decision to not play in the gold medal game, I do want to address something you said there at the end of our first segment. And that is the fact that this went to overtime, the fact that this was decided in the three on three overtime.

But I more want to put the focus on Team Canada's head coach John Cooper. Oh, yeah. Now, listen, I made the joke during the game that we all knew how it was going to go. The team that won, that country and its fans get to say, hey, them's just the rules that you knew what the rules were. And the losing team can say, it's fake hockey, doesn't count, fake win. Here's where I'm going to diverge a little bit from that. I agree in principle and overall that deciding a gold medal game and a championship in three on three is akin to when soccer decides championships with penalty kicks. It's a gimmick.

You shouldn't decide a championship game that way. You should play it the way it's normally played until you find a winner. But this wasn't something they decided before the game. It wasn't like they were getting prepared for the gold medal game and the Olympic committee walked into both rooms and went, just so you know, we changed the rules, it's three on three overtime if it gets to it. You knew this was a possibility. You knew this was coming. And when you compare the Canadian roster on paper to the American roster on paper. And yes, the Americans had the ultimate X factor in Connor Hellebuck, I honestly would probably take.

Canada's roster over the American roster in three on three. So I get it. I agree with the overall point that it's dumb. You're deciding a gold medal this way. Yes. But you have known this since you picked your team. So that the sour grapes to me are a little bit ridiculous. I do hear you. And they actually got the opening possession. They had McCar, McKinnon and McDavid out there, which usually is a cheat code. and you saw McDavid revving it up a couple of times in overtime, which it got a little scary, but the USA skaters were able to, you know,

get the puck back from him. And obviously Jack Hughes was able to finish it off. But, you know, I felt like whoever lost this game in overtime, you were going to see that type of quote from the opposing head coach. I think if the U.S. had lost this, you would have seen the same thing from Sully as well. And hey, congrats to him, by the way. Two Stanley Cups, now an Olympic gold.

Fantastic stuff from the former. Pittsburgh Penguins head coach. I want to shout out Mike Sullivan. And then, you know, just for myself, let me just talk about this for a second. I know probably not everyone's going to want to hear this, but that is now one more checkmark off the box of teams that I get to see a title. I've gotten to see my Washington Nationals win a World Series. And people that don't know, yes, I've been a Nationals fan for the last 20 plus years. They were the baseball team I got into when I was a little kid. I went to games at RFK Stadium before they went to Nationals Park. That's forever. baseball team i love those guys i've seen the stanley cups and the penguins i've seen super

bowls for the steward i was waiting for an olympic gold i got that now it's really just down to virginia tech football or basketball which god knows if they're ever going to win one but i don't i digress um arsenal title would be fun but it's also very new to me so i got plenty of time i think on that one but the last big one i really want is a vt football or basketball one let's just be real on that but anyways i had to talk about that for a second pat for Cindy Crosby, I was gutted for him not to be able to play today. It sounded like yesterday that he was potentially going to give it a go based on a couple of the reporting.

You saw Hockey Canada's graphic tweet that had Cid front and center. I'm like, oh, that kind of looks like he's going to play. And then you wake up this morning and it's like, oh, he's not going to play, which, again, you saw him after the game. He looked gutted. He looked really upset. Based on what I read, it was his call. you know, I'm sure the coaches and the doctors and everything, they did, you know, absolutely everything possible to get him to play.

It was just a little too soon. Now we have to see potentially how long he's out. The Penguins, I'm sure Damn Hughes is going to get an update. If I had to guess over the next day or two, because the Penguins, they do practice tomorrow on Monday. They're off on Tuesday. So I imagine the Penguins PR account on Twitter will put out a statement regarding the injury. They've been doing that for all the injuries this year. So I imagine to put something out about that and potentially how long he's going to be out for.

Again, not season ending or anything like that. But I was gutted for him, man. I felt really bad. You and me both because I don't want to say with any kind of certainty that this is going to be his final Olympics. I mean, we keep saying that eventually he's going to slow down and he refuses to slow down. So far be it for me to say he's not going to find a way. to work his way to playing in 2030 for Team Canada, but that is still a long ways away.

The thing that I will also add, and if I'm going to give Cooper crap for his three-on-three comments after the game, I do have to credit him for what he did over the past couple of days in regards to Crosby, where he was pretty upfront in forthcoming. He obviously didn't give any definitive answers of what the injury was, how long you'd be out, if he was going to play or not, but he kind of operated with the information he had. And the thing that I will give him credit for is this.

If you're watching us on YouTube, you see on the rundown, would Crosby have helped Canada? It's such a counterfactual and such a hypothetical that we're never going to know. Because then I know a lot of people will say, oh, you know, 60%, 70% of Crosby would be better than X, Y, Z. But there's no way to test that theory. The thing I will say that I thought he did and said that was smart was that it's the Olympics. And there was a lot of talk of, well, in the gold medal game, what if you just make him your 13th forward? He never plays.

He's just there for motivation and inspiration for his team. And Cooper said, no. Like, we want to put together a roster of players who are ready to go, players who will contribute. and Crosby said the same thing himself, where he's about potentially being 1340, he said, quote, it might have crossed my mind, but ultimately I think it was about what is best for our group

and what gives us the best chance to win. That becomes pretty clear at that point. If I'm not able to go, I'm not going to compromise our team and put myself ahead of that. And that group he is like, it's, he's such a selfless player. And again,

it really just goes to show the person, and that sit is again i go back to 2009 for example pat i touched on this on friday he got hit really hard barely play the rest of that third period and yeah i know he was good to go for the cup celebration but he didn't want to jeopardize his team out there he sat on the bench so again like this is who he's been throughout his entire throughout his entire career excuse me yeah and i'll say this i know it's not exactly light work because it's 35 pounds but it's a lot easier to glide around the ice holding the Stanley Cup above your head than it is to play in a high intensity, high speed game seven of the Stanley Cup final.

So, you know, might have been a little bit easier for him to skate around the rink in Milan with a Canadian flag and a gold medal around his neck than it was to play in what was maybe one of the fastest and most intense games I've ever watched. So it's a really cool thing from the leadership in person. standpoint that he and the team made that decision. But it really is gutting because there is always the uncertainty. We don't know if he'll still be at a level where he's going to make Team Canada in 2030, or if he's still going to even be playing by 2030.

So this very well could have been his final shot. But the good news with everything else, though, is that we have still got quite a few Pittsburgh Penguins games. on the horizon. Three of them this week. Hunter and I are going to get you set for the week ahead and the return of our Pittsburgh Penguins when we come back right after this. But we've got to tell you about our final sponsor

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Closing out the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes on a golden Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And finally, the Penguins will return. It's like an end credit scene in a Marvel movie. The Pittsburgh Penguins will return when the NHL season is back. And that is this week, three games on the docket for the Pittsburgh Penguins this week. They will welcome the New Jersey Devils to PPG paints arena on Thursday night. Saturday afternoon, they will head to MSG to face gold medal winning head coach Mike Sullivan. And then they will be right back at it on Sunday at PPG paints arena when the Vegas golden nights come to town. Big, big week for the penguins coming out of the Olympic break, Hunter.

And two of the three games, I would say should be wins for this club. Yeah, I think if you can come away with four out of six points this week, you're doing pretty good going into the next week where, oh, it's going to get good real fast. We all know it. The mark schedule is coming up right around the corner and basically, a week and you're going to be playing every other night, contender after contender, you're going to have to fight for your right to get in the playoffs. But it's got to start, you know, with the stretch run, got to start, my opinion,

with two out of three wins this week. You have a devil's team. And yeah, Jack Hughes is coming back with a lot of momentum. He just had an amazing Olympic tournament. And by the way, people, this is probably going to be the last time we talked about, you know, USA, Canada stuff and all the other Olympics on the podcast for the rest of the season, just because we're back to being in full penguin mode for the rest of the year. And hopefully into the playoffs, we want to bring you all some playoff content.

And Pat, tread deadline coming up in about a week and a half. If Kyle Dubus decides to do anything, we'll be right here pretty quickly right after the trade is made, giving our thoughts and analysis and all that. It's going to get pretty busy because when you're listening to this, the trade freeze will be lifted. So teams can make moves literally any time now. But again, for the schedule, outside of heat, coming back with all that momentum.

That is still a devil's team. They've had a really hard year. They're not defending very well. You've seen Sheldon Keefe make some pointed comments to the media. They have been underachieving throughout this season. Very winnable game on Thursday. You then play on Saturday. And yeah, there's a couple Rangers coming back with gold medals as players.

Mike Sullivan's coming back with the gold medals as head coach. That is still an awful Rangers team, man. That is a team that is basically tanking. And I wouldn't be surprised if you do see Trochev go to another team, potentially by that game. Like he's one of the players that's on the trade market. And now that he has a gold medal pat, I would be curious to see if Chris Dury can maybe get more value out of him than I

expect it just because I don't really think he's that good of a GM. But now that he has that gold medal could see more and more teams potentially lining up to get him. But that's still a winnable game. The Rangers are especially not good at home. But they are not a good team. Has to be two points there. And then you get a Vegas team.

You haven't seen them all year yet. But that's a really good team. when healthy. They can run four lines, strong defensive pairs. Their goaltending has been fine all year. That's a team that is a serious player in the Western Conference to come out of the West in playing this down in the Cup final. Now, we got to see how the injury situation shakes out. Will Crosby be available at all this week?

Time will tell. But for the most part, the Penguins are going to be healthy going in the games this week. Again, just have to see what happens with said. But otherwise, this team is fairly healthy right now, which is good. And also does sound like, according to Tony and Dracutus of inside H.L. H.L. H. Avery Hayes is potentially being called up here.

So that's going to be potentially big as well if he does get some games in this week. Real quick, just in case anybody forgot, because you've likely like us the last few weeks, been in full Olympic mode. NHL trade deadline is March 6th at 3 p.m. So you look up at your calendar. As you're listening to this, it's February 23rd. So it's coming. It is coming fast.

It's coming furious. So there are going to be moves made as we get closer to that date. But to your point, the penguins are going into this long stretch, this difficult stretch for now, pretty much at full health barring whatever happens with Sidney Crosby. And your first real test starts on March 1st when you take on Vegas. They are one of the best teams in the West. They are extremely deep. They're extremely talented. That is a game that like most of the month, you are going to see where you stack up next to these contending teams.

And you've got to make sure you stack points against your devils, against your Rangers, these teams near the bottom of the east, because points are not going to come easy in the month of March. So this will be a really good start should the penguins do what they're supposed to. And as for Hayes, I mean, we talked about him during the Olympic break. The guy was lighting it up in the AHL. He has earned that time if Sid can't go. If Sid is out of the lineup for a little bit, he is probably your best option to call up.

And you bring him up, you let him cook, you hopefully can get Sid back sooner rather than later. and like I said, you got to stack points here, especially these first two games out of the break, because there will be absolutely zero rest for the wicked. But of course, as always, Hunter and I will be here all week long Monday through Friday for the rest of the season. And even if there's some big moves, some big breaking news, we'll jump on here for emergency episode. But Hunter, unless you've got anything else to add, that is going to do it for the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back on Tuesday with a brand new episode.

We'll get Hunter's thoughts from practice. Give you any other updates and news when we come back on Tuesday. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Tuesday.