DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: No. 1 and not done

DK’s Daily Shot of Penguins: No. 1 and not done

This stuff doesn’t happen by accident. It doesn’t happen through luck. And you better believe it doesn’t happen through, you know, skill and speed and everything else that everyone, myself included, loves to romanticize and elevate to the top. Sometimes it happens in uglier ways. Good morning to you. Good Friday morning from St. Paul, Minnesota. I’m Dan Kachovich of DK Pittsburgh Sports and this is Daily Shot of the National Hockey League Pittsburgh Penguins. It comes your way bright and early every weekday. If you’re into football and or baseball, I do still offer daily shots of Steelers and Pirates in the same place that you found this. Penguins for Wild One goals from Ryan Sheay, Brian Rust, Ben Kendall on the day that he’d play his 10th NHL game and get to stick around a whole lot longer. Empty netter from Anthony Mantha, 33 saves from Tristan Jarry, and none of that for me told the tale quite like, well, here’s the scene. I just got done talking to Jarry in the locker room and I step back away from that and I say to a team official who had asked if I needed anyone else for interview purposes because the players can go to various different locations in that room. And I replied, “Yeah, I really need somebody from the penalty killing.” PK was outstanding. As I say that, Sydney Crosby just happens to walk by and nods his head emphatically but keeps right on walking. And then, as if this was like a comedy skit, right out of the athletic trainers room comes Nola, bandaged, iced, limping, could barely budge. And the official says, “You can have Cookie here. He’s right here.” Cookie being a Charlie’s nickname. And I go, “I don’t think so. I’m going to let the man get on with his evening.” But that was the thing. He wasn’t alone. the penalty killers, the unquestioned stars plural of this game. Jarry was the star of the game, but he’s also one of those killers were outstanding. Minnesota doesn’t have a whole lot going for itself as a hockey team right now. They’re 36 and three, but they did enter with the most power play goals in the league, and they did and still do have Carol Capri off, and it it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter. The Penguins penalty killers were so solid that more often than not, you didn’t even see a setup. And take this from somebody who watched for my own little scouting purposes the other night that power play going against Winnipeg. By watching that game, by the way, I was able to take a look at each of the Penguins next two opponents. And this didn’t look anything like that from the Wild perspective. These guys played hard. They executed blocks in front of Jarry that were in a couple of cases uh visibly painful. Sent guys straight to the bench. Saw it with Matt Dumba. Saw it with Parker Wtherspoon. Of course, saw it on a regular basis with Achari. It’s what he does. Connor Der was really good. Blake Lazot was good. I feel like mentioning their names. You know, the names don’t get out there all that often. I thought Ryan Sheay was really good on the kill. Chris Latang, he had some lapses in the game, but they weren’t on the kill. He was very, very, very good when the Penguins were short-handed. So was Eric Carlson. This wonderful 2025 version of Carlson. But nobody nobody was better than Jarry. And I’d confirm that afterward with Dan Muse. Same applied to Jars the way he was awesome. Yeah. I mean, he’s goalie’s uh part of the penalty. He’s the he’s the top guy on the every penalty killing. So, whoever’s in that that day like we need them to be our best penalty killer. That’s always the case and Jars was Se has done that same year this year as well. Like, you know, those guys play such an important role in the penalty kill. Now, Jar’s anything but the type to say, “Ah, yeah, the PK was all me. I was just awesome. So, I instead asked him, and I don’t recall for as many gazillion questions as I’ve put to him over the years that I’d ever asked this before, if he Well, here, just listen to it. When you see guys blocking shots the way they did late in the first period, there were a couple big ones. You saw guys going back to the bench, you beat up that as a goalender? Yeah, it’s huge. Obviously, they’re not wearing as much gear as us, and it hurts. It’s definitely a lot more. So, for them to be able to do that and go down there willingly, that’s that’s hardy. And I love to see that. It helps us a ton. And when we can’t see the puck and they’re getting down and blocking those, it obviously it makes our job a lot easier. There’s a lot that’s going into this, my friends. It does start with the older guys. It just has to. That’s the roster’s construction. Sid remains Sid. If Sid hadn’t remained Sid, we don’t talk about this like at all because none of it happens. If Gino hadn’t shown up flying all over the rink, none of this happens. It’s funny that I I ran into Mark Andre Flurry in the hallway. This was a few minutes after the final horn and I made some kind of remark about how well the team’s playing. and his response with a big smile was, “Same guys, they don’t want to go down without a fight.” That’s accurate. That’s the heartbeat of this. But what’s happening around it from the penalty killing to Kindle not only staying but also being elevated to the top power play in Ricard Raquel’s place but then also scoring a goal in this game on the power play to the relative discoveries of older guys or reclamation guys like Justin Brazo Mantha Wther spoon even all the way down to Wilsbury being seven and one with a lot of the team’s most important prospects being that group’s most important performers that creates a push effect throughout the organization. This isn’t following the script to say the least, but it couldn’t be playing out more beautifully as a plan when we come back. J1Q. For those of you who are doing real work in construction, in a warehouse, if you’re a mechanic, you want reliable, comfortable gear to help you perform well on the job. Brunt Workware’s got you. They’ve got waterproof boots, safety toe, soft toe, pull on, lace up, whatever you need. You can wear them to work, and if they’re not right for you, send them back. I don’t know of any other brand doing that. Brunt was tired of the work wear brands out there cutting corners. You work too hard to be stuck in uncomfortable boots that don’t hold up. So, they built something better. Boots that are insanely comfortable and built for any job site. For a limited time, our listeners get $10 off. Just head to bruntwork.com. Use the code dkports and you’re good to go. After you order, they’ll ask you where you heard about Brunt. Do us a favor here at DK Pittsburgh Sports and tell them it was from this show. Today’s J1Q comes from David who said, “DK, the Penguins, it seemed to beat the Wild and a subpar officiating crew in this game. Other than the too many men call, not one of those calls would have been made in a Stanley Cup playoff game. They also blew the one review they had. They did. They did, David. The The crew was brutal. Garrett Rank was worse. Meaning just him. Just him as a ref. He’s just regardless of the game that he’s officiating or who the teams are that’s involved. He’s just not good at what it is that he’s paid to do. For anyone who missed it, there was just an incorrect call made against Justin Brazo for allegedly interfering with Philip Gustiffson as if Malcin made a turnaround shot for a goal. Gino’s second waved off goal in a row if you count the overtime one the other night in Philadelphia. And then a tripping call on Brian Rust. Even though he leveled the Minnesota player with his right shoulder, it was a shoulder onshoulder check. Their legs never made contact. In fact, nothing made contact with the Minnesota players leg. So, there could not have been what is commonly referred to in society as a trip. I did however congratulate Rust in the room afterward on being apparently the first person in NHL history to be sent to the box for tripping someone with his shoulder. Here’s what matters out of this, and believe me, the officiating would have mattered had the Penguins not fought through it. What matters is that they did. And I did ask Rusk about this afterward. In general, is it important for you guys to be able to shake off when things don’t go your way officiating wise? cuz that’s happened about three or four times now this year. Yeah. Um I think maybe we got a little bit too too carried away with it there in the first. Um I know I was yelling at the refs a lot but um uh but I think uh for us I don’t think we liked her first period in general and I think um came in here regrouped kind of went back out there and uh we had a mission. We were better in the second. I thought we were really good in the third. Resilience means resilience. It doesn’t mean you pick your spot for the resilience. It doesn’t mean you only apply it in certain situations. It means that it becomes part of your personality. You get down, you fight back. Carell Capri off scores early on a gorgeous pass by Marcus Johansson. Nothing anybody could have done. Chris Latang was covering Capri off. It was right there. I I still have no idea how Capri off got his blade on it, but he did. Okay, so you get down. Other team’s best player put one past you. You think you tied it, it’s taken away. You challenge it, you lose it. Other team gets a power play. You just keep fighting and you just keep doing it in the way that you’re meant to do it. When I think of the Penguins at their most effective throughout this whole start of theirs, I don’t think of goals, even though they’ve got this power play that they’ve got. I don’t think of saves, even though they’ve gotten terrific goalending from both Tristan Jarry and Arur Sheils. I think of their sweaters all over the other team’s sweaters. I think of imagery that has the penguins swarming. I do think back, and I sure mention it on this show a lot, to opening night at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers had no answers for what the Penguins were doing. Turns out the Rangers weren’t alone. Guys, I’m heading to Winnipeg later this morning and I’m going to share with you here. This isn’t to take a shot at anybody or whatever, but that none of the newspapers that claim to cover the Penguins came on this trip. Not one. We did because our company always does. When it comes to valuing hockey and the hockey fans in Pittsburgh, we’re not going to get beaten on that front either. Believe me, if you value this type of coverage, if you value some of the stories that I shared with you on this show that I most assuredly could never have gotten from my couch back in downtown Pittsburgh, download our app and then email me. I will respond to you personally with a massive discount to get you to become a subscriber to the premium level of our app. Do this today. You’re never going to find a sharper contrast between what we offer and what everyone else offers when it comes to covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. Oh, wait. The first place in the entire league, Pittsburgh Penguins. Fun fun times. And I I I want to do this show like every day all through the weekend. I’ll tell you why. We get a hundred of these subscriptions. 100. We’re going to do the show all weekend non-stop. Make it happen. DK at dkpittsburgports.com. And thanks so much to those of you who have already become subscribers to our app. 82 and two people. It’s real.

No. 1 in the NHL and not done, to see this unfold.

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