Dan’s Daily: Penguins Playoff Puzzle, Horvat Dumps on Vancouver

The Pittsburgh Penguins won, but so did everyone else. Consequently, the Penguins’ playoff chances dimmed Saturday despite a rebounding 5-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings. Sidney Crosby scored a pair of goals and his 1500th NHL point. As they’ve done many times in the past, Penguins fans were left cursing the Philadelphia Flyers and Washington Capitals for providing exactly zero help. Connor McDavid entered Mario Lemieux territory, Gabriel Landeskog won’t play in the regular season, the Toronto Maple Leafs either did a really cool thing or showed up the Montreal Canadiens, and Bo Horvat absolutely dumped on Vancouver in a postgame chat.

You’re getting a double helping of Dan on TV this weekend. Tonight at 11:30 is Final Word. Please watch! I thought our 11 on the Ice show Saturday was really good. They turned us loose on some real nuts and bolts hockey talk.

Also, the cat is out of the bag, and I don’t mind telling the story.

As a few of you know, some of Phil Bourque’s Stanley Cup memorabilia, including Stanley Cup rings and jerseys, are up for sale at Leland’s Auction House. He understood that raised some eyebrows, and he explained why on the show. His 83-year-old mother was the victim of a phone scam. They got the name of other family members and created elaborate and urgent needs for money for those people. They got her life savings.

Apparently, the scammers are getting pretty good, and perhaps you should talk about this with Gramma and Grandpa. They send a courier to the house to pick up the money (so you’re not giving money on the phone), or the fictionalized injuries to the family member won’t be treated, they’ll remain in jail, etc… Also, make sure Grandma’s social media accounts are set to private, and they don’t accept friend requests from anyone they don’t know.

If Bourquey’s Stanley Cup items interest you …. click here.

And you can watch the detailed Overtime segment from Saturday (we talked about what the Penguins did differently, Tristan Jarry and Sidney Crosby): 11 on the Ice.

Pittsburgh Penguins / Steelers, Pirates:

The Penguins looked like a complete team, even against the young, speedy Detroit Red Wings. Finally.

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: From Detroit, Dave Molinari’s Penguins recap.

From the locker room, Jason Zucker joked it would take him 4000 games to get to 1500 points. Sidney Crosby had three points, including his 1500th point, but only cared about two points. Penguins locker room.

PHN+: Real simply, the player grades, and here’s what the Penguins did differently.

Steelers Now:

Joey Porter Jr. recounted Mike Tomlin stories and his visit with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The latest mock drafts have two more Pitt Panthers headed to the Steelers.

Pittsburgh Baseball Now:

Is it wise to believe the Pittsburgh Pirates start is real?

Watch the first home run by Andrew McCutchen.

PBN+: Finding his groove — Carlos Santana.

Penguins Playoff Chase, NHL News, & National Hockey Now:

Florida Hockey Now: The Capitals have lost nine of 10. They put up a fight and hung on for 59 minutes until giving up the game-winner with one minute remaining in the third. The Capitals stink. The Panthers stayed in the playoff position — The Florida Panthers.

Philly Hockey Now: Yes, the Flyers stink, too. They’ve lost six in a row after cow-towing to the Islanders, 4-0. No help from the Philadelphia Flyers.

The Penguins remain one point behind the Islanders and Panthers with two games two go.

Sportsnet: “It’s a lot better than Vancouver, I’ll tell you that for free,” said Bo Horvat to stir a little controversy.

Toronto was crushing Montreal 4-1, so Toronto brought in their emergency goalie, a local small college player. Hockey fans loved seeing goalie Jett Alexander get some ice time, but not everyone was happy:

“They’ll get what they deserve in a few weeks,” … Habs Chris Wideman on #Leafs bringing in ATO Jett Alexander

— Kevin McGran (@kevin_mcgran) April 9, 2023

NHL.com: Connor McDavid is having a pretty good season. Nothing too special, but Saturday, he scored his 150th point as Edmonton thrashed San Jose. He’s the first to get to 150 since Mario Lemieux in 1996.

Calgary Hockey Now: Out west, the Winnipeg Jets beat Nashville to solidify their hold on the wild card. It was up to Calgary to keep pace, but they lost in a shootout. The Calgary Flames season is on the brink.