Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - 9/10 times they win this one...

Episode Date: April 16, 2021

The Pittsburgh Penguins may have lost but trust me, it's not doom and gloom folks. Hunter recaps the game in the newest episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast and talks about Jeff Carter's debut, a...nd why he hopes a lot of people are starting to eat some crow on the deal. He also touches on Sid's outstanding goal after he got the stick from the bench and why it was a peak Penguins game with how a struggling goaltender stood on his head to win the game. Also touched on: Kris Letang's excellence, Brian Dumoulin's continued good play, Jarry's strong game, despite getting owned in the shootout, and so much more!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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.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.

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Starting point is 00:00:02 Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome to this late Thursday evening episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I promise this will not be a regular thing moving forward as I do come back from vacation tomorrow. But I am your host, Hunter Hoadies. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.
Starting point is 00:00:33 Follow these shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by Rock Auto. Amazing selection, very low prices, all the parts of Carver-Everneed. You can visit rockado.com and tell them locked on set new. So the Penguins, they continue their point streak here, but they do fall victim to a loss to the broad tribal Philadelphia Flyers, two to one via a shootout. I guess my overall thoughts on the game to start with, I'm not super upset with this loss,
Starting point is 00:00:58 and I don't think anyone in the fan base or anyone that listens to this podcast, rather, as well, should be either. I thought Pittsburgh controlled the game throughout the 65 minutes. If I went to Natural Stat Trick, as I'm just updating this right now, at 5E5, the Penguins have 53.8% of the shot attempts. They lost the high danger battle 12 to 9 to Philadelphia. The expected goals for was 1.76, 2.11 for Philly. If you go to all situations, Pittsburgh did have 53.5% of the shot attempts.
Starting point is 00:01:27 High danger 13 to 11 in favor of Philly, but scoring chances for, scoring chances against 26 to 20. 5-e-5, 20-scoring chances for, 14 scoring chances against. And finally, expected goals for at all situations, still at 2.66 and Pittsburgh at 2.3. So it was a little more even than on originally thought, but like I said, I still like what the eye test told me. Overall, I did think the Penguins play well enough to win. It was just that, you know, this happens every single time
Starting point is 00:01:57 the Penguins play a struggling goaltender. Carter Hart came into this game, playing like total garbage for the last month and a half. basically tanked to their season as Dom from the Athletic had the playoff odds stay from all the playoff teams that are currently in, and the Flyers have only like a 1 or 2% chance of making the playoffs, and there's what three to four weeks left in the season. That is how bad it has been for Philadelphia these last 6 to 7 weeks. They only gained one point on the Penguins night. The Rangers also won, so they really didn't gain ground on anyone.
Starting point is 00:02:25 Maybe they gained a little bit of ground on the Bruins because they lost to the Islanders, but the Bruins still have a lot more games left against Buffalo the rest of the way. though Buffalo did help the Penguins out tonight. They beat the Capitals in regulation. They've actually won five of their last 10 games ever since they ended their 18-game losing streak. Maybe Jack Eichol was the problem. Maybe Taylor Hall was the problem, even though he scored tonight.
Starting point is 00:02:45 Who knows? But good to see the Sabres winning at least a few games as we get closer here to the end of the season. But back to the overall game, I thought the first period especially, I didn't get to catch a lot of it because I was out, you know, just doing stuff on my vacation. But I was able to watch the highlights of it.
Starting point is 00:03:00 Probably the most boring first period. that I can remember. I was hoping for Jeff Carter to score in his first game in a Penguin uniform, especially against Philly, and Jack that stuff into my veins. He almost did it, I think just a couple minutes in, missed a wraparound chance on Carter Harches, because he misplayed the puck. Basically would have brought the house down there.
Starting point is 00:03:17 And I also forgot that it looked like PPG Paints Arena increased their attendance. I think it's 25% capacity now, but it was still nice to see some fans socially distanced at the lower concourse, especially near the glass, at least. That was really nice to see. You know, we're getting closer, I think, to the end of this thing.
Starting point is 00:03:32 with more vaccinations every single day. I actually have my first shot coming up in early May and I encourage everyone to get vaccinated as we continue, I think, to progress closer and closer to getting back to normal. So hopefully by the fall we'll have full attendance at PBG Paints Arena. But, you know, I mean, that's just a typical Allain-Vigno-style game. Those boar fest, they're just a little trappy,
Starting point is 00:03:52 but the penguins didn't give the flyers a lot. The Flyers didn't give them a lot in return either. The second period had opened up a bit. Obviously, the lone penguin's goal was highlighted by the Penguins equipment manager, the stick person, whatever, giving Cindy Crosby a stick on the rush, he comes flying down, buries a rebound, not even 10 seconds later, and you just see the highlight of everyone just mobbing him on the bunch. I think Mike Sullivan admitted after the game that if the Penguins would have won that
Starting point is 00:04:19 game via overtime or shootout or regulation, he would have gotten the Warrior helmet, the fire him out. Whatever helmet that they give the player of the game after the game, he would have gotten it just because what a play that was. You don't really see that ever when it comes to hockey games, just an equipment manager, stick manager, just giving a player to a stick, and then basically five seconds later,
Starting point is 00:04:42 that player scoring on a sequence. But that was still awesome to see. Nicely Sidney Crosby continue to get on the score sheet. And I thought a couple of other players had some really great games as well. Chris LaTang, again, was magnificent. I saw some people kind of blaming Latang for that overtime penalty, which shouldn't Sidney Crosby took. But I don't know what play people were watching.
Starting point is 00:05:00 but that was all on Cindy Crosby, had a pass in No Man's Land, which led to a two-on-one. And I think LaTang was the player that got back to disrupt that. And then the other player, who was awesome in overtime as well, that broke up another Auden Rush.
Starting point is 00:05:13 It was about to be a breakaway, I think, from Lawton. I think it was. Jason Zucker got back, had an awesome diving play to break it up. You know, the fans really got up for that one. And then, of course, they had that penalty kill of the season. I did not think the Penguins would be able to survive that and get to a shoot out.
Starting point is 00:05:27 They did. But going back to Chris LaTang, He was just awesome. He continues to play at this elite level that we have not seen. Since, honestly, 2015-16, he should be getting more Norris love right now. If you look up just his regular stats, if you just go to hockey reference, has 34 points in 41 games. His possession is around 50% this year, so a little bit lower than in recent years. But if you also look at Chad, who does the 4-1-2 sports podcast, he was their top-rated skater tonight.
Starting point is 00:06:00 Since February, his game score is good for top 10 at his position. I think he was played, what, 24, almost 30 minutes. Tonight, his game score was 0.73, ranks 37th out of all defensemen in the league. He has been a rock this season for Pittsburgh, especially after coming back from that miss game, I think, due to an injury, but he is playing at the top of his level right now, and I think more people need to start appreciating it. But I also love, you know, the Latang haters are silent right now, but I'm sure the first time he screws up,
Starting point is 00:06:32 you're going to see all the Latanganders come after him while ignoring the outstanding play that he has done in the last six to seven weeks. Brian Dumlin, he was steady tonight, I thought, as well. Drew the penalty late in the third period. I think Kineckney was the one that took it. You know, he was whining like kind of a bit of a biotch going to the penalty box.
Starting point is 00:06:48 You know, he's kind of turned in, you know, people like to rag on Cindy Crosby for whining all those years. Travis Kine has really turned himself into, honestly, one of the biggest cry babies in hockey. every time that guy takes a penalty every time something so small happens he turned into such a little bionch just whining and moaning to the ref
Starting point is 00:07:06 it's just like dude just skate to the box and stop being a baby you know here's those little earmuffs during his games he's just I guess he's the typical player you love if he's on your team but you hate if he's against but I can't stand his antics and you know he always just bitches about something whenever
Starting point is 00:07:22 they play against Pittsburgh so I like seeing that at least you know just him going to the box and being mad that he committed an obvious and fraction. And then you get to the incident a few minutes later with about, what, 30 seconds left in regulation, clear high stick to the face on Evan Rodriguez, not called. Why was it not called everyone? Because this is the NHL, this is their officiating, and, you know, they're managing the game in quotation marks. You think that they wouldn't be doing this anymore, especially after what happened with Tim Peel just a few weeks ago. But no, the people that thought this was going to
Starting point is 00:07:51 stop, I am afraid I have some bad news, everyone. They're going to continue to do this until the end of time. here. They want it to be at 5 to 5E5 and even strength because the game was probably going to go to overtime and they didn't want the penguins finishing the game with less than 30 seconds to go or via a 4 on 3 in overtime just because everyone loves seeing regular 3 on 3. The 3 on 3 was awesome
Starting point is 00:08:12 I'm going to get to that in the next segment but that is why the penalty was not called. They were obviously going to call the Sydney Crosby thing in overtime just because that is how officiating works it's basically a little bit of a make well let me pause here. It was an obvious infraction but it
Starting point is 00:08:28 was a makeup call because the flyers got penalized very late in the third period and then they didn't get penalized for the other one. So of course, they were going to give them a power play. The next very little thing the Penguins do, regardless of anything. So that is why you saw the Flyers get a power play with about what, two minutes remaining in the overtime session. And, you know, kudos to the Penguins penalty killers. I tweeted that was probably the P.K. of the season with how great they were. Don't really know why you're having March Nkowski on there, but he was able to do the job. I thought Tristan Jari was stellar tonight made a lot of good saves. I think that lone goal that was scored in the third period from Voracek, he probably
Starting point is 00:09:01 wanted back. And then, you know, you don't see him get schooled that much in the shootout. I'm going to have more on that in the next segment. But you can tell he was very visibly upset after that performance, just because I think overall going into the shootout, I think 18tsonset had the stat, in case you all did not see it, I'm going to have it here for you. He had made 14 saves out of 18 shots in a shootout. I mean, that's pretty damn good. I think that's what, 77. I'm going to percent if my math is correct. I mean, that's Mark Andre Fleury territory with how good he was in shootouts with the Penguins. I mean, he's one of the best shootout goaltenders of all time.
Starting point is 00:09:36 But Jari had been outstanding in shootouts going into this one, but for some reason was not on his A game today. Like I said, I'm going to have more on the overtime in the shootout coming up in the next segment. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about something new. And that this episode is brought to you by 1010. It's a capsule collection of diamond rings that are responsibly sourced. Limited edition designs at fair price points. 1010, it's an exclusive collection of 10 creative styles of diamond rings designed by 10 of the most distinctive designers working today. Ring sure to bring joy into her life.
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Starting point is 00:11:03 Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get to the overtime here. Pittsburgh flat out dominated the three-on-three portion for those first three minutes of overtime. How the Penguins did not win the game there in those first three minutes. Just blows my mind. Again, this is another case of a struggling goaltender who has stung for the last six weeks, just plays like Dodd against the Penguins. It's happened so many times this season.
Starting point is 00:11:28 I don't even want to talk about how many times it's happened just because it pisses me off every time I bring it up. But Carter O'Hart won that game for the Flyers. And that's basically it. I mean, you saw late in the third period, especially going to get back to the overtime in a second. Edron Regis robbed point blank, not even five feet away from the net. That's a puck that goes in the net nine out of ten times. Zach Ashton Reese has a two-on-one in the third period as well.
Starting point is 00:11:52 Basically, is robbed again by Carter-A-Hard. I'm going to have more on Ashton-Ree later in the podcast. some reason people are starting to pick on him a little more again. But Gensel, they get a two, in Crosby, they get a two-on-one, about 25, 30 seconds into overtime. Gensel has heart beat by a mile, hits the crossbar. They just had no puck-lout luck at all tonight, and the goaltender playing on fire. That's hockey. That happens.
Starting point is 00:12:15 And you just, you got to move on from him. I mean, a shootout is basically a crap shoot. You know, it's who makes the best move, which goalie fucks up the most. And tonight, that was Tristan Jari. I already talked about the P. and stuff. I mean, Matheson in overtime.
Starting point is 00:12:29 I mean, he almost had a sick goal to himself, basically put the puck up to his stick, swung at it with a baseball bat, went kind of just wide of heart. If he was able to score there, I probably would never have picked
Starting point is 00:12:41 on Mike Matheson again, just because of how awesome that move was. And if that would have worked, like I said, that easily would have brought PVJ Payne's arena that it would have burned the place down to the ground with how great that was. Jason Zucker,
Starting point is 00:12:53 already touched on his great defensive play. Sidney Crosby, you know, a shift to forget that led to Philadelphia's power play. I think if he doesn't take that penalty, he doesn't have that stupid pass that leads to it. I think Pittsburgh probably wins that game in the three-on-three portion with how they were playing. There was just so many scoring chances in Philadelphia's own end. I think Philadelphia only had one or two scoring chances in Pittsburgh's end.
Starting point is 00:13:15 Excuse me, one of them was a two-on-one that a flyer shot way wide or way high, excuse me, over jarring. The other one was just basically broken up with ease. So Penguins dominated that three-on-one. on three portion. We're able to survive with that penalty kill, get it to a shootout. It looked good for at least the star. Gensel had that awesome move on her, just a gorgeous goal from him, was able to just open up the wicket's just a little bit, sneak that puck five hole.
Starting point is 00:13:39 And this is a Penguins team that does not lose many shootouts, especially at home. I think there is a stat on Twitter that I saw. This was the first time the Penguins lost a shootout game at PBJ Paints Arena since March 24th of 2017. The lone goal for that shootout, John Tadaris of the New York Islanders before he signed with the Toronto Maple Leaf. So yes, that is how long it had been since the Penguins had lost a shootout at home. They hardly ever do it. I mean, they hardly ever lose at home, period, this season.
Starting point is 00:14:09 They've virtually won every game there, and they've gotten at least a point in virtually every game at home this season. So this was rare on both accounts, losing at home and also losing a shootout at home. And I can't even remember the last time the Penguins and Flyers had a shoot. shootout. I think it's been quite a while. I'm not to double check that for potentially the next segment or for tomorrow's episode, but, you know, I can't remember the last time these two teams did have a game that went to a shootout. And then, you know, in the shootout, Jari was able, he just got flat out owned. I mean, Claudeau's goal, disgusting in every possible way. I mean, I know a lot of Penguins fans hate Claudeau for obvious reasons, of course. You know, he is a flyer,
Starting point is 00:14:47 and everyone thought he's the best player in the world back in 2012 when, you know, he just beat Sidney Crosby in a playoff series like a lot of other players have, but he did undress Jari pretty badly with that move, went to the far left, and then stopped right at the perfect time and went back to his forehead and Jari was so out of position and was not even funny. Penguins go the other way. I would just love to see one time Sidney Crosby pull a deke off in a shootout. He always just likes to come in, stop, and then Spire a Glove side. Buddy, you're one of the three best players in the world.
Starting point is 00:15:19 Just do a deke and bring the house down. I really don't get why he doesn't deak more often in the shootout. I know the shootouts, it's just kind of a rare breed at this point because a lot of the games end it via the 3B3 in overtime or just in regulation, to be honest with you. But I really don't get why he doesn't deak as much. I would love for him to do it more. He just always likes to do that stupid thing where he comes in and just either fires at 5-hole or fires at gloves side. Heart was ready for that one, nice glove save. And then Sean Couturee comes in, and what a goal that was rooose that glove side with his backhand,
Starting point is 00:15:50 I think the big thing on that goal was, why didn't Jari poke check that? I mean, that's a classic poke check moment. I mean, you definitely would have seen Mark Andre Fleury do that if he were here as the Penguins goaltender. And no, everyone, I'm not wishing for Mark Andre Fleury to be the Penguins goaltender right now. I mean, even though he is having a great year. But he still should have poached there. And especially considering in this game, Jari was pretty aggressive, I thought, in net.
Starting point is 00:16:16 So it was kind of weird for him to be so cautious in the shootout because he's also usually so great in the shot. He's got a poke check there. I mean, Petrui was what, not even 10 feet from the net. He was basically five, six feet away. He's got to put his stick out there and disrupt that because if that happens, the Penguins potentially win that game, as then Chris Langeang was up next, and then he was able to not score as Carter Hart made that save glove side. He usually likes to do that forehand, backhand move, but I think a lot of goaltenders are ready for that now, and I guess that's why he didn't try it. You know, who knows, I guess he wanted to do something different Penguins fall in the shootout 2 to 1 to the Philadelphia Flyers.
Starting point is 00:16:52 You know, I saw from the NHL's Twitter account, you know, big win for the Flyers. Yeah, big win for what? What are their playoff? Let's go up to like 2, 3%. The next time these two teams will play, it'll be, the Penguins will only have 3 to 4 games left in the regular season. So it'll likely be over at that point for the Flyers with their season if the Bruins and every team in the top four take care of business by then.
Starting point is 00:17:13 So this win honestly doesn't mean much. They only gained one point on the Penguins overall. It does suck, though, because Washington did lose in regulation to Buffalo tonight. Of course, the Penguins will play on Saturday and Sunday. And Boston, they did win, which stinks. They're now, I think, four points behind the Penguins. But the Islanders also lost tonight. They were the ones that lost to the Bruins.
Starting point is 00:17:34 So the Penguins gained one point on them, but they were not able to tie them in the standing. So the East Division right now, penguins are three points out of first place, and they're also one point out of second place. And then Boston's creeping up on them a little bit. Four points behind them, the Penguins, though, still. have two more games left against the ruins. Both of those games will be at PVJ Paints Arena. But overall, before I get to the listener takeaways for this one, shug it off, everyone, it's not that big of a deal. They got a point. They're still having a point check.
Starting point is 00:18:00 They're still banking points, which is nice, considering some of the injured players are not back yet. I thought Jeff Carter had a rock solid debut. If you go to his stats from natural statrick even, he was on the ice for a lot more shot attempts than shot attempts against basically at least through two periods, 10 shot attempts for, three shot attempts against, had 71% of the expected goal share. That is Ely, and you can see why I was so high on this trade. He was getting to the dirty areas, firing a lot of pucks on net. He's one of the best volume shooters in the league.
Starting point is 00:18:33 And his skating tonight was absolutely through the roof. I mean, he was making Marlowe look like a scrub when he made his debut last season with the Penguins. I really don't understand why people were making the comparison to Patrick Marlow when this it happened. I understand Jeff Carter is 36 years old, but you know, this is not a slow player. Yes, he only has 19, 20 points in 40-something games this year, but this is still a very serviceable player and someone that you can easily plug into your bottom six and he can chip in on the score sheet during some games, especially I think in some big moments as well.
Starting point is 00:19:05 A really good first game I thought from Carter. It was almost every time his line took the ice that, you know, Jared McCann and Jason Zucker, they were getting a lot of offensive zone time and they we're getting shot attempts and shots on goal in the offensive zone. I think we're going to see more of that moving forward, especially as the Penguins go to Buffalo, that the Sabres have won five for the last 10 games. So we'll have to be on a little bit of high alert going into those two games on 3 o'clock star on Saturday and then 3 o'clock start on Sunday as well.
Starting point is 00:19:33 And also, before we do get to listener takeaways, I really don't get why so many people were picking on Zach Aston Reese tonight. I mean, I'm going to keep saying it. He is the most underappreciated, undervalued player on this. team. As Jesse Marshall tweeted, he is sixth on the team in goals per 60 of even strength. I mean, so there's literally only five other players that are doing better at goals per 60 than him. And he mainly plays on the fourth line when everyone is healthy. He has been a rock for Pittsburgh this year. He's also a great shot suppressor on the team. People like to think
Starting point is 00:20:06 that he doesn't do all these good plays 24-7 and that there's a lot more bad than good. I don't know what version of Zach Anastonice you're watching, but it's not the version that has great underlying numbers and is having his best offensive season of his career. I mean, they're just, people are seeing what they want to see. And it's almost a little like Chris LaTang hate. I mean, I'm obviously not going to compare Chris Lank to Zach Ashton Reese because, you know, one player is a hell of a lot better thing. You know, the other one, excuse me, one player is in elite defense from the NHL.
Starting point is 00:20:33 The other one is mainly just a bottom sixer on a contending team, but a damn good bottom six player at that. But people just see what they want to see when it comes to both Chris LaTang and Zach Ashton Reese, and they can never point out the good with him, but the first time they do something bad, oh my God, he stinks, you should trade him. You know, Austin Reese has fine hands. He made a couple brilliant passes tonight. He probably should have had a goal on the two-on-one and the third period. Hard just made a better save. But he continues to play great, even with Brandon Tannett being out of the lineup, and I'm not really sure when he's going to return. Probably won't be until the
Starting point is 00:21:06 playoffs. But he does have Teddy Bluggerback, which does help quite a bit. But I really was impressed with his game overall tonight. Like I said, I really don't get why Ashton Rees haters just continue to have to be so weird. But anyhow, coming up in the next segment, we will get to the listener takeaways, but before we do that, and it is time to talk about a couple things.
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Starting point is 00:22:41 All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hohie's. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show is Twitter at L0-Henarsquare Penguins. So let's get to the listener takeaways tonight. There's only about six to seven of them, but let's see what you all are thinking. Gilbert, the goat says, yes, death taxes and struggling goaltenders playing good against the penguins.
Starting point is 00:23:00 Yes, Gilbert, I know. It's happened quite a bit this season. I mean, we saw it with Dustin Tarkarski with Buffalo against the Penguins, just I think a few weeks ago, even though the Penguins won both those games, you know, he was basically just playing like God in both of them. He thinks Pittsburgh dominated the game. I mean, I wouldn't say they dominated the game. I thought they were the better team, and the course he would back you up,
Starting point is 00:23:20 and the scoring chances for and the scoring chances against would as well. But I did think they didn't have the best first period, and I mean, they were also off for three days, people. And the last time they played was Sunday. So that is going to happen. But I don't think they have another four, three-day break like that until the playoffs, if I'm not mistaken, if the schedule is right. He also says, Sid and Jeff Carter played really well tonight.
Starting point is 00:23:40 The score could have easily been 5-1-Pittre if it wasn't for Hart. I mean, yeah, Hart did win them this game. I will agree with that. I mean, he made so many 10-bell saves on penguin players that, you know, Jari didn't even have to make on some of the Flyers players. He also says, annoying to lose to those mouth-breeding flyers, though. Yeah, I mean, it is a bit annoying to lose to them, especially because they're not going to make the playoffs,
Starting point is 00:23:59 and they're not going to catch the Penguins. I mean, Pittsburgh's 11 points up on them, and they both teams have 13 games left. unless there's a monumental collapse. That team is not going to catch Pittsburgh. I don't think the Rangers well either. Fright Times says Carter was better than expected. Should have finished a no T, but move on, still gained a points.
Starting point is 00:24:16 Yeah, exactly, man. They still have a little bit of a nice point streak going. They should have won the game in overtime. Gensel hit the crossbar. Had a couple other great chances with Mathesons. Like I said, man, if Crosby doesn't take that penalty, they probably finish them off in the three-on-three. Yes, I really liked Carter's games. And then you can really see how fast he is still, how great of a ball.
Starting point is 00:24:35 shooter he is and he always gets to those dirty areas where a lot of the goals are scored. Alan Teodor says hope the refs are happy, absolutely ridiculous that we didn't get a few calls throughout the game. I mean, yeah, I do understand that. I was pretty miffed that they didn't get the call at the end of the third period, but, you know, I've just come to terms now, Alan, that this is what the NHL likes and that they're going to continue to quote-unquote manage the game until the end of time because they wanted everyone to see the three-on-three, and that's why they're just not going to call the penalty there.
Starting point is 00:25:02 He said puck luck wasn't on our side, but getting that call still could have changed the game. Crowd brought it tonight. Jari was great again. What a goal at 87. Yes. Love that goal by Crosby. I thought outside the shootout, Jari did play a really nice game. I expected to start the first game on Saturday before DeSmith gets the follow-up game on Sunday. And yeah, sometimes you don't get puck luck. Hockey's a bitch. You know, this sport is stupid sometimes. That's what happens. Mr. Nudal says, unbelievable. The worst goal in the league. We make him look like an all-star. Yeah, I mean, he was playing pretty bad.
Starting point is 00:25:33 It is a bit annoying that they could only give one goal past him. Why wasn't Zohorna in the lineup? Yeah, that is a good question, Mr. Nodal. I'm glad you asked that. I don't get why someone like Mark Jankowski was in the lineup over him, even Sam Lafferty, just because we know the Penguins are not going to have Jenkowski in a lineup when everyone is fully healthy. You know, knock on wood, God willing, at least,
Starting point is 00:25:55 but it was still weird for them to take Zohorna out when he was basically almost a point-per-game player through this short little sample that he's been providing, and he's been good offensively. So that was a curious decision from Mike Sullivan. I understand putting Colton C.R. in the lineup because he's played well these last few games. But Benjing's a horn out for both. Lafferty and Jankowski, definitely a bit of an odd choice there.
Starting point is 00:26:16 It's definitely not something I would have done, but, you know, I'm not going to get too upset over it. Yes, they did play well enough to win. Still feel like we are passing up too many opportunities to get the puck on net. Good thing the caps in New York lost. Yeah, good thing they lost, and the Penguins did gain a little bit of ground. but yes, I did think Pittsburgh overpassed a bit tonight, but they still should have capitalized on a lot of chance.
Starting point is 00:26:34 I think Pittsburgh had an odd man opportunity. Basically, every five minutes in the game, you can really see how bad Philadelphia's defense is just throughout the game. Boss says 41224, Peg Carter decided to come out of his slump and stand on his head. Carter meeting Carter Hart, not Jeff Carter, but yes, yeah, stood on his head. Yeah, that basically sums up the game, as a lot of other people are saying. Tyler Campo says it would have been nice to get the win, but I'll take the one point considering the Islanders
Starting point is 00:26:59 and caps with loss and regulation. Yes, that is true. The Flyers do get the Islanders coming up next, so we probably have to root the Islanders to maybe win that game, but the Penguins to still sweep the back-to-back series, so Pittsburgh potentially gains four points and then maybe gets a one-point lead on the Islanders for second place. Remember, Penguins went six and two against the Islanders this year,
Starting point is 00:27:21 so they have no games remaining against them, and I think the Penguins would have the tiebreaker over them if the season would end of 56 games. in a few weeks. Don't quote me on that, though, but I think they would. And lastly, from Anthony Murphy, didn't get to watch the whole game before I saw, I agree with your take. If they play like this consistently, they are going to win a lot more than they'll lose. And yeah, I mean, they will. Usually about eight or nine times out of ten, they will win this sort of game. They didn't play bad. This wasn't a stinker. It was just, you know, like I said,
Starting point is 00:27:47 for the five million times, a goalie stood on his head. That sucks, and they did not capitalize on their opportunities. You throw this one in the garbage. You prepare for the Sabres on Saturday and Sunday, and that's that. So thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Lockdown Penguins podcast. Really appreciate it. Remember, both games are afternoon starts. 3 p.m. on Saturday, 3 p.m. on Sunday. I'll be back tomorrow with an episode previewing those two games against the Sabres. So I'll talk to you then.
Starting point is 00:28:12 Hope you all are great rest of your night. Great rest of your Friday. And I'll talk to you later on Friday if you're listening to this one sometime on Friday. So talk to you guys soon.

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