Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A dream start thus far? That's right!

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Sure it's late on a Monday but it's never too late to talk about a game from Saturday, right? That's exactly what Hunter does in this episode as the Penguins are off to a roaring start. He touches on Danton Heinen's continued hot streak and what's driving it. He also loves how MAF got lit up for 4 goals and sends a strong message to any fan who was rooting for the team to lose just for Fleury to get a win. Also discussed in this episode: Was that game just the beginning for Jason Zucker? What differences are in Jarry's game thus far? Should O'Connor be in the lineup when the team is healthy? How Brock McGinn answered the bell after being called out.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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, everyone, welcome to this Monday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

And follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. We are back with another full week's worth. of episodes and remember thank you so much for making the lockdown penguins podcast your first listen to the day i apologize for this one being late in the evening i just had some work things to do today and then also i went to sell a movie with my dad just was the last james bond movie well last one for probably at least a few years until they make um a new one um as you all know i did not catch most of the game on friday i was at king's dominion with my lovely girlfriend for this Halloween, Fright Night, whatever you want to call it.

Pretty fun, but, you know, I obviously would much rather be watching the Penguins game and live tweeting with you all. I was able to watch some of the game back on ESPN Plus, and again, if you are not subscribed to ESPN Plus, then what the hell are you doing? And I think my biggest takeaway from this game is that, you know, Mike Sullivan, he just always has these guys ready to play. He's now first all-time in franchise history with wins as a head coach. And I think it's finally time he gets the respect he deserves from everyone in the Penguins fan base.

Not just, you know, the majority of the fans, but everyone overall. I think it is now time to say that he is the best coach in franchise history. I've been saying it's arguable just because of what Badger Bob did for this franchise. And, you know, obviously, I wasn't alive to see it. And I know he died way too young as well. I mean, who knows what would have happened if he had stayed alive for so many more years and kept coaching this team. I think he honestly would have had a huge separation

from anyone else that would coach this team in the future. But if you look at what Mike Sullivan has done since he took over, you know, the two Stanley Cups, obviously there's been a little, I guess, a downward trend just because of how they've lost in the playoffs. But I'm not going to point to Mike Sullivan for that. I'm going to point to bad goaltending and just not finishing their chances,

like, you know, against the Islanders. Bad goaltending. They got a ton of chance. chances, but the goal they ran into was God. You know, Montreal ran into a hot carry price, carried player for most of that series, but couldn't cash in on their chances. 2019 was a failure for everyone. 2018, they were basically gas.

So these last couple of years, the Penguins have been really good in the playoffs. They just haven't gotten the results that, you know, they would usually get, I guess, in a series. But, you know, with so many injuries to start the year already, this has basically been a dream start for the Penguins. well, it would be even more of a dream start if they had kept that lead over the Panthers and not lost in overtime, but

you know, five out of six points to open the year without Ciddy Crosby. Now Brian Russ is going to be hurt for a bit. We'll get a little into that coming up later in the show. No Mike Matheson, no Eviggeny Malkin. Jake Gensel was out with COVID. Zach Astromis was out with COVID. Obviously, they're back now. It just

goes to show how great of a coach Mike Sullivan is. And he's going to hopefully get serious consideration for the Jack Adams this year. You know, he's always slept on for that award because it usually goes to the coach who, I guess, overachieves what the team he has or, you know, surprises, but, you know, also that coach is kind of canned in the next year or two. Anyway, I don't really think people know how to vote on that award.

It should go to the coach that actually does the best job with his team, considering all of the circumstances surrounding an NHL seats. You know, it shouldn't just go to a coach that, oh, wow, this team's surprise. Let's just give the Jack Adams to this coach. Oh my God, this team's goal goalie is just playing so hot. Let's give the Jack Adams to the coach of that team. I think it's just a very flawed process. And the fact that Mike Sullivan was not really,

I don't even think a finalist for last year's Jack Adams Award was just nothing short of a joke. But if he keeps coaching the team he is right now, he will 100% be a finalist by the end of the season. I love how he's had this team ready to play for the first three games. I mean, you are seeing a very good Penguins team. out of the gate again five out of six points your first in the metropolitan division without the two big guns and you know for a time jake ensel and zachaston rees so um what a job he has done and they're they're just they're getting depth scoring from everywhere danton heining gets another goal against the

blackhawks that's now three in three games jeff if you are listening to this episode i told everyone every time danton hines scores i'm going to talk about this on the podcast that is now seven more goals until i get my free cocky barbecue so jeff i hope you start to sweat a little bit because he's almost halfway there and we are only three games in the season. And, you know, I touched on this. Danny Shirey of D.K. Pittsburgh Forrest have touched on this. Zachary Smith from the round of 4-1-2 with Tyler Weeks. They've also talked about it as well. Hinen is going to be a very good player for this team. He is not your run-of-the-mill, fourth-line player that's going to get caved in on a nightly basis or has no shot or has no playmaking ability. No, he has a wicked shot,

and he's always in the dangerous scoring areas whenever he is on the ice. You can't teach that. And the fact that he's already at a goal per game basis, just three games into the season, shows that he is a different player this year. Obviously, this is going to regress. He's not going to score 82 goals in a season to have one goal a game. But the fact that he is producing as well as he is right now, it's not a fluke. He knows where to go to score goals, and you are seeing it each game right now.

I would not be surprised if he did score another goal against the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night. I also loved to see Drew O'Connor get his first NHL goal very well deserved. And even when this team is healthy, I mean, there is a legitimate argument that he should be in the top 12. And honestly, I don't hate it. I mean, you know, he's in direct competition with someone like Dominic Simone, Evan Rodriguez, Brian Boyle. So there's going to be a lot of tough decisions down the stretch eventually when hopefully this team does get healthy though with the news of

Ryan Russ today. Who knows if that's going to happen because I'm sure we're just going to have another injury pop up in the next week or so because it's the Pittsburgh Penguins for God's sake. But he's being rewarded for his great play in training camp and the preseason. I loved that goal that he had. And just, you know, I remember

when I saw a little bit of the game, I first tweeted, I'm like, you know what? I would love if the Penguins scored about 10 goals on Mark Andre Fleury. Well, they were almost halfway there because Mark Andre Fleury allowed for in the first period and did not look comfortable. I mean, he had a horrific performance. And I do want to send this message to some people. I don't think those kind of people listen

to this podcast. But if you were at that game or you are a Penguins fan watching it on TV and you're rooting for Pittsburgh to lose and for Flurry to win because you're a huge Flurry fan, what are you doing in this fan base? And I think you should honestly leave and go be a flyer. or just, you know, go be a Blackhawks fan and follow Flurry. Like, I really don't understand that. Those people are very weird. And I obviously know how much Mark Andre Fleury means to a lot of people in this fan base. He was obviously one of my favorite players growing up.

But the fact that I saw numerous people tweet on Twitter and I saw this from media members as well, and they were out just, you know, doing radio spots, you know, saying that people were rooting for for Flurry to win and the Penguins to lose. You're not a true Penguins fan. and for all I care, you can just go be a Blackhawks fan or even worse, just go be a Philadelphia Flyers fan. I mean, I don't really know how to say it any better. I just, I have no respect for those kind of people

in the Penguins fan base. But I don't think any of those people listen to this podcast. If you do, well, you know, I'm sorry about the truth hurts. I just, I really have no time for that kind of stuff. But, you know, in one of those goals, just, you know, flurry coming out of the net and just gets burned. And, you know, that's way too familiar for us, Penguins fans. You saw it in the playoffs this last year where he was with Vegas,

which allowed Montreal to not only, I believe, tie the game, but then they won that game in overtime. I want to say that was what? Game two of that series when Vegas was up one-nothing. I believe Vegas was actually about to win game two. At least I think it was game two. It was one of the games where Vegas was about to take a little commanding lead in the series, and then Floyd comes out of the net.

Puck goes over his stick, and then it's back in the back of the net, I think courtesy of Josh Anderson. So same thing basically happened with one of those goals. Really don't know what the heck he was doing. And then, you know, his night just kind of spiraled out of control from there. And I loved how the team just blitzed Chicago in that first period. I mean, they came out with a purpose. They were forechecking hard, getting to those high danger scoring areas.

And they were making Chicago pay every freaking shift. I mean, the Blackhawks are probably going to be really bad this year. So I know some people would be like, well, you know, let's see if they can do this against a contender. and I'm sure the Penguins will, considering how Mike Sullivan has had these boys ready to play this season. But to see that start, those opening 20 minutes, was very encouraging. And again, goes to show that maybe some people should not be sleeping as much on the Penguins this year as they previously were before the season. So those were my main big points from this game. Mike Sullivan, top five coach in hockey now has the most wins among Penguins coaches and is the best coach in franchise history.

This start has been a dream start for the Penguins, and it can only get better. There are now seven more home games in a row before this team goes on another road trip. I mean, and that's huge because this team is one of the best teams at home in the NHL. I believe last season they went what? At a 28 games, I want to say it was 21 and 4 and 3. I believe it's around there. They were practically unbeatable at home in the regular season. Obviously, you know, I know what happened in the Stanley Cup playoffs, but in the regular season,

when you have an eight-game homestand and you're without the big guns, you want to try to bank as many points as possible, and the Penguins have a huge opportunity to do that coming up here now with seven more games in a row at home before going on their next little road trip. And again, Danton Hinen was awesome. Drew Connor gets us through a school. I will have a lot more on some of the other goal scores coming up in the next segment, including Brock McGinn's first goal, Teddy Bluger, Jason Zucker,

the play of Tristan Jolly. We have a lot more to get to for this episode. But before we do that, does this sound familiar? You've got one device that lets you catch the game live, another that lets you stream your favorite shows, you're watching sports highlights on your phone, and you've got your neighbor's best friends logging for the good stuff. Well, I want to tell you about a simple way to get all that entertainment you love without the hassle and a great way to finally get your TV together. It is called Direct TV Shame, and it brings your live TV and on-demand favorites together,

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All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguin. So getting into some of the other goal scores from this game, had a fantastic game, at least in my opinion,

opens up the scoring 15 seconds in. I don't know really know what Mark Andre Fleury was doing. What that one there, I apologize if I'm talking a little bit fast. But just didn't really seem to read the play at all, and Bueger took complete advantage of that and opened the scoring. And, you know, that was, what was the start of, what was going to be a long night for Mark Andre Fleury to say the least. I will say this, I called out Brock McGinn on my Thursday episode

because I know that he was not doing enough. I remember against the Panthers, it was the first two games in the season. I'm like, you know, I haven't noticed him too much. He's making $2.75 million for four years. We've got to start to see that offense, see that defensive play come in. He brought that and then some in this game against Chicago

gets his first goal of the year with Pittsburgh. And honestly, that was just a tap. And I mean, if he missed that, you would have seen a lot of negative reactions on Penguins, but just because it was a great pass from Drew Connor and then, you know, just again had the whole net open. Mark Andre Fleury had no chance to save that. That one made it 3-0.

And then, you know, how could we forget? Jason Zalker gets his first goal of the season. He should have had it against the Panthers, but, you know, just hit the post when he beat Sergei Bobrovsky on a little mini breakaway. I believe it was forehand backhand and, again, beat him completely and then just couldn't beat the post. But in this one, it was just a crafty little play, you know, it was a shot from the point from Chad Ruehl.

You know it wasn't. For some reason, Evan Rodriguez was at the point, but I guess he was taking the spot of one of the defensemen. Hits Lincoln in. Juicy rebound comes out a little bit, but then Zucker is able to backhand it so softly into the net. And it was just such a crafty little play, I thought there, with the Pacan, missed the original follow-up from the Rodriguez shot, and then Zucker was able to put it into the net. So I'm really hoping that's the first of many this season for Zucker. I have said a lot of times that I think he's going to score 20 to 25 this year. I believe 25 was my bold prediction. So I'm curious to see if that happens. But overall, just a really spectacular performance from the Penguins against Chicago.

And the Penguins have had a lot of failures against the Blackhawks over the years. I mean, this is a team that they don't usually beat that often. I mean, they had lost. I'm trying to think of a number here. So prior to 2019, prior to October 11, of 2019. They had lost, I am actually literally counting this right now on one of this. They had lost nine in a row to the Blackhawks from January of 2019 all the way until January of 2015. The Penguins had not beaten the Blackhawks in a game prior to 2019 in five years.

Yes, it was 2014 was the last time the Penguins had won prior to 2019. And then, of course, on Saturday, the Penguins beat the Blackhawks there as well. So the Penguins right now have a two-game winning streak over the Chicago Blackhawks after they had lost nine in a row prior to that. That is how much the Blackhawks had owned Pittsburgh over the years. So it's nice to see Pittsburgh getting some payback on Chicago after they were just dominating this home and home every season for the last five years. It was so weird because even when the Blackhawks were so terrible, they were still beating the Penguins with these. I mean, obviously, you know, the big one that we remember was Antineviyev giving up five or six goals in the first period, and then the Penguins lost that game 10 to 1.

That was, of course, Josh Getsoff's first game that he called as the radio announcer for the Penguins, and that came during the Penguins losing streak to Chicago. But again, it's nice to see Pittsburgh finally get a little bit of payback there, and we'll have to see if maybe they can have a little nine-game winning streak of their own. And I think predictably after the first period, the team was going to go into a little bit of a shell. that's what all teams do though so i'm not really going to read too much into it because honestly any team that goes up four nothing after a period heck even three nothing after period five nothing whatever not two nothing but anywhere from three up they're going to go into a shell the next year because

they just want to kill the clock chicago really took it to them i thought in a second period after watching it tris and jari had to come up with some really nice saves and that's now his second straight start this season where he has been really strong it's pretty encouraging watching him play. Just as I watched that game back, he's more aggressive, I think, in the net this year. He's making himself bigger. He's coming out closer to the edge of the blue pane.

He's not playing as deep in his net this year like he was last year year because I think that's how he was coached by Mike Buckley. Matt Murray was also usually very deep in his net, but I also think that's the byproduct of him, excuse me, being really big. Tristan Jari doesn't really have that luxury just because he's not nearly as big or as tall. as Matt Murray was, but I like the Andy Kyoto seems to be having him play more aggressive

and being out further, which takes some of the angles away from the shooters. And if you look at this game here for Jari-So, if you go to Money Pub was on ice for 59 minutes, 45 seconds, his goals saved above expected 2.59. That is really freaking good. You know, I know some people don't really like advanced steps with goaltenders, but the fact that he saved two goals above what was expected of him, that's a good sign and hopefully that can carry over going into his next start. I assume that's going to be on Tuesday.

I mean, it looks like that Mike Sullivan may be doing a bit more of a platoon this year. I think you might see a 60-40 split in favor of Tristan Jari. But I think when he's playing well like he is right now, you just ride him until he starts to not play as well. Then you can start to Smith for a few games in a row. At least that's what I would do. I'd really like to start to the season and the two goals that he allowed on Saturday were really not his. fault. So that was really encouraging as well.

Just, you know, going through some other stats at Moneypuck. So the Chicago, the deserved to win meter was in their favor, but that's also because they turned up their play, especially in the last 30 minutes, where the penguins were kind of just sitting back and letting him do it because they just wanted to kill clock. I mean, that's what any team does. You start playing prevent events when you're up for goals. Chicago was able to make it 4-1, and then 5-2 for a bit of a time before the England's just, you know, they put them away and ended up walking out of there with the two

points. So I'm not really too concerned that they got outplayed for the final 30 minutes. They did what they needed to do. They had that heart start and dominated them from right out of the gate and then they were able to play good defensively the rest of the game and get the goaltending that they needed just by Chicago making their pushes. So two and oh and one to start the season. That's all you can ask for, especially when Sid and Gino are out. And with Sid probably being out for this next game against Dallas, we'll have to see if Pittsburgh can bank points there as well. Still have a little more to get to though for this episode of Lockdown Penguins,

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguin. So let's get into some updates to end the show here. I've gotten all the big stuff out of the way. But in case anyone did not see it or is not on Twitter, Brian Rust, he will be week to week with,

I believe it's a lower body injury. Mike Sullivan didn't really say that much, but he said, we're going to keep you guys updated on a weekly basis. That's where he is. So definitely a big blow for the Penguins. especially because they just got freaking Jake Gensel back, so they can't even have Gensel and Rust on that top line with Carter until Sid comes back.

Hoping, though, that it's going to be a quick recovery because he is a player that this team cannot afford to lose. He's basically scored almost 30 goals the last two seasons. His two-way game has improved so much, and he also has so much great vision when he's on the ice. I really think his playmaking has improved every year that he's been in the league. I remember when he first came up, he was always that one trick pony player would just skate circles around the ice using his speed,

but he couldn't really do much with the puck. And then one offseason, it just all clicked. And he became that goal scorer that we have all known to love as he is now. And especially with his playmaking ability as well. So that is a big loss. And again, you know, three games in, and the Penguins have already dealt with two COVID cases. Sydney Crosby being out, Evgeny Malkin being out, Mike Matheson being out, and now Brian Russ being out.

on a week-to-week basis. It is a never-ending saga with, you know, sicknesses and injuries with this team. It's ridiculous at this point. I don't really know how this happens every single year. Ashton Reese talked about his time with COVID today to the media. He said as soon as I found out, all the symptoms hit me. It felt like I had the flu for five days. He said he was not able to work out for 12 days and his lungs still didn't feel away. And he also says he easily could have been hospitalized if he didn't have the antibodies from the vaccine. So for all these weirdos, on Facebook that say, well, the COVID-19 virus doesn't affect these professional athletes. Well, you know, these people are a bunch of morons. So don't listen to people that you see post about the

pandemic on Facebook. It's just useless to look at because those people are wrong every single time. Now, going to the lines Mike Matheson was at practice today. It looks like he might be drawing back into the lineup. He says he felt good out there at practice and he was skating with Chad Roodle on that bottom pairing. So the lines that we saw today, Jake Gensel with Jeff Carter and Dayton Hinen, so Hinen will take Brian Russpot from the time being. Jason Zulker with Evan Rodriguez and Casperi Kampman,

Drew O'Connor with Brian Boyle and Dominic Simone, Zach Asherry's with Teddy Blugher and Rock McGann, Sam Lafferty was an extra. I'm finally glad that they are not going to be doing this Marino-Matheson pairing at least to start the season. Dumlin-Lang top pairing. Pedersen is with Marino, and Matheson will be with Rueh,

exactly how I said it should be during the off season and going into the season. I will chalk that up as a victory for me and as I do a little bit of a clap here. So one thing I actually got right about with this team, it looks like they are going to listen to me. So Mike Sullivan, thank you. I will claim this victory on the podcast right now,

but it just makes the most sense. You know what you're going to get from all three pairings. You know who your puck movers are. You know who your stay-at-home defensemen are. That's how you got to do it. Enough of that Matheson-Marino garbage. You can put Matheson with a defensively responsible play. and Chatt Rueel and the pairing will be just as good, if not better,

than the Matheson-C-C-Pering from last season. So it's a soul for a soul with the Penguins right now. Brian Russ comes out. Mike Matheson comes in. I'm sure when Cindy Crosby eventually comes in, someone will be exiting the lineup as well. And yes, to update you all, Cindy Crosby will not be playing on Tuesday against Dallas.

I'll chuck that up as an L. I thought he would be back by now, but they are going a little bit slower with him. And, you know, they came kind of a forward to right now just because they have gotten five out of six points to open the season, and they're playing seven more home games in a row. So it's whenever Sid feels comfortable, and whenever he takes those next steps with taking contact

and practicing fully, all that jazz. And some other big news in case any of you all did not see. Fgeny Malkin is back skating. It was only, I think, a short 15, 20-minute session. He was in track pans, basically. But to see him back on the ice is a huge development in his recovery from that major knee surgery that he had in June. Yes, I understand that he is still two months away from playing,

but the fact that he is back on the ice and skating is nothing short of awesome, and he can't get back soon enough. I will say that. Now, tomorrow night, this team will host the Dallas Stars. Dallas is one of the sleeper teams that I do have this season. You know, Jamie Ben's awesome. Alex Radjelov's really good. Tyler Sagan's really good.

John Glibberg, I saw on headlines with Elliot Freeman on Sportsnet that he wants $62 to $66 million combined on his next contract. That's just ridiculous considering he's basically 30 right now. And if you're paying that kind of money for someone's ages 30 to 38, you're going to be in for Rood Awakening. But I do love Miro Hayskinnan. I like Essel Lindell. I actually think he's one of the more underrated defensive defensemen in this game.

Robertson is really good. Kivirontah is a bit underrated as well. And I'll be curious to see how Joe Pavlowski does this year, too. I mean, he had a bit of a Renaissance season last year. where I think he was close to being a point per game player after he was really bad this season prior. They also usually get good goal tending, but with Ben Bishop still sidelined,

with whatever injury he has, it is going to be a bit tough. But I still see them getting into a playoff spot this season. This is a team that Pittsburgh should not take lightly, especially with the talent that they have. But I'm expecting a pretty good game between these two teams. And remember, it will be a 7 p.m. start, and I believe it will be on ESPN Plus.

So, again, if you're not subscribed to ESPN Plus, please go do that. That'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to this one. We will be back tomorrow evening with a game recap episode and a locked on now for you all.

So look around for that one tomorrow night and then Wednesday we'll have another episode. As the Penguins don't play after that until Saturday night against the tournament Maple Leafs, that'll be a 7 p.m. start and then they have Tampa Bay coming to Pittsburgh on the 26th try to get some revenge.

I like how the schedule is a bit spread out. I mean, I could definitely see, Sid coming back for that game on Saturday since, you know, it's a four-day break. But, you know, I'm just not really going to say anything about Sid anymore just because I think I've been wrong about every game that I see him coming back for at this point. But again, thank you all so much for listening and we'll be back with another episode tomorrow evening for a full game recap.