Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A game with no complaints is allowed, right?

Episode Date: February 19, 2021

The Penguins bounced back in a huge way on Thursday night with a 4-1 win over the Islanders and for once...Hunter has nothing to complain about. The game was just that good from the Penguins as it was the first time all season that they didn't trail in one. Mike Matheson played his best game of his career and Hunter goes in-depth about what made it so good, including his "shot to himself" which led to Teddy Blueger's goal. He also touches on Cody Ceci's continued excellence, Jarry's strong play again, and then has the listener takeaways segment at the end as always!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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn 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. What's going on, fellas? Welcome to this Thursday evening episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow the show is Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. The Penguins, they get their second win in three games, This is the best way to describe it. They snap the Islanders eight game point straight. They were five and oh and three coming into this game. You absolutely love to see that. The Penguins win that game, four to one. A lot to get to for this game.

We're talking about Mike Matheson, Cody C, C, Tristanjory, Cindy Crosby, Jason Zucker, listener takeaways. I think the best place to start, though, is with Mike Matheson. And, well, before I do get to that, I will say one thing. I don't think I'm going to say anything negative about the team on this episode. It was basically a perfect game from the Penguins tonight. I know there were some defensive lapses during the game, some two-on-ones they were giving up, but Jari had to make some big saves.

But other than that, this was basically a picture-perfect game with the Penguins. They got that first goal. They didn't trail at all. I think this was the first game all season that they were not tied or trailing against the team. It took until the 15th game of the season, but the Penguins were finally able to do it, and they improved an 8 and 6 and 1 on the season, get their 7, I think they're about 17 points now. I'm trying to do my first grade math, basically.

But that was a huge win. And I said it the other night, I'm going to say it now. You know, they have to keep banking these points in regulation against the Islanders and the capitals. These are the only two teams that the Penguins play over these next couple weeks before they headed into March. And I did see this tweet from CK, I think from March 1st onward until May when the season ends,

I think almost like close to half of their games are against the Rangers, so four against them, eight against New Jersey and eight against Buffalo, with how bad those three teams are. If you can bank these points against the Islanders and the Capitals, the Penguins will most likely make the playoffs if they can just beat those three teams in the division six, seven times out of eight times. I know it's hard to do that in this league when you're playing a team eight times in the same in the season, but it's going to be necessary that Penguins do

want to make the playoffs in this very competitive East Division. But okay, done talking about that. Let's get to Mike Matheson because I think he basically looked like a modern-day Nicholas Lidstrom out there tonight. Had that 200 IQ shot to himself basically off the boards, then shot it to the net. Rolomov kicks out a pretty juicy rebound and Teddy Bluger's able to get the goal. He was awesome. I think on the first goal even made a beautiful play at the Blue Line to save the puck from going

out, just hits the puck. I think it was off the left-hand boards, and then the Penguins were able to score their first goal as Kaepinan made a great play to get the puck back of an Islander skater, and then it goes off Sidney Crosby for his first 5B5 goal of the season. Again, took 15 games for some weird milestones to be reached with Cindy Crosby scoring his first 5-5 goal. You know, I don't think we've ever said that 15 games into a penguin season

for as long as he's been here, but, you know, it's 20-21, so I guess it's just shit's going to be different. But, you know, Matheson was just off. them all night. Like I said, that play, a shot to himself. Even in the defensive zone, just making great plays, breaking up Islander scoring chances. I think there was one in the first or second period. There was an Islander player breaking into the net. He puts his stick in there, puts it through the corner, and then the Penguins are off the other way, creating a scoring chance of the Islander zone. He was just, he was great. He was doing the breakout by himself,

easily his best game as a penguin, and probably the best game of his career. You know, one of my favorite follows on Penguin's Twitter is King Clarkie. Clark is just awesome. And one of the takes that he is going to die on, you know, with this hill that he's going to die on, excuse me, is that Mike Matheson is a forward and that he's just basically playing defense. And, you know, from these first few games that he's been playing well, and it certainly looks like that he is a forward playing defense just because of how active he is in the offensive zone. And most of the time, his defense is not that good, though I will say tonight that his defense was pretty superb. So, great performance from Matheson.

If he keeps this up and Dumont comes back at some point, I don't know if Matheson's going to come out of the lineup. The Penguins are going to have a very intriguing decision here when Dumont comes back. I mean, like I said, if Matheson keeps this up, they may take out P.O. Joseph. I'm not a fan of that. I think P.O. Joseph has more than established himself as a regular defenseman in this top six. But with the way Matheson's going, the way Cici's going, I'm going to get to him in just a second. I just don't know if P.O. Joseph is going to be a regular right now, at least. I mean, that's just my opinion, I think, right now.

But, you know, it's always subject to change, you know, in case Cody Cici has a couple bad games or something. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen right now. And, you know, let's just get to Cote Cici. Again, dreading the offensive zone, great at moving the puck up the ice. And the biggest reason, I think, why he's playing so well this year, you're not seeing him play 20, 25 minutes in night like he did in Ottawa, like he did in Toronto. If I'm not mistaken, he was on the top pairing last season with Morgan Riley. I'm going to have to double check that, but I'm pretty sure he was playing 20 to 25 minutes a night with Morgan Riley. You know, he was playing top four minutes in Ottawa, like I just said.

He's not doing that now. He's playing sheltered minutes with Marcus Pedersen. What's that? 15, 16 minutes a night going up against teams third and fourth lines, sometimes even the second lines. And yeah, he's holding his own. He's not going up against the tougher competition. He's not going to go up against Matt Barzel for 20, 25 minutes. He's not going to go up against Alex Ovechkin, Nicholas Baxter, Claude Giroux for 20.

20 to 25 minutes. You're going to get their third and fourth lines. And those are the kind of matchups that C.C. needs to have. And yeah, he's been getting them. And that's why I think he's been so good. He doesn't make a lot of money. He hasn't made a lot of stupid mistakes. Hell, I don't even really think he's made a mistake since probably the opening game against Philadelphia

when he ended up being benched the next game. So he's just been a treat to watch. CC and Matheson are the Penguins do best defense. And right now it's not close. Chris Lank. I thought it was a little bit of a step forward from him tonight. I didn't really think he was terrible. I saw some people complaining about him on Penguins' Twitter.

Kind of disagreed there. I thought defensively he was fine. Offensively, he had that walk in the offensive zone towards the left hand boards on the power play, just skating backward, basically trying to create scoring chances, and his skating is still flawless. I mean, I know I've dumped on Krista Tang a lot on this podcast in recent week just because he hasn't been good.

But, you know, the one positive I'll say about him tonight, you know, well, one of the positives I'll say, about him tonight was that just his skating was on full display, wasn't making a lot of errors in the defensively, you know, just carrying the puck up the ice, I thought he was fine. Like I said, baby steps for him. Gino, you know, we're getting there. You know, I think we're slowly but surely getting there.

He had a little bit of, I think, hop to his game tonight. I think that's the word I want to use, but still, you know, we're not there just yet with Gino. But I will say, you know, on that goal, I think that Zucker scored, I'll talk about Jason Zucker coming up soon on this episode. He was the one that made that goal happen, got the puck along the boards, gave it to Russ behind the net, and he finds a wide open Zucker

and a perfect high danger chance, and our mom, I've had no chance. So that was a great play from Gino, like I said. We can just get his game back to where it usually is. You know, that's just obviously so huge for the scene. I don't need to explain it to you guys. You guys watch the team as much as I do. So, yeah, my overall thoughts on Gino Baby Steps.

Teddy Bluger, I thought, played an outstanding game. There was a tweet from Jesse Marshall It was at 830 I think it was at the end of the second period He had 86% control The 5E5 shot attempts 92% control the 5E5 expected goal share In case people don't know what that means He's basically just a force in the offensive zone

Controlling all the shot attempts in the offensive zone And the goal share So basically the expected goals and all that And he also like I said he had that goal tonight So I do always want to see more of blue your scoring That's a good step in the right direction And then Zach Ashen Reese again Again four points in four games

Yeah, he's going to win the Rostor, the Rocket at this point. That's how good he's been this year. Well, maybe. So we'll see. I'll come back to that the next game and see how he's still doing. But I also will say this before we do get to the next segment. We'll talk about Tristan Jaree some other players. I was noticing this in the third period.

The Penguins had that two-goal lead before they made it 3-0. The Penguins, this was the second time in these last three games that they did not turtle with that third period lead. You remember that game on Sunday on Valentine's Day with the Capitals, protecting that one goal lead. the capitals, they were trading chances with them, but they weren't just like being hemmed in their own zone like we've seen from like past Penguins teams. Even tonight, I think in the third period, they were out shooting the Islanders by a 10 to two margin through, I think, the first 10, 12 minutes of it. I mean, we're not used to seeing the Penguins do that.

Like I said, we're just used to seeing the penguins kind of turtle in the defensive zone, just like, okay, sky hook it. We're just going to bank it off the boards and just ice the puck. That has not been the case these last few games. they are just taking it to the opposition, wanting more. And that's what this team should be doing every single night. And that's honestly what any team should be doing when they have a lead. You don't just sit on the lead.

You go for more. You go for the kill, I think, is my best way of saying it. So that's been very impressive to see the Penguins have been doing that the last few games. And we'll see if that can continue moving forward as we'll get another crack at the Islanders on Saturday. But, okay, there's still a whole lot to get to for this episode. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about Bet Online. It's the fastest and easiest way to bet on all the sports action. Football might be over, but the NBA, college basketball,

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All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked On Pinker. Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show his Twitter at L-O-U-U-U-Skorn. So let's talk some Tristanjari goal-tending. This was by far, and by far his best game of the season. It's not close. When one died, he was seeing the puck so much better, was playing big in his net,

was not giving the Islanders any second scoring opportunities, was shutting them down every time they came into the offensive. zone, whether it's, you know, a two-on-one, Brock Nelson in front of the net. I know he gave up that one goal at the end, the game was basically over at that point, but he was just making some 10-Dell saves that we have not seen Jari make for a lot of this year. And, you know, this is now the third straight game where Jari's put together performance that we saw, you know, during, we watched him playing game four of the return to play against Montreal, and of course the big struts last season when we became an all-star. These last three games are exactly like that. And if he

continue to play like this it's a big if right now of course just because it's a small sample size the penguins will have a shot to win every single night they need average goal tending i think there is a stat from dan hopper says now the penguins are four and one and one when they get goaltending of over 900 hmm i wonder why they're four in one and one it's almost like if this team gets over 900 nine 10 nine 15 goaltending they're going to win almost every game because they have the goal scoring ability to beat other teams that a lot of other teams don't have you know especially you with the top six. And speaking of the top six, you did see Mike Sullivan switch the lines tonight.

He put capping it up with Genselm Crosby, pay dividends. They were just controlling the game every time they went out on on the ice. And then the Zulker Malk and Rust liners reunited. And they didn't missy beat either. Brian Rust, of course, had that empty net goal. I think that's the sixth straight game that he's had a point in. I'm trying to remember, I think this is what, Rustout, I think now has a goal in five of his last six games.

I'm going to actually double-check that real quick for you all as I go to his hockey reference page. I know it's something along those lines. I'm just going to check this. Well, you know, I'm kind of close. Goals now in three of his last four games and with that tonight, that's four goals in his last four games.

So, you know, really starting to heat up. It's great for Brian Russ. And, you know, I'll also take the time here and then talk about Jason Zuckers. You know, I dumped on him on the last episode. He has not been good enough for a lot of this season. I think was held pointless for the last four straight games. But tonight, much better performance,

hit the post, I think, early in the third period on that power play. The Penguins power play did look good again. You know, that's, I think, the third straight game now that they're starting to get a lot more chances, firing more pucks to the net. They're not just passing it to stupid areas and having the opposition clear. You know, they're actually getting some prime high danger chances in front of the net and in the slot, and they're just not going in right now. That's, I think, the big thing to take away from this.

I mean, you saw another chance from Crosby, basically. I think it was at the side, almost at the side of the net, hits the post on another chance He gets nine out of ten times. If we saw that against the Capitals on Tuesday, you know, that's the second time in two games now where Sid just scores a goal nine or ten times, except this time it didn't happen. And then, you know, even the penalty kill,

you know, going into tonight, they had killed off, I think, what, nine of the last ten penalties. I know the Islanders had a power play goal at night, but they did a pretty good job on the Islanders power play. I would say that it's mainly an average power play. I think they're 14th in the league coming in this game, but you can just see the strides

that the Penguins PKK unit is making. I'm really impressed by it. And we'll see if they can continue it on the Saturdays game. But anyways, going back to Jason Zucker, just had a lot more energy, I thought, was skating better, firing more pucks than that. He was rewarded with that awesome pass from Russ behind the net, and he gets his first goal basically since NOM.

And, you know, of course it comes with the Zucker-Malkin Rust line reunited. And I don't think Sullivan is going to touch that line for a while. It worked great early on. Well, it worked great last season. It hasn't worked as well. this season, but, you know, hopefully with the way they play tonight, moving forward, it's going to work like it was last season. But, okay, let's see here.

Other stuff from the game, Astridor's Blue-Ratine line continues to be awesome. The Penguins can won three lines right now. They just need to figure out a solution to the fourth line. Colton Severe was scratched for Drew O'Connor. Jankalski and Lafferty were in the lineup. Same as last game. Lafferty did have a good chance, I think, in the first period. Just didn't put a lot of wood on it.

Vorlamo was able to make an easy. save, excuse me about that, I know it's sounding weird. So my apologies, but, you know, the Penguins' fourth line has just been a problem all season. So all I'm going to say about that is hopefully Ron Hickstall makes the necessary changes that that line needs. So that Mike Sullivan can run it like for however many minutes that he wants. And then they can just put, you know, the Astridis-Bluger-Tanav line down to an actual fourth line and then get McCann when he comes back some actual wingers.

But I absolutely love watching the Ashton-Rees line go to work just in both zones. They're just, it's one of the best third-fourth lines. Well, in terms of fourth lines, it's one of the best fourth lines in hockey third line. You know, I maybe lean towards more of an average. Third line, I just want to see them score a bit more. And then for other stuff, you know, just for making fun of the Islanders a little bit, Barry Trots decided to pull the goalie at the perfect time. And I mean the exact perfect time, he pulls him, the Penguins get possession of the puck,

and then they have a 2-0 going the other way. Jason Zucker, a beautiful, unselfish play. He could have easily have just been a dick and said, you know what? I'm just going to take the shot here. Fuck you, Brian Russ. But no, he passed it to Rust who gets his fourth goal in four games. You know, that's people in the locker room remember that. I'm just going to say that, you know, that's something that obviously I'm sure they'll joke about.

But, you know, players remember that shit. So I absolutely thought it was hilarious that Zucker was able to just be very unselfish with that play because he used to have just been a total ass and be like, nah, I'm taking this one. Other stuff, you know, Matt Martin, you know, went full Piss Baby mode, you know, like a certain someone from 2016, you know, on another New York team. I'm sure you guys will know who that is. He flipped up goalie. Excuse me, he flipped the goal off its moorings.

I'm sure you guys will remember that play for an eternity. And then for some reason, Scott Mayfield was trying to fight of Gunny Malkin at the end of the game. It's like, did Trevor Gillies take over the Islanders bench there or something like that? I really didn't understand why the Islanders were just trying to seek some retribution there. I guess it was because Mike Matheson had that low-key kind of dirty cross-check at the end of the game on Matt Barzell. I hate those kind of cross-decks. There's no place for them in the game. It was a perfect game for Mike Matheson up until that point.

He just needs to get that out of his game. But, you know, that's probably hopefully things. Probably not going to do that for the rest of the season. Let's see here. I'm trying to see if I've missed anyone from this game. Captain played great. Gensel looked good again. Pedersen was fine.

Joseph was fine. Already touched on the goalie. Already touched on the fourth line. Third line. Yeah, I think that's basically it. This was just a really great win for the Penguins, a win that they desperately needed. I mean, you know, these next couple weeks, they're going to need. all the points they can get, especially if they want to catch the Islanders and the Capitals.

The Capitals did win again tonight. They beat the Buffalo Sabres. And boy, oh, boy, the Sabres are in some deep trouble right now because if they keep losing, Jack Eagel's probably going to want out sooner rather than later. But we still have a little more to get to for this episode, which includes the listener takeaways. So before I do get to that, I do have to say one thing. Early on in the game, I really don't understand why NHL officials refuse to call blatant

cross checks. I know I've ranted about this on the podcast for it was honestly probably a couple days ago, but you know, it was they ignored that one on Scott Mayfield and then they'll call. I think it was Sid on like a tiki-taki hooking call or whoever it was. I know Sid took a penalty. It might have been someone else. But it's like, I mean, really NHL refs? I mean, if I drink a shot every time the officials just don't call blatant cross-checking, you'd probably be drunk within 30 seconds. It'd be like a freaking college frat party. So I just, I don't understand their refusal to not call blatant cross-checks. but call a little ticky-tackey hooking slashing calls.

It's just something I'll never understand. But, okay, before we do get to the next segment, it is time to talk about rockado.com. It's a family business serving auto bar customers online for 20 years. You can go to rocka-o.com to shop for auto and body parts from hundreds of manufacturers. The catalog on the site is unique and remarkably easy to navigate. You can quickly see all the parts available for your vehicle and choose the brands. Specifications and prices you prefer.

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I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguin. So let's get to the listener takeaways. It's always fun to do this. segment. I always appreciate you guys sending these in. Gilbert says huge win. The second line was phenomenal tonight. Defensively, everyone was great as well. Jari's really woken up and it's starting to look like his old self again. I thought the power play was better and should have

had a couple. Crosby also needs to score those wide open opportunities. Again, man, 110%. You know, the Zulker Malk and Russ Line is picking up where they left off from last year. Three straight games with Jari being awesome. Power play continues to look good. The chances are going to go in if they continue to be this good. And yeah, man, Sid needs to start scoring on these opportunities like he does 9 out of 10 times. Clark says he's a forward and you know it's true. Talking about Mike Matheson, yes, Mike Matheson is playing like a forward. So, you know, he's always going to call Matheson.

He's going to die on that hill. Frytime says, just what they needed, great at times. And when they weren't, Jari, was fantastic efforts by Zulker and Matheson, amongst others. 110% man, you know, this was Zucker's best game, probably since the fourth or fifth game of the year. And Matheson, yeah, best game probably of his career, to be honest. Iris, AJ says, top three lines. are 100% correct now.

Leave them alone now Sullivan. It's maybe not time to try Zucker or captain in place of Gino and Dumlin. In place of Latang on the power play, it's terrible, and those are the cause of a lot of issues. Yeah, I mean, I could see them taking Latang off the power play. But if you take Latang off, what defenseman do you want to put on there? I mean, maybe John Marino. I could see them putting Dumlin on there. Gino, I think they're going to leave on there just because of how he played tonight.

But it wouldn't surprise me if he continues to struggle like he has been for most of the season. that they could put Zucker or cap on the top power play. But, you know, I think this was a little bit of more of a step in the right direction for Gino. I really do think that. So thank you for sending that one in. Felipe Sautchuk says Mike Matheson or Paul Coffey. What a game. Yeah, man, he literally looked like Paul Coffey out there.

So, okay, that one gave me a good laugh. Thank you very much for that. And yes, what a game it was for the Penguins. Alex Stevens says, a great physical game by the Penguins. Jarre was excellent and really deserved a shutout. It was nice to see us get under the skin of our opposition, too. Yeah, you know, I honestly kind of love when the penguins get the Islanders all riled up. I've never stood that franchise and never will, just for multiple reasons.

So it was nice to see the Islanders get a little mad at the end of the game. And yes, I think it was a good physical game by the Penguins, and Jari again was outstanding as well. Alan Tioder says, I agreed that game was great. First time not trailing at all. Yep, you are right, Alan. That is the first time the penguins have not trailed at all during a game or was tied at all for a game. Jari looked good again, still upset about the 5E3, but that puck look, I guess will always go our way. I'm just surprised they did that

against the Islanders, to be honest. Yeah, man, I mean, that five on three power play was awesome. It's just, you know, sometimes the pucks are going to go in, sometimes they're not. You know, the movement was great. They weren't forcing stupid passes on that five on three. It's just for a while. I've made a couple saves, and then, Crosby and Rust just shanks some of their chances.

You know, that's probably not going to happen on other five on threes that they get this season. But I think just a couple more now before we do call it an episode. Mr. Noodal says, solid game. Jarry was stiller. Power play's doing good. Things just can't by a goal. Four and five are playing well. The four and five are playing well. The fourth line was better without Severe. Severe, 71, sometimes not right with him, so it just lacks effort.

Nice to see the defense tying up players in front of the net. Yeah, man, 100% agree with you on that. Jari was awesome. Best game of the season. Power play, still looking good. They're just not buying a goal, like you said. Matheson and C.C., yeah, man, they're two best offense in right now. Severe, I think, is going to get traded at some point.

I've just never been a fan of him. I think he stinks. I don't know why he was honestly brought over in that trade with Matheson. And then, yeah, 71. One, the effort tonight I honestly thought was better, to be honest. He started to look a little bit more like himself. Like I said, I thought there was more hop to his game, but still, not where he needs to be, that's for sure.

And yeah, man, the defense, much better at tying up players in front of the net. And then we'll also end here with Tim Fritz. Whole team looked better than they have. Top to bottom, fourth line, still not great, but better than they have been. Zucker was flying around tonight. Matheson was unreal. Jari is now at 933% percentage over the last three games. To that last point, Tim, thank you for telling me that.

I was honestly considering looking that up. But, yeah, 933 Sapish, over his last three games, that's definitely a lot like how he was last season when he was an all-star. If the Penguins can get that kind of goal-tending the rest of the way, that's a playoff lock right there. But will they? Probably not,

but I've always said 9-10, 9-15, at least, for this team to get in. Yeah, you know, hopefully they can keep up the momentum. That's three wins now in their last four games. You know, hopefully they just don't lay an egg on Saturday at home when they play the Islanders again just because they have to go to Washington and New York again next week.

but I really appreciate you all sending these in. I always love doing this segment. And we'll do this another one on, well, we'll do another one on Monday of next week, I should say. Just because the team plays on Saturday for tomorrow's episode, I am going to be having a special guest on. He's never been on the podcast before. So I'll basically just leave it at that. Thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And I will talk to you all on Friday.