Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A historical game for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday!

Episode Date: March 29, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins made a lot of history on Sunday against the Detroit Red Wings! Hunter starts off the show by going into all the history the Penguins made, including the 11 goals, Evgeni Malkin's game-winning goal, and a whole lot more. He then gets into how the game was closer than it looked, but goaltending made a massive difference yet again. He also brings up Teddy Blueger's outstanding game and how the penalty kill continues to improve as he's in. Is Blueger a top-five PKer in the league? Hunter ponders that question and backs it up with some stats and notes, before getting into Jeff Carter and a small turnaround that he's had the last couple of games. He also touches on Brian Boyle and how he was able to play a good game before getting to the new guy: Rickard Rakell! He got his first goal as a Penguin and it was a BEAUTY! He looks at how physical he's been since coming over, plus had a lineup discussion as Jason Zucker is nearing a return from his hernia. Who comes out when he and McGinn are ready to go? Is Rodrigues' spot safe? He looks at the numbers for him, especially on the top line, but also looks at the lack of production that could be his downfall. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!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.

You all ready to have some fun? I know all of yins are definitely ready to have some fun with this episode. A lot of historical artifacts to go over after the Penguins 11 to team beat down of the Detroit Red Wings. I'm going to go over my thoughts on that game and what that meant for the Penguins moving forward. We're also going to hopefully do a small preview for Tuesday's massive matchup against the New York Rangers. I have all of that and a whole lot more coming up right after this drop. You're locked on Penguins. your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins

part of the Locked-on Podcast Network your team every day hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast I am your host Hunter Hodes I'm gonna follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes follow the show's Twitter at L-O-Nsport Pingu's episode is brought to you by Bet Online.

Bet-O-L-LIN has you covered this season with more props, odds, and lines than ever before that has been online where the game starts and always, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So we are here for another episode of this podcast as the Pittsburgh Penguins absolutely destroyed the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday evening in 11 to 2 final score. Penguins are the first team in the salary cap era to ever score 11 goals in one game. They're also the first team in the NHL to score 11 goals in the game since 2003.

when the Washington Capitals did that, and guess who was on that team? Yarmir Yager. There's a nice little fun fact for you all. But that day, I was right after Yager left the Penguins, of course. Also, the Penguins had a short-handed goal on that game. Fun fact, that was the Penguins' first short-handed goal

against the Red Wing since February of 2017 when Tom Koonakle, two-time Extermly Cup champion, scored a shorty against Detroit. Penguins also hit. the 40 win mark yesterday. You know, this is, they have the most 40 plus win seasons since 2006, 7. So basically, you know, of all these salary cap era, the Penguins have the most, you know, 40 plus win seasons during that.

You know, this is now the 14th 40 plus win season for the Penguins, San Jose has 12. Washington's at 11, national's 11, and Boston is at 11. This fan base is forever spoiled. And you all will always be a spoiled fan. base. This was also the Penguins first time they've scored 10 plus goals in a game since 2012, Game 4, Philadelphia Flyers. That was a 10 to 3 final. Jordan Stahl had a hat trick. I'm pretty sure Steve Sullivan also scored that game. Chris LaTang scored in that one. I think, yeah, Matt Cook had a goal and that one too. But that was also the game where I believe a Flyers fan

and gave Jordan's doll the double bird after he got the hat trick. I actually went back. Danny Shire of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports touched on it and tweet to me, went back and watched him. Sure enough, Jordan did get a couple birds from some Flyers fans after that. So definitely a lot of history when it comes to this game. But, you know, overall, looking at this performance, this was a very good game by the Penguins.

And I know the numbers may not see that. The shots were pretty even. and the score effects were also pretty even shot attempts for, scoring chances for, let me take a sip of water. Sorry about that. You know, scoring chances, shot attempts, high danger, expected goals. It was all pretty close. But the fact of the matter was the Red Wings got some awful goaltending in that game.

I don't understand why Alex Nadelgivich started that game. I'm going to get to that in just a second. But, you know, the Penguins were also able to finish their chances a lot better than they normally do. And, you know, it didn't matter if it was short-handed five-on-five or on that power play. The Penguins were making some beautiful, you know, cross-ice passes. You know, there's one power play goal. I think that Rust had about three beautifully executed high-danger passes in a row. And then Sid was able to somehow fit that last one into Brian.

He's able to put that one in an end of MD-N. I still don't know how Sid is doing that at this age. But, you know, I'm never going to be a person to doubt Cindy Crosby. That's for sure. But at the end of the day, the Red Wings got bad goals, and the Penguins finish their chances, and this is what you get.

I also will say, I think part of it was due to the penguins being super pissed off. You don't piss off the Pittsburgh Penguins and get away with it. I said that on the National show on Monday morning. You can go check that out with Gil Martin. I was just on around the 4-1-2

with Smitty and Tyler Weeks. Go check out their show. They do an amazing job with Pirate Stewers and Penguins. But the fact of the matter is, It was only a matter of time for how this team was going to respond. And from the opening shift against Detroit, and I said to myself, all right, they looked a hell of a lot better than they did on Friday against New York, and a lot better than they did on Wednesday, I'm in Buffalo.

And that's how you snap out of a little funk and start playing some better hockey, especially now with right now or close to four and a half weeks away from the playoffs at this point. But, you know, Detroit was skating in mud, you know, for part of that game. they were coming off a back-to-back because they lost to Tampa Bay the day before. I believe that was a two-to-one final. Adelka started that, and the lightning scored with like five minutes left and a third. It would look like it was about to go to overtime, actually.

But, you know, the penguins, you know, they used the rest to their advantage. Just like the Rangers did on Friday, the penguins definitely had some very tired legs. But this time they didn't. They were to have a nice day of rest on Saturday after some practice. and then they come out on Sunday, guns are blazing, even though the score effects and the shots were really close. They were still the better team. And, you know, that's how you beat the lower teams in the conference.

You want to secure a playoff berth and you want to go out and get home ice for at least one round in the playoffs. I don't think they're going to win the division at this point. These are the kind of games you have to win, especially with how the schedule is going to be moving forward. I have Colorado twice coming up. Minnesota, the Rangers twice, Nashville still, Washington, Boston twice, the Islanders two more times. You know, Ed Edmonton is at the end of April.

This is going to be the gauntlet phase two for the penguins. And, you know, you got to clean up your points against the bad teams in the NHL, and that's exactly what the penguins did. You know, Detroit, they're not a basement dwelling team. You know, I think this is probably, you know, compared to recent years, they're a lot better. They actually have NHL talent that they can put on that roster now.

Mosider is an incredible defenseman. Nielkevich is usually a better goalie than what we saw yesterday. And I think it's only really a matter of time before Steve Irisman has them on the right track. He's one of the best general managers in hockey. But, I mean, it was what the Penguins did yesterday was just flat out embarrassing to Detroit.

That's for sure. And obviously, Evgeny Malkin gets the hatchet. He's up to 16 goals now. only four away from another 20 goal season. It is crazy to me that he's already almost at 20, and he's been playing for two and a half months. I mean, this guy is unreal. And his skating is only continuing to get better.

He had a beautiful Gino bomb for one of his goals. You know, when he's really starting to get that one timer going, you know it's pretty serious. And, no, he was skating. Sorry about that. Just fine when he originally came back. But right now, he looks like a completely different player. Knock on wood, if he doesn't get hurt.

And he skating continues to be like this going into the playoffs. I'm not telling you, man, the Penguins are going to be one tough out, to say the least. He also, he had the game winning goal yesterday because the Revenants, they had two of their goals, but, you know, Malkins' third one, well, the Penguins' third goal was Malkins. And it's now 73 career game winning goals. If I check my notes here, one away from tying Yarmir Yager for the most game winning goals in franchise history. I am sure Gino is going to pass him either this season or probably next season this rate. That is a record that he'll have, at least for right now, until potentially Cindy Crosby passes him.

Another historical artifact for you all. Cindy Crosby, only a few points away now from 1,400. NHL points. I believe the total right now is 1394, about four away from Alexander Ovechkin. I mean, Sid's going to pass him when it's all set him down, in my opinion. You know, the fact that, I mean, he's only four away, and Ovechkin's played in almost 200 more games. That's just, that's crazy to say the least, Sid right now, tied for 23rd all-time in NHL scoring with Luke Robatai. once he passes him.

Yari Curry's at 22, a vetchen's at 21. Dale Howarduck is at 20 with 14.09. Sid is going to climb this. He'll be in the top 15 by next season. Stan McKee is at 1467 right now. Other than that, you know, with Paul Coffey at 1531, Mark Recky, 1533,

Joe Thorne at 1536 right now. We'll have to see if he can crack the top 10, which has Phil Esposito right now with 1590. I would be really curious to see if Sid can finish his career with 1600. that would be, excuse me, just, you know, awesome at this point. So this first segment made me a lot of historical artifacts, but, you know, great game by the Pittsburgh Penguins, a bounceback win that they needed to have because they were struggling those last couple of games.

And, you know, this is what contending teams do, you know, when the coach calls them out a little bit and, you know, when Sid, you know, I wouldn't say he calls out the rest of the team, but he said, you know, I know I need to be a lot better and the rest of the team needs to be a lot better. I mean, they back that up with this kind of win. That just goes to show what kind of group on this team is, to say the least. Have a lot more to get to for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast, including, you know, why Detroit even started Alex Ndelkevich. The penalty kill was awesome and a whole lot more. We got to get into some depth talk with, you know, maybe is Ed Rodriguez going to come out of the lineup when the team is knock on woodfully healthy.

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All right, we're back down there here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoodies. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So getting into some of the other goals that were scored in that game, the shorty came courtesy of Jeff Carter. It's nice to see that, you know,

he's starting to play a while after some people on Penguins' Twitter called him out. And don't get me wrong. I think Carter has definitely been struggling a little bit these last few weeks. He's not been the same player that we all saw last year, though. Did anyone expect him to have that same kind of production that we saw when he had 16 points in 20 games? That's just that was not going to happen. Sorry about that had to take another sip of water. I'm going to be doing that a lot more.

I feel like my mouth just gets so dry when I just talk and talk for 25 or 30 minutes. But, you know, it was nice to see him on the score sheet again. That's his second straight game with a goal. I believe now he has three goals in his last nine games total. I like him on the PK. It's been a nice role to have him in ever since Zach Anthony's was straight. He wasn't really getting too many penalty-killing minutes, if I'm not mistaken, when I've been watching all these games.

So it's a nice new inkling, I guess, for Mike Sullivan's trying to do, and he got rewarded with a short-handed goal. But that was also made possible by Teddy Bluger. And, you know, I think it's beyond time that people start talking about him as a top five penalty killer in the NHL. And, you know, my evidence, you know, I can give you all the numbers that I want, you know, what the P.K looks like, you know, numbers wise with him in it versus when he's not in it. But I can also just use the eye test and see that, you know, he does so much on that, you know, whether it's, you know, getting clears that other players can't, you know,

forechecking, I shouldn't even say for checking the defense zone. That doesn't even make any sense. You know, whether it's, you know, just digging for loose pucks along the boards, even when he's outnumbered getting them and still getting them out. And then, heck, you know, setting up those short-handed chances. He is so great. It is a night and day difference for the P.K. When Teddy Bougar is on it versus when he's off of it.

And, you know, the percentages obviously went down to 70 to 75%. when he was off it, now it's going back up. And again, you know, I wonder why. You know, he also scored a goal yesterday, a pass from Redeems Sohorna. He did some damage at 5B 5, 2. He is, I'm not going to say an era, well, he's close, he's as close to an irreplaceable player as you can get. That's not one of, like, the big core players.

He's been that good this year. And he continues to develop into a very, very solid, you know, third to Fort Fine Center. So I can't be more happy with him right now. Just doing a great job killing penalties. Heck, even against the Rangers, when the Rangers had a few power plays, they really couldn't get anything going because, you know, a lot of that has to do with today at Bluebeard, I'm to say the least. Brian Boyle, he gets his eighth goal of the year. He was the one, of course, that actually got the goal number 10 for the Penguins. They got the Penguins first time that's going 10 in a decade. You know, I, again, I thought this was a nice game for him.

It was a good bounce back from Brian because against New York and Buffalo, you can definitely see that his legs weren't there. And, you know, that's, I think that's one of my biggest worries with him going into a playoff series. You know, how are those old man legs going to, I guess, you know, what's the word I'm looking for, I guess? Oh, hold up, of course. You know, in a seven game series against some of the fastest teams in the league.

Do I think if this team is fully healthy? is he in the playoff lineup? Probably not. I think people can make a case for it, but I think he's still better served this point as a 13th, the 14th forward. I love what he's brought this year. Obviously, he's big in the locker room. All of his teammates love him. I mean, all that. He's backed up, you know, that was some strong on ice play for a lot of this season. But, you know, I still don't think when the team is fully healthy, he should be in the top 12. That's just my opinion. It was still nice to see him get on the scoreboard. Ricard Raquel, a beautiful goal for his first as a penguin.

He's been getting, you know, as close to ever, you know, for scoring. You know, a couple really nice saves by Adelkevich before he got chased. There was a time against Buffalo. He went one V3 against them. Almost made everyone drop their trousers and just basically change them at this point. You know, he's been playing really well. And he's also a lot more physical than I thought he would be. I know the penguins are not a physical team.

I don't need them to be. This is a speed and skill. team, you know, just like, you know, a team like Tampa, you know, Florida, I think is that way to Colorado especially. But, you know, Ricard can really throw the lumber. I mean, he's, he's fun to watch hit at least a few times. And, you know, I know that's probably maybe a little boomer of me. You know, I'm not really too big on the hitting and stuff. I know, I do like a clean hit, you know, once a game or something like that. But, you know, he's been, he's been definitely making a difference in that department, to say the least. Gennie Malkins goal.

he definitely made me, and I think a lot of other Penguin fans had to change their shorts after what he did to the Red Wings for his second goal, just knifing through guys left and right. And then being able to finish that, that was just a peak Gino goal. When he's playing like this, good luck stopping him. You know, he's one of the five best players in hockey, you know, when he's at this level. I mean, I've heard, I've read people say on social media and stuff that, you know, when he was in his peak all the time. And when he was really going,

he was potentially even better than a peak, Sidney Crosby. And honestly, you know, with how he was in that, his heart trophy season. You know, at times after that, especially in the playoffs, I don't really think that's arguable,

to say the least. He was a man on a mission and that game. And I wonder, you know, do people still think that of Guinea Malcon hurts the structure? Do people still think the penguins can't win without Gino or, you know,

already putting those weird takes to bed, as I've seen some people still saying, oh, is plus minus or whatever dumb stat that doesn't even matter to be put out there. And it's just like, you know, the team is winning games. They're obviously so much better when he's in the lineup. I do not want to hear people blur out those takes. If you are one of those people, I just, I feel sorry for you, to say the least. But, you know, what a goal that was. And, you know, speaking of, you know, Nadelcovich, Detroit-wise, I don't even know why he started this game. I understand, you know, Calvin Picard, he's not the greatest backup goaltender,

but you just played a game the day before. You're out of the playoff race at this point. Why are you starting your starter when he just faced a ton of shots the day before against a very stacked Tampa Bay Lightning team? You know, it's something that I definitely do not understand. I don't really know what Jeff Blaschell is doing there. I think, honestly, in my opinion, I don't think Jeff Blachel is going to be in Detroit next year. I think he, sorry about that.

I think he honestly probably needs to be fired at this point. He's going to ruin some young players that they have there. Hopefully it's not Raymond or Sider, you know, Larkin and, you know, Tyler Bertusian and all those guys. But, you know, I just, I have a bad feeling about his tenure. It's crazy that he's still even there, considering that the Red Wings have barely even made the playoffs during his tenure. So I think I have almost every single guy. I already said the Brian Russ Power Play.

Well, that was just some mint passing. I mean, again, three in a row high danger passes. It is crazy that, you know, I think Adam Gretz of Pensborough, and pro hockey talk said this best. That's a play that you scream when you love it because they try it. But when they try it and it doesn't work and the fastest get picked off, you say, oh, don't try this ever again. It's just, it's funny to see the double standard, right?

You know, to say the least. But, you know, I'm going to just make sure I grab everything here from my notes and all that for the goals. I believe I do have on everything, you know, Cindy Cosby, he got on the score sheet again with three points, one of them goals, of course. Dayton Hinen, he was able to get his 14th of the year, three away now from having a new career high.

He had 16 with the Boston Ruins a few years ago. Would not be surprised if he has 17 on this year. He's been quite the depth signing, to say the least. Coming over the next segment, we're going to go into some potential. lineup decisions as the team hopefully continues to get fully healthy. There's some really good news on the Jason Zucker front. And if I have time, I'm going to preview a very massive game for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday. So stick around for that coming up after this commercial break.

All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locktime Penguins Podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoddies. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So I saw this during the game. one is basically out of reach. This came courtesy of I have written down here. Yes. Josh Yowie of the athletic, one of my favorite writers, been on the show so many times. I'll have the utmost respect for him. He's a great person. But I definitely disagreed with him when he said that Dan Heinen could be a potential scratch in the playoffs. I don't really know where that's coming from, personally. The guy has 14 goals this year. He's the perfect depth score for this team. He's

fit Mike Sullivan's system to a T. If there is a, a player that you're thinking about bringing out of the lineup when the team is fully healthy with Brock McGahn and Jason Zuckerback, it's probably Evan Rodriguez. And, you know, I know what the underlying numbers say on that top line with Jake Gensel and Cindy Crosby. They expect goals lately. I think it's been above 80%. There are courses right around 65 to 70, I'm pretty sure. They have better underlying numbers with Rodriguez up there than they do with Brian Rust. However, there's the kicker. Evan Rodriguez, fully production-wise,

has two goals in his last 33 games. That's not good enough. You have players in waiting with a fully healthy lineup, like Redeems O'Hourna. He's been really good in the lineup. He got his first goal of the season just a couple of games ago. Excuse me. I had a really nice pass to Teddy Bluger.

to get the primary assist on his goal against the Red Wings on Sunday. I could definitely see him staying in the lineup if Mike Sullivan wants him to. Remember, he's also on a one-way deal next year. So I do think he's probably going to be on this team no matter what next year. But I do want to see more of him down the stretch. And if that comes at the expense of scratching of Rodriguez, is, I'm not really going to mind that too much because, you know, he's had the time here to, you know, get back to some of that production that we saw early in the year. You know, I'm not going to sit here and say he's going to score six goals and 10 games again to end the year and have, what, 13 points in 10 games like he was during that really hot stretch.

That's whatever. But I do want to see more of a pulse from him at this point because it hasn't been there lately. So if there's a roster decision to make Penguins-wise, it's definitely involving Edmund Rodriguez. Defensively, I think they're set. Though I will say, I am starting to get a little more concerned with Brian Gimlin. This player that I've loved ever since he came up from Wilkesbury, he had a great tryout during the 2014-15 series against the Rangers

when the team was decimated by injuries. Crystal Tang was out of that series. I'm pretty sure Lama didn't even play that series. But, you know, this year, I don't know if it's the aging curve catching up to him just because he's 30 now or if he's playing through an injury, but it's not good. And what they do this summer surrounding him is going to be really interesting. Obviously, we're going to cross that bridge when we come to it. But, you know, I can't help but, you know, not be concerned right now that his play has been slipping. and honestly, you know, for all of you, in my opinion,

I think his play has been dipping for the last couple of weeks. It's just not been the same doomling that I'm used to seeing, even defensively. It looks like he's scared to even take contact, not winning a lot of puck battles like he used to. Offensively, I know his game has really not been there, but even that has also regressed even, you know, further down. And that's also scared me a little bit as well. So, you know, if there's one concern really,

that I have with the team right now, other than maybe Trusenjari barking all over himself in the playoffs again, though I don't think that's going to happen. It's potentially the play of Brian Dumlin on the top pairing base. He can't afford to bring Chris Letang down, to say the least. But, you know, as I promised, also, Jason Zucker is back skating with the team. Full non-contact capacity right now. It's only a matter of time before he's full contact.

I would say within the next week or two, he is going to be back playing. nope, there's going to be some tough lineup decisions for Mike Sullivan to have. Brock McGinn, I think it's not far behind him. He's already starting to skate. Has one hand on his deck. He doesn't have the hand that has the cast on it, which leads me to believe that it's a broken hand slash a broken wrist or something like that. So, you know, the penguins, they're getting closer here.

It's about four and a half weeks to go to being fully healthy. Next up, a massive, and I mean a massive game on Tuesday night against New York Rangers. They absolutely crushed Pittsburgh on Friday night 5 to 1 at MSG. The Penguins are going to come out for them with blood. I'm going to say that right now. You are not going to see that kind of performance on Tuesday night. Take it to the Bay. I don't know if the Penguins are going to win the game,

but I'm going to say it right now. They are going to come out here with a much better effort, to say the least. That's going to be a great game. I'm going to try to see if I can have Nick Zeraris of the Upper Bool GM podcast on on Friday or Wednesday's episode. We also have a crossover episode. episode coming up this week with Saptopo of Locked on Wild because the Wild have been really good lately.

And of course, the Penguins go to Minnesota to play the Wild on Thursday before traveling to the Pepsi Center on Saturday to play the Avalanche. I always love playing. I'll always love watching Avalanche play. There's such a fun team. But that would do it for this episode. Just an amazing win by the Penguins. And I believe the magic number right now.

I'll leave you all with this. It's 11 to 12. The Islanders and the Blue Jackets can only reach 100. in one points. Those are the ninth and tenth place teams. Penguins need 11 points overall to tie that. And basically, right now, guys, about 15 games. The Penguins need to win five games to crunch a playoffs.

Well, honestly, probably not even that because the Islanders and the Blue Jackets are not going to win the remaining 16 to 18 games. So honestly, it's probably three to five wins at this point gets into the playoffs. Obviously, the Penguins have way, higher aspirations than just get into the dance. But I just wanted to put that out there. The Penguins are very close to clinching their spot. And in the same-in-the-cut playoffs once again.

So that I'll do it for this episode. I appreciate all of you listening to this one. Obviously, a very happy episode and a very historic game to talk about. But I'll be back on Tuesday for a full game recap for that big game against the Rangers. And then on Wednesday, I think we'll have a crossover with September of the Wild and then we'll recap that game on Thursday. Again, thank you all so much for listening, and I will talk to you all on Tuesday.