Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - A home-and-home with the Buffalo Sabres is on tabs for the red-hot Pittsburgh Penguins!

Episode Date: December 9, 2022

Even though Hunter is a little sick, the content never sleeps. Hunter starts Thursday's episode with a full preview of the home-and-home against the Buffalo Sabres and why these matchups are always tricky. He looks at how Tage Thompson has been this season and why he is priority number one for the Penguins if they want to win one, if not both games on the back-to-back. He also looks at some of the other offensive weapons that they have and discusses what the Penguins need to do differently to make sure they don't sleepwalk in the third period again like they did the last time the two teams played. After that, he goes into some practice notes as Kris Letang was welcomed back. When is he going to come back? He then discusses the Penguins' lineup and how there could be a change among the forwards since Josh Archibald wasn't at practice. Also: Which goalie will start in which game? All that, plus much more on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.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 “LOCKEDON15,” 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!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL to learn more.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK 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.

Hey everyone, happy Thursday, December 8th for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. We're going to preview the back-to-back that the Penguins have coming up. Another one. They just can't get rid of these back-to-backs. The Penguins are usually not bad in the first half, but the second half, that's when it usually gets dicey. We're going to preview both games here, even though they're both against Sabres, how the Penguins can win both of them, how they can slow down Hage Thompson. Also look at some of the other offensive threats that the Sabers have,

look at how they've been doing this season. And we'll also get into some practice updates for the Penguins, what lineup you will likely see for both those games, which goalie will start and which one. We'll also get into Chris LaTang and how he might be inching closer to a return from his stroke. So look for all that 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 Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You also follow the shows Twitter, Ellen Rorsch to Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first

listen of the day. I am really feeling it right now. I have a brutal cold. It's hilarious. So one week after I move here and I'm already sick as a dog, and again, I don't usually get sick as much. But it feels like everyone I talk to right now has been dealing with something flu, not really a lot of COVID, but, you know, flu, cold, other stuff. I guess it's just that time of year. We know when these viruses are really making a return just because, you know, we're a few years in the pandemic. So, everything is just coming together now.

So just take care of yourselves, wash your hands, stay healthy. I'm definitely trying to. That's for sure. I'm recording this with a very stuffy nose. And my voice, definitely not the same. But, hey, you know, there's a podcast. There's a podcast to record here. I apologize for an episode on Wednesday.

I felt a lot worse yesterday. Today, a little bit better, but not as good as I want it to be. But let's get into it here. So the Penguins will play the Sabres on Friday night. They will then come home to play the Sabres again on Saturday night. I'm potentially going to look for tickets to that game if I'm actually feeling a lot closer to 100% right now. If I were going to go, I would say no, because I'm just not, I'm not feeling good right now. But I am going to potentially look to see if I can get some cheap tickets for that game.

I will definitely be at the game, though, on Monday. against Dallas. So if you are going to that game, let me know. Love to meet up with you and talk some penguins hockey. Then I should be going to the game against Carolina that next Thursday, from what I recall correctly. So there's my little schedule there. As for the Sabres, they are coming off a 9-4 drubbing of the Columbus Blue Jackets.

That actually might be the worst loss in Blue Jackets history. They were down 6-0 at the end of the first period. Tage Thompson also scored a hat-trick in 12 minutes. I've been watching a lot of hockey for all my life. It's rare when you see a player score three goals in 12 minutes. Heck, he had four goals in the first period. And then he had five. He had five goals, not even halfway through the second period.

Everyone was hoping that he was going to go for the NHL record, which was seven, which was set back, I think, in 1920-something. It was not even Wayne Gretke or anyone like that. It was set a long, long, a long-long time ago. but he only played like a few minutes in a third period and it's like you know what buffalo you guys are a bunch of cowards for that i wish he would have played a little bit more so he could get a double hydric or potentially tire break the initial record but five goals is something you really do not see every day i know i've seen johan franz and do it about a decade ago a couple other

players i think during this generation i've done it as well but the one that takes out to me is johan fron obviously and you know tage thompson mike solomon said it today. He's like, he had a question from one of the media members. How are you going to win this game? He goes, well, we don't want Tage Thompson to score five goals. That is basically, that's it, Mike. I mean, and you know what, Thompson, he's killed the penguins over the years. It's almost every time these two teams play, you know, it's Thompson scores. So the Penguins are going to have to be on a high alert for him. I will say this about him. he signed that contract over the Aussies member seven years.

What was it, 50 million? I said it best of my Twitter account. I'm like, $7 million for a guy who had one good season, really high shooting percentage. Before that, didn't really show anything about, you know, didn't really show anything about being that kind of player. Tate Thompson said, screw you, Hunter, screw you the rest of the people that were dunking on me. I'm going to go out there and not only repeat what I did last season, but do it at a higher level. He has been electric for the Sabres this year.

I will gladly eat Crow on that. That matchy might be one of my biggest old takes exposed tweets right there when it comes to the Tate Johnson contract. He has been everything and so much more for the Sabres. You know, he is priority number one for the Penguins. He is centering that top line right now with Jeff Skinner and Alex Tuck, both players who are also having good years. Second line, Jack Quinn, Dylan Cousins, and then John, Jason, Peterka. No, Bits is. This is the thing about the Sabres.

You go down their lineup, K.C. Minnals Stad, Tyson, Yos, Victor Olson, Payne, Kraz, Kyle, Opososos, Emkins, Ergensonsons. You know, their forwards are not bad. I like their top six. Their top line is pretty nice. Outside of that, though, their defense is a bit shaky, and they've gotten horrendous goaltending throughout basically this entire season. They are basically what I was thinking Ottawa was going to be this season,

like the Senators, good forward group, bad defense, men goaltending, but they're fun to watch. And that is, I think, that is basically what you can describe the Buffalo Sabers as. They're fun to watch for the first time in probably eight or nine years. At this point, they have good young forwards. Their defense outside of Rosmas, Dahlene is a little bit shaky for my liking. I know Owen Power is going to turn into a good player as well, but Dahlene is really showing why he is the number one overall pick.

Dali, I mean, oh, power, excuse me, not there just yet, but he's still relatively young. But the rest of that defensive core, not the greatest, but then the goal tending tandem, which consists of Craig Anderson and Ukopheka Lukinen, you know, not the best. I'm not really sure which goalie the penguins are going to see on Friday. It'll be one of the two. The penguins, you know, they'll have a goaltending advantage, I think, in both those games. It's all a matter of, you know, can they get the saves and can they limit Cage Thompson from scoring. You know, Buffalo, overall, this season, when you look at the standings, they're not

in playoff contention. They're really towards the bottom of the Atlantic. 12 and 13 and 1, though, it's funny, they're only six points out of fourth in the division behind the Red Wings. They're only eight points behind the Lightning, but they're also four points from being in last behind the Ottawa Center. So, you know, they are towards the bottom of that division. I don't think they're a playoff team just yet. I think they need to make a few more moves to get to that status. But, you know, all that matters with them is that is, you know, they need to show some progress this year and start, you know, really getting a move on this rebuild because they were rebuilding for so long. That didn't work. And then they did a rebuild of that rebuild and that slowly

starting to come together because they do have some pieces there from that rebuild that are playing row right now. Heck, you know, tuck and Peyton Crabs that are doing well. From the Eichael trade, obviously, Tage Thompson. He came in the O'Reilly trade. Other than that, from the O'Reilly trade, one else is still on the sabers. Dalian is awesome. He can really move the puck. He's been killing it for my fantasy hockey team on this season. And, excuse me, and Jeff Skinner, you know, he's also, he's been having a good year on that top line. It makes a lot of money, but, you know, he's still a pretty decent sniper. And then Dylan Cousins, he's a pretty solid second line center as well. Victor Oliveson, good on the power play for them. So for the Penguins,

slowly down to H. Thompson, that's priority number one, you know, getting traffic in front of their goalies because their goaltenders have not been good this season. And, you know, just winning the special teams battle, you know, the penalty kills been really good lately. I think the power play is really starting to heat up. If they're able to do all those things, I think the Penguins can only win one of those games against the Sabres, but I think they can win, excuse me, I think they can win both of them, even though the Penguins have not been good in the second half of back-to-back.

So one in four and one this season on the second half of back-to-back, just not good enough there for the penguins. But that wraps up this small little preview of the back-to-back this week. And coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into some more stats regarding this matchup. We basically already previewed it, but I do want to go into just some overall stats from the Penguins perspective and how they usually play really well up in Buffalo. But before I get to that, Ben Online.comnet is your number one source for sports bending

info stats and use an analysis. You get all the latest odds and trends for every professional on the Immature League out from football to basketball to soccer and esports, we've got it all at that online.net. And if you love sports podcasts, you can find those at that been online as well. We're always the fastest, easiest way to get your betting fixed.

You head to the website today or use your mobile device to remember more. That has been online where the game starts. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter

at Hunter Hodes. You also follow on the shows Twitter at Eleanor for Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. I'm going to meet myself for that small golf. But going into some stats,

Penguins related for how they play up in Buffalo. They've played in their last 11 games up at the Key Bank Center. The Penguins, they've won seven of the 11. They've also gotten points in nine of those 11 games. They've also outscored those Sabres, 30-8 to 24, and they're 13 for 28 on the PowerPlay. So with the Power Play really heating up as of late, I think, again, that's going to be a big factor for me

when it comes to the Penguins potentially, not really winning the game on Friday, but winning the game on Saturday as well. And of course, I just totally scoot up my stats there. And my email, I just, I axed out of it, which is just awesome. You know, that is how it is going right now. But we are back and everything is good. The Penguins also have points in 16 or their last 18 visits to Buffalo dating back to March 30th or 2012. 13 and 2 and 3 record at the Key Bank Center over the last decade.

Penguins are usually very dominant against Sabres last couple of years. Has been the case the Sabres have been playing a lot better against the Penguins. The Sabers actually won two of the three matchups last season. They've obviously won the first one this season, which came during the seven-game. Leasen shoot the Penguins. That was probably one of the worst, the third periods that they play. They were up three to one. Well, yeah, they are up three to one going into the third period, and then they just allowed five goals and just stopped playing.

Basically, the Penguins, they have been a lot better on the road as of late. and 0 and 1. So, you know, started out some road struggles, but lately they have been playing a lot better. Obviously, Cindy Crosby, you know, he has been electric right now. He was only one of three players in the top 20 in scoring of the age of 30. He ranks first in five on five points. He was tied for fifth and overall points with David Posternock. Just a couple of days ago, you know, he is absolutely killing it right now. And, you know, the Penguins, they've also won 10. 10 of their last 14 games, 10 and 2 and 2 before that. You know, the first 12, they were 4 and 6 and 2, you know, before November 9th.

But since then, they basically saved their season at this point. That's how I see. You know, after that something like a league streak, they needed to have a strep like this. If they wanted to get back into the playoff race, they did. And right now, you know, they're feeling the effects of that is they are, you know, tied for third right now. And have a tiebreaker of the honors just because they have a game in hand. over them. So those are a few of the stats that I had been looking at for on this game. You know, I'm really excited to watch them play against the Sabres.

You know, even though it's a young team and it's a rebuilding team, you know, these are games of the Penguins. They have to win just because they're below them in the standings, but, you know, there are no give me wins in the actual. I caution against that. Remember last Friday with the St. Louis Blues, the Penguins went out there. They blitz them six to do six to two at PPG. I think this game is going to be a lot but closer, and I think the Saturday game is going to be a bit closer as well. In terms of which goalie I would start for this, I think just because they may want to secure the first win on Friday, I think they're going to go jari on Friday to Smith on Saturday.

They could just flip it and go to Smith on Friday, then maybe just go for the win on Saturday just because they'll be at home. But if you're asking me, I think they're going to go jarring on Friday to get the sure result or try to get the best result they can. And then dismiss on Saturday, even though they'll have some tired legs. But the Sabres will also have some tired legs. So there won't be any excuses, I think, for both teams.

They'll both be playing on a back-to-back-back. And those home-and-home series, I think they're fun on back-to-back nights. You know, I think the initial, when they tried something new a couple of seasons ago, remember with like the mini-series games, like you see in baseball, they played one, one night, two nights later they played another game against them.

That was cool. But I think a back-to-back, it just feels more smooth. I know the hockey isn't as good, but I still think it's, you know, it's fun. You know, I think there's going to be some chippiness

when it comes to this and, you know, definitely should be a lot of fun. As for practice notes, obviously the big news of the day to day was Chris Lutang, calmly back to practice in a regular jersey, so he has been cleared for contact.

Now, I don't, do I think he's going to be playing in the next week or something? Probably not. I think they're not going to rush anything. I think he's probably a couple weeks away. If he had to ask me, I think if you, it's hard because I think Tanger knows when he wants to come back. It's all a matter of, you know, getting the doctor's approval, which, you know, that's the

biggest thing right now. If I had to guess, he'll be back by the Winter Classic, which is what you're a second against the Boston Ruins. That could be his targeted return day. Could he return sooner? Sure. But, you know, based on what he said today and he was probably. I think it's going to be sooner rather than later in the next two to three weeks that he's

getting back playing. And, you know, with saying, he had a really interesting quote today, courtesy of Taylor Hossier of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. He said, stroke is a scary word. I'm lucky that we have the staff that we have. I know that I am in very good hands. I'm lucky that these things resolve on their own and I can go back to a normal life. Hockey is a big passion for me and it's going to take a lot to drag me out of it. So that right there, should I think send a message to everyone out there, who, who was just trying to be medical doctors on Twitter saying, I'm like, oh, you know, he should retire and all this stuff, guys,

that's not Latang. That's not him. He wants to play. He even just said it's going to take a lot more than that to get him out of the game for good. I mean, you know, it's his life. At the end of the day, you know, I can have my own opinion on it. You can have your own opinion on it. You know, Bob in New Jersey can have his own opinion on it.

But when it comes down to it, Crystal Tang, he wants to play. He's committed to it. And, you know, he knows his body better than anyone. And, you know, I'm going to respect the decision that he makes. I was going to say that if he walked away. But the penguins would obviously sting just because he has so much, you know, he still has more to accomplish, I think. But I would have respected it just because, you know, he wants to live a normal life.

He has a wife. He has friends. He has kids, you know, but he thinks he can do all of that while still playing hockey. No, more to him. And, you know, the Penguins, doctor also spoke to the media. now, today Dr. Vias, I think is how you pronounce it. He's been with the organization for years now. I think he's been there since I was in high school. And he even said his stroke this time was much smaller than it was last time. His symptoms have resolved a lot quicker than they did the last time as well. We know what to expect.

The data is also evolved in terms of how this hole in its heart is to be treated. He said it is not the sport that create the problem for him. We don't think that playing the sport itself is risky for him. remember it was you know confirmed way back when we had his first stroke about almost a decade ago that he was born with the hole on his heart and it was revealed that he was going to close on its own playing hockey you know

he's not going to do any more damage to it or anything like that so that is what Dr. Valle is saying there and he also said he has always surprised as to how well he heals we don't think this is accelerated in any way or taking all the right precautions to make sure he is safe to go out and play and when that time comes we will let him go out to playing his sports.

So yeah, he still has hurdles to go. He's going to keep, you know, getting tested. He probably has not been cleared for full, full contact yet, even though he did practice with the team. I'm sure he's on the road trip with him. Maybe he'll take the morning skate on Friday. But again, I think he's probably two to three weeks at best from returning to the lineup. I mean, he's not playing this weekend.

That's for sure. But lines that you saw today, Ryan Pilling is skating on the fourth line in the place of Josh Archibald. I am not sure if he's going to be playing tomorrow. I don't think Mike Sullivan had that big of an update on him during practice, but the lines you'll see for the game, Gensel, Gensel, Crosby, Raquel, Zulker, Malk, and Rust, McGin, Carter, Kampinen, Paling, Blugur, Heinen, Peterson, Petri, Duman, Ruta,

and I'm sure you will see Pioj and Chad Roodle on the bottom pairing with Latang was rotating there. But I think that's the lineup that you'll see. If Archibald is deemed healthy, I do think you'll see Hinen come out, if I had to guess, but maybe it's paling if he's not ready to play. Who knows? But, you know, that's the lineup that I think you all should expect to see for the Penguins tomorrow,

and then unless Archibald is deemed healthy to play. But, you know, Mike Selban did not really have an update for him. I'm sure he'll have an update after the morning skate tomorrow. I think that actually might do it, though, for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening. I apologize that this is a bit of a shorter one. It's just, you know, I am really feeling it right now, that I had to give you all an episode,

and I'll have another one for you all on Friday to fully recap the game against the Sabres, and then preview the Saturday one and look to see what mistakes the Penguins can rectify to going into that game, you know, what they did well to make sure they do, you know, even better going into that game. You know, this is going to be a bit of a different episode

because, you know, I can just preview that game the next day and just talk about stuff they did versus stuff they didn't do as well and just go over some individual play performances and anything else that really got to my mind as well. So again, thank you all so much for listening. I really appreciate it. I will talk to you all on Friday.