Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Alex Nedeljkovic makes Penguins and NHL history in a split B2B!

Episode Date: January 20, 2025

The Pittsburgh Penguins began their road trip in historic fashion with a goalie goal! Hunter and Patrick discuss how Alex Nedeljkovic became the first goalie in NHL history to score a goal and get an assist in the same game. They also discuss his overall performance against the Sabres before looking at the rest of the team's effort. They shout out Cody Glass for his best game as a Penguin before diving into Saturday's loss against the Washington Capitals. They dive into the penalty kill and how it continues to cost the Penguins games. Hunter analyzes just how poorly some of their regular PKers have been and discusses how Mike Sullivan may need to change up the deployment for some of his players. Finally, they preview tonight's showdown in Los Angeles against a stingy Kings team.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! SelectQuoteGet the right life insurance for you, for less, at SelectQuote.com/LOCKEDONNHL.  GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelFrom the first whistle to the final drive, FanDuel makes the NFL Playoffs even more exciting! Right now, new customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get THREE HUNDRED BUCKS in BONUS BETS – if you win your first bet! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender, Alex Ndilkevich made NHL history on Friday against the Sabres, and Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus recap Saturdays lost against the Washington Capitals right after this. 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'm one of your host, Hunts or Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunts or Hodes, joined by the Best Coast on the planet Patrick Damp.

You can follow him on all social media platforms at Cinder and For Wet. And of course, you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Underst or Penguins. Also, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandall. From the first whistle to the final drive, Fandle makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting right now. new customers can bet $5 and get $300 in bonus bets if you win your first bet.

Visit fendool.com to get started. Also, just before we kick things off, Jesse Marshall usually comes on for Marshall Monday. The daycare is close today, Pat, so he has to spend all day being a dad to his wonderful daughter. Next time he can just have his daughter join the show, honestly. That's what we were telling him on Sunday. We need her takes. Yes, absolutely. We need her takes on this show.

maybe he can also do the show with her in the room. Now we're just messing around, Jesse. We hope to have him back on next week when the daycare's open and then he can hopefully find some time where he's not doing too much work for his full-time gig. But getting back to the Pittsburgh Penguins, congratulations to Penguins' goaltender, Alex Nadelcovic, becoming the second goaltender

in Penguins franchise history to score a goal, joining Tristan Jari after he did it last year. And my God, man, that was a piss missile from below the goal line. Penguins are up two goals. Ned says, you know what? I see an opportunity for this. I'm going to go for it. And it was a perfect shot right down the middle. You have a Sydney Crosby looking back at Alex Adelkevich as the puck dropped right over the blue line. He knew he was going in right away. He was smiling at Ned. And the bear hug that his teammates gave him when he got to the bench was spectacular, man. The celebration was great. And I will never get tired of seeing a goalie goal. That one was just

truly awesome. And also, he becomes the first goalie in NHL history to record a goal and an assist in the same game. Also the first goalie ever to score in the NHL, the NHL, the ECHL, and the HL, just a brilliant cap off of a great performance from Nadelcovich. The Penguins were badly outshot in this game, though I feel like it was more quantity over quality. The Penguins did a pretty solid job of not giving up a lot of high danger chances in this game. But whenever there was a timely save to be made, Ndilkevich was right there. I think this game and the game against Edmonton are his two best starts of the season.

Great game from him. Without a doubt, that was a tremendous performance. And like you said, it kind of gets lost because of the goalie goal, which was an absolute no doubter, which was crazy. because like you said, he put everything into that, and there was absolutely no chance it wasn't going in. You look at other goalie goals, and it kind of starts trickling, and you're like, oh, I don't know, is it going to make it?

This one, he could have hit that from 400 feet. He put so much on it, but I digress. Overall, though, I think you're mostly right. You look at that game against the Sabres, and yeah, the Penguins were badly outshot, but the sabers were kind of just putting pucks on the net from everywhere, and Ned was there to make the saves. There were a handful of very good saves as well that kept the penguins with the lead, or at the very least before they were able to take the lead in the hunt.

So it was a very stabilizing performance from Alex Nadelcovic. And I look at that game against the sabers, and you like a lot of what you saw, but you have to also keep in mind, it is Buffalo. It's a team that is really struggling. It's a team that the Penguins should have beaten and did. And once again, the biggest takeaway for me from that game, the power play, man.

The power play is just on another level right now. They even when, because you look at that game, they had some sloppy zone entries. They had some very iffy performance. performances with the man advantage. But when you're hot, you're hot. They're finding ways to score even when they don't have the cleanest zone entries. They don't get the best possession.

But they take advantage of the opportunities they get. And regardless of where this team is right now, that is a very encouraging sign because it's a fundamental that is something that you can use moving forward. For all this other team's ills, they're finding a way to get it done. with the man advantage, and that is an encouraging sign to me. Agreed. And you know where Raquel scored on ice? That was the Oshy spot.

I even tweeted it during the game. I have seen T.J. OShi score from that exact spot. 500 times it feels like against the penguins. It's nice seeing a penguins player do that to another team. But that was a really nice shot, great movement as well on the power play after a really nice zone entry as well. This power play continues to be awesome. And hey, we got to give some flowers to Matt Grizzlick for that.

has been outstanding on the powerplay this year. I joke that he's a power play merchant to some of my friends because he's been doing a really nice job quarterbacking that power play. Still not as good, obviously, at five on five. He's stabilizing ever so slightly at five on five, but he has been legitimately people, their back power play quarterback this year. Maybe that will bring back at least a little bit of value when they look to trade him at the deadline.

You're probably looking at a mid-round pick at best for Grizzly. But, hey, some team will look at what he's doing on the power play, and they'd be like, hey, if we need someone to quarterback our second unit or maybe play minutes on our second or third pairing, we can go get this guy. So I still could see them getting somewhere, you know, third, fourth, fifth round picks, somewhere in that range for MacGros. Like you're not going to get like a haul for him, but he's at least playing at a level that you can get a mid-round pick back. I will say this about Grizzlick's game. He is rightfully to an extent a scapegoat for this season because early on in the year, he was bordering on unplayable.

Yes. But the last few weeks, maybe even a month, I've liked his game quite a bit. He's been blocking shots. He's been making the right decisions with the puck. And he's been in the correct position in a lot of moments. And there haven't been those defensive miscues that we saw so much earlier in the year. Now, it doesn't mean that suddenly Kyle Dubus is justified for, going out and getting him.

It doesn't mean that he is completely fixed and we don't have to worry about him anymore. But because of how poor of a start he had, myself included, we're looking at him through a little bit of a tainted lens just because we're looking at it from the way he started the season, as well we should because it was such a bad start. But he really has begun to stabilize. He's playing a lot better overall. and that's on top of how good he's been with the man advantage. So again, I don't foresee him getting a big return at the trade deadline.

But if there's one thing we know, especially as Penguins fans, when you look back at the 2016 and 2017 Stanley Cup runs, special teams win and lose you championships. And if you can get a guy who's on an expiring deal, not making a lot of money, and can run your second power play unit or even take the top spot on your top unit in a pinch, that's worth a lot because, again, we know how important special teams are in the playoffs. And this guy has proven he can play very effectively on a power play.

So overall, I'm happy with his game. I thought he was solid overall this weekend, both in Buffalo and in Washington, 10 didn't stand out, wasn't the greatest player on the ice, but he blocked a ton of shots. He made a lot of good first passes and then the effort on the power play. I can't say I'm upset with the way he's been playing these last few weeks. No, I would agree, especially on the power play. The way that he's been able to quarterback that unit has been really nice to see

these last few weeks. But keeping this going right along before we get to our second segment, And a few other players from this game that I really want to shout out. Number one, Cody Glass. I think that was his best game in a penguin's uniform. Led the Penguins an average game score when you dig into the numbers. And the eye test proved that. I mean, that passed to Anthony Buvilliard in the second period, Pat.

Oh, thing of beauty there. That was gorgeous. The way that he was able to finish off a Philip Tomasino pass later in that game. That was great. Finished with a goal and an assist. But again, that was by far, I think Glass's best game as a man. member of the penguins. That's what I want to see a bit more of. Yeah, he hasn't been as effective in a lot of games this year, but this is the type of player that you still take a chance on

considering his age, considering where he was picked in the draft, you know, he needed a change of scenery. But this is the level that we can see at times from someone like Glass who, again, you saw the playmaking ability, you saw the goal scoring ability, really nice performance from him. The talent is there. He just needs the confidence. And a game like that is a step in the right direction. As you said, still a pretty young player, still needed his change of scenery. He's not going to become a franchise player. He's not going to become a first line, 35, 40 goal score, 60, 70 plus point guy. But middle six forward can play well on your third line, can be an option on your second line. But as we saw against Buffalo, the, the,

more consistent performances he puts together, the more confident he's going to play. I liken it a lot to Drew O'Connor of last season. He continued to produce. He continued to get put in advantageous situations. And the production and confidence showed up in his game. You saw that with the way he played against Buffalo. The confidence was there. He was making very solid passes.

He was finishing opportunities. And it's something to build on. considering where this franchise is right now and where it wants to go, that is the kind of player that you need and want to take that next step. And watching the way he's played the last few games when he's been in the lineup, you're seeing that confidence start to build. You're seeing that game start to take maybe not the next step, but it's starting to get there.

And this is going to require a little bit of patience. You're not going to go out and get the, these guys who make an immediate impact. It's going to take a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months, even a year or two. But these are guys who they need to get the reps in. They need to get the confidence built. They need to get used more and they need to develop. You look at everything glass is done in a penguin's uniform. You can see the talent is there. You can see the ability is there. It's just going to take a little bit for him to put it all together. But hopefully once he does, you have a productive middle six forward. Yeah, man, I agree. I mean, especially that game against Buffalo,

you're starting to see him put it together ever so slightly. And if he can fully put it together, you'll have a solid third liner, maybe a second liner that can jump up if some injuries hit and all that stuff. But it was nice seeing him have a good game in a few before that as well. Also, Philip Tomasino. He was great in this game. And of course, Brian Russ gets another goal. Ouka Pekulukinan, not a good game from him on this one, but hey, Penguins were able to take advantage that and get the timely saves, that was the difference in this game. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get to a little bit of the negative from

this weekend and how the Penguins could not beat a really good Washington Capitol team before we end the show, previewing tonight's showdown against the LA Kings on the West Coast. And by the way, people, this is one of my favorite road trips of the year. I love late night hockey in case you all did not know. But before we get to all that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor. and that is Fandul. From the first whistle to the final drive, Fandul makes the NFL playoffs even more exciting.

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of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Join by my co-host Patrick Dam. So, Pahop Penguins weren't able to sweep this weekend back to back. Of course, they beat the Sabres, but they lose four to one to the Washington Capitals. but if you take out two of those empty netters, well, actually, no, excuse me, not empty netters.

You take out one of the empty netters, sorry, it is 3 to 1. I almost thought that DuBogel was an empty netter, but, of course, it was scored right at the end of their power. We almost had a total brain fart there for some reason, but the penguins simply, they weren't good enough to win this game. I thought YOL Blumquist made some really nice timely saves, all about this is a really nice first start for him back from the HL.

He kept the penguins in it, but penguins just weren't able to generate enough. I felt like the Capitals really mucked this up. And for those that don't know, I lived in the DC area for most of my childhood. So I was texting back and forth with a few Capitals friends during this game. And I even asked them, like, have the Capitals been doing this a lot lately? Because they were really mucking this game up. And they basically said, like, yeah, at the beginning of the season,

they were really just beating a lot of really good teams pretty convincingly. But lately, as I guess they've struggled, quote, unquote, they've been kind of mucking things up, just winning a lot of, you know, two one, three one games and all that stuff. So I was like, okay, well, that makes sense because that's basically what you saw in this game. The Capitals did not give the Penguins anything. The Penguins were trying to imagine. They weren't able to do it enough, but the Capitals, man, they are a very good defensive team.

Spencer Carberry is one of the top head coaches in the league right now. He's doing a great job. This is a very good team, a team that can really go far in the playoffs. Again, I still think the Panthers would beat them in a seven game series. I would maybe lean towards the Devils a little bit as well. but the Capitals will still very much be in those series and it goes to show, man, they have done a great job with this retool on the fly.

Their front office has done a really nice job. And you saw it on display in this one. They also very much got the goal tending. Logan Thompson going to be a finalist for the Vesna, in my opinion. I think Connor Hellebuk, though, is going to win it with the year that he's having. But the Capitals, man, too much for the Penguins, especially defensively. 100%. And if you want to get a little bit of a silver,

lining out of this game. I got to give a shout out to the preeminent Penn's historian Bob Grove. He tweeted this out before the game and it held true throughout the game. It has been more than seven years since Alex Ovechkin has scored an even strength goal against the penguins in D.C. The penguins have held him off the score sheet in D.C. at five on five since October 11th, 2017. So they have done a pretty good job as a team for the last nearly decade keeping Ovechkin in check when it's a five-on-five game, which is something that's very, very impressive because as we've seen, just like Thanos, Alex Ovechkin is inevitable. So, but back to this game, I wanted to kind of come on and talk about,

how we really have to keep the discussion going about the penguin's penalty kill becoming a problem. But then I went back and watched some of this game this morning. And yeah, Dubois's power play goal wasn't a great one to give up, but it was at the tail end of a power play. It's the only one that they gave up. And the thing that was surprising to me about this Capitals team, and again, I don't watch every single Caps game. I catch as many as I can. I when I can because with OV on the chase, you want to be able to see this. But I noticed one thing, at least against the Penguins on Saturday night, it was a lot of perimeter play up until Dubois's goal.

And maybe some of that was the Capitals, not wanting to attack the middle of the zone. Maybe it was more the Penguins penalty kill keeping them out of there. So I'm a little bit more encouraged by the Penguins, PK, while there's still a lot of red flag, and a lot of problems and they got to put it together during this West Coast trip. But you look at a team like the Capitals who have the ultimate power play threat in Alex Ovechkin, and they did a fairly good job neutralizing their penalty kill by just keeping them to the outside. But then the minute they penetrated the middle with PLD, they score a goal.

So if the penguins can figure out a way to, in a way, replicate their effort on the penalty kill against the capitals towards other teams, they're going to get back in the right direction. But it has to happen before I can really say it's been solved. But at the very least, it was a somewhat encouraging step against a very good capitals team. I'm not going to go that far. It's just because Pat, they're bleeding a goal per game right now on the. Yeah, I'm not saying it's solved. It's still an issue,

but I saw things against the capitals that show me they can figure this out. In the last couple weeks, it was an absolute problem where every time a penguin went to the penalty box, you went, oh, God, here we go. And then in Saturday night, the very least seemed to take a positive step. maybe a little bit.

They were, at the end of that third period, they were doing a fine enough job on that one, but at the very end, you can't let PLD cuts in the middle like that. And this also goes back to something that I tweeted on Twitter after the game. You need to really mix up some of the players that you're using on the penalty kill.

I know I've been credible of Mike Sullivan for a few things this season. This is one of them because you look at the forwards that he's used this year, you know, Blake Lazot, Matt Nealien, Nolachari, Cody Glass, or O'Connor, Brian Russ. The all-nice expected goals differential for some of these guys is insane. Noolachari is the worst of them, by the way.

Minus 13.8 on-nice expected goals differential. The biggest one after that, Brian Rust. I think Brian Russ has had a very good season, Pat. He has been awful defensively and on the penalty kill. The numbers backed that up and the eye test backs it up. He needs to be a lot better. And I normally don't have a problem with Russ on the penalty kill. because of the way that he blocked shots, how quick he is,

how he can be a short-handed threat. But he still has not been very good on the PK this year. Matt Mietto, he's been scrapped these last couple of games. But before that, he was getting almost the full two minutes on the penalty kill, but he really wasn't doing anything. His on-ice expected goals differential is minus 5.8. And then Achari, he gets the full two minutes. He's the worst again, minus 13.8.

I just don't know what we're doing here with some of the deployment. I think that's one of the biggest issues surrounding the. PK right now is the deployment. You can try out other players on this unit, Mike. Like you don't have to stick to the same players. Like they keep telling us like, oh, like some of these guys are really good penalty killers. But are they pet? Are they?

Like you can change out some of these penalty killers who aren't doing that well on it and put some other forwards on. Heck, we've seen Eric Carlson killing penalties and he's done a fine enough job at it. So I feel like it's time to really change up some of the deployment on the penalty kill because it's still not good enough to where it was during the early portion of this season, where it was a top eye of the top 10 unit. It's hovering right around league average right now. You got to make some changes with this because I know what you were saying.

You saw a step in the right direction. I'm not there yet because over the last month, it just hasn't been good enough. But they're bleeding a goal per game right now. You've got to make some changes to it. Well, I want to build on that. You're absolutely right on the deployment. up until I would say last week, they had the body of work to where as a coaching staff,

you give them the runway to try to figure it out because they started so well. Yeah. And you have the body of work to point to and say, listen, they know what they're doing. They showed they can do it. Now you're deeper into a funk where you should switch it up and say,

listen, you guys did a great job early in the season. it was a top 10 penalty killing unit you showed you could do it but it has fallen off since so in that regard i'm with you and it's still again you bled another goal against the caps and you take away that that power play goal and it's still two to one going into the late stages of the third period you're right in it and maybe you can get that equalizer with blumquist pulled but instead of trying to just fight for a point and get this game to overtime, you got to score two in a game where you weren't able to get on the board until the third period. So end of the day, I go back and forth at this.

I saw some positive steps against the capitals, but I'm not exactly going to be upset if we start seeing a new deployment when it comes to personnel on the Penguins PK, because it's rapidly, you can't even say becoming. It is a problem. Yes. It just thinks that last year the penalty kill was pretty solid. Powerplay stunk. Now, the power play is one of the best power plays in the league, but the penalty kill at least over the last month has not been good. We just need both units simultaneously to be, you know, one unit at least to be average. Well, the pending was power play last month has been really bad, but if it can sustain, you know, being in the top 15 while the power play is doing this, it should be fine. But lately, man, this last month, they're not even

getting average penalty killing bad. They're getting bottom third penalty killing so far. So it just sucks because had they been able to kill that off, they would have had a real shot to tie this up to get a point because the Penguins were pushing prior to that penalty with four minutes left. They were making a really nice push. Thompson had to come up with a couple of nice saves. But, you know, once PLD made it 3-1, that game was fully over at that point. You need to be able to kill off that penalty. Was it a weak call? Yeah, Garrett Rank was the official. No surprise there. I'm not going to go. and another rant about him, but still, kill off the penalty here, people.

But again, I think that'll do it for this second segment coming up to end the show. It's time to preview the first game of this massive California road trip. They'll play the Los Angeles games at 10.30 p.m. Eastern time tonight. This is also the third of seven games on the seven game road trip, the first of the California teams on this road trip. But before we get to that, Pat and I have to tell you about her second sponsor, and that is a select quote. In sports, having a winning, strategy is everything. It's how the best teams make it to the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the Olympics. The same goes for life. Having a strategy like life insurance and

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Get the right life insurance for you for less at selectquote.com slash locked on NHL. go to selectquote.com slash locked on NHLDA to get that started. One more time, people, that is select quote.com slash locked on NHL. Select quote, they shop, you safe. All right, we're back to in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, join by my co-host Patrick Dam. So Pat, Penguins Kings, it comes your way 10.30 p.m. start time tonight. So if you are a late night now like me, this is the road trip for you.

I love the California road trip. I love late night hockey. I stay up late. Most nights while I'm reading my book in bed, watching whatever late night game is on, whether it's Vancouver, L.A., Edmonton, it doesn't matter. I love late night hockey.

The California road trip is right up there for me with the Western Canada trip as one of my favorite road trips just because I love with the Penguins stay up late. So if you need a coffee, some other beverage to stay up, please drink it. It's going to be worth it because this should be a really good game. But before we do preview this game, Pat,

I speak for you with this. we want to send all of our thoughts to the Los Angeles area for everyone that has been affected by the LA wildfires in California. Just want to send that before we preview this game against the Kings. But this King's team, man, they are awesome this year. This is a very good Kings team. They're proving me wrong this year. I really didn't think much of the Kings heading into this year. I'm kind of like, eh, they might contend for one of the final wild card spots.

But that's really it just because of how these last few years have gone. but this year they are playing very, and I mean very well. 25 and 13 and 5, good for third in the Pacific Division. We might get round 5,000 of LA versus Edmondson in the first round because, hey, who doesn't want to see these two teams play each other again? I don't. I'm just joking around people. I don't just because I've seen how that series has gone multiple times,

and I think it's probably going to go the same way again, even though the kings are better this year. But I will say, man, Anzay Kopitar is a demon. He might outlive us all. with the way he is playing. 12 goals, 42 points and 43 games. But it's his work in the defensive zone once again

that makes him one of the best two-way forwards in the game. He's right up there right now, and he's been throughout his career, but he's right up there with Sasha Barkoff for the best two-way center in the league. He's arguably the best two-way center of this generation, right up with Patrice Bergeron. He has been awesome.

You can honestly make an argument for either one, I think, you're really splitting hairs. If you want to go Kopitar, can totally see it. You want to go Bergeron. I can totally see it as well. But Kopitar, he continues to play at an elite level. Adrian Kempe, aka Penguins killer Adrian Kempe, has been awesome. 22 goals, 42 points in 43 games. Alex Laferrier has been good. Kevin Fiala has been pretty solid this year.

Warren Fogel, aka McLaughin from Superbent, has been good with 12 goals and 24 points. But this is a very well-balanced team. They can run four lines at you. They're getting good play from their defense, even though Pat, they still don't even have Drew Doughty back. They're going to get him back at some point this season, and that's going to unlock even more avenues for the Kings, especially at 5-on-5 offensively. Once they get him back, it's going to be a lot of fun.

But another big reason why they're having success this year is the play of goaltender Darcy Kemper. He has really bounced back this year, 13 and 4 and 5, 2.10 goals against average, 9-22 say percentage, also 18th in the league, and goalsade above expected this year with 7.8, right up there with Jake Ottinger, Aden Hill, Linus Allmark.

So right in that range, this is a very good Kings team. The second best team they will see, the Penguins that is, on this road trip, Pat, what are some keys to victory? Well, you got to have a similar effort against them

that you did about a month ago when you beat them in overtime at PPG. And it was in that stretch for the penguins where they really started to come back to life. where they were putting together full 60 minute efforts. Because you watch that game against Los Angeles at PPG, it was a pretty back and forth game. Both teams, 31 shots on goal.

They played to even when it came to special teams. Neither team was able to get a goal on the man advantage. Both penalty kills were very good. And the penguins were just resilient all game. It seemed like every time that, the Los Angeles Kings would throw a punch. The penguins would throw a punch back. And they were very resilient in the third period,

getting a goal from Grizzlic to tie the game. And then just about two minutes into overtime, Ricard Raquel came up huge. And this is a game where you are going to have to, and I feel like a broken record, because I've said this a lot about the teams that the penguins have gone up against in the last month, is you have to play a patient,

game because this is not a high-flying Los Angeles Kings team. They don't play overly offensively, but they're also not a lock it down trap kind of team. They are just a very solid 200-foot team. They play what they get it done the way they need to get it done in the offensive zone. It's not a brutal forecheck. It's not a, you know, try to overwhelm you with speed kind of game, they take advantage of every opportunity they get. They hold on to the puck and they wait for their mismatches and try to pull you out of position defensively and then take advantage of that. Defensively, they are one of the most stingy teams in the league, but they don't, like I said,

they don't sacrifice offense for defense. And then you brought him up already. Darcy Kemper having himself quite a season. Yeah. 23 games, 922 save percentage. 2.1 goals against average. So you have to be patient against the Los Angeles Kings. It is extremely rare that you're going to jump out to a big lead against them.

It's extremely rare. You're going to even jump out to a lead against them. But you can't try to sacrifice playing a responsible 200-foot game just because, say, you're down 1-0 or it's 1-1 or 0.0. So for the Penguins, it has to be a similar effort as you got in Pittsburgh. You have to stick to the process. You have to take advantage of the opportunities you get. And whether it's Alex Nadalcovic or Yoel Blumquist in Net Tonight,

they have to make saves when called upon. Otherwise, this could be an ugly game. Right. You got to get the timely saves. We say that for every game, considering how the goaltending has been for most of the season. We'll find out which goaltender is going to start well after this. episode is up because as we're recording right now, it's past 8 o'clock in the morning,

and they're not doing the morning skate for another two, two and a half hour. So this is going to be up for a little bit until we find out who was starting. But we'll have to see the way that both goalies played in their last starts. You know, you can really go to either one. I would personally go to Yael Blumquist, considering the way he played against Washington. You play them against one of the top teams on this road trip. Throw him out to the wolves again, Pat, see what he can do against the other really good team on this road trip back. I mean, again, that's what I would do. But yes, key start, very pivotal,

got to get the penalty kill back to at least being better considering the level that it's been playing at lately. And you're right. The Kings, they don't give you a lot. So when you get scoring chances in the offensive zone, you need to make them pay, especially with Darcy Kemper the way that he's playing. You need to really finish your chances in this one because you're not really going to be getting too many. You're right. The Kings, they were trapping these last couple of years, but they don't really do that anymore. They're just really stingy as a five-man unit. And it's not trappy.

Again, they're just really able to shut down zone entries. They don't give you the middle of the ice very much. They don't give you a lot of those high danger chances. So if you are lucky enough to get a high danger chance or two or maybe even a few more in this game, again, you need to really, and I mean, really make them count. And it's a huge get right opportunity for the PK because you're going up against the 29th ranked power play in Los. Angeles. So if you're able to get a couple good kills, it's going to be more difficult on

the power play this game because if you do look on the opposite end of it, they're having this, they're having the inverse issue of the penguins. Their PK, fifth in the league, it's very good, very stingy. So you have to be able to again, similar to when you play them at PPG. If you, if you even just play to even on special teams, that, does work out a little bit more in your favor if you're the penguins. That's going to be a fun matchup, LAs PK versus Pittsburgh's power play with the way both units are going this year. I'm pretty excited about that. But also, the penguins really have to cut down on some of those ill-advised pinches that you saw, especially in that Washington

game bat, that Latang penalty came on a pinch play where you're really not going to win the puck there and you take a penalty. Can't be doing that in this game. You need to, when you want to pinch, you need to make sure that it's a 65, 35, 35 play, 70, 30 play, heck, even 60, 40 play. You can't be doing those 25, 75 pinch plays and hoping that it's working out. And then that just leads to on-man rushes. Like, that's just, again, that's not going to work out. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.

Pat and I will be back with another show, if you all, on Tuesday, to recap this game against the Kings and get you all set for the rest. of the California slash West Coast road trip. But for Patrick Dam, I'm Hunts for Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We'll be back on Tuesday.