Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - An utter dominant performance tonight by the Pittsburgh Penguins!

Episode Date: March 23, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins made sure to show up, even though they were playing a team lower than them in the standings. They came, they saw, and they conquered on Tuesday night as they took down the Jackets, 5-1. Hunter starts off the show by going into how no one should've been worried going into the second period due to how the team started out in the first period. He then goes into the goals that were scored in the second period and it all started with Big Z! Sure it was an empty-netter, but he got the train rolling. Hunter continues to praise the depth scoring for showing up, before shouting out Sidney Crosby for more ELITE play. His pass to Jake Guentzel gets broken down, plus he also set Guentzel up for another goal after it was credited to him. Hunter then marvels at how Evgeni Malkin played, especially with that rip in the third period. He also gives his thoughts on how Kapanen is starting to string together some strong performances before giving his thoughts on how Rickard Rakell played. 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.Athletic GreensAthletic 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.

Win by the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight, five to one over the Columbus Blue Jackets. I have a full game recap coming up right for you all after this drop. Going to get into Sidney Crosby's ridiculous game. Evgeny Malkin with one hell of a rip. Jake Gensel finding the score sheet again against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Brian Russ, Tristan Jari, Ricard Raquel's debut. Probably do a little bit of a preview for Wednesday night's showdown in Buffalo. I have that and a whole lot more coming up right after this drop.

Your 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 Hoddes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O.

HonorScore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by, make sure I got this right Rock Auto amazing selection live below prices all the parts your car will ever need visit rockato.com until them locked on since you I thought for a second

it was down online and I just completely screwed that up you know what whatever we're gonna leave it in there because I don't usually mess that up but I guess it's maybe a little bit funny but now this is probably one of the first wins of the year that I don't think I have anything negative to say about the penguins

this was utter domination through and through against an inferior opponent. And, you know, the schedule is going to get tough again, starting on Friday when they go to Madison Square Garden to play the Rangers. But right now, in this little three-game stretch, you have Arizona, you know, Columbus and Buffalo on Wednesday night. You've got to bank those points against the teams that are lower than you in the sameings because they still have three more against the Rangers. They got Nashville again, Colorado twice. The Islanders still a couple times that they got to bank points against those two teams. I mean, points against that team twice. The Red Wings, they still got to play twice.

But other than that, for the most far, this team plays playoff teams down the stretch with about only 18 games left in the regular season. So it is very important to not only, you know, ban these points, but play well enough to bank these points in the Penguins tonight. Even after they were only down one-nothing going into the second period, I wasn't worried. I'm like, you know what, Jonas Corpusalo is on a little bit of the heater. I know a couple, it's been a couple of games in a row where some goalies have played really well

against the penguins that don't usually play well against other teams. So I was like, okay, you know, maybe in the back of my head, I'm like, okay, hopefully this isn't going to happen again. But sure enough, it didn't. The Penguins were able to blitz Corpicello in the second period scoring four goals. You know, going back to that first period for a second, though, the Penguins came out and flat out dominated. Then, you know, I put this tweet out on my Twitter page.

You know, they had 61% of the shot attempts, 75% of the scoring chances, all the high danger chances, 78% of the expected goals. You do that on a consistent basis. You are going to get results. And they continue to do that as the game went on. And sure enough, humans got the results, the result that they were looking for, where James O'Hourna opened up the scoring for the Penguins in the second period. I know he basically put it into an empty net, but it's still a big goal for him to get. because again, you know, these last few games, more and more depth scoring.

You know, it's funny. You know, and I know I bash some of the other players for not stepping up when they needed to. But also, you know, these players are depth players for a reason. So they are going to go cold every once in a while. But lately, the depth scoring has really been there. And it continued tonight with Zahorna getting a goal. You know, I always love watching him plays. Great defensively.

Just a big dude to get the puck off. It's very hard to get the puck off due to his size and his reach and everything. And his puck handling skills are actually pretty decent too. So I know it was only basically an empty neck goal. Corporalolo had no chance. But it's good to see him get on to the score sheet because when hopefully Brock McGinn and Jason Zucker come back into the lineup,

he's probably not going to place, but honestly probably going to be sent down to Wilkesbury because Brian Boyle is going to be the 13th forward, I think at this point. So great to see him get on the score sheet. Jake Gensel was able to get back on the score sheet as well. He gets his 30th goal of the year. I mean, that feed by Sidney Crosby.

Good grief. I marvel at how easy Sid makes it. I mean, the edge work that he had with his skates there to just turn around, go the other way, and then fire a pass between the legs of that Columbus defender and then Jake just fires at home. It's just like, you know, I'll never get used to it because he's been doing this for almost 20 freaking years now.

I mean, it's hard to believe that we're, you know, we're over a decade and a half into his tenure year. And he is making things look just so freaking easy. You know, I just, I marvel at it. Great past. And, you know, he's only continuing to get better as the season goes on. You know, sit is heating up at the right time. You know, we're in the stretch run.

The playoffs are only about six weeks away. The sunset now is at 7 o'clock. It's one of my favorite times of the year. I'm just, I'm so am for playoff hockey. Especially when the penguins obviously are in it. I get so jacked up. So there's a lot of good things going right now for the penguins. Brian Ross, he was able to get another goal.

Again, solidifying his, I just blanked on the word choice that I was about to use. You know, solidifying, you know, his stance on, you know, why the penguins should pay him instead of maybe, you know, one of the other core guys. Again, I stress, I would much rather pay Malkin and Lantang first than worry about Brian Russ later, see if you can move some salary out or something like that. But I still think that Brian Russ needs to be kept at all cost. I mean, he's that good. And I don't think he's a player that this team can afford to lose. You know, what a goal he had. They're just gnafing around one of the Columbus, a defenseman. And then the other defenseman just did his own beautiful Rob Skidari, Jack Johnson impression.

For some reason, laid on the ice when there was no one backdoor. You know, Brian is going to take that every time and go backhand, forehand, and just absolutely destroy Corpusole. So awesome goal there. And then it looked like for the time being, Sidney Crosby had another goal, but it was changed to take into because it went off in. So that is his 31st goal.

And he is now, I believe, the only penguin player in the Sid Geno era to have more of, no, I mess up that stat. He is the only other penguin during the sitting genoa era to have multiple 30 plus goals seasons. James Neal, remember, he had 40 that year. But, you know, Jake has just been doing this on such a consistent basis. And I am going to make sure that I got that stat, right? I do not want to ever screw that up because I felt like for a second that I was forgetting

Chris Kunitz. Yeah. No, Chris Kunitz only scored 30 once. Jake is the only penguin to have multiple 30-plus whole seasons in the Sid and Geno era. Again, no Kunitz did it. I know Neil did it, at least with the 40 goal won, but, you know, not even, it's just, it's crazy how consistent Jake Gensel has been for his career.

And, yeah, again, Neil, he had 40 in 21, 2011, 2011, 2012 did not ever hate 30 plus again as a penguin. So good stuff. Got that stat right. I had to make sure I had to get it on my notes here, but I wanted to go on to hockey reference and just make sure that I got that stat to you all. I mean, that's 100% accurate.

I messed up a couple times in the past with some stats I've given up, so I don't want to do that again. And, you know, obviously Jake has a ton of fun playing the blue jackets. He has owned them in the regular receipts. and the playoffs. And, you know, I think tonight really just goes to show how dominant a team like the penguins are against, you know, outside the playoff picture because, you know, you can really see who, you know, it's a men's versus boys kind of game here with the top

eight teams in the conference versus the bottom eight teams in the conference. I know the Rangers got their butts whoop tonight by the by the devils, but I don't think that's going to happen on a nightly basis. But, you know, Columbus, I applaud them for kind of being in the race. even though they're not really there. They're 13 points back at this point with 18 games to go. Hey, I would have to take a monumental collapse by any one of those teams in a playoff spot, but I don't think that's going to happen.

Just a truly dominant performance by Pittsburgh, and they pick up points 86 and 87. You know, maybe knowing Cindy Crosby, he's probably not going to want to have the team move from there just because of how superstitious he is, of course, I'm just kidding. their penguins are going to need more points here to secure their playhouse spot, even though it's 99.9% sure that they are going to get in. And then, Evgeny Malkin with one hell of a rib.

I'm going to get to that, actually, coming up here in this next segment. Before I get to that, though, it's that time of year again as college basketball's tournament is finally upon us. The Sweet 16 of the lead eight are this weekend. Let me know how your brackets are doing. I'm actually in first place in my dad's pool, which has about 30 people. Follow the latest odds, contests, and player prompts. Benad Online.comnet is the number one source for all of your sports betting needs and info.

Betterline remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season, and it's not just basketball. Benon line is your continued source for all of your sports wagering information needs, including live betting and your favorite Vegas casino games. You can head to the website today or use mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. That is Bet Online, where the game starts. All right, welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes.

And follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter, L.O underscore Penguins. Picking up where I left off, Evgeny Malkin, I mean, you almost have to blink and you miss it because that was a flat-out rocket on the powerplay. I think Darren D underscore nasty on Penguins,

Twitter was telling me he was at the game and the crowd. It basically took them half a second to realize that the puck went in and out of the net because it was so quick. but that was a missile from Gino he is stealing it right now. Just another really strong game from him. He continues to help this team win in multiple ways.

I never want to hear anything about how Gino stinks or, you know, the Penguins don't need him to win games or stuff like that. It's just a bunch of bull crap, in my opinion. I'm not going to say the other word. You know, we've got to keep a little family-friendly audience here. But great, great shot there by Gino. And, you know, I thought he had a really good game sign. He took that penalty.

in the third period, I kind of just laughed at it because it was kind of a typical Gino penalty, yelled a nice obscenity to the ref in the penalty box. I retweeted it. So if you want to go check that out, you go on my social media page and see that. It's basically just, you know, F you know, in a typical geno fashion. Those are all for the goals. But a player that I thought really stood out again, because it's a captain. this is another great game from him.

He knifed through the Columbus, you know, forecheck and their defenseman beautifully in the first period. It was almost like it feels like a coast-to-coast play and just couldn't beat Corpus Salo's toe. Had he done that, I think he would have brought the house down. That would have really got his confidence back. I really thought that he was feeling it tonight. This has now been, honestly, about three,

three to four games in a row now where we're starting to see a better version of Caspera Kaepin. Closer to the version that we saw, almost another word there, closer to the version of what we saw from him last year. And that is huge for the Penguins. I'm glad they didn't give up on him. They easily could have,

and I totally would have understand it. I know he's taking a lot of heat from the fans, myself included. I cover the team on this podcast, but I am so happy that he's playing better hockey right now. you can see his body language looks a lot better. And, you know, I can take the trunk a little bit up to, you know, Jeff Carter in Nashville, just, you know, putting his hand on his leg and saying, you know what, man, it's going to turn

around. And so far, it's done exactly that. Got that goal over the weekend against Arizona where he kissed his stick, basically, which was just amazing. And then, you know, tonight, you know, gets a couple very quality chances. His skating was much better. His passing was more crisp. I know he kind of flubbed on the chance from Ricard.

a bit earlier in the game. I'll get to Rakell in just a second. But, you know, just really thought he played a great game tonight. You know, I'm really hoping he's going to make me. And a lot of you listeners of this podcast and all the fans of this team eat a lot of crow here down the stretch. And in the playoffs. So that was massive anything from captain. Tristan Jari, cool as a cucumber again.

He continues to look truly spectacular. In the net, you know, his last eight starts, seven and one. He's faced 235 shots. 22 saves has a 945 save percentage, and he has two or less goals given up in seven of those eight games. Make this guy a Vezna Trophy finalist already. I've been beating that drum all year long. Sure, he may not win it, but if he hasn't been one of the three best goaltenders in hockey, you know, I know there's obviously all.

lot of goalies that rank ahead of them in Gold State above expecting. I mean, the list isn't that long, but, you know, he's still top 10. But, you know, he's having a season for the ages right now. And I think if you take all this stats and you compare them to the other goalies, I think he deserves to be a finalist, at least in my opinion. Just, you know, a really great game from him tonight. And, you know, we're five and a half weeks away now, five and a half six weeks away now before he's going to really have to put those demons to rest.

He's done basically everything right. during the regular season so far knocking on wood i'm going to do that right now as i just did but you know what this is just he's been so awesome i have almost all of the confidence in the world right now in him and he's going to have to prove it come may all of may potentially all of june potentially and maybe even a little bit into july if the penguins can go on a nice little stanley cup run here so great game i thought from him um let's get to ricard rakel the new guy I thought he was awesome tonight. Basically, it almost set up a sure goal right in his first shift.

I mean, that would have brought the house on, I think, at PPG as well. I had a great pass to Caponinin in front of the net. I just talked about that Caponin flubbed on it, but it, you know, it's just that's the playmaking that I want to see from Raquel, you know, moving forward. If he's going to keep doing that, he's going to fit in just fine. I don't really mind if he was on the third line. I honestly, you know, I couldn't care less. Mike Sullivan is going to tinkort the Lions health.

The guy hasn't even had a full practice with the team. He's going to then play again tomorrow night. And then they're probably not going to have, honestly, they're probably not going to practice on Thursday. Then they play on Friday against the Rangers. And then they play on Sunday against the Red Wings. So I don't even know when his first practice is going to be. I mean, I guess they'll have a morning skate on Friday.

Maybe they'll have a practice on Saturday when they play the Red Wings. But, you know, this is a busy stretch here for the Penguins, where they're basically playing four games in six nights. So I'm curious to see how much practice time, you know, they are going to have, you know, just how quick Raquel learns the system here. But, you know, he was, I thought he fit in well with Jeff Carter and Casparry Captain.

Honestly, looking at the Penguins' lines tonight, Raquel Carter, Captain, had Romm Ice for close to 50% of the shot attempts. Not as many scoring chances, though. They were the only one that was negative 33% of the scoring chances. High danger. they also lost the battle as well. I know only a 10-minute sample size.

I'm sure they're going to try Raquel with Malkin at some point. But overall, I thought it was a good game from Raquel. Just a really nice first impression. Loved that the crowd really, you know, just gave him a nice standing ovation when he was shown on the jumbo trying to look like that as I was watching the game. Shout out to you. You all that went to the game, you know,

just got to give him a warm welcome. So really nice debut for you. from him. Everyone else, again, great game. You know, John Marino looked fantastic. Chrisa Tang, I thought, had a really strong game. Brian Dumont was fine. Mike Matheson drew a nice penalty as he was cutting to Minnet. I believe that was in the second period. I'm looking my notes here. Yeah, yeah, that was the second. No, no, no, no, my bad. First period. That was the power play that carried over into the second, my fault. You know, I really don't have a problem without how anyone played in this game.

Coming up in the next segment, we're going to get to some listener takeaways and potentially do a small little preview for the game tomorrow night in Buffalo. That will not be regionally televised for all of you that listen in Pittsburgh. It is a nationally televised game. This will be the Seat Penguin second game, actually,

on TNT this year. It's hard to believe that they have not really been nationally televised a lot. they've only really had a couple of games on ESPN Plus, well, strictly on ESPN Plus slash Tulu. But, you know, I think down the stretcher, they're going to have more games on the national networks. I think that's because, you know, for the push for the playoffs and everything that. But, you know, before we get to our last segment, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto. Why is she used to spend 30%, 50%, or even 100% more for the same parts from a chain store, or car dealership.

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so they know we send you amazing selection right below prices, all the parts you will cover at need, visit rock auto.com. All right, well, back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hon. Rode's Merta, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

So getting to the listener takeaways here, Alan Teodor says, as someone who can only watch their period, looking at some of the stats, it looked like a great game. I'm excited to see what Raquel can do. I'm excited to see what the team can do, hopefully, for the next two or three months. Yeah, I mean, honestly, Alan, I'm sure you're going to be. to listen to this episode if you're not listening right now. As I said, I've been saying just a really dominant performance tonight by the Penguins, probably one of their best performances of the year.

There was really no stretch where Columbus was dictating the pace of the game. Maybe a couple shifts here and there. But overall, just a really good performance by the Penguins tonight. Iris, AJ says, glad we didn't close the door on Campan. He's been really great for the last three to four games. Also love the big Twin Towers on the fourth line. and Big Z. Yeah, I mean, they, those two players.

I mean, it's, it's fun to watch that fourth point. I know they're probably both going to be healthy scratches here come playoff time, but they really were fun to watch tonight. You know, at even strength, the Penguins actually had close to 60% of the shot attempts with them on the ice, 55% of the high danger, of the swooned chance with them on the ice, and 60% of the high danger chances.

So the fourth point actually looked pretty good in this game. You know, Boyle had a couple of nice moments on the PK. It's sometimes hard to watch him due to how slow he is foot speed-wise, but, you know, he's also blown away, I think, all of our expectations this year. So really happy with how he's played. S&Z says, Ricardo Kel will fit fine with the pen is not a bad first game. And, you know, I have hope for Kaepinan after all. You know, I'm glad that you all are also noticing that Kappin is playing a lot better.

You know, I'm just, I'm glad that I, you know, kind of put the wheels in motion a little bit when I noticed what Jeff Carter did last week when he was, you know, kind of there for him and, you know, Campa and I think was in, you know, more darker place than usual, you know, with where his confidence was for his season. So I'm glad that you all are really noticing that too. Make sure I got everyone here. Yes, Penguins, the Siret, the Penguins are Columbus's, you know, it's the big brother, little brother, you know, they're 14 and 2 and 1 in their last 17 games against Columbus.

They flat out on them to say the least. and I do, you know, with the man, keep rust with Malkin. I don't mind it, you know, honestly, with how against O'Crosby, Rodriguez line is going. I believe tonight they had close to 60% of the shot attempts at 5V5. That was per money puck. I'm not checking out of structural stratute here real quick. Yeah, 64% actually of the shot attempts. Also 88% of the expected goals.

So with how that line's humming, I'm probably not interested in breaking it up anytime soon. So thank you all so much for sending in those listener takeaways. I really do appreciate it. So up next for the Penguins, a Wednesday night matinee against the Buffalo Sabres, a team of the Penguins have split two games against. Remember, the first meeting, it was the Dustin To Karsky Show, as the Penguins were just peppering him all game, and he just fought out, owned them somehow.

In the second game, the Penguins were able to win that one in Pittsburgh. this will be their first and only trip to Buffalo until next season. I'm sure I'm sure Craig Anderson will start on this game. You know, Tage Thompson, he is the big threat to look out for here for the Penguins, having a career high season with 25 goals. The move to center, I think, has really paid off for Buffalo. You know, the Sabres have actually, you know, not been a bad team as of late. You know, they're actually winning some games.

They just took down the Canucks. Hell, he just took down the flames in Calgary. I know they got blown out by Edmonton, but they also took down the Leafs. I believe that was at the Heritage Classic. I mean, that was just hilarious. That was when the Leafs' gold-tending was just a total meme. They took down the Golden Knights.

This is a Sabres team that's actually won four of their last five games. So they're playing similar to their best hockey here of the season. Jeff Skinner has been better this year. Alex Tuck has enjoyed a nice renaissance since coming over from Vegas. Peyton Krebs has been great. Dylan Cousins, you know, there's definitely stuff to work for here in Buffalo's top six. I think the future is a little more brighter right now for the Sabres. They just, they need that franchise caliber, winger slash center to really kick things in high gear here.

Casey Middles down the fourth line. Victor O'Lawson, Aspland on the third line. And then Cody Ekin, Kyle Oposo, you know, Poso, I think has Colts, at least in one of the games this year for the Penguins. You know, Rasmus Dahlian on the top pairing. Yoki Haru is with him. Hisik, he's quietly having a good year. And then, you know, I believe Colin Miller is still there as well. So, you know, there's, there are pieces there with this Sabres team.

Sure, the underlying numbers are not that good. But, you know, this is a team that's played the Penguins tough this year. And they've been playing a lot of top teams pretty good. So this is no game to say the least. I know the Penguins have had, you know, the best road record in the league this year. But, you know, this is definitely, I think, going to be a challenge. They just played tonight.

You know, they're traveling. Back-to-backs are always, you know, tough. I don't care who the opponent is. The Sabers are a bit arresting, obviously. No, curious to see how the team looks in Buffalo. I'm sure, obviously, Casey DeSmith is going to get the start. So that'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to this one.

I'll be back on Wednesday evening with another full game recap episode before I welcome Rachel Nones to the podcast for the first time on Thursday. She writes about the New York Rangers. for a couple publications and knows that's good very well. So she's going to help me preview Friday's massive game at Madison Square Garden. So that'll do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening again to the show. And I'll be back on Wednesday.