Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Any concerns on the Penguins after a concerning loss?

Episode Date: October 23, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a disappointing loss to the St. Louis Blues on Saturday night and Hunter and Pat are here to recap it. They start with how bad the second period was and why that's been a troubling concern even dating back to last year. They look at why the team continues to not show up in that period before analyzing how the Penguins didn't do enough to get good scoring chances when they were chasing the game. They discuss the perimeter play and how it was very evident at both 5v5 and on the power play. After that, they do get into some positives as Radim Zohorna was excellent against the Blues. They look at how he gave the third line a jolt that it badly needed and how Mike Sullivan needs to leave that line alone for a bit. Finally, they discuss if it's getting close to panic time for this team even though it's only been five games thus far.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Parkview AdvanceFor more than 25 years, Parkview Advance has helped businesses secure working capital. We Invite the many entrepreneurs who are Locked On NHL to learn more by calling us at 203-675-0071 or go to parkviewadvance.com. If your business needs working capital, call Parkview Advance today! Jase MedicalGet $20 off these lifesaving antibiotics with Jase Medical by using code LOCKEDON at checkout on jasemedical.com.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Right now, NEW customers can bet FIVE DOLLARS and get TWO HUNDRED in BONUS BETS - GUARANTEED. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire 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) 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.

The Penguins lost to the St. Louis Blues, 42 on Saturday night. And for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to go over what the Penguins did wrong and what they need to improve upon heading into their big games this week. 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'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined as always by my co-host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Send him for Wet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. OnerSore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. And his episode is brought to you by Sleeper.

Download the Sleeper app and use promo code Locked on NHL. It's up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleepers, Terms of Use for details. So blues for Penguins 2, the Penguins fall to 2, 3 and 0 on the season through their first five games. And I'll say it right off the top. That is a very disappointing loss for this team, considering how bad St. Louis is probably going to be this year. I do think the Penguins carried play for most of the night, but where they lost this game has been a common theme this year already.

It was a common theme last year. Second period. They take second periods off. They've done it all year so far. They did it a whole bunch last year. It's time going into the second. I liked how the Penguins played for the most part in the first period. Evgeny Malkin's goal was hilarious, vintage stuff from him. Looked almost like the 2008 goal against the Flyers, except he didn't wind up as the FU slap shot. It was kind of an FU goal and makes the tripping motion to the ref. I love Gino, man. He's incredible. After that, though, in the second, just not good enough defensively in their own zone. I thought Tristan Jari also struggled and yet wasn't able to to cover up for some of the mistakes.

But I didn't care for the defensive play in their own. I thought the third period struggled a bit more than I would have liked. But overall, you can't take periods off and expect to win in the NHL or win consistently in this league. And that's something the Penguins really have to clean up. Yeah. The way I see this, and I have been kind of stewing on this all weekend long, is you can't control a lot.

in sports. You can't control your opponent. You can't control the officials. You can't control the way the puck bounces or how a goalie plays against you. There's one thing you can control, and that's effort. And at the risk of doing the Bob Erie, oh, they got to hit somebody here, Mirsey, they got to throw a hit here, Mirzy. They got to get physical Mirzy. Listen, there is no substitute for hard work. Sometimes you work hard and nothing comes in it. Sometimes you go out there and go balls to the wall and still lose. And sometimes you go balls to the wall and it's just not enough to carry you over the finish line. But consistently this year, especially in all three losses, this team has put a crap effort out in the second period.

And I understand it's October and it's the beginning of the season. There's eight or nine new faces in the lineup. this is a time when championships are not won. But I will add, championships very much can be lost in October. They may not be able to be won, but you can put yourself so far behind the eight ball in October that you're not going to get a chance to win a championship. So if nothing else, this team has to come out for 60 minutes and just keep a consistent effort. It doesn't have to be light your hair on fire a million miles an hour for 60 minutes, but it can't be. solid first period, nap in the second, play catch up in the third.

Because that's been the formula so far. And it's a problem. It is. And you took the words right out of my mouth when it comes to just, again, you can't win the Stanley Cup in October. You can have a great start which sets you up for the rest of the season when you can't win the cup. But also at the same time, you don't want to set yourself so far back that you have to play catch up for the rest of the season. you've seen the stat where most teams who are in a playoff spot by American Thanksgiving, and for those that do not live in the United States that listen to this podcast,

that is coming up in basically a month. Most teams that are in a playoff spot at that time make the playoffs in April. So it would behoove the Penguins to really get going here over the next month. And the schedule gets tougher this week. Dallas is coming to town. Colorado is coming to town. And oh, yeah, Ottawa is also coming to town. That's a much improved team this year too.

Three big tests, and the penguins are going to have to be a lot better overall. Another thing that I did see that I didn't like in this game overall. And yes, the underlying numbers are very kind to the penguins. They let in shot attempts, scoring chances, high danger chances, and expected goals. But the one thing I did not like in this game, I have the penguins played way too much on the perimeter, way too much perimeter passing, especially in the third period. I felt like Jordan Bennington was barely even tested. in that third period when they were trying to play catch up.

At least against Detroit, they were testing Billy Huso, got a double of pucks past him. Heck, he also had to make some really nice save towards the end of that game. I didn't really see that in the third period outside of a redeems the horn getting a goal. We'll get to him in just a second because he was fantastic in that game as well as that third line. But I just saw way too much play on the edges of the offensive zone,

not enough pucks to the middle slot area. especially on the power play too. They had a power play in that third period when they were down by only a couple of goals. And they're just playing pass. That's what they were doing. They're trying to globe trotter to the pocket felt like in the net and just looking for that perfect play. And it's like, no, just fire it to the net there. Again, I'm not one of those shoot at people.

But in that situation when you're down too, you kind of have to be a little more of a shoot at person there, I think. It's just it wasn't good enough. And I felt like they really didn't test Jordan Bennington and Oliver in that period. Yeah, and anybody who knows me in the way I approach my analysis of hockey, know that I believe in all of it. I believe in the analytics. I believe in the eye tests. So Saturday's game is a classic case of eye test versus analytics. The analytics are very kind to the payments, very kind for Saturday's game.

I will say, though, the numbers are fine. The numbers look good. But the visualization of the analytics back up what we're saying. If you go to Natural Statrick and look at Saturday's game and you go look at the shot chart and the heat map, the penguins were allergic to the middle of the ice and the offensive zone on Saturday. And the thing that makes that worse is both of their goals came from in close. So that should tell you something. Get to the front, get in Bennington's face, get to the scoring areas, and you will score.

If you look at everything else they did, it's on the outside. And this is one of those games where you watch it and you go, okay, I can see why the analytics are kind of them because they had the puck. They didn't do anything with it. They possessed the puck, but it was on the outside. They got shots. They outshot the blues, but where did those shots come from? The point with no traffic, the perimeter with no traffic, and just places where you're not going to get second and third opportunities. And even though that's not the way this team is built, we're not asking them to be.

you have gritty, grind it out kind of team. The thing is in the National Hockey League, even goaltenders like Jordan Binnington, who are hot and cold, have one thing in common. If you are an acceptable average replacement level goaltender, if you can see a shot, chances are you're going to stop it. So you have to get in their way. You have to screen them, have to get them moving, have to misdirect, have to deflect, all that stuff. So again, The numbers are good to the penguins. The eyes aren't, and neither are the visualizations. And you saw the penguins get him moving, especially on that second goal, kind of in garbage

time from Redeems the Hornah, comes around the net. Bennington had no idea where the puck was. Oh, and what do you know, he tries to move, puck's in the back in the net. They didn't do that nearly enough. There was really no traffic in front of the net on the power play when they were just passing in or on the perimeter and not getting any shots to the net. It's just not good enough there. And that's another area where the penguins are really going to have to

clean up heading into this week. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we will have a big positive out of this game. Pat and I are going to talk about that new third line for the penguins and just how good Redeems-Zerrna was in that game. And oh, yeah, why he probably needs to stay. Not probably, actually, why he needs to stay on that line. But before we get to that, we do have to discuss Sleeper, the official daily fantasy app

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You can choose goals, assists, saves. You can even do plus minus if you've. want and you heard me, Penguins fans, you can get 100 times payouts on Sleeper, so start paying attention and get your picks right so you could win big. Use promo code locked on NHL, and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and Conditioned Supply, that's Locked on NHL, C-Sleepers, Terms of Use for Details. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes, joined by Monkow's Patrick Dampe, of course.

Thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. So that third line probably was the best line on the ice this past weekend. I'll get to Sidney Crosby later because I thought he was terrible in this game. Probably one of the worst games I think I've seen from him in about a year at this point. He was very frustrated during that game. Just wasn't good enough. But that third line with Redeem Zohorna was tremendous. You want to know just how good stats-wise?

When that line was on the ice, Zahorna, L.R. and O'Connor, the Penguins had 87.5 percent. of the shot attempts and a 93% expected goals rate. I know. Short sample, it was only at 5 on 5, 8 minutes of time on ice, but keep that line going. They started out the game really well. So Horna got in the face of Blue's defensemen, forced turnovers in their own zone, excuse me, and really started the cycle. I thought he was great next to L.R. O'Connor. He needs to stay up on this team on a permanent basis. He should have made this team out of camp. They should have sent one of their AHL defensemen down to keep an extra forward.

He has to be on this team full time going forward. He was awesome in this game. It's exactly what we talked about. He brought that shot in the arm to that line. Yeah. And it gives that line the exact chemistry it needs to where you treat it like Lars Eller's a babysitter of two, you know, four and five-year-olds. Just let them run around and just make sure they don't hurt themselves.

Let them loose in the backyard and let them run and just let them go have fun and play around on the playground and just make sure they don't get hurt. And you're there as the safety net. And that's how this works. Like let Drew O'Connor and redeem Zahorna go into the corners. Let them forecheck. Let them play big. Let them play with a lot of energy.

And you have Lars Eller there almost as a third defenseman, which is basically the system the penguins play anyway. They want to keep a man high in the offensive zone. So when that third line's on the ice, let the two young bucks run and go, let them do their thing, let them play aggressive, let Lars Eller hang back and be defensively accountable up high. And that's what they did. You watch that third line every time they were on the ice and they had a chance in the offensive zone. DOC and Big Z were out there. Sounds like a pretty good law firm. Law firm of DOC and I like it. Yeah.

But anyway, that's what they did. Those two guys helped get possession. They helped them keep the forecheck going in the offensive zone. And Eller hung out high. And my message to Sullivan right now, treat that line like a scab. Don't pick at it. Just let it sit. You just got to let this ride line, to be honest.

And I just, I couldn't take my eyes off. It's so funny to say that, considering how bad the bottom. bottom six has been so far this year. But when that line would come on the ice, I couldn't take my eyes off it because they were creating scoring chances every time they were out there. And again, it's no coincidence that when you replace Jansson Arkins, who just wasn't playing that well with Redeems Horna,

yeah, you're going to get results considering the camp in the preseason that he had. And even in a very limited sample size as an NHLer, he has put up really solid numbers, both counting stats-wise and underlying stats-wise. He's been good. Keep riding him. I want to see what else there is for his game. Put him on the penalty kill.

Do this with him. Do that. It's really exciting that the penguins have a player like this in their system. And he was very deserving of that call up. He was very deserving to make the team. And at least for right now, I know this could change. I don't need to see them call up anyone else for this spot, whether it's Colin White, Vinny Hinder shows or anything like that.

I even thought Drew O'Connor had his best game of the year by far. he had a couple really quality chances that just didn't go in the back of the net. And again, no coincidence that it's redeemed Zohorna on that line that really helps him out. Someone who can get him the puck when needed, someone who can forecheck really well. It's a really nice, you said it best, just a shot in the arm, basically, for that line. And it's something that the bottom six really needed because of how much it's struggled this year. And, of course, Zohorna gets the first bottom six goal game five into an 82 game season. You don't have to do anything crazy here.

You really don't. And looking at Redeems the Hornah, every test this kid has had in this organization, he's passed. Whether it's been, and just when he got called up, he said to reporters, he said to the media, hey, I know why I got sent down. It was a business decision. It wasn't anything I did. I didn't do anything wrong. It was a business decision.

It's what they had to do for the salary cap. And that's a sign of maturity because he could have come up and been kind of petulant and said like, oh, I thought I was great in camp. I thought it was one of the best players. I can't believe they sent me down. And while we as fans will see that and go, oh, I love that. He's being defined. He cares.

He's passionate. As a teammate, you don't want to see that because you're putting your teammates down. You're telling your coaches they're stupid. You're telling your management they're stupid. And sometimes they sure are. But guess what? That's a petulant attitude that doesn't help get to a championship. So add that in with the fact that he scores a goal, again, keeps putting up points, keeps being effective.

Just let him go. Just let him play. Don't take him out of the lineup. Don't set him down until he has a bad game. Until he strings together a couple bad efforts, there is no reason for this team to let him not be, have a locker, have a sweater, and in the lineup every night. I agree. And hopefully he is the person that really gets the rest of the bottom six going. I mean, it's definitely been obviously a major disappointment. We've highlighted it numerous times on this show. I do think Kyle Dubus might start to get a little antsy with that unit if some things don't change.

One more thing before we do had to break, though. I thought Tristan Jari was not good in this game. I thought this was his first really bad game of the year. You're not going to win any games when your goalie. You're starting goalie, especially, has an 8090 percentage. That's just not going to happen. in the NHL. And especially on that fourth goal from Brandon Zott, his second goal of the game, he's coming down off the rush on the left side, fires at Gloveside on Tristan Jari.

I hate being like that mega-save guy, but I'm sorry, make a save there. Your team is down to, they are pushing. I know they're not getting to the prime scoring areas, five to 10, 15 feet down in that slot area. They're not really making Bennington work that well, but they have the puck in the other end of the ice

fairly often, you've got to make a save there to help your team. If we do, we saw as the Hornet's goal, if that goal still happens, they're down one late in the game, and it's a lot easier to score one six on five goal than it is two. So in that situation, make a save. I also didn't really like his movement that much in the fourth two periods. He wasn't playing aggressively. And yes, I know the Penguins defensively were a bit of a mess in that second period, but he just never looked comfortable in net during this one.

and just a really piss poor effort from him overall. And you're assuming goal he's going to have those kind of games. And we just saw in New York, Igor Shostarkin had a really bad game against the predators. He was pulled just about a few days ago. So that's going to happen these kind of games. But still, I just didn't really care for this kind of game from him 8, 10, and say percentage is very unacceptable,

especially on 21 shots. Yeah, this is a kind of a both and moment for me because the fourth goal, yes, make a save. It's Brandon Sought of 2023, not Brandon Sought of 2015. Right. But at the same time, the Penguins defense, you know, crappy as that game was, they only allowed the Blues to have 21 shots on goal in total. Now, at even strength, Kristen Jari's 14 of 18.

That's not great. Overall, he's 17 of 21. That's 8.10. He was fine. He was perfectly fine on the power, or on the power play. when they got chances against because that's how this team decides to operate. But it's one of those things where he never really got a chance, I think, to get into any kind of a groove because the penguins, for the most part in the first period, kept the blues

out of where they needed to keep them out. And then the second period happens and he's got no rhythm. He's got no groove. And here we go. So the, and then the last part of it is the little. silver lining I can see from it. Outside of the sod goal, there were no stinkers. Because you remember last year and in the last couple of years when he gave up bad goals, he gave up bad goals. Right. And again, as bad as the sod second goal was, still a good

shot. Like, but at the same time, I would like to see that stop. So there were no egregious, like, oh my God, what is he doing on that one kind of goals against? So, a bad game, but not to steal something from our pal Chris Carter, it locked on Steelers. I'm not putting a skull on his helmet for this one. He's, he breaks even for me. I like that reference. And yeah, I thought the second is a really nice play shot. You still want your starting goalie to make that save just because, you know, you're one-on-one. Come out, be aggressive, take that angle away. He shouldn't have really had that angle in the first place, just watching it back.

opinion, but hey, it's in the past, Penguins lost the game. What can you do? But that'll do it for the second segment. Coming up in the third segment, Pat and I are going to do a little small preview of the week ahead for the Penguins. We'll do a deeper dive for Tuesday's game for the Tuesday's episode. And then we'll also get into whether or not both of us are pretty concerned at this point in the season, even though it's only been five games. But before we get to that, we got to discuss eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience, what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and leveled up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits, LED headlights,

and more whether you're into speed, power, or style. eBay Motors has got you cover. With over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you will always find exactly what you're looking for and with eBay guaranteed that your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or you'll get your money back. Because with eBay motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. Keep your ride or die live at eBay motors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes, joined by McCos Patrick Dam. So it's been five games, two and three record. Some teams have also struggling right now. The Edmonton Oilers have looked really bad to start the year. They're also going to be with Alconor McAver for the next week

or two. Not good. The Rangers have been kind of up and down, though they're three and two. Right now, the capitals haven't looked that good either, but I don't think anyone really expected the capitals to be that good this year. But for a team like the Oilers, they really struggled out of the gate. How concerned are you with this team right now? And do you think, and I've seen this brought up quite a bit on Twitter. I see people send me screenshots from the Penguins Reddit page, which is just the takes on there, I'm sure, are very nuts.

I don't really go on that page anyway. I've been a couple of Discord as well. Do you think there's something to be said about Mike Sullivan not getting the most out of this team right now? Is the message going stale in the locker room or anything, you think? No. Okay. Listen. I don't think Mike Sullivan is above criticism.

I don't think Mike Sullivan is perfect and cannot be questioned. I agree. I do, however, think he's a top, probably top five coach in the National Hockey League. Here's the thing. It's an older team. It's the oldest in the league. Older teams are notorious for slow starts. However, I do think he has to adapt a little bit because this isn't the 2016,

2017, 2015, 2016 team anymore. A lot older. You don't have the speed again, but you don't have the speed you had that. It's time for this roster to be coached a little differently. I'm not saying be less aggressive. I'm not saying completely overhaul it and turn yourself into a defense first team. Don't need to do that at all. What you need to do here is taper it a little bit.

Maybe instead of a two-man four-check, go one-man-for-check with support. Maybe instead of completely clogging the neutral zone, back it up a little bit. Let them come to you. Make them make mistakes as they approach. Maybe instead of going full four in the first period, you come out a little more timid. You come out a little more reserved. You let teams make mistakes. You feel them out.

you get some possession early. So I'm not concerned about Mike Sullivan. Here's the other thing. I'm not even concerned about this team in general yet because it's five games in to a team that has eight or nine depending on the night new faces in the line. That's tough. And the other reason, through the first five games,

there have been moments in every game, whether it's whole periods, whether it's whole games, whether it's one or two shifts, it's a couple power play opportunities. They just got to put it together. Exactly. And you don't, rarely do you have that in October. And lastly, and certainly not leastly, and I'll step off my soapbox.

This is the week that I am making a big decision on this team. Because you're playing two absolute contenders in the Western Conference in Dallas and in Colorado. And then you're playing a young, up-and-coming good team in Ottawa. Colorado's Lipa League on fire already this year, by the way. That team looks insane. Now, if they go 0 and 3 this week, but it's three well-played games and it's three tight games, hey, stuff happens. And you get some points, especially.

Even if you go to overtime, or if you go 1 and 2, or if you go 2 and 1, 2-1 is the ideal here. Well, 3-0 is the ideal here, but 2-1 would be great. if they start putting it together this week against very good teams, we're fine, okay? Everybody relax, put the torches in the pitchforks, back in the closet for a few weeks. But if they get stomped on and walked over,

we got some problems. Right. And I think my biggest thing heading into this week is that they should be off to a better start over these first five games. Again, I even tweeted this on Saturday, tonight and I was out doing some pre-Hlloween stuff with my girlfriend. A lot of, that's always a lot of fun. Halloween's one of my favorite holidays.

But anyways, the first five games, you look at the level of competition who they faced. A lot of these teams, Chicago, you got Calgary, especially, they look really bad, start the year. St. Louis, those three teams right there. Not good. The Red Wings are lighting the league on fire. They are playing very good hockey right now. I will not dismiss that.

Penguins I thought played a really good third period against. that may just still a bit short, but the Red Wings are playing great. But overall, you look at these first five games, and we'll put Washington in there too. To be only two and three, playing against some teams that are not up to good starts, that's disappointing to me. And now you're heading into a stretch where you need results. You don't want to fall to, say, I don't know, two and five and one,

or especially two and six. You fall to two and six, there's going to be a lot of questions to start being asked. You know, one of them could be towards the head coach. And I agree with you. I don't think Mike Sullivan is above criticism. There are definitely some things that drive me a bit crazy about him with how he ice his Carter at times, with just some of his lineup decisions,

how, again, how he took out P.O. Joseph or Ryan Shea. And speaking of Ryan Shea, I don't really think he did anything well in that game. He kind of just looked like a random HL call-up, in my opinion. I would just put P.O. Joseph right back in for this week. That's the best description. He looked like an A.HL lifer playing in the H. And I'm not trying to be mean to Ryan She was his first game.

Congratulations to him. him, you know, making the NHL and playing in his first game, I just didn't really think he did anything to really stand out in that game. It's like, oh, you want to play over P.O. Joseph? Well, he didn't really do anything to show that he should be playing over him. And again, I'm not some P.O. Joseph Truther on this show, I'm not going to say that he's going to be a great second pairing defense for anything. But I think at the NH level, he's a solid third-parring guy. He has really strong underlines the first three games of the season. I think he drives enough offense in the offensive zone where he deserves to me in the lineup. I'm sure he gives it a

little bit back in the defensive zone, but that's why on a good night, you have Chad Ruehdle there to help them out. I do think Rueel should have been in the scratch, but no, Mike Sullivan's all differently, it's whatever. Overall, though, this needs to be a big week. Or I think Kyle Dubus might start getting a B'nancy, because knowing him with how he was in Toronto, he's probably not thrilled right now, and he especially will not be thrilled if they lose a few games this week. I do think if they continue this kind of mess start against these few teams this week, you may see him, I won't say make a pan of trade, but I think you'll see him really considerate to try to give this team a job

because he said it during his opening press conference. This is a team that's in win now. You committed to the core. You can't have this kind of star and just sit on your hands like Ron Hextall did. So this is a major week for this team. Yeah. And listen, if they come out of this week, and they go two and one, they go three and oh,

they go one, one, and one. I'm not going to be upset because, listen, like I said, and this is where I'll end it. There have been flashes so far. There have been flashes for longer and shorter periods of time. Should they put it together for 60 minutes or at the very least 55? I'm not going to be upset because it's early. It's early and they did a lot of overhauling of this roster.

So it's still very early. And as long as I see some light this week, I'm not going to press a panic button just yet. And the funny thing is to start off this week, you know, Dallas and Colorado, Penguins played two of their best games last year against those two teams. That win in Denver, I thought was probably the win of the year. Probably the second best win of the year was that home game against the stars. I was there for it in early December. And it was that two-one game. I believe the Penguins won with less than a year.

a minute left in regulation. It's a really fun game to go to. I thought the Penguins played great defensively in that game, control the game overall. They can play at that level against these two teams. I know it's a different year, but if you believe like I do, and I know you believe this as well,

that this roster is better than last year's roster, they can play like that against those two teams the way they played last year. So we'll see if they can. Big week, that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. Pat and I will be back around the same time on Tuesday to preview the game against the Dallas

Stars, who I love watching them. And they have so much speed and skill. Nice, good mix of veteran and young players. I love watching the Stars. So this should be quite a fun game. We'll preview it on Tuesday again. Thank you all so much for listening slash watching. Really appreciate it.

We'll be back with another episode tomorrow.