Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Best performance of the season with Sid out especially?

Episode Date: March 3, 2021

2 massive points by the Penguins last night and Hunter is here to tell all of you why it was their finest performance of the season. Just how great were they in their own defensive zone at 5V5? Even the penalty kill got to go five-for-five in this game and set the tone right out of the gate. He also talks about Tristan Jarry's continued excellence and how he's turned his game completely around. Was this Evgeni Malkin's best game yet too? What about Kasperi Kapanen, and what's his ideal place in this lineup? He also then provides injury updates, and touches on GMJR's weird quote on a podcast before doing the listener takeaways!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this Wednesday afternoon edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L-O-N-Square Penguins.

So Pittsburgh starts off this very crucial week for their season. You know, almost like the season is on the line. week. Three games against the Flyers. They start off the week with a monstrous five to two win over their cross-state rival sheets is better than Wawa, I can confirm. But overall, everyone, I honestly thought this was the best performance of the season for the Penguins. I'll tell you why. You know, I don't know what it is with this team, and they just play a lot better when one of their star players go out. I mean, obviously they won a Stanley Cup without Crystal Teng in 2017. They've won so many games without a Gennie Malkin. I think last year when Cindy Crosby, Cindy Crosby, was out for like 20-something games. I think the team went like 18 and 6 and 4 or something like that. I think it was somewhere around there because, of course, he missed time with the hernia. And they just, I think the team just sympathize their game a lot more. They don't take as many chances in the offensive zone.

They play more of a structured game, especially in the defensive zone. And they just don't allow a lot of chances on their end of the ice. I know the Flyers put up 42 shots last night. But, you know, a lot of those were not like super good. looks outside of their time on the powerplay. I thought at 5E5 on the penguins kept them a lot to the outside. If you look on Stattrick in a heat map for Philadelphia, you know, a lot of their chances came right in front of the net.

You know, that's been obviously been a problem for the penguins this season. You know, they've just done a horrible job with, you know, just five to ten feet out with clearing the net front. But other than that, you know, a lot, the flyers really didn't have any good chances. There's some green at the point, some green at the right circle. but other than that, the Penguins did a very fine job defensively last night, and obviously you saw P.O. Joseph was out. He went back down to the taxi squad.

You guys have been listening to the podcast. I've been saying that he needs some rest. I'm glad that he got it. Mark Friedman came in. What a debut he had. I think he's expected goals for percentage was 84% last night. I think his possession was around 52 to 56%. I'm not to double-checked, but I know he's expected goals for was 84%.

That was a team leading mark for the Penguins last night. I thought he was good in his defensive zone. Offensively, you didn't really notice him too much just within the offensive zone. But defensively, he was a menace back there, not really giving the flyers anything to speak of. The game, it started out a bit rocky, though, for the Penguins. I'll say that, you know, going down 1-0, they'll take two penalties in the span of, like, the game's first five minutes. So, yeah, you put your weakness to work. Let's see if you worked on anything.

And, yes, I will praise the Penguins penalty kill today. You know, I've been dumping on them the past couple days, but they went five-for-five last. night on the penalty kill against a Flyers power play that I think is hovering around league average, maybe a bit above. And, you know, that that is only the sixth game this season that the Penguins have not given up a power play goal against. So, you know, that's cause for celebration. But overall, the Flyers, they had some good zone time, but a lot of other times, the

penguins were getting to loose pucks a lot more this time. They were winning battles along the boards, blocking some shots in front of the net. They weren't giving the passing liens to the Flyers like we've seen them do to other teams. And the Penguins were just feasting on it. Brandon Tanev was so quick. I think I saw Chris Latang killing some penalties. Obviously, Janowski wasn't out there. But, you know, Ashton Reese, of course, is one of their best penalty killers.

And it was a very stellar job by the PK unit last night. And I was very happy with it. You know, if they can keep up that momentum for another game, you know, let's just go game by game with this unit. Obviously, I think they're 29th in the league overall. It's not going to be an overnight fix. But they have the personnel to get this unit to at least an average penalty kill to above average, especially. This has been what? A top 10

PK unit for the last however many years. I know Jacques Martin left, and he was a big part of that. But, you know, it's still the same personnel. I don't know what Mike Luigi's been doing with his new system. But last night, it paid dividends. The Penguins were able to, you know, they picked a hell of a game to start killing penalties.

We'll see if that continues on their game on Thursday for the power play. I thought there were some improvements last night. The zone entries were better. They were moving the puck with a lot more efficiency. Of course, in the game that Ty Reardon also has to miss due to COVID, COVID-19, the Penguins do score a power play goal without him there. And also, Cindy Crosby.

So is Cindy Crosby the problem on the power play? You know, here's my column, of course, as everyone says. But, you know, I thought the puck movement was Chris. They were getting shots on goal after only about three to four passes like I've been talking about. It was the special teams get an A plus plus for me last night. I thought they did a really nice job overall. Goaltending Tristan Jari, this is now his eighth consecutive outstanding start.

The last couple of weeks, we've really seen him come in new. his own, come into the form that we saw last year, which made him to be an NHL All-Star. In his last eight starts, everyone, he is 928. I think in his first seven, he was around 8.50. I want to turn around, it has been. And, you know, he's probably saving their season right now. I know the Penguins haven't looked good in a lot of games, but they have won seven of their last 10.

Well, you know, they haven't looked good, I would say, in large stretches in some games this season. But, you know, Jari has been there on these last eight games to bail them out, especially last night he was making some really big 10-dell saves. There was a chance last night, I think, when it was 3 to 1, where Jari got his left pat over just enough, so that chance didn't go in. I think it was on Van Reeves-Zike or something like that.

Just one great save, you know, if that were Matt Murray or someone else back there, that that puck goes in, but Jari showed his athleticism there. And, you know, this is another great start for him. And he's obviously going to get the start on Thursday. There's no back-to-back coming up for Pittsburgh just yet. But I was really happy with Jari this game. He also has better numbers. this year, everyone, then Carter Hart.

I think it's 5E5% percentage is 9-11. Carter Hart's is 907. I think he's a better expected goals against average. So, you know, everyone that says, oh, yeah, Carter Hart is like five times the goalie. Tristan Jari is, no, he's not. He's having his struggles as well. And you also saw Carter Hart have a fart moment last night.

You know, obviously the pun intended there is he kind of went out of his net with Mike Matheson, kind of going into the bench, I think a little too early down to and then Matheson's able to make him pay. But, you know, also for some other. the players I thought that played well. Evgeny Malkin, his underlying numbers are starting to improve a bit. His chances for, chances against, I think the last couple of games are somewhere between, you know, I think at some point I saw last night, it was like 39, 4, 17 against. On a couple shifts last night, actually, he kind of tore the flyers apart. You know, we saw that same galloping

Malkin that we've seen throughout his career. He had a big jump to his step. He was making things happen. You know, it wasn't that vintage Malkin game like we've seen from him in the past when Crosby goes out, but it was a really big step in the right direction, I think. I was really happy with his game. Jared McCant, I would have liked to see him maybe just shoot the puck there on that breakaway that he had. You know, I understand the need of deke, but, you know, I think another good game from him at the second-line center.

I think center is his best position, and you saw that last night when playing with Kasperi Kappin on his right wing and Brandon Tanev on his left wing. And speaking of Kisperi Kappernan, easily his best game in the season last night, gets his fourth and fifth goal of the season. I thought he was going to get that hat-trick, but Hart did have one. one hell of a save. I think it was a right pad save on cabin. He just elevates that a little bit more. He, I think he would have had a hat trick in like not even five minutes. I think it would have probably would have been one of the fastest hat tricks in initial history. It definitely would have

been, I think, one of the fastest hat tricks on the Penguins history. I'm not have to double check that, but it looked like it would have been in like five minutes or something like that. But his move on his first goal, that was just awesome. He was able to open up the wickets of Carter Hart with that flake slapper. He said he got it from the big daddy himself, aka, Jason Spetson, Toronto, apparently Spets had texted him after the game, and said, nice job on that one. But the fake slap, he sold it the perfect way in Hart, opened up the five hole just enough,

and Kaepin is able to make him pay to tie the game. Not a minute after the Flyers took the lead. And then his second goal, basically crashing the net, gets the second goal of the game. And now that's 12 points in 18 games for Caputin this season. He's been more good than he has been bad. I know Sullivan's kind of been demoting him at times, But, you know, in a perfect world on this team, everyone,

I still will say that he works best as a third-line right winger, Richard McCann, and another winger for him on his left side, and that the Penguins should go out and get a top-six winger. I'm going to touch on some potential line combinations later on in the podcast if the team is able to go out and get someone like Ricard Raquel and uncertain someone on waivers that I was tweeting about. But that is where I see Caputon on this team in a perfect world, but I thought he played a great game last night.

I'm really excited to see what he can do moving forward, but playing next to McCann. if Crosby's going to be out for a little longer due to COVID. He was not at practice today. I would not expect him to play tomorrow unless he gets taken off the list and participates in the morning skate. But there's still a whole lot to get to before this episode of Locked on Penguins End. We're still going to get to Jim Rutherford's comments on that podcast. I'm actually going to play that clip that I saw from Jason's Twitter account J.

A155 because it is truly everyone. If you have not listened to this clip from Jim Rutherford, he just appeared on this podcast a couple days ago when talking about trades and his just MO, I guess, going into them, or his mantra, I guess, you know, going into making trades as a G. You have to hear this because it's truly a sight to hear. But before we do that, it is time to talk about. Bill Pardors 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors, Kalmer, Bounty, cookies, and cream, lemon, almond, cheesecake, or a few of them. 12 originals, coconut almond, almond, raspberry, German, chocolate peanut butter. The bars are covered in 100% chocolate.

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All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L. O underscore Penguins. So, I mean, it's just, you really can't say enough how big this win was this week, especially in regulation. This was only the Penguins' fifth regulation win.

In 21 games, they are now tied with 25 points with the Flyers for fourth in division. I know they're in fifth right now, but the Flyers also have two games in hand. But if the Penguins can just take two out of four points in these remaining two games, obviously winning both of them in regulation would be the best case scenario that I don't expect that to happen. but two out of four points, three out of four points. They'll be set up really nicely going into the home stretch for the season. They still have 16 games left against Buffalo and New Jersey. They have four more against the Rangers.

That's basically half of their schedule is against those three teams. They'll only have three games left against the Flyers, three games left, I mean, two games left against the Capitals and the Islanders. So that's just, that's huge. And then I think they'll play the Rangers coming up. They'll only have two games left against them. and then you mainly just play the two bad teams and you play Boston six more times.

So the Penguins are getting their tough games out of the way early on in the season. They're holding water. It's a five-team race with four playoff teams going to come out of it. Like I said, they need to win these games regulation or win one of these games in regulation. I'd say then maybe if they can get a point in the other game,

that would be awesome as well. But like I said, they win both of these games. It makes me and everyone else in the fan base pretty happy. So we'll see if they can do that. For other players that made their debut last night, Josh Curry on the fourth line, didn't really notice him too much. You know, a couple of plays. He kind of, there's a couple rookie mistakes.

I think he fired a puck, you know, way wide in the net when there was a wide open pass. He'll learn from that. You know, I think he did that once. You know, some passes were off. But, you know, it's his first game. You know, first game jitters, though. I think he did get his first point on the night, thanks to that four-on-two goal that basically put the game away.

Cody C.C. gets his second goal of the season. I can't say enough good things about. Cody C.C. right now. What a signing it has been. I think the Penguins took the player that he was in Toronto, I think, and just kind of remade him or was just had him be born again or something like that, because this is not the Cody

Cici that we've seen for the last few years. And, you know, as Jeff LaTangold said on his Twitter, you know, I wouldn't be down, I would be down for a contract extension for him. I think shit that I did not think I would say as well. He tweeted that out first. I'm going to give him credit for that. But, you know, shit, I didn't think I would

say either. You know, I think I would also be down for a contract extension for Cody Sisi. You know, maybe a couple years, two million per year. I think that's fine for a bottom pairing defenseman. You know, if you want to go an extra year but still keep the average at two million per. I think that's fine too. I think Jeff was the one that said that. But he's been that good.

He's a serviceable number six. He's not hurting them. He got that. That goal reminded me last night, as some others said it too, you know, of that Ron Haines Eagle from 2017 game five, seemed like a final against Nashville, where Hainesie kind of made two guys miss and then capped it off with that empty net goal basically the other end, but the passing play there was just superb.

Just they were able to get it to C.C. And he put it five whole on heart. Just, you know, that's stuff you can't teach. You know, that's probably one of the Penguins' best passing plays of the season. It even beat the power play passing play with their goal at the beginning when Malkin, I think, Rust, Gensel, which gave it to Capitan and for a wide open net. So the Penguins had two outstanding passing plays in this game. You know, you don't really see that too often from Pittsburgh this season.

they've had a lot of greasy goals. But in this game, especially with Sydney Crosby out, of course, they have two of their nicer passing plays of the year and the results in a 5-2 win. But, you know, that was a great response as well. After the Penguins were kind of turtling in their own end, I would say, for a lot of that third period, they were kind of taking turtling to a whole new level,

I think. They were just playing in their defensive zone the entire time, just asking the Flyers to tie the game after dominating the second period, though, the fires, they were able to cut it to 3-2. I think it was Joel Fierl. Farabee got his second goal of the night, and then Cody Cici, and then, you know, Mike Matheson, of course, gets his second goal of the game.

He had, second goal of the game, excuse me, he gets another goal on the season. I think that's his third goal in a penguin uniform, third or fourth, I think is what it is. But, you know, you're going to get that. That's the good, but you're also going to get the bad. And you saw that on Flyers' first goal when he just slid down. I think it was on Farabee, and he just hopped over him.

I don't know what Matheson was doing on that play. The defensive zone coverage was terrible, but, you know, that's just, that's what you're going to get with Matheson in his own zone. He's a tire fire. He's one of those entertaining players to watch on this team. Just for that reason. He's so bad in his defensive zone,

but he's so great in the offensive zone. As for some other players, I thought Jake Gensel was good. Brian Ross also gets back on the scoreboard. Excuse me. Good to see him get another goal. I thought Zach Askenrice was fine. I thought Teddy Blugher continued his excellence

this season as well. The fourth line, you're not going to notice them much. That's just how it is at this point. Crystal Tang. Again, another really good game. Already touched on Cody C.C. Marcus Pedersen again was fine. Already touched on Mike Matheson.

Mark Freeman, again, you know, 84% expected goals 4 percentage in his debut. I know very small sample size, but, you know, that, you know, if they can somehow get that almost every game, not going to happen. But if he can get that, you know, to be about 55% every game, you know, he's going to be playing a lot more minutes. That's for sure. But, you know, he also could be in the lineup until Brian Jimlin returns. He returned to practice today, as well as Usa Ricola, Evan Rodriguez, and Mark

Ginkowski. But, okay, let's just get to this Jim Rutherford stuff before I go to my next commercial break because everyone, you all need to hear these clips. So Rutherford went on the Cam and Strict podcast. I think it was like an hour 45 minute podcast, hour 45 long podcast, excuse me, maybe a little over two hours. And so he was talking about trades and here is one of the things he had to say when it comes to making deals as a general manager. Listen here. but I also make trades understanding that it should work for both sides and sometimes it's not going to work for us and I make a lot of trades so I'm not going to get them all right when I don't get one right. I'm not afraid to say it and I move on. I move the player out in a different deal

and move on. So as long as you're not trying to make trades to always win the trade, you can you can make enough trades to make your team better. Okay. So the last point, part there is the big, big one. If you're not always trying to make trades to win them, you can still make enough trades to improve your hockey team. What the hell kind of logic is that? And he openly admits as well that, you know, when he messes up a trade, he's not going to be afraid to admit it, and he'll just move on the player and burn more assets.

So it's just that is basically what happened these last three years. He would trade for someone like Dominic Cahoon, who was fine, by the way, thinks he messed up, and then trades him to Buffalo for Conor Sherrod. you know, signs Matt Holmwick, it doesn't work out, trades in there for just, you know, because he messed up. He just continued to burn through assets like it was no tomorrow. And I'm sorry, like a trade should not always be fair for both sides. That is not how you run an NHL roster. I'm sorry, I just, you lose me with that kind of logic.

But here, this is the second clip that I have here for you all. This is what Rutherford had to say when it comes to his mantra with trades. listen here real closely. And different guys that have their ideas. You should try to get an extra pick. You should try to get a second round pick instead of a fourth or whatever. And I said, guys, when you do these deals, it's got to be fair for both sides. You know, don't try to win a deal too bad.

Try to make it fair for both sides. That doesn't always work out that way. Sometimes you lose a deal. Sometimes you win a deal. But when you're making it, the important. thing is that you think it's fair for both sides. I'm sorry. I just, I could not stop laughing when I heard that. I honestly just, I don't even know what to say. I mean, don't try to win a deal too bad. I mean, what kind of logic is that? If anyone could explain that logic to me and what it

means and if it makes sense, please do, because it legitimately makes no sense to me. I mean, obviously, you don't need a Taylor Hall for Adam Larson every deal or, you know, just Rhino Riley for a bunch of scrubs every deal. I mean, that would be awesome. But, I mean, you should always try to come out on the better side of a deal when you're making a trade. It improves your hockey team. You don't, you know, it doesn't have to be fair to both sides,

as he's saying, you know, or just, you know, the other thing is, you know, he didn't try to get max value on players like a second round piggy. I'm like, well, why not? That's what you should be doing. I mean, when this team is eventually going to be torn apart, which is going to happen once the crossing Malking era is over, I mean, that's your time where, you know, you don't have to get as much for some players as you normally should.

But in normal times, when you're selling a player, you should try to get as much as you can for that player. And, you know, if that's a second round pick, sure, like a fourth round pick, that has a lesser chance of getting a player to the NHL than a second round pick. What? A second round pick obviously has a much greater chance of getting into the league. So it's just that logic was so flawed. I'm glad he's not here anymore. And that just honestly summed up, Jim Rutherford's tenure here these last few years. You know, maybe he signed Jack Johnson because he felt bad for him.

He bid against himself for a guy like Brandon Tanniff, Casperry Cappan. You know, he didn't have any plan B or something like that. And he just always thought, you know, you need to make a trade that's fair for both sides. And I'm not always going to try and win a deal. I mean, I'm sorry. That's just, I guess it's the old boys club, which should be so outdated by now. But that really just irks me and pisses me off that, you know, GM's, you know, he's probably not the only GM that thinks that way. it's just, you know, like this is a win now team.

As someone said, I think, under that thread from Jason, you know, you're the GM of the Penguins, not the entire league, Jesus Christ, Jim. But the credit to those videos, Cam and Strict podcast from J underscore A155, he put those tweets out there, so go follow him for Penguins content. Also, before we do get to the commercial break,

I want to touch on Dominic Simone. He was put on waivers today. That's an easy slam dunk waiver claim to me for the Penguins. He's better than every player that's played on their fourth line this year. He makes $700K. I would do it in a landslide, and if you want to have Simone on your third line,

when everyone gets healthy, you could do a Simone McCann, Capon, third line if this team goes out and gets someone like Kyle Palmary, Ricard, Raquel, or something like that and moves Marcus Pederson in a trade. So that's personally what I would do. I'm a big fan of getting Simone back. I like his playmaking ability.

His passing is great. His skating is great. I know he's not that goal score that everyone wants him to be. He's had some bad shooting luck. But at 700K, I think he would be one of the better fourth liners in this league, especially, you know, on this team. You know, he's a lot better than Colton Severe or Drew O'Connor or Josh Curry or Sam Lafferty or any one of those guys. But those are my thoughts on that.

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Welcome a bonus on your first deposit. That's bet online, your online sportsbook experts with a promo code locked on. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. So all this shows, Twitter, at L0 underscore Penguins. So let's get to the listener takeaways for the game. last night I always appreciate you all sending these in. Robert Wilson says,

wow, I do not see that one coming. I had low expectations of set up, a great effort with two huge PKs out of the gate. Jari, Kappy, and Cece with a huge goal when the Flyers were trying to make a comeback. A gritty, hashtag gritty effort. Oh, well, perfect tweet there, Robert, especially at the end with a hashtag gritty effort, you know. I will always slander gritty. I think he sucks. I think he's a rip-off from the Philly fanatic who is an actual great mascot. And anyone who thinks gritty is great, you know, I think you guys are just monsters. You know, that's just my thoughts. on that. But yeah, 100%. You know, I do not expect much, but, you know, they played probably

their best game of the season. Two huge P-Ks, like you said. Jari again, Capitan and CCC, obviously were great. Ryan King 702 says Capitan Malkin stepped up in Crosby's absence. We don't have a goaltending problem. Jari is the real deal. Yeah, I mean, I'm starting to get there. You know, I mean, we're almost 10 full starts in since those last seven, and he's basically at 930 through his last eight starts. This is the best. I've seen Tristan Jari play since the first half of last season where he was an NHL All-Star. He's kind of saving their season right now. I mean, I would love to know where the season is right now if Tristan Jari is not 9-28, 9-30

in his last eight starts. They are probably where the Rangers are right now, six, seven points behind the Flyers and Pittsburgh. It would be a disaster, in my opinion. Friday time says a great structured win, had a response every time tonight. Jari was solid and the PK came through. Just great to see them have a complete game. Yeah, I think your latter point is big there, Friday time.

was one of the most complete games of the season for Pittsburgh, in my opinion, probably their most complete game. Of course, it comes when Cindy Crosby gets hurt. Well, Cindy Crosby gets hurt. Cindy Crosby is out due to being placed on the COVID list. Excuse me, did not mean to say that. But yeah, the PK, obviously great effort. Jari had some big saves on the PKK.

He was probably their best penalty killer last day making some very timely saves for Pittsburgh. And if he's going to continue to play like that, this team can only climb more in the standings. Gilbert the goat says Now that's Penguins hockey What a game from Jari, Kappaninan and Gino Cece and Mathis and have surprised me more and more each game Funny how this team plays their best hockey with their stars out Yeah Gilbert I keep saying that man

It is hilarious how they can play So on discipline with all three core big time players In the lineup and then when one of them goes out You know hence 2017 and hence last night They'll play a more structured game They'll simplify it And they'll just play their best game of the season It's actually hilarious

He also says I'm in favor of keeping Gino Gino with Gensel and Russ to be honest, yeah, I actually would not mind that. You know, their underlying numbers last season were pretty good. If I remember correctly, I think their expected goals hovered around 56%. Their possession was around 52, 53%. It was one of their best lines when Crosby went out. And when Zulker comes back, I wouldn't mind seeing Zuckler with Crosby and maybe Cappan.

My dream is to have Rukharickel up there or like Kyle Pomerri or something, and then move Cappan down the lineup. And then Genslmalkdon Rust. I mean, those two lines right there, you know, those would be badass. And I would love to see Gino continue with Gensel and Russ. I mean, Gensel works great with both players, but I think, you know, Gino may need Gensel more than Sid does. A few more. Mr. Nodal says,

I wish we wouldn't test out our PK in our goalies every game. The PK was great, though, lots of energy all over the ice. You have too many shots and need to stay out of the boss. Great to see Jari holding down the floor. I do agree with you overall. You know, they need to stop taking so many penalties. You know, five last night was unacceptable. I think Sam Lafferty had two of those penalties.

You know, he probably needed to be stable to the bench after the second one, or honestly, after the first one. He didn't really bring a lot to his game last night anyway. But, yeah, there's a lot of energy on the ice. Obviously, the fans being back helped. Great to see, you know, 2,800 fans back, even though I personally would have waited another month to have some fans back. True North Penn's fan says,

goaltending has been inconsistent since textile came in. Tonight was incredible. Now we need to see some more consistency up front, and then I think these penguins are going places, and holy shit, what a night for the penalty kill? The penguins are, in quotation March, marching, as you know the March of the Penguins, obviously, that reference there. But yeah, overall, you know, the goal-tending has been great these last eight games.

The Penguins have won seven of ten games since Hextall and Bryden Burke took over. And, yeah, I do want to see more consistency. Let's see if they can do this again on Thursday when Sidney Crosby's likely going to be out of the lineup again. You know, can they repeat this kind of performance? It's up in the year. But I've said before, if they can take two out of these two out of four points in these next two games or three out of four points, you know, this team should be going places for the rest of the season, especially with his schedule coming up.

King Clarkie with his regular tweet about Mike Matheson, he's the most entertaining player on this team and it's not close. Gets the most likes out of it too, just because it's very on-brand for Clark, I'll say that. But yes, he's definitely the most entertaining player on this team. Chaos at one end and awesomeness at the other. And then Ryan Howell says this was maybe the best defensive performance of the season, minus that second goal.

I would agree with that, I think. I know they gave up a lot of shots, but a lot of those shots were to the outside, except, you know, the couple that they swore were. in front of the net. But, you know, if you look at the underlying numbers from last night, overall, if I can just find the numbers here on Statsrick at 5E5 last night, the Penguins, 48 chances for, 38 chances against basically 55% of the possession. For scoring chances for, 19 to 18 at even strength in high danger, the Flyers led 10 to 7. That just goes to show how great Jari was in front of the net.

Penguins expected goals for the game 1.58, the Flyers, 1.94. But, you know, the Penguins were also more opportunistic than the Flyers. If you go to all situations, the Penguins 54 chances, 44,000, 4, 46 chances against their 4.4s possession, 54%. Their scoring chances for 20, 22 against for the Flyers. You know, I know, I know, I know some of the numbers will say that it wasn't their best game at all situations. Yeah, I know, but I think at 5 v. 5, the Penguins were the better team overall. But that will do it for this episode. I'll be locked on Penguins podcast.

Like I said, if they can get, you know, someone like Ricard Raquel and then claim Dominic They can go Zucker, Crosby, Raquel, Gensel-Malkman-Russ, Simone McCann-Captain, and then the Asthmae's Blue Gertan of Line. That would be an absolutely filthy lineup for Pittsburgh, you know. But we'll see what Ron Hickstall has up his sleeve. The Penguins will be back in action. Thursday night, 7 p.m. Eastern against Philadelphia Flyers. This one on 18-T Sportsnet is not nationally televised tomorrow night.

Thank you all so much for listening to this episode. I'll have the recap episode tomorrow night after the game. So I will talk to you all then.