Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Breaking the seal with Gil Martin of Locked on Isles!

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

Part 1 of a 2 part preview is here as Hunter is joined by Locked On Islanders host Gil Martin in a special crossover. Both hosts discuss numerous topics in this episode, one of them being if Gil is concerned with how the Islanders played down the stretch. He also touches on if he thinks Palmieri and Zajac will turn it around after being a no-show in the regular season, then throws it back to Hunter on what he's worried about for this series. Can Tristan Jarry hold the fort down like he did in the second half of the regular season? Who's the Penguins X-Factor in this series? Also: Just how close was the season series? Hunter goes into the numbers a bit to show that this could've gone either way. What have the Penguins changed with how they play against the Islanders?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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% 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.WealthfrontTo get your first $5,000 managed for FREE, for life, go to wealthfront.com/LockedOnNHL 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 Thursday afternoon, morning episode, whatever you want to call it, of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow the show's Twitter at ILO underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by Rock Auto, amazing selection, very low prices, all the parts of cover every need. That's visit rockaw.com and tell them locked on sent you. But this is also a Thursday morning out in an episode of the Lockdown Islanders podcast. As of course, this is a two-part crossover previewing the Penguins Islanders playoff matchup. This is the second time in three years that these two teams have met. I am here with Gil Martin host of Lockdown Islanders.

How are you doing tonight, man? I'm doing good. How are you? Not bad. You know, it's the second time in three years that these two teams are going at it. So definitely a bit nervous for it, especially with what happened in 2019. But I think this is going to be one of the best series of the opening round. Yeah, it should be.

I mean, look, only six points separated these teams after 56 games. And you have some real contrast in style and statistics and a rivalry. So it should make for some very interesting hockey, no question. Yeah, and especially with two of the best coaches in the league, Mike Sullivan and Barry Trots. I talked about it on my podcast a lot. I can't wait to see the chess match that goes into just matchups and line combinations and who goes out against two, et cetera, et cetera. I just, I always love seeing these two honestly kind of play cat and mouse with each other, to be honest. Yeah, and in a playoff series, that's even more important, obviously.

And I think, you know, this is where having home ice advantage, if there is a game seven, will definitely help the penguins because you get the last change in that final game. Yeah, exactly. And, you know, home ice, it's very real, especially when it comes to the penguins, they went 22 and 4 and 2 at PVJP's arena this season. That is the best home record, not only in the league, but this was their best home record in the franchise's history. And I mean, anyone that knows the penguins and has followed the franchise, they've had some pretty damn good home records over the years. I mean, they were almost unbeatable in Mellon Arena during the height of the Crosby-Malking years and especially during the height of the Lemieux-Yager years.

But 22 and 4-2 to do that, especially with only 25% capacity for some of the season. It's honestly nothing short of a miracle, in my opinion. So they will not have to go to the Coliseum like they had to do. in 2019, both those first two games will be at Pittsburgh. And there's obviously a lot of big storylines that go into this with the Penguins. I would think you have the Jeff Carter, Jared McCand, duo, which is lighting teams up like it's no tomorrow. Jeff Carter has nine goals that's coming over from the Kings. Hope Sarah Avampato of Locked on Kings is having fun watching Jeff Carter.

I just be a completely new player, to be honest with you, ever since coming. over. But, you know, this is, I feel like this series is a bit of redemption, some vengeance, I think is a word that I've seen thrown around the Penguins fan base just because of what happened a couple years ago because let's be on a skill. I mean, the Islanders definitely embarrassed them in that four-game series. Their odd man rushes galore. I actually went back and watched some of the highlights and a little bit more of that series. And it was just absolutely horrifying to watch if you're a Penguins fan because I think the main thing was, they got a bit too cocky in that series and thought, hey, you know, this team's not as talented as

us. But when you don't pay attention to the details and you don't play well defensively and you know, as you leave your goalie out to dry, that's what happens. You get swept in the four games and you basically led for five to six minutes. Yeah, yeah. That is always a difficulty. And, you know, the key is coaching as far as making sure that the team doesn't let that happen. And, you know, I look at the penguins and you obviously watch them more closely than I do, but leading the NHL in goals, very good offensive team, a lot of talent. The question that I see is the goaltending. Talk to me about the situation entering the playoffs. Who do you expect to be the starting goalie? And how confident are you in this goaltending of the Pittsburgh Penguins entering the postseason?

Yeah, so it is going to be Tristan Jari. I know he's been a little banged up. Lately he didn't start the final game of the regular season. It was their third string goalie who, of course, got a shout out against the Buffalo Sabres. Casey DeSmith is also a bit banged up, but he returned to practice today. But it will be Jari. And he did have a really bad start to the season for the first five, six weeks was around 850, 860, all situations, a percentage.

That is hashtag very bad. people still say that stuff. But ever since around February 16th onward, you can count the number of games where he was below 900, almost on one hand. I think it's a little bit over five. Maybe it's around six to seven. But other than that, he was putting up 920, 925, 930,

quite a few shutouts, honestly, down the sheds. And he was playing his best hockey in the second half of the season, which I think gave him a lot of. of confidence. He definitely had a bit of an inconsistent season, but I think the highs definitely outweighed the lows. I'm more confident in him right now than I was at the start of the season. I know the biggest thing with him, though, is he doesn't have a lot of playoff experience. He's only started one game. It was game four against Montreal when he showed up, but basically no one else on the team did it look like they just wanted to get the hell out of him.

I don't know when they still could from the bubble. I don't really understand what happened to there, but it just looked like the team really didn't want to care about playing. And I game. But Trishon Jari did. He only gave up, I think, the one goal in that game. But I think I'm fairly confident in him. I understand that it's hard to go into a playoff series, you know, with someone who hasn't started a lot of playoff games.

Like I say, he's only started one. Casey DeSmith has never been in a playoff game. But should Jari falter, they do have a very good backup into Smith who put up some very strong numbers this season. I think his same overall save percentage was around 915, 916. It was a bit better than Jari's. And the fact that Jari got his save percentage back up to 910 and 5-y-5, it was 9-17, just goes to show how strong of a second half it was for him.

So I'm definitely confident. All they need is really average goaltending to not just win a game in this series, but I think to win this series overall just because of how good their high-end talent is and just how good their depth has played just overall. You know, I looked at this stat the other day. when Crosby and Malkin are not on the ice, the penguins have an expected goals for of 2.74, which is a hell of a lot higher than it even was in 2016 and 2017.

So they just, they need the goal tending to show up. And, you know, it's the most volatile position in the sport. So you really never know what's going to happen with it. Very true. What do you think was the difference? What changed the course of the season for Jerry after the slow start?

I think he just got to be more consistent. He was, I think he took a couple, maybe some more time after practice, work on some mechanics in his game. He just came back to be a totally different goalie. He was more square in his net, coming out further to make some saves. He wasn't getting beaten for some easy goals. He started playing the puck a lot better, though. I know he started playing the puck a bit worse towards the end of the season.

Hopefully he got those issues cleaned up a bit because I was seeing a little bit of Mark Andre Fleury in there where it just scares the shit out of me and all Penguins fans just throwing it back to when Flurry would just be a fool with the puck, honestly, behind the net. But I think it's mainly just he got more confident and as he continued to start these games, you could really see the confidence in him grow.

And it's just everything turned around at the right time. I think it was the game against the Washington Capitals. What was it? Like I said, February 14th, February 16th, where he only allowed a couple goals and the Penguins took the lead into the third period. But that third period, he had locked them down, made every save that he possibly could. I know the Penguins defended hard in that game, but that was the period. I remember specifically because it was kind of a late afternoon, early evening game where it was like,

okay, if he can build on some momentum here, he would be in really good shape. And to his credit, he did. He continued to rile off good performance after good performance and really live up to the three and a half million per year that he is getting paid to play for the team right now. Islander fans are only too familiar with Sidney Crosby. He seems to play his best hockey against the Islanders. Everybody who follows hockey knows Crosby, knows Edganey Malkin. But talk to me about a couple of guys who maybe outside of Pittsburgh people don't know as well,

but who I think are very important players for the Penguins. Talk about Jake Gunsell and Brian Rust. Yeah, Jake Gensel is just, he's a freak, he's a one-man wrecking crew, he's whatever you want to call it. I think personally he's a top five pure goal score in this league. He's certainly top 10, but I put him right at five, you can make an argument for six, just because of how well he's played these last few seasons. This is four straight seasons of 20 plus goals. He has a 40 goal season in there.

I think he would have had 40 last year if his season wasn't cut short due to injury. And, of course, you know, if the pandemic didn't happen to shut down the season. season for a few months. But he's the best winger that Sid has ever played with. And for the longest time, people were like, yeah, man, well, he's only a byproduct of Sidney Crosby. He doesn't do anything other than play with Sid. And it's just like, that's just not true.

You can put him with Ed McGee Malkin. You can put him with Jared McCann. You can put him with Jeff Carter. You can put him with whoever you want. And he will produce that he has done this, his entire career here. And he's a deadly, he's a deadly sniper. He's honestly the best pure goal score. on this team. And if you give him even a little bit of space on the ice,

there was this game against the Bruins just a few weeks ago. No score going into the third. It was a really nice play along the boards. Brian Dumont gets it to Crosby, who gets it to Gensel and in a millisecond with a Bruin player coming right up to him, snaps at Gloveside, past Sleman. They ended up winning that game. And it's like, that's all it takes with Jake Gensley. You can't give him even the smallest of space or he will burn you. And then as for Brian Rust, he has been awesome ever since coming in. He really opened up his game or just added more to his game, excuse me, after the first two years that he was in the league. Honestly, especially after that first year, I'm in the league after 2016.

He just, he added a playmaking ability to his game. He became defensively responsible. And just his 200-foot game now is so much better. He's on a contract where he gets three and a half million per and he's been a 25-30 goal score basically these last two years. That's one of the best bargain deals in the league. And he can do anything you ask. You can put him on the penalty kill. You can put him on the top power play or even second parallel play. Put him on the top line with Sidney Crosby.

Like I said, he will do anything to help this team win. And again, he's become another one of the better goal scores for this team. They don't call him big game Brian for nothing. He's on another nickname people call him is Mr. Elimination because he's had a lot of goals, you know, especially against the capitals in big games. And obviously, he had the big clinching goal against the lightning in 2016. But I just really like to see how he's grown his game the last few years and developed into not just a everyday player you can put in the third or fourth line, but someone that is a pure

top line winger. And if he were to hit the open market, he would get a lot of money. What is your biggest concern about the penguins coming into this series? It's tough, you know. I think I just don't want to let down. I don't want them to go back to what happened in 2019 because, of course, it's still fresh in your memory, you know. You don't want to get too cocky because, you know, in my opinion,

I think the Penguins are the favorites in this series, and they've shown that throughout the regular season, but this is still a very dangerous Islanders team that went to the conference final last year. They gave Tampa a heck of a fight. I mean, that series definitely could have gone seven games. they embarrass the flyers in six games. They crush Washington the same way they crushed Pittsburgh. And just the penguins have to be ready to play against this kind of team.

And I know it's a defense first team. It's not the best play style to watch on an every night basis. But this is the type of team that you also want to start with because you've lost to this kind of team two years in row. Montreal kind of had the same play style in the bubble and the penguins after a couple of games got frustrated with how they couldn't do anything. so they just really let their foot off the gas at the end of game three, and then especially in game four, they didn't care. So I think Mike Sullivan has made the proper adjustments to his system. We're obviously going to talk about that a bit later or in part two.

But I just don't want to let down and to have them, you know, revert back to all ways. If they continue to play that the way that we've seen them play for this entire season and how they've played against the Islanders and the changes that they have made to their game against them, which you saw in the six, and two record against New York. They should be fine. You obviously want the goaltending to be at least average.

You want the power play to continue to be top five in the league. Another concern, the penalty kill, it's been bad all season. I'm not sure where the Islanders rank with their power play. Last I check, I think it's in the bottom half of the league. Yeah, 19. 19. Yeah. So, I mean, it's not the biggest, like, problem for the payment.

I'm sorry, it's 21st, my bad. First, okay. So the Penguins PK, it should be able to do the job, but we've also been saying that all season, and we just really haven't seen a lot of progress made with it. It's just, it's something that could cost them a playoff series. I've said before, you can win games with a strong power play and a not so good PK, but at times you still need the PK to rattle off a couple really big kills, and especially in a really tight game, if you're up two to one late in the third or three two or. even protecting a two-goat lead late in the game, just because that can give you momentum and that the other team can just score an even-strain goal right after that. So I think those are the couple big things that I'm concerned about,

but their level of play shouldn't drop off. I would be a bit stunned if it did, but this is also a team that has given the penguins fits over the years going into this year. Now that we have a moment to pause during this episode of Locked-on Penguins and Locked-on Islanders, It's time to talk about wealthfront. Investing can be complicated, but whether you're a beginner,

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All right, we're back here on this special crossover episode with Gil Martin of Locked on Islanders. So Gil, just talk to me about the Islanders because from what I've read and from what I've seen, you guys have lost, I believe it's around 9 and 15 games to end the season. I've seen Kyle Palmeri only has five or six points since coming over. Travis Zajak is really battling to even stay in the lineup. And you guys paid a hefty price to get both of those players from the Devils. And that was their big move since Anders Lee, who is obviously the heart and soul of the team and the captain.

went down for the rest of the season. That is a giant loss. But what have you noticed lately in these last 15 games? Is this concerning to you going into the playoffs against the penguins? It is concerning. You know, the Islanders were playing their best hockey when Lee got hurt. They were able to sustain it for a little while. And everybody was anticipating that the trade for Palmyr and Zajak would give them a boost

offensively. And so far it hasn't really done that. You mentioned Palmeri, 17 games, two goals, four points. Zajak, 13 games, one goal, two points. Neither one of them seemed to really find their comfort zone since they joined the team. And clearly, heading into the playoffs, they're going to need to know what their role is and get, you know, productive because they, the islanders need to be able to roll their four lines

and have enough of an offensive threat from those four lines to, you know, wear down the Pittsburgh defense. So, you know, that trade so far hasn't worked out the way that the Islanders expected it to and the way Lou Lamarillo expected it to. But I'll say this. If it works out in the playoffs, no one will remember that it wasn't going so well during the last 15th or so games of the regular season. That's also very true. Yes. The founders do go on a big run here, and Palmieri wakes up, and Zajak wakes up.

I don't really think anyone is going to give a damn what happened in the regular season. But, yeah, I just, I noticed those two lost games to Buffalo. I know one of them was in a shootout. It just caught me my surprise, and then they lost to the devils. I was like, okay, like this seems like a little bit more than just a recent little trend, I guess, is the way to say. But, you know, we obviously know about Matt Barzell. I love watching him play. he's basically a zone entry with himself.

You can't even take the puck off him once he's going full stride. One of my favorite players to watch, honestly. But, you know, there's a couple penguin killers that have just owned the franchise for the last couple of years. That's Jordan Eberley, who for some reason decides to score 600 goals against Pittsburgh every time they meet. And then Brock Nelson, he is the exact same way. It looks like Eberley and Barzel are going to be playing together. And then I guess Leo Komarov of all that is going to be playing. playing up there, which is an interesting decision, but we'll get to that obviously in a little bit.

But, you know, talking about Eberley and Nelson, because Eberley, I think, is doing another really nice year. Yeah, Eberle and Barsal make a really good team. They work very well together. They both clearly missed Anders Lee and the physical presence that he brought. And, you know, that's why I think they moved Leo Komarov up to that line, not so much because of his offensive ability, but because he can add a little sandpaper to that line, a little physicality and some good passing, and he's responsible defensively. But Eberley does tend to play well against the penguins.

And as far as Brock Nelson is concerned, the line of Brock Nelson, Anthony Bavillier, and Josh Bailey, the B and B-N-B line, they've been the Islanders most consistent line, I would say, over the last 15, 20 games. Those guys have very good chemistry. They work well together. Nelson is the goal score.

Bailey is the setup guy. Bavilead speed. And they complement each other very well. And that's a trio that I think the penguins will have to be aware of in this series. Yeah. Yeah, I was actually on my friends podcast today, Nick Zararis, who was talking about that line and how, you're right. Yeah, the Bailey Bavillier Nelson line has been good.

And I'm curious to see how Mike Sullivan matches up against them. If I had to guess right now, he'll put Pedersen, Reno out there, which is, I think, the best shot suppression pair on the team. And ever since Pedersen went to play with Marino, his season completely turned around. Are you concerned at all with, I don't really think you're going to be too concerned with the goaltending for your team. Semion Barlamov enjoyed a really nice season. I think he had, what, seven shutouts was around 930, 935, though.

I did see he is a bit hurt. Is there anything there, or do you expect him to fully start game one? I expect him to fully start game one. Barry Trots indicated that he could have finished the last regular season game if he needed to, but they were being very cautious. They expect him to be ready to go when the playoffs get underway. Varlamov is the man. He got them, you know, all the way to the conference final in the bubble last year.

He is the established number one. But if he falters or if he can't go, they have a lot of confidence in Ilya Seroken. He's an NHL rookie, but he's already won championships in the KHL was considered the best goalie in that league. So it's not like he's a 19-year-old kid. He's been in pressure situations, been in big playoff games, and if necessary, they're confident that he can get the job done as well. Yeah, Sorokans enjoyed a really nice season. I know he shut out the Penguins in one of the games. And then the other one, I think Pittsburgh lit them up when they just, I think, put four to five goals on him before Varlamov.

came in. But he's enjoyed a really nice season. I'm excited to see what he can do in his future. What is your, like, biggest concern going into this series, you think, against Pittsburgh? My biggest concern is that the Islanders won't get enough offense to win games. And, you know, the Islanders have to get three goals or more in a game to have a really good chance to win it because they usually hold their opponents to three goals or less. And so it's just a question of getting those goals. And obviously, Barzal and Everly have

fallen off a little bit since Lee got injured. J.G. Pazzo came up big for them in the playoffs last year. But he has been a little inconsistent lately. Oliver Wallstrom is a rookie who came on really strong late in the season. And he had 12 goals in 44 games. This kid's got a heavy shot. And if he can get hot at the right time, he could be a difference maker. And then, of course,

you have the identity line, which everyone talks about the fourth line, Sizekis, Martin, and Clutterbuck. Those guys are a pain to play against and they tend to set the tone and wear down in the opposition with their forecheck and their physical play. Yeah, it's interesting in this series,

you're going to have two of the best fourth lines in hockey. You know, I always like this one. I kind of make fun of that line, just the Sazegas Martin Clutterbuck line, just because, well, you know, in the past, I haven't had the kindest words about Matt Martin and Calcutterbuck. Let's just say that just because of stuff that's happened, I think, against Pittsburgh.

But it is still a very good line, but Pittsburgh also can roll out Austin, Reese, Blugher, and Brandon Tanna, because Tanna is coming back. And they also live. in the offensive zone. So if Mike Sullivan wants to pursue that matchup, I'd be curious to see what Barry Trots does there because, you know, you said at best with that fourth line, they can wear down the opposition their forecheck once they get in. It's second to none.

So that'd be really curious to see that. Is there anything else, though, that really concerns you about going up against Pittsburgh, even though you've had their number in the past up until this season, but it's just, this has the makings, I mean, in my opinion, of a very tight series, but I still personally think that Pittsburgh is the favorite for how they close the season and how I personally also think that they're deeper. Well, look, I mean, the other concern that I have is been the inconsistent play of the second defense pairing, particularly in their own zone. And that's Nick Letty and Scott Mayfield. Mayfield does tend to turn the puck over a little bit more dramatically and a little bit more often than Islander fans would like to see.

And those, that second pairing has to play well in their own zone more than anything against a deep and talented Penguins offense. So that would be my next biggest concern if we're looking at the Islanders depth chart and what they need to do in order to overcome a very talented Penguins team. Yeah, I mean, that's going to be an interesting matchup as well. And, you know, you touched on it a little bit. You know, speaking about the season series, that's what we're going to get to in our next segment once we come back from this commercial break. Lori, you back to this Thursday episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

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A bit surprising because going into the season, I think Pittsburgh had only beaten the Islanders a couple of times in regulation after that series against the Islanders in 2019. Honestly, even going back to that, they had only beaten the Islanders once or twice. It was a team that Barry Trots had Mike Sullivan's number, but Sullivan did turn in his favor, excuse me. And in my personal opinion, when I watched those games, and I rewatched a little bit of them, the Penguins changed a few things with their breakout. You know, back in that 2019 series when I watched it,

they were a bit too patient breaking it out, and the Islanders would have a lot of time to sit back, do what they do, and the Penguins would kind of be won and done, the offensive zone. this time they got it up quickly and then used their speed to overwhelm and wear down the islanders. And I think that's where a lot of how this season series turned was because Pittsburgh, I felt like was a lot faster and they were getting to more loose pucks quicker. And they were able to get their forecheck going and then just cycle the puck in the offensive zone.

And I think that's one big change that Mike Sullivan really made against the islanders this year from what I noticed at least. Yeah, he did seem to change that up. And I think the Islanders had a little bit of difficulty in some of those games adjusting to that forecheck, which just, you know, kind of overwhelm them at times and force them into turnovers. And, you know, I talked about that second defensive pairing. And obviously, you know, the Barry Trot system is predicated on the forwards coming back and back checking and not letting the opposition gain speed through the neutral zone. And in some of the forward's coming back and back checking and not letting the opposition gain speed through the neutral zone. of those games, man, I saw some of those penguins players really being able to gain the offensive zone with a burst of speed. And once that happens, the defense is on their heels and the Islanders had problems. Yeah, I think that was another big one that I noticed as well. They were able to, like I said, they get their forecheck going and just cycle the puck in. And as I said, they overwhelmed them, which is something that the Islanders, I don't think, are used to in Barry Trotson. but overall, you know, when you look at this season series, it was close despite Pittsburgh's 62 edge.

The Islanders actually controlled the expected goals rate around 55% of it. The actual goals rate there was flipped in Pittsburgh's favor, 15 to 11. Just looking at it right now from Statsrick and a couple other sites. The shot attempts around even, the scoring chances were around even. The Islanders did win the high danger chances, though. This comes courtesy of Sean Gentile from the Athletic, 85 to 61. but the big one from the season series was how great Tristan Jari was against the Islanders. I know Casey Smith also played against them, but overall, he was around 935 to 940 against the Islanders this season.

And, you know, very small sample size, you know, as I said earlier, goaltending is the most volatile position in the sport. But if you get that level of play going into the playoffs against this team, that's just that that's very hard to overcome for any team not just the islanders but those were a couple of the big things that you know I got out of this season series you know it was it was definitely closer than what the penguin's record indicated against them but Pittsburgh goal Pittsburgh's goalie play was a lot better than I thought it was and I think Varlamov also did struggle a bit I think he was only 898 against Pittsburgh but I think against

everyone else he was well above 929 25 for where he was for the season right right And, you know, it's funny because you talk about, yes, the Penguins won six out of eight. But to reinforce how close it was, yeah, Pittsburgh went six and two, but the Islanders were two, four, and two. So two of those games were either overtime or shootout losses. And obviously, we don't have three on three overtime, which definitely favors Pittsburgh with their team speed. And we don't have shootouts. That's not in the playoffs. So, you know, that just, I think, explains that the seat, the, the,

season series was a little tighter than the six and two record would indicate. Yeah. All these games were very, very close. The only one that I feel like was not close was just the one where the penguins went up five-nothing. Right. There was another one that the Islanders won. I think it was the back-to-back game where Latang wanted an overtime and it looked

like the penguins were so gassed the next day. I mean, I don't even want to use that as an excuse the Islanders played a really good game that next day. But Pittsburgh really, it didn't look like had anything in the tank. And it was basically just Casey Smith trying to steal the show. and I think Pittsburgh lost that game to nothing. So it was mainly just two of the eight games that were not closed. And remember a couple of the games in Pittsburgh,

the founders were winning going into the third period, and Pittsburgh was able to snatch it away late in the game. I think one of them, Crystal Tang had a late power play goal. And of course, remember Crystal Tang had that late overtime goal because McCann tied the game on Long Island, I think early on in the third period. There's another one, I think, where Barzell, owned P.O. Joseph like it was nothing, you know, welcome to the league, but I think was the big one on that goal.

And then Malkin was able to tie it. And I think that was when Crosby won it in a shootout. So, I mean, this easily couldn't have been a five and three in favor of the Penguins. Heck, this even could have been a four-four split for these two teams just because, you know, I said the outwenders obviously lost two games past regulation, one of them being an overtime and one of them being a shootout. And, you know, anything past regulation, it's kind of a crap shoot anyway. over time, you just, you have to base your strategy about always having the puck and then the shootout. I mean, that's just a crap shoot anyway. It's just, you know, what goalie makes the best saves and what player can actually make a good move on a go-way. So, yeah, this was definitely a lot closer than the records indicated.

No question. And it's unusual because the Islanders are usually a very good third period team. So they struggle most in the second period. And, you know, another thing real quick, and it's important for the Islanders scoring that first goal. When the Islanders score first, they have a very, very strong record. And, you know, once they get ahead, they can lock another team down with their, with their grinded out defensive style of play. So that's going to be an important factor, I think, in this series as well. Yeah, yeah, the third period especially, you know, that's, Pittsburgh also usually plays their best hockey in the third period as well.

So I'm really curious to see how that goes. But based off what happened in the season series, these games are going to be tight. It's just, it's going to be a dogfight out there between these two teams because, you know, the Islanders are always that stingy defensive team that everyone looks up to. But Pittsburgh can also play some really good shutdown defense

when they want to. Their expected goals against the season was only around 2.3. It's where it was kind of last season, it was 2.27. So they have the personnel to really kind of trap it down and run their 1-2-2-neutral zone trap. So I'm curious to see, you know, what plays into that going into the series.

But like I said, if anything, well, if the season series was anything to indicate how this series was going to go, it's definitely going to be close. And I'm really excited to see how this series goes. But this is only part one of our two-part preview between the Penguins and the Islanders. Stay tuned for part two coming tomorrow on Friday before these two teams square off. Hopefully Sunday, you know, I'm kind of hearing from a couple friends right now that are close to the team that it might. be a 3 p.m. start on Sunday, but the NHL loves to just drag this out as long as they can.

But stay tuned for tomorrow. We'll touch on part two of this preview. Looking forward to it. And just as a reminder to everyone, yes, I understand the Penguins will be wearing. They're all gold jerseys for all home playoff games in the playoffs. Go outside, take a nap, do anything that does not involve getting jammed on Twitter.com about it. I think they're mainly just trying something new because they wore the alternate jersey in 2016, which eventually became their home jerseys. No, I don't think that's going to happen with these jerseys, but they're trying something new because they've gotten owned the last couple of years in the playoffs when they've worn those jerseys at home, even though I know the return to play, it was in Toronto.

But I just want to share my thoughts on that. Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of our big preview between the penguins and the islanders.