Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can the Penguins score an upset in Beantown?

Episode Date: January 4, 2024

The Penguins are in Beantown tonight looking for a big bounce-back against the Bruins after a disappointing loss to the Caps. Patrick and Hunter discuss what the Penguins need to do to get a win tonight. The Penguins also officially signed Jesse Puljujärvi to a PTO with Wilkes-Barre and the boys talk about what he needs to do to get a contract with the big club. Finally, All-Star nominations get announced tonight, who from the Penguins will be heading to Toronto?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) 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 are in Beantown looking for a bounce back tonight against the Bruins. Hunter and I are going to discuss that and more in this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome back, Penguins fans, to the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp.

You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym. for wet joined live to tape from the garden by hunter hoodies you can follow him on twitter at hunter hodies you can follow the show's twitter at l o underscore penguins we thank you for making this your first listen slash watch of the day we are free and available on youtube or wherever you get your podcast in today's episode is brought to you by fan duel make every moment more right now new customers get a 150 dollars in bonus bets with any winning five dollar money line bet that's a 150 bucks if your team wins, visit fandle.com slash locked on to get started. So, like I said, Hunter joins us in this episode live from the garden, and that is where the penguins are taking on arguably the best team

in the national hockey league tonight in the Boston Bruins. They are an absolute wagon once again. So this is a big bounce back night for the penguins. They lost a game they probably should have won against the Washington Capitals earlier this week. It's going to be a huge, huge test to see where they sit against an actual legitimate contender tonight in the Boston Bruins. So Hunter, what are we looking for tonight? And what do the penguins need to do to come out of Boston with two points? I'm honestly looking for a true road game for the penguins. Kind of similar to what the capitals did for the second and third periods against the penguins just the other night where, you know, they're sky hooking the puck out. They're blocking a lot

of shots. But I would want to see more offense with the penguins in that situation. But you're going up against a Bruins team. They've won four in a row after losing four in a row. They continue to prove me and a few other people wrong because I didn't think the Bruins were going to be that good this year, especially after losing both David Creachy and Patrice Bergeron. But when you have Brad Marshand and David Posternick doing the things that they're doing, they're going to be a toughout, especially also with Linus, Allmark, and Jeremy Swamon, being two of the best goals in the league. And I think that's the best hand in the league at this point. But the Penguins to win this game, I think they're really going to have to win this special team's battle.

sure most of the game is played at five on five, but you look at the Bruin special teams, it's your pat. Their fourth in the league and power play percentage at 27.5%. They're second in the league in penalty kill at almost 86%, 85.9%, to be exact. The penguin special teams units are going to be tested very much in this game. And if the penguins do get some power play opportunities in this one, they're going to have to find a way to make them count against one of the best penalty killing units in the league.

And then vice versa with the penguin's PK. being top 10 league, going up against a power play that has so many weapons, that's going to be a big test as well. This could be a really fun special teams battle between these two teams tonight. If you're the Penguins tonight, you got to stay out of the box, plain and simple. This is an absolutely lethal power play. And you just look at some of the players that are leading the way for Boston right now. David Posternak has 50 points, 22 goals to go along with it.

Brad Marchand still humming along, as much as you may hate him, he's a hell of a hockey player. 13 goals 33 points. Charlie Coyle 13 goals 27 points. JVR having himself a little bit of a renaissance with 25 points. And it's just, it's a very well-balanced team. Their top guys do a ton of the scoring, but they get they get contributions up and down the lineup. They've got a ton of guys in double-digit points, including former penguin Danton Hinen, who this is, this is one of those things where it doesn't seem like you can get as mad as you want about the penguins not having him anymore. But this is a guy who it seems like no matter where he goes, it doesn't work, but it works in Boston for whatever reason. It's always worked there for him, to be honest. It's actually

kind of funny. And you said at best when it comes to the ruins, they can spread out the wealth still pretty solidly because if you look at their top six, they can put David Posternak on their top right wing and also have him next to Pavel Zaka and Morgan Geeky. And then they can have Brad Marshan on their second line with Charlie Coil, who has been rock solid for the Bruins this year. I did not think he was going to have 13 goals, 27 points in his first 36 games. I've always thought Charlie Coil is a pretty good player. I didn't think he was almost a point per game player good in the NHL.

But their top six is loading me, Jake DeBrusk. Remember, once upon a time, just a couple years ago, he requested a trade from the Bruins that quickly went out the window. He's playing some of his best hockey. these last couple of years. This is a very good top six. The forward group overall is a bit better than I thought it was going to be this year. Have to give a lot of credit to Jim Montgomery.

He's one of the best coaches in the league right now. What he's done since taking over for Bruce Cassidy, who I honestly thought he got treated a little unfairly by the ruins, and he went to Vegas, won the Stanley Cup with them, but Bay hit a home run with Montgomery. He has them playing lights out almost every single night. And also this game against the Bruins, this has been a house of horrors for the Penguins over the last eight to ten years. It has been very rare when they go into the garden and they win that game.

I mean, heck, they were swept by the Bruins last year, one overtime loss. That was the game where the Penguins had a three-goal lead, I believe it was multiple times in Pittsburgh. They lost that game. And then they lose the winner classic. And then they lose another game very late in regulation against the Bruins. They played them very tough in all three games, but they weren't able to get the result. We're going to have to see if that changes in this one. I know recently the Penguins also, they've had games where the star players haven't played

as well. That has to change in this one. You are going to need your star players to be your best players if you want to go out there and be one of the best teams in hockey. Right. And I look at this, I look at this matchup in the top six. And I do have to give the advantage to the Penguins ever so slightly.

but this is about as close as it gets as we've seen in a long time outside of the true contenders where you look at this team and go their top six is unquestionably better than the penguins. And then you hinted at it a little bit. Again, two of the best goalies in the league on this roster in Linus Olmark and Jeremy Swayman, O'Mark with a 918 and 18 starts. Jeremy Swamman also 18 starts 928 save percentage. So they're picking up right where they left off last year as the single best tandem in the national hockey league.

So it doesn't really matter which one's going to get the nod tonight. But we know who is going to get the nod for the penguins. And that's Alex Nadelcovic. That came out this morning. And I think this is the right decision. He was the first one off the ice for the Bruins at their mornings gate. Though Montgomery didn't fully announce it, we'll have to see. But if I had to guess, it's going to be swimming.

The Bruins, they can start either one of these two. They're both two of the best goalies in the league. you can continue with Adelkevich. No surprise there, but go ahead. Right. It's no surprise, and he's earned more starts as the years continued. And again, I don't want to fully blame the capital's loss on Tristan Jari, but this is what we talked about last episode where you have a goalie now as your backup, who you don't have to wince when you give him time. If Tristan Jari needs a few days to get it figured out, get his head back on straight or just recover, you have Alex Nadelcovich right there who is a more than capable

1B at this point. So I'm, and again, it's another opportunity for Mike Sullivan to look at his goaltending room and say, okay, if and when we get to the postseason, who are we going to lean on? In that situation, I would guess they would start with Jari in the playoffs, but that's a bridge we can cross when potentially it comes to it if the Penguins do make the playoffs at the end of this year. But I agree with you overall, Medalkovich, he played really well in relief for Jari when he

had his first rough start in about a month and a half to two months earlier this week. He had a 933 save percentage. He kept the Penguins in that game. The goal that he gave up was not his fault at all. Outside of that, Ottawa start about a week and a half, two weeks ago, he's been a rock all season. We all know how good he was against the Islanders. I think he was the biggest reason why the Penguins won that game.

He's 17th in the league right now in goals state above expected with 6.8. He has a 924 save percentage, 2.42 goals against average. Not many teams in the league can say that. their backup goaltender has numbers like that. The Penguins are one of the few teams that can. And it's maybe a little bold, if you even want to call that, that they're starting Adelkevich against one of the best teams of the league. But when it really comes down to it,

you can also make an argument that it's not just because he's been amazing for the Penguins this season. And he's earned more starts to be that one B to Jari's 1A. Or honestly, at times he can be the 1A and Jari can be the 1B. at best they're splitting up the starts which I think is perfect for both goalies. You really do have to split starts, especially with Tristan Jari. And that's not a knock on him. That's really just become the reality of the modern day. That's how you got to do it.

It's become the reality of the modern day NHL. Having a, as the head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin likes to say about running backs, having a bell cow would be nice that can play the lion's share of your starts. That is very rare anymore in the national hockey league. you need to have a goalie who can start 50-ish games and then another goalie who can start 30-ish games in his place so that they're healthy going into the postseason. So we have that tonight's game 7 o'clock at the garden for those of us who aren't in Boston like Hunter and are not going to the game.

You can catch it tonight on ESPN. So you don't got to go hitting the high seas for tonight's game. Another thing that is going to happen tonight, and we'll talk about it a little bit in our last segment, is we're going to find out, I believe it's the first 32 players named to the NHL All-Star game. So we'll give our little, a quick couple takes on who we think from the Penguins should make it. But that is going to do it for this first segment. When we come back, we got to talk about some roster construction news that came out today

about a player that signed a PTO with the Wilkesbury Scranton Penguins. But first, we have to tell you about one of today's sponsors, and that is Sleeper. We're almost at the halfway mark of the NHL season. and Penguins fans, it's been an up and down year so far. They're in the playoff hunt, which is where we expected them to be. But regardless of where the penguins are in the current standings, I want to remind you that you could win big by playing Daily Fantasy Hockey on Sleeper, the official Daily Fantasy app of the Locked-on NHL network.

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live to tape from the garden hunter, hoodies. And some big news today. Finally got some updates on one Jesse Poo-Yarvey. It appears according to the Tribes Seth Royal. that he has signed a PTO with the Wilkesbury Scranton, with the Wilkesbury Scranton penguins. And I like this, to be honest, I think it's time to finally get a look at him in some game action.

By all accounts, he's done okay in practice and workouts. He hasn't really blown anyone away or made any big impressions. But now it's time to take that natural next step. It's time to see what he can do in game action. So at this point, give him the PTO, send him down to Wokesby. see how he does. And with one of the injuries we have up over there on the rundown with Matt Nietto out six to eight weeks, you're looking for some forward depth at this point.

Right. It's one thing, you know, skate with the team during practices and morning skates and work out off ice. Now it's time to see what you can do in games. And the team feels like he's not fully ready to play with the NHL squad. That's totally fine. You can go down, play a few games with Wilkesbury. See how your legs feel. See how your game is after so many months off.

And let's face it, is Jesse Poyarvey better than a lot of those players down in the HAL? Absolutely, I'll say that. He may make some of them look foolish when he's on the ice, but you still got to see what he can bring. And if he plays well, you can sign him to a PTO. I don't even have a PTO with the Penguins. You can sign him to a contract with the Penguins, call him back up and then see what he can do at the NHL level. Now, if he struggles a little bit, he's not finding his game. You can just release him from the PTO and he can go sign with another team. It's a win-win situation, in my opinion. Yeah, and you look at his numbers from last year.

They weren't overly horrible. You know, a couple of goals, a couple of assists, didn't play a ton. He was actually pretty solid in a bottom six role for the Carolina Hurricanes. The numbers don't jump out at you off the page for 17 games played with only two assists and two points. But if you watch the way he played the game, he was relentless on the forecheck. He helped create offense. He was a net positive on puck possession for Carolina. And that's the kind of team that Carolina is.

That's what they do. That's what they base their system off of. So a guy like that could actually bring a nice physical-ish presence to the bottom six that could really spark some of the offense that you want to get from your Redim Zahornas, your Drew O'Connor's, Lars Eller, a couple other guys down there. So I really want to see him maybe not dominate so much because he's coming off of major surgery. He's getting his legs back under him. But I would like him to look like one of, if not the best players on the ice when he's down in the AHL.

And he should be. And if he does, you can bring him back up to the Penguins, the NHL team that is. And he can be in the conversation for one of the full-time roster spots, whether that's an 11th floor, whether that's a 12th floor or whether even if it's a 13th floor who can come in at times if the player is struggling, that needs to be scratched. Pulli Arby can come in and vice versa, right? I think that's probably his ceiling here with the Penguins, considering their depth right now,

Valertri Pustin continues to play well. And with Matt Nietto out for the next couple of months, as we'll discuss him a little bit, there is a spot to be had right now, and Puyarvey could potentially get it if he goes down, plays well with Wilkesbury, and then gets a contract from Caldubus. And like I said, this could be a big physical presence.

for the bottom six because Jesse Puyarvey is not a small man and he does not play like it. He's 64201 and that is something that, you know, like we don't, I don't want to go old school on here and say like, oh, the penguins need to get tough. They got to get these big bruisers and everything. But if you look at the last few teams that have won the Stanley Cup, they had sandpaper to their game. The way I always refer to it is they had guys who got the crazy eyes. And the penguins have always had that in their big guns. They've always had it with Crosby, Malkin, and Latang.

You know, eventually those guys might see the red mist and come after you. But they need those kind of role players that they aren't just there to drop the gloves and fight. But they have some foot speed. They can play a physical game. They can be good on the forecheck. Basically, the best way I can put it, they can make it a long night when you play the penguins again. where as soon as you see that puck going into your corner as an opposing defenseman, you think, oh my God, they're going to take a piece of me again.

And the Penguins, when they won the Stanley Cup in 16 and 17, they had that. They were a relentless forechecking team, and they wore you down over the case of the course of 60 plus minutes. And they've kind of been lacking that for the last few years. And another thing you can add with him potentially, put them on the second power pole unit, and have him be one of the net front presences there because it's, I think, going to take a lot for a opposing defender to get his big butt out of the way. It's kind of similar to how they can put Carter there

and have him to deflect pucks. You can pull Yardby there and he'll do that job, I think, perfectly fine. He's a big body. You can put him there. I think you can start seeing the second unit. Again, if he plays on Wilkesbury and if he gets a contract from the penguins, you can put him there. Even though the second unit doesn't get that much time,

still he might be able to get a goal or two when the second unit is out there. But that's at least a little bit of wishful thinking right now. We just got to see how he plays to start. Yeah. And then you look at his overlying career metrics. They're all pretty positive. He's got just over when he's on the ice in five on five in his career,

his team gets more than half of the shot attempts. So that's a huge thing. So he's not he's not like a guy we talked about yesterday. He's not like Ryan Graves where he's big for nothing. He's doing something out there. So really want to see. what he does in the AHL really want to see if this team is looking at maybe giving him a short-term contract going into the rest of the season.

But we'll keep an eye on that as it develops. When we come back, we're going to talk about the recent surgery that Matt Nietto required, as well as give a quick couple takes on the All-Star nominations that we're going to find out tonight. But first, we have to tell you about our next sponsor, and that is Fandul. The NFL regular season is wrapping up, but there is still time to get in on the action with FanDul, America's number one sports book. Right now, new customers get $150 in

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parlay hub, the best way to find popular parlays, and more. So visit fanduel.com slash locked on and make your first bet a layup. handle official partner of the National Football League. We're back here on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. It's a Thursday edition. I'm Patrick Damp, one of your co-hosts, joined live to tape from the Gadden in Boston,

Massachusetts, dude, Hunter Houties. And a couple quick things we got to hit here before. I'll drink a shot every time you say it like that. We're starting shots every time you say it. Yeah, there's another one. I'll have about 5,000 drinks tonight for you. But yeah, so we got to get to a couple quick things here before we wrap this episode up. First and foremost came out today from the team that Matt Nietto needed laparoscopic surgery on his right knee.

The recovery time is expected to be six to eight weeks. So that doesn't quite shut him down for the rest of the season. But it gets us to about the middle of March when we're really in the stretch run to the Stanley Cup playoffs. So that's a bit of a tough hit to the depth because Matt Nietto, while he was, wasn't overly impressive. I do think he was playing a solid role in the bottom six. He was one of their better penalty killers. I will give him that. Offensively, he really wasn't do anything to help the team that much. Defensively, again, he's one of their better defensive awards, but I think it's still a big hit to their penalty kill, even though the

PK is still top 10 in the league, they still miss his presence out there, to say the least. But this is still not good news. It's funny, he was skating about a week and a half, two weeks ago. Then he came off the ice was doing off ice work. I don't know what happened. I don't know if this was planned surgery that is or if he had a setback. But usually it's not the best sign where someone it looks like is skating, right? And then he comes off the ice to do off ice work. I don't know.

That's just me speaking with my opinion. I mean, as far as I can tell when it comes to, as far as I can tell when it comes to injuries and surgery like that, it's one of those nagging ones where he's going to try it, he's going to try it. he's going to do therapy and in massages and workouts and all that stuff you get from the physical training staff. And eventually they were probably like, you know what, let's just let's knock this out now, get it out of the way, get it fixed.

And we'll get you back at 100% rather than 85%. That makes sense at least. I mean, he'll still be back before the regular season ends in early to mid-April. The penguins, they'll more than likely be in the race by that point. So he'll be able to help them for the stretch run. As you said, I'd rather get it out of the way now than have to deal with this early March, mid-March where he has to miss the rest of the season, especially if they don't make the playoffs in April. Yeah, and like you said, the biggest hit this takes for the depth is the penalty killing.

He has been absolutely a dog on that PK, and it's been, like you said, it's still top 10. They're sitting at 10th right now. But the fact that we went from really worried about what the penalty killing unit was going to be after last year to this year at being a top 10 unit. He played a huge role in that. So very curious to see how the PK continues to fare without him out there. So we'll see him in about six to eight weeks. Lastly, but not leastly, as I said at the top of the show in the first segment,

tonight during the game, which you can catch at 7 o'clock on ESPN. The NHL is going to announce the first 32 All-Star selections for this year's All-Star game, which is in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. ever heard of it. And for the penguins, for a season that's been up and down where they're kind of on the playoff bubble, off the top of my head,

I can think of at least three guys who are deserving to go to the All-Star game. I can give you four, to be honest. Both goaltenders, I would say those two, and I would go Cindy Crosby and Jake Gunsell. I would honestly go all four for those. If I had to guess who gets picked tonight,

you probably have the same guesses I do, Cindy Rosby. Yeah, my guess. Well, but go ahead. was going to say my guess. I mean, for straight up marketing purposes, they're probably going to take Sid just because he's the big name. But I also look at it as Tristan Jari is still the leader in shutouts in the NHL.

And whether or not he's atop the league and save percentage, which he really isn't, but he's doing really well on goals saved above expected. When you lead the league in shutouts, it's kind of almost a shoe in as an all star, right? usually, yeah, and he's been to an All-Star game before. So I wouldn't be surprised if he does get that selection tonight or if he gets selected a little bit down the line. That said, if I did have to guess who gets picked from the Penguins tonight, it's going to be Cindy Crosby, even outside of marketing purposes, which that's a pretty big reason

to bring Cindy Crosby. He's still one of the faces of the league. He's been one of the best players in the league this year, showing again why he's at least a top five player in the sport, why he should be, have serious consideration for the Hart Trophy. he's been everything and more to the penguins this year. But if he's somehow also not selected, maybe he gets in later, Jake Gensel, I could also see potentially being one of the candidates that gets selected tonight.

He's also been a rock for the penguins this year. And I know Alex Dedelcovich, he's only started in 12 games this year, but he's still been one of the best goaltenders in hockey. It's more of an outside chance for tonight, at least, but I could still at least see, even though it's maybe a 5% to 10% chance. I can see four players potentially getting it, though there's one or two that are above the other two, in my opinion. I think the lack of starts is going to work against Nadelcovic. I agree with you.

He's been pretty fantastic, but you start only 12 games. I don't think they're going to give you the nod. And then you hit the other one on the head that I was going to say, Jake Gensel. He's just been absolutely incredible. He's one of the best goal scoring wingers in the national hockey league. So, I mean, I do think there is a very real world where we're talking about the penguins sending three representatives to the All-Star game this year. And isn't that awesome? Even though this is a team that is middling this year, they're fighting for their

playoff lives. They've still had quite a few players who have played some electric hockey this year. Heck, if Eric Carlson had been playing at an even higher level, we'd be talking on him potentially if we'd the all-story game. Same with Chris Tang. And I think both of them have been very solid this year. But no, imagine if they had been playing at an even higher level, it would make the voters and even the fans because there's going to be a fan vote, I believe, later on,

just that much tougher to select. look like the 1992 All-Star game when it was basically all penguins in the starting line up. So like we said, seven o'clock tonight from Boston, the penguins take on the Bruins on ESPN. You can catch it there. If you're somehow at the game, go give Hunter a high five, tell them what's up and that you love the show. But that is going to do it for this edition of the locked on penguins podcast. We'll be back tomorrow in some capacity. We're still trying to figure out how we're going to do that episode as Hunter is traveling.

but we will be back tomorrow in some capacity to recap the game and get you ready for this weekend's game against the Buffalo Sabres. But that'll do it for this one. For Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you for listening.