Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Changes the Penguins NEED to make to get back in the win column!

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins don't play on Wednesday but there's still plenty to discuss regarding this team. Hunter and Pat first start with some practice notes and how the Penguins appeared to not change... much for this session. They analyze whether that's a good thing or a bad thing as their next game is still a couple of days away. What would they have done if they were Mike Sullivan? After that, they look at players who need to step up if this team wants to find its winning ways again and no, they aren't just players in the bottom six. Hunter even has someone who isn't a player in this category! Finally, they end the show with Warrior Helmet Wednesday and the choice should be fairly obvious.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now.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.FanDuelRight now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY in BONUS BETS – GUARANTEED when you place a FIVE DOLLAR BET. 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.

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:01 The Penguins were back at practice on Wednesday, and it doesn't look like a lot of changes are on the horizon. Hunter and I are going to discuss that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your 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 another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Patrick Damp, joined as always by the one-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on-on.
Starting point is 00:00:42 only Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at synonym for wet. You can follow Hunter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. We are free and available every day on YouTube as well as wherever you get your podcasts. And today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper. Download the Sleeper app and use promo code locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper's terms of use for details. So after that disaster in the desert on Monday, the penguins are back in Pittsburgh. They were back to work at the UPMC Lemieux Complex for practice today. And if you were expecting wholesale changes to this lineup to this team,
Starting point is 00:01:24 well, you were probably disappointed because as we saw from Michelle Creckiolo, the incomparable reporter for the penguins known as Penn's Inside Scoop, she tweeted out the lines that they ran at practice today. and there were some changes around the margins, nothing too crazy, but here's what we had as the Penguins workflow. The top line was Gensel with Crosby and Rust, Drew O'Connor with Evgeny Malkin and Colin White, Ricard Raquel, Lars Eller, Valteri Pustin on the third line,
Starting point is 00:01:55 and Harkins, Achari, and Carter on the fourth line. And while that does look like a nice little shakeup of the top nine, the big surprise from most other people as well as Mesh, was that the power play has seen absolutely zero changes. Powerplay one remains Crosby, Carlson, Malkin, Gensel Rust, power play two, Latang, Raquel, Ellor, Pustin, and Carter. So after a very, very awful road trip, which we have talked to death at this point, we're not seeing a ton of changes here.
Starting point is 00:02:30 And that is worrisome because while I don't think that this team needs to be ripped up root and branch and completely rethought. We talked about this yesterday. There has to be changes made because you lose a game like you do in Arizona. There has to be a wake up call. There has to be a shaking of the, of the tree and get everybody ready to go and put people on notice. And it doesn't really appear they have done that. I like the fact that they're putting Crosby back with Rust. It feels like a way to jumpstart him. He has been a little slow since his return from injury. He's been, fine enough, but you expect more out of them. Maybe putting Colin White with
Starting point is 00:03:11 Evgeny Malkin is something. But overall, what we're talking about at this point is we're really just rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic at this point. You said it perfectly there. This is literally rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. And you know what? This screams of, Pat, it screams of, we're out of answers to this. That's what. it looks like to me. And when I saw Colin White was on the second line this morning, I didn't mean to interrupt you there. I just had to say something because I was blown away when I saw it. And I know he's only played three games, but he has no points at the NHL level this year. What exactly is your goal for putting Colin White on the Afghani Malkin line?
Starting point is 00:03:56 I just don't really understand that, I think. So this just, again, screams of they don't have any answers. And at this point, until Riley Smith is ready to go, especially for the second line, I don't think they really know what to do with Afghani Malkins line. Yeah, Drowe Conner has been playing pretty well these last several weeks, but is he a long-term answer to the second line? Probably not. I still think he works best as a really good third-liner for this team. Right now, you're giving Gino pieces that, no offense, they're just not the best for him at this stage of his career. And you look at some of the other lines, you're moving Raquel down, which, okay, I guess
Starting point is 00:04:38 I understand a little just because Raquel has been a little cold as of late. But you're moving him down for Colin White. I disagree with that, in my opinion. I guess they want to see if he can get jump started with Lars Eller, who, of course, had one of the goals in Arizona. Eller has been pretty solid this year. But then, you know, Valtrey Pustin on the third line. In my opinion, I would maybe bump Pustin up to that second line to see if he can
Starting point is 00:05:02 rekindle some math. that he had when he first came up because, you know, I'll get to him a little bit more in just a second, but he's also been ice cold the last couple of weeks. And we're kind of seeing a theme with some of these Wilkesbury guys coming up, right? They can be a bit hot to start, but then they kind of fade away. That was the biggest worry I had with him when he came up. And even though when he was playing well, it was still a worry that I had. So I would still maybe bump him up to see what he can do next to Malcon. At least you have someone with a little more skill compared to Colin White.
Starting point is 00:05:34 I just don't think white is that good, in my opinion. And then the fourth line, that's whatever at this point. I would prefer to see a chariot wing, but they're just going to keep him at center. So that's whatever. And then defensively, if you look at those pairings that are going to be the same thing, John Ludwig, though, is getting closer to return. If I had to guess, and this is just a simple guest on my part, I think he's going to come in the lineup for POJ once he's ready to return, whether it's this weekend or whether
Starting point is 00:06:00 it's after the All-Star break. And then the power play, yeah, I mean, they're out of answers at this point. 31st in the league. They have no idea what to do with that unit. And it's showing no one is being taken off that unit, whether it's Eric Carlson, of getting Malkin, whatever. They're just not making any drastic change to it. And that shows that they don't have a clue on how to fix it.
Starting point is 00:06:25 And it's unfortunate because it's ridiculous that this unit is 30, first in the league with all of that talent, man. It's insane. We've talked to death about the power play. There's really, there is no meat left on that bone for us to pick at anymore. There's nothing else to say about that unit. It sucks. Yeah. And then the other, what stands out to me here with these line combinations more than anything is the fact that a lot of the guys you need to be role players on this team have been disappointing. Ricard, Kel looked a lot better when he came back from injury, but he's since cold off and he hasn't really been that effective. Valteri Pustin has started to look like he's hit that rookie wall that
Starting point is 00:07:10 we talked about so many weeks ago. Then, you know, Drew O'Connor's been better, but he's probably not a lot, like you said, not a long-term top six option. Brian Rust is back on the first line because, well, it wasn't working with Evgeny Malkin when you needed to work with of Gennie Malkins. So that's a huge issue. So I don't know really what the answer is. The one thing I want to bring up away from that as well, if we're talking about a lack of answers, is what I sent to you earlier today. And this is from TSN, the athletic, SDPN, Chris Johnston. He's everywhere at this point. Inside trading is what I'm doing. Yeah, insider trading, all of that. He, the guys everywhere. He said on TSN, he, he said on TSN,
Starting point is 00:07:54 that on reaching out to him on this day in him being Kyle Dubus, it doesn't sound like as though that was a hard deadline that on January 27th, he would know that direction. And that's referring to him saying that the All-Star break was where Kyle Dubus was going to make his determination on what to do with this team. Johnston goes on to say, so Dubus, even after two games, to end the first half for the Penguins is going to keep watching beyond that point. he insists that his team will make decisions for him.
Starting point is 00:08:26 I want to modify a little bit, and we can get into this maybe on a later episode tomorrow or some other time here in the near future. I do want to modify a little something that I said about the Penguins yesterday and I said on Twitter, where I said that after the disaster in Arizona, that they just need to be sellers. I want to amend that a little bit
Starting point is 00:08:49 because this was both kind of inspired by, just the simple passage of time, calming down, and then reading what our good pal Rob Rossi wrote today in The Athletic about what the Penguins should do. I don't think they so much need to be sellers at the deadline this year, but they don't need to be buyers because there are going to be a lot of teams bidding for only a few players, and there are going to be a lot of teams who have more to offer
Starting point is 00:09:18 than the Penguins do come the deadline. So there's no need for them as a team that is at this point, I think we're safe to say a fringe playoff team to get into bidding wars with actual contenders that have more resources to sell. Where this team is going to be made again and made back into more than just a fringe playoff team, if not a contender, is the offseason. This is going to be a crucial off season for Kyle Dubas because a lot of impactful money that was holding you back, comes off of the books. Teams are going to be more willing to make more complicated deals around the draft and free agency into the summer. So you will be able to, at least the way I see it, is getting this team back to a contention level with this core of players is going to require an offseason of work. And we're going to find out what Kyle Dubus is made of this offseason.
Starting point is 00:10:16 And the biggest thing for that, he just has to use this salary cap space wisely because I felt like during this past off season, I went on July 1st before you joined the show whole time. I went on with Smitty, who's one of the hosts around the 4-1-2. And I even said, I graded his July one day as C plus B-minus. I wasn't blown away by what he did. And I got a lot of people come at me saying like, oh, like you've got to give this a chance, like blah, blah, blah, blah. And it's like, okay, sure.
Starting point is 00:10:42 Well, I have, it's been a little over half a season at this point. And I feel like I've been a bit vindicated by that because, well, there were some hits. obviously the Eric Carlson trade was great. The Alex Dahlkevich signing has been very good. Lars Eller hasn't better than expected. There have been other signings, though, that haven't been as good. I don't really notice Noel Charre doing anything offensively during any games this season, most games. Matt Nietto, well, yeah, it's a little unfair to call that a bus because he's been banged up a lot this season.
Starting point is 00:11:10 Even when he's been healthy, outside of PK impacts, I'm not really noticing him that much either. I've already said what I need to say about Ryan Graves so many times on the show, that doesn't need to be repeated. So I want him to use the salary cap space to his advantage this upcoming offseason once this season comes to an end. As for the deadline, I've warmed up to them being sellers at this point, especially if they do drop these two games at home this upcoming weekend against Florida and Montreal. You drop both of those games. I think the decision is going to be pretty easily, to be honest. And then after the All-Star break, you have a home game against Winnipeg,
Starting point is 00:11:46 then you go to Minnesota who isn't that good, and then you play Winnipeg again. and we all know the Winnipeg Jets that are one of the best teams in the league this year. Those are going to be two really tough games. And they have the Panthers again, Chicago away, but, yeah, L.A., Islanders. There are some tough games in this month of February. But I still think by the time, you know, that February 6th, February 7th date comes around, he'll probably know what he wants to do at the deadline. Right now, I'm warming up to them being sellers.
Starting point is 00:12:14 I'm not all the way there just yet. But if he truly believes that he can get, this team into the playoffs this year, then maybe for him, he could go out there at some point and buy a little bit. I'm not saying trade assets for a rental, but someone that has a little bit of tournament, someone who is younger because from his mindset, right, he was betting on the core over the summer. He added a lot of contracts over the summer as well. He made his bed saying, you know, we're going all in, we're going to make the playoffs. And now you're all of a sudden saying maybe changing a different tune and well again i get things change how much is he really
Starting point is 00:12:53 going to sell considering what he did over the summer that's something that i think he has to tackle as well again in my opinion i'm warming up to it but we'll have to see how these next few games go because i mean it could it could potentially be a tough call by the time early march comes around yeah and if there's two i don't also think think you have to fire sell either you don't have to everything must go if you get approached with a good offer that you think can help you both in the immediate in the long term you take it but that's again that's a bridge that we will cross when we get to it plus they're not trading any of the core players here people i don't think of getting malcons going anywhere chrysletang i've seen takes of carlinson
Starting point is 00:13:38 being back on the block that's not going to happen either obviously cindy crosbie is never getting dealt but just wanted to shut down some of that talk as well. They're not going to be moving on from those four players. I'd be super stunned if any of those ever got moved, I think, at this point. Absolutely agreed, especially with the season Sidney Crosby is having, no need to do that. And we will get into that a little bit more in the next segment away from him about players that need to step up over the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the trade deadline. But first we have to tell you about our first sponsor, and that is indeed. We're driven by the search for better, but when it comes to hiring,
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Starting point is 00:15:42 So we started to get into it a little bit here in the first segment about how there's been some disappointing players. And I know that's a bit of an understatement this season considering where this team is. But we want to talk about here a couple of players that we're looking at down this stretch run for the last two games before the All Star break and in the rush up to the trade deadline. who has to step up, who has to take their game to a different level to get this team back into the playoff race
Starting point is 00:16:13 and back in looking like a team that can actually get into the playoffs and make some noise. The first one for me isn't as obvious to as I think people would think it is, but I got to go with Eric Carlson. And it's not just so much the power play, which we, I agree, if he's going to continue to be the power play, one guy has to be better, has to step up, has to start producing at a higher rate. But I also think just in general, I have been very impressed with his five on five game this
Starting point is 00:16:46 year. I think he has been a lot better defensively than people thought he was going to be. It's total vindication for Mike Sullivan who everybody freaked out in the preseason when Wosinski sent out that quote from Sullivan about like, oh, we know he can do more. we know he can round out his game better. But everybody freaked out thinking that was him saying they were going to turn Carlson into some defensive stay home guy. But they were just saying like, we know he has more to give. And he's shown that he has been tremendous. Well, not tremendous.
Starting point is 00:17:17 That's a bit of a push there. But he's been very good defensively. And I think now we need to see more of that offensive game from him, whether it's primary assists or goals. I don't expect him to produce at the rate he did. last year. That's unrealistic. There's actual talent around him this year, unlike there was in San Jose last year. But we need to get more from him on the back end. If he's going to be the top pairing guy, if he's going to be the power play quarterback or at the very least the top defenseman on the top power play unit, I need more points from him. It's funny you say that because he actually has a
Starting point is 00:17:53 nine game point streak going on right now. And he actually has points in 10 of his last 11 games. But to your point, he only has 33 points in 44 games this year. That's pretty, I guess it's maybe a little uncharacteristic for him, considering what he did last year for the sharks. He just hasn't had to be that guy for the painless this year, which is fine, but I still want him to also play at a little bit of a higher level,
Starting point is 00:18:16 even though I think these last nine to ten games, he has been pretty solid. Outside of Carlson, I'll go to Brian Rust, I think for me, for someone who really needs to step up. He only has one goal since coming back in early January after he was out for about a month, and it was that goal that sent the Carolina game into overtime.
Starting point is 00:18:35 Outside of that, I feel like he's been kind of lost a little bit on the ice, just hasn't been able to put everything together the way that he was playing before he got hurt. Obviously, Mike Sullivan is hoping that putting Rust back up with Gensol and Crosby will really help him, excuse me. And I hope it does because if this team wants to keep staying in the race and it's funny, All the teams that they needed to lose on Tuesday, lost in regulation. So yeah, and real quick, one thing I want to add there about that, this has been the biggest disappointment of the season because eventually that
Starting point is 00:19:13 horseshoe is going to fall out and that luck is going to run out. And the teams that they need to lose are going to eventually win. So they have to start taking advantage of these situations. Absolutely. I mean, they should have done it on Saturday when all the teams that were ahead of them lost. And then had they be in Arizona earlier this week, they would have gotten more help on Tuesday because all the teams that were ahead of them lost as well. I mean, I know New Jersey had a hatch or compounded to Foley earlier this week.
Starting point is 00:19:38 But outside of that, you know, the Flyers lost. You know, lightning helped them out a little bit. The Red Wings lost as well. The Islanders lost as well. So they're getting help. They just have to take care of their own business and bang points. But going back to why I was saying about Ryan Rust, obviously we know what Mike Sullivan's doing with hoping to provide him a spark by playing with Crosby and Gensel. His level of play needs to change if this team.
Starting point is 00:20:00 wants to get into a playoff spot by the end of the year. That's someone who I really have my eye on as well. Another one for me, and this is an obvious one, is of Gennie Malkin. I don't think that he is completely done and washed, like a lot of people have been suddenly hinting, but he's no longer the Evgeny Malkin of old. He's no longer the Malkin of even five years ago where he can turn it on and take over a game.
Starting point is 00:20:28 He's just not that guy anymore. And that's fine. He's 37. He has had several major surgeries in his career. And he plays a style of hockey that takes a toll on the body. So he, the biggest issue I've had with him this season is that you can kind of see he's frustrated by his limitations now. Because he does the thing that he did when he was younger. When he was younger, when he would try to do a little bit more when things weren't going well,
Starting point is 00:20:59 he still had the speed in the strength in just the overall dominance in his game, where when he tried to do more, it usually worked. That's not working anymore. And that's a huge problem for this team because it ends up in mistakes. It ends up in turnovers. It ends up in getting lost in the defensive zone. It ends up putting his linemates and defensive pairings in bad positions and disadvantageous situations. So for Genni Malkin, he's really got to find a way to play within himself.
Starting point is 00:21:35 And we've seen it a good few times this year. When he plays within himself, he is still able to produce at a pretty high rate. But he hasn't been able to put that together consistently. And it's been a disappointment for this season. And one last thing I want to add about the two players that I have brought up, I have seen a lot of people both on Twitter to me directly and in our comments section on YouTube that bring up like, oh, Malkin and Carlson are two guys, I'd look to trade. Well, one, you're not trading of getting Malkin.
Starting point is 00:22:03 You just aren't. He's a franchise legend. 71 is going to be in the rafters, and he has stated explicitly he does not want to play anywhere else. So he's just not going to accept the trade anywhere if you try to do it. And he has a full no move. He's not going anywhere. And as for Eric Carlson, one quote, unquote, down year for a defenseman that great,
Starting point is 00:22:25 who is still playing pretty well all things considered, you don't give up after one year. Just like his cohorts, and I'm speaking about Eric Carlson here, just like Evgeny Malkin and Chris Latang, they need more help now. They're not the players of 10 years ago where they can put a team on their back
Starting point is 00:22:48 and carry them across the finish line. They need line mates. They need better defensive pairings. They need better depth surrounding them. And once you're able to do that, these guys will produce at a very good to nearly elite level. But if they've got people behind them, it makes the team better. So those guys are part of a core that can still win. Now it's on Kyle Dubus to surround them with said talent.
Starting point is 00:23:10 I agree. And there was another comment that I kept seeing in some of our comments as well, Pat, regarding Malkin. And it's that some people want him to move to wing a little bit, which I wouldn't mind as he continues to get a little bit older. The problem with that, though, is you're going to have to go out and get it. actual second line center. And I'm not talking Lars Eller going to be the two C. I don't think that's a viable option in my opinion. You have to go out there and get a playmaking two C that can play with Afghani Malkin if you want to move him to win. Because I would potentially be down for that as he gets older just because his legs aren't as good as they used to be. And it's funny,
Starting point is 00:23:46 we're talking about Gino struggling at least a bit this year. He still has 15 goals and 38 points in 44 games. He's still producing at a high level. It's just that some of his bad games are more frequent compared to what we're used to seeing, which again, that's fine. Sometimes that happens when a player gets into his high 30s. But if you want to move them to wing, as some people suggest, you have to go out and get a very good second line center. Yeah. And that's going to be to what I was saying in the first segment, an offseason thing.
Starting point is 00:24:16 They're going to have to try to do that in the off season because in no world are you going to be able to do that in season at the trade deadline. especially with such a tight playoff race. Now, is there anybody else that you want to add for your, who needs to step up here before we had to break? I wouldn't say players-wise. I mean, we've talked about Nolichari struggles. We've talked about. Oh, I think I know where you're going.
Starting point is 00:24:38 Rickel's struggles a little bit as well. But I'm not talking about players here. I want Mike Sullivan to step up a little bit here. I've been a massive Mike Sullivan defender on social media and on this show. I think he is a top five coach in the league. I understand what people are saying when it comes to, you know, his message has gone stale. It's time to move on, all that stuff. I get where people are coming from just because of how the team has struggled over the past
Starting point is 00:25:05 few seasons. And to a degree, I agree with you. And that's why I think he needs to step up and take charge of this team and coach a bit better because I don't think he has been coaching that well this year. He's been stumbered to make changes to the top power play unit. He's been stubborn to make changes to the lineup. He needs to be better as a head coach and honestly, adapt a little bit, I think. I want to see better coaching from him this year because honestly, this is probably,
Starting point is 00:25:36 how do I want to say this? It's probably this one season where I feel like he's done his worst job of coaching this team and it needs to be better going forward, especially with someone who he has an extension lined up after this year. He's going to be getting quite a bit more money from FSG. So I want him to really step up. That's the last one I have for you. I would simply tell the players to play better,
Starting point is 00:26:00 but that's just how I would do it. I don't know if he listens, but if he does, just the suggestion there. That is going to do it for this segment. When we come back, you know what day it is. It's Wednesday.
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Starting point is 00:27:17 Use promo code locked on NHL, and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit, Terms and conditions apply. That's code Locked on NHL, Cis Leapers of Terms of Use for Details and Locational Availability. We're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp, joined as always by Hunter Hodes. And like I said, it's Wednesday.
Starting point is 00:27:39 And despite this week being extremely disappointing for what it was, we stick to things that work around here because that's just what we do on the Locked-on Penguins podcast. And that means it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. and I think everybody top to bottom, me, you, everybody else. We know who's getting the Warrior Helmet this week. Hunter, who's it going to be? I think I speak for you with this as well. The Warrior Helmet for me is definitely going to Sydney Crosby with what he did in those two games.
Starting point is 00:28:07 He did everything he could for the Penguins to win those games. He sets up Jake Gensel's goal to make it 2-0 in the Vegas game. He scores his 27th goal of the year against Arizona. And that was just a wicked deflection. I still don't even know how he can do that at age 36, but that just goes to show why Cindy Crosby is one of the five greatest players to ever play this sport. That deflection on the power play there was absolutely meant, to be honest. And so far this season, 47 points, excuse me, 48 points in 44 games, a bona fide heart trophy contender, as we have been arguing on the show so many times throughout this season, he's the only selection for the warrior helmet, considering how everyone else I feel like played over these last two games.
Starting point is 00:28:53 So that's mine. Yeah. Yeah, I agree. I was going to give it to Sid. And as for the deflection against Arizona, I was saying this to the guy I was watching after our beer league game, I was watching the game with. And I can't believe it's been 14 years since this,
Starting point is 00:29:08 but it was the 24-7 Penguins Capitals on HBO. If you remember, I think it was the third episode where the Penguins and Capital finally met before the Winter Classic, and Crosby scored one of those side of the net deflection goals. And they had Boudreau miced up. And he was like, we said it in film. That is where he kills you. How did we lose them? We've seen that set play so many times throughout his career. Usually it's letang at the point giving it down to Sid. Now we've seen Carlson do it at times this season and it's still just as magical as ever. I was also, I texted it to you another week where I could have my warrior helmet and
Starting point is 00:29:56 give it to two different people. I was also joking that I was going to give it to you, the fans, for putting up with that game in Arizona because, oh boy, that was a, I hate saying it was a tough watch because as time has passed and I've calmed down because yesterday was the therapy episode. So yesterday was the day where we just vented all of our frustrations. Today was the day where we started putting the plan into action and coming up with ways to make things better. But I don't want to say that game was a tough watch because it was back and forth for two periods.
Starting point is 00:30:26 Yeah, the penguins probably weren't the better team through 40 minutes, but they were in it. And then they just melted down in the third period. But I mean, this is for only playing two games, man, this was a tough, tough week for the penguins. I mean, they should have had the two points against Vegas. they could have had it at least for a time against Arizona after Crosby tied the game late in a second. There's only less than four minutes to go in that period.
Starting point is 00:30:51 You're thinking, okay, just get to the second intermission, tied, and you would have a chance to win the game in the third. But Penguins multiple times in that game, when they would score a goal, they would give up another goal a minute and a half to two to two and a half minutes after. And that's just, that's not the way you're going to win games in the NHL. It's not. Nope. So that is going to do it for this edition of the last. on Penguins podcast. We will be back tomorrow to talk more about whatever this team is and where it's going and what we think they should do. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you,
Starting point is 00:31:24 as always, for listening to the Locked on Penguins podcast. We will be back tomorrow.

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