Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Do the Penguins want to shoot the puck a bit more?!?!

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins dropped a tough one to the New York Rangers on Tuesday night as they passed up A LOT of opportunities. Hunter has Nick Zararis of The Upperbowl GM podcast join the show to recap this game and everything that happened. The two start with the chances the Penguins had and why they overpassed so much. Were they respecting Shesterkin too much? Why was there so much Harlem Globetrotter passing and trying to find the perfect play? Hunter explains why less is sometimes more, as evidenced by the two goals that the Penguins scored. They also touch on why this was a "meh" performance from both teams, plus how Brian Dumoulin continues to have a poor season. He had a couple of brutal plays in this game and Hunter tries to break them down the best he can. He also goes into why the Rangers seem to be a lot more patient than usual and gives Nick the floor to weigh in on that. After that, they both touch on how confident they are in how a best of seven series would go against these two teams and how close they really are two each other. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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.

Well, it was not the Penguins night tonight against New York Rangers. They fall three to two. And the game that, you know, probably will take 20 years off our lives every time these two teams play. I mean, it's basically going to be, I think, you know, a playoff series. At this point, you know, with how Washington has a brutal schedule down the stretch, I know, the Penguins do as well. But, you know, I would say it's about 90, 99% chance that these two teams will play. I have a full game recap episode coming up right after this job with you all with Nixarar,

of the Upper Bowl GM podcast. So stick around for that. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes.

I'm going to follow me on Twitter. At Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter. Hello, winners for Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. joining me now of the Upper Bowl GM podcast is Nick Zararis, and of course he does Rangers articles for Gotham Sports Network. Nick, what a crazy game tonight. These last three games, two of the three games have been pretty good.

The other one obviously was a blowout. But, you know, first off, how you're doing? And, you know, what did you think of the game? You and I were texting during the first period of the game, that it was kind of slow developing. They were kind of starting to feel each other out, trying to get a feel for what kind of game it was going to be. be and it took a little while to get going. Boyle scores that goal where the fourth line gets hung out there

a little bit too long and he's jockeying for position in front of the net with Tyler Motte, who's all of like 5'10. So that's a tough assignment for Mott to draw there. But the game picked up after a while. That middle period got a little bit more interesting. I mean, the Penguins ice the fuck something like 10 times, 11 times in that first period. So the first period was kind of a slog. But after that, the game got entertaining that last five minutes once the Penguins got it to three it to really stressful. That's what you can expect. These are two teams with really good players on both sides that more often than not,

the elite players are going to make plays, and whichever team has more of their special players make a play in that kind of game is going to win more often than not. And that's what we saw tonight. Shisterkin made just enough of those saves. Crider scores that goal on the power play. Sid gets that goal on the power play to get them back within one. It was a really good game.

I mean, we can't feel too bad about that. Either way, even if the Rangers ended up losing that game, I wouldn't have felt too bad about how they played. They played well enough to win. Yeah, I mean, you know, I think like the main thing, you know, I thought they were, the Penguins were mostly fine. It was a better performance than Friday. I will say that.

But the Penguins, I feel like are having a problem, you know, I think the last couple of years in the playoffs where they're playing these teams that, you know, they make them be more patient than they want to be. And I think that's just screwing with their mojo a little bit. You know, Mike Sullivan hasn't figured it out just yet. for how great of a coach he is. I mean, top three coach in the NHL. You know, tonight was definitely an extreme example. The looks were there for the penguins. I definitely thought that.

But at the end of the day, they overpassed on almost all of those looks. And, you know, that turned into chances going the other way when, you know, they could have been, you know, goals against versus Shasturkin. And, you know, maybe he makes those saves. There's a good chance he makes most of them, considering how good he's been. but I think that was the main thing that doomed to the Penguins tonight. Personally, Nick, they just, you know, they try to go Harlem Globetrotters, tick, tack, toe on him to make a move.

I get it, you know, that's how sometimes teams want to beat goalies. But, you know, the two goals that the Penguins scored tonight, the first one, a shot from the point, that's deflected, Pasha Sturkin. That's good. The second one, a shot from the point that he's screened.

He doesn't see it. They didn't do that the rest of the game. They just kept doing all these weird passes. and I think at the end, that's what doing them along with a few bad defensive misuse. That, I mean, they had that post in the first period where on the Rangers broadcast, they thought Chesterkin had made the save, and then when they showed the replay, it was a post. But Penguins have the looks. And like you said, you get enough of those looks.

You hope one of them goes in, but when you're playing one of the best goleys in the league, this year Sturkin has been the best goalie in the league, it happens. I mean, it's very easy to reduce hockey to say. saying it's all about the goalie, but I mean, you and I talk about this all the time. All it takes is a good goalie, and that'll mess everything up. One team can give up 60 scoring chances in front of the, in front of that goalie, but if he makes all the saves, it doesn't really matter how bad the team in front of him played.

And the Rangers played well tonight. I mean, they outchance the penguins, which they've been getting better with the last 10 games. They're slowly creeping towards the 50% mark in the major metrics, which is signs of life. That's good. But it's a game. I mean, I understand your frustration, but like you said, said. These two teams know they're probably going to play each other in about a month,

unless Carolina really teeters off or Washington really hits. So it's an opening solo. It's the first movement in what's going to be a long month because we know we're probably playing each other in a month. Yeah. In my intro, I basically said it's a 98% chance. I know the penguins do have to run the gauntlet these Latin X7-8 games, Colorado, twice, Minnesota, Washington, Nashville, New York again. But Washington also has to play a lot of tough teams. force four games back after their five-day break, Minnesota, Tampa, Pittsburgh, Boston. And then they have a whole lot more tough games there.

So it's going to be brutal down the stretch, I think, for every team. But, yeah, I mean, the Rangers definitely, you know, they play better than I thought they were going into this. I thought honestly the Penguins were going to send a message that, you know, that I've heard on Friday night was unacceptable. I thought the first period, it was kind of, you know, they got a little bit better as the game went on. Again, it was just, you know, the piss poor, you know, they just didn't want to take shots for whatever reason.

And, you know, underlying numbers wise, you know, the Rangers did out attempt them. They had basically 55% of the shot attempts. Scoring chances, it was about 50-50. Penguins had the edge 20 to 19. High danger, penguins had the edge, had 64% of those. They had 54% of the expected goals. So, you know, it was kind of neck and neck a little bit. It was just, you know, the mistakes the penguins made.

were in the back of their net. And, you know, that first goal especially, you know, it was just, I don't know what Brian Dumlin was doing there. I'm starting to get a lot more concerned with him right now, to say the least. I liked the Penguins defensive court, you know, of course, a lot. You know, they don't really have any, I guess, bad players on that, on that unit like they used to. But, you know, Duman is just not making the smart plays right now.

And on that first one, you know, two chances to clear it, isn't able to. Zabinajad makes a great play putting that puck down, and then Vatrano gets his eighth goal against the Penguins. It's almost like a Jordan Eberley thing, I think, at this point. I think defensively the Penguins do have a couple things to clean up there, that's for sure. You also caught Zabinajad when he's doing his March heat check, which he does every single March, where he's been a lot better the last 10 to 15 games, and now that they gave them a wing that can actually shoot the puck in Vatrono.

I don't think Vatrono is anything special. But he's not a 4% shooter like he was in Florida. I mean, it's only natural. You put a guy like that on a line with a playmaker in Zabinajad and another shooter in Crider that he's going to get more opportunities because the defense is going to shade towards Zvinajad, it's going to shade towards Crider. He's going to be able to get to more dangerous areas. I mean, he had two goals against the Penguins on Friday.

He had the one tonight. He's getting to those dangerous areas. But like you said, you want to get that puck out. That puck needs to get out. Even if you ice it there that needs to get out. get out because you know if you have there were because there were two penguins in that corner which means that there's only three penguins to cover the rest of the ice so just purely math-wise you realize if that's if that's the situation where we got two guys in this corner

and i get it it's got to get out no matter what even if it's icing hell even if you got to go behind the net and hope your guy on the other end catches it because you can't you can't you just can't lose the puck there you can't especially knowing you know you're still winning this game at that point. It was 1-0 at that point. So that just felt like an unforced error. I know the Rangers forecheck really got going, and that's kind of where the Rangers' offense came from, which is also new because the Rangers basically didn't have a forecheck the first five months of the season. So they're slowly figuring things out. And the one thing I will say about the penguins that the Rangers have an advantage is none of your defensemen are that big. We struggle against

big defensemen who take away space. When we can jockey in front of the net and it's guys who are about the size of our guys or smaller, we have a good chance against them. Like Zabinajat on Dumlin, I'll take that more so than what we've, because the Rangers struggle against big defensemen because they can't create without space. The Rangers need space to create offense. Yeah, I mean, the Penguins defensemen are really not that physical. Honestly, you know, they're probably not that physical of the team. I know Brian Burke probably doesn't care about, I mean, Brian Burke cares about that,

but, you know, he's up in the press box. So what else can he really do at this point? So, yeah, I definitely agree there. We still have a lot more to get to for this episode. You know, coming up in the next segment, I'll get to, you know, next thoughts overall on just the team moving forward and, you know, for a potential playoff matchup, how he feels and all that jazz. And, of course, you know, more talk about the game, too,

if I can find my beautiful little read here. But before we get to all that, after months of playing, college basketball has determined the top teams for the final four, and we'll determine this year's national champion this coming week. My bracket is totally screwed. I think everyone's bracket in America, is screwed at this point. Betonline.net is your number one source for all of your betting needs and sports info

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That is Bet Online, where the game starts. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter at L.O. Arnold's Four Penguins. So, Nick, you know, one thing that I've also noticed, you know, honestly in all three games this year against the Rangers, you know, they're a lot more patient than I thought they would be. You know, and they also, for the Penguins, I think, to beat this team in a seven-game series.

I alluded to it a little bit. We'll get into deeper here. they have to be more simple, I think. It's almost like I tweeted this out. It feels like it's a very mini version of the islanders at times with Barry Trots just because you know, you got to win ugly, I think. You know, one nothing, two, one, three, two, like tonight, you know, the penguins, the chances were there, you know, they were just, they were looking for that extra pass.

But they got to take what's given to them, which is what they didn't do. I don't think in those couple Islander's series and against Montreal, though I think that was mainly due to Kerry Price, planning like God, and coming out of the shell. That's a main thing I think I've noticed. I know the Rangers bleed a lot of chances against attempts as well. But do you get that read with the Rangers,

or is that, you know, something that, you know, maybe I'm a little off base with? It's kind of hard because the Rangers have been basically three different teams throughout the course of the season because there was that first, like two months of the season, where the lineup basically didn't know what it was and they were hemorrhging chances. Then they lost Sammy Blay. They lost Kako.

They lost Strom for a couple of weeks there. They lost Panarin for a week there. They lost Fox for a week there. They still kept chugging along. Shasturkin is still, you know, 35, 36 full saved above expected. That can solve a lot of your problems. But since they've played the Penguins three times in the last couple weeks, the Rangers are still kind of trying to figure out who they are and how they want to play.

because this season, the Rangers have played unlike any other Galant team. Galant teams in Vegas and Florida up-tempo. Lots of scoring chances. They're willing to concede chances because they're going to go up and down,

up and down, up and down. The Rangers don't play fast at all. They are very slow, very methodical, lots of big and chase. And it's weird because they have the personnel to be a little bit better in transition because when you think about the defenseman with Fox, Lingren,

Kandre Miller, Truba, but Braden Schneider. Those are all, you know, B-miners are better skaters. Guys with the puck on their stick, they're going to be able to get to space and get the rush going, get the turn just and going the other way. But the Rangers haven't done that this year. They've been playing it very safe defensively, lots of banks off the glass, get it to the neutral zone, chip it down into the offensive zone, go get it all year.

And that is what's probably leading to what you seem like these slow, drag-it-out games. The Rangers still go, but on God the amount of scoring chances. The one thing I was going to say that it just came back to me while you were talking before. You said it seemed like the penguins were overthinking it because the Rangers gave them a lot of space. The penguins are able to whip it around the perimeter because the Rangers really are collapsing down towards the net unless it goes into a corner. If it goes into a corner, then they go into that zone, they go into a zone where they're going to pinch two guys to the half wall, two guys to the middle, and then the top person is going to go out towards the point. then it gets a little bit more complicated. But when you're just whipping it around the perimeter like the penguins did tonight,

you're going to be able to do whatever you want because nobody's going to go out to get you. There's a lot of space to operate. That's the main thing I would say. And that's why the penguins are so willing to overpass because the pass is there. Yeah. And, you know, yeah, again, like a lot of the post passes were there. It was just, you know, when the like the chances or the shots were, they would still do that extra one.

And then, again, it's back the other way because they're, trying to be too cute and, you know, make him go side to side when, you know, just got to get traffic in front of a hot goalie like that and, you know, get a couple of bounces, which was what they did tonight. The post didn't help out. Mike Matheson hit one. I think with about five minutes left in the third, that beats Shasturkin to his right shoulder. Danton Hinen, he probably hit his six or seven post this year.

He'd probably be at 20 goals right now if he didn't hit all of those posts. But, you know, it was, it just, it was, I was thinking about it a lot. you know, while I was watching the game, because especially in that first period, the Penguins were skating in mud, which they really haven't done too much. This is your Mike Sullivan's teams, you know, they're kind of like Gerard Gallant, you know, went in Florida and Vegas, hot up tempo, your speed and skill, you know, you're forechecking very aggressively. But the Penguins weren't doing that a lot today. And, you know, they didn't do that a lot on Friday either.

And, you know, I don't know if it's something that, you know, go on is adjusted to with Sullivan's system. I know I know the coaches really haven't played each other too much, you know, overall, especially, you know, in a playoff series. It's mainly just been, you know, Barry Trots and, you know, a couple other coaches, John Cooper. But it's something that I think, you know, Galant has worked in his favor. And I think now it's up to Mike Sullivan, you know, for as good of a coach as he is, you know, to figure something out there because, you know, they just, you know, some of the lanes weren't there tonight and just their play in the neutral zone.

You know, the Rangers were doing a really good job I thought. clogging that up. Because usually the penguins, you know, they like to really, they chip it past the defensemen. They go in and do their aggressive four trick. They work at low to high. And then they set up all their chances with all their puck movement and all that. But tonight, you know, it was there at times, but I just, it also, it was going back down

a lot more than it usually does. I think so I just, I guess that came, I came to my conclusion a little bit that, you know, it's just the Rangers are a lot more simple. that I remember in them being, especially under a team like Galant, because even under David Quinn, I think they were very, I guess, run and gun a little bit.

I mean, there was sometimes no defense even, but, you know, Golan, I think, has definitely cleaned that up a bit. I know it also helps that. You have a 940 goal tender, saving your butts a lot of times. But I still think their defense is night and day from where it used to be.

that's for sure. So I think for the Penguins to win a series and to consistently beat a team like the Rangers, they have to be more patient and to just take what's there, I guess, a little similar to what they didn't do against the Islanders. So one thing I want to push on here. So you think about all three of the Ranger goals tonight. You think about the Vitrono one in front, the Power Play goal, and then the Schneider goal. Those all come off mistakes.

We were texting during the game, and we both said, Marino is in no man's land there on the Schneider goal because he's either got to play Panera in there or he's got to play the shooter and he stayed in the middle, didn't play either one, that's the goal there. The Vitano goal only happens because Dumlin doesn't clear the zone two separate times. And then on the power play goal, Crider just gets behind the defense. Fox banks it off the board right to Crider and he slips behind the defender marking him. And if the Rangers are going to, if the Rangers are going to beat the Penguins in a playoff series, it's going to be because of things like that.

The Rangers do not create offense in a sustainable way, which has really been the thing all season is if they're not scoring on the power play, they don't have a bread and butter, all right, we're going to dump the puck in and we're going to go get it, you know, 50 times until we can set up our cycle. And they haven't been creating off the rush because three, four, you know,

their third and fourth lines have featured Greg McCag and Dryden Hunt and Ryan Rees and Johnny Brzeonski and all of these guys who aren't, who are NHL regulars. They're fine as you're like, you know, 14, 13 forward. But any team that's, you know, running two lines of quadruple A players, not going to be able to do a lot. So that's why the Rangers have really dumb things down and why some of their, their microsatts, like transition stats,

look horrendous because they're playing most of the season with two NHO lines worth of talent, at two lines worth of NHL caliber players. So while I understand the frustration, all of the Ranger goals were, kind of, you know, a bounce going their way. And that's all hockey is, is a lot of bounces. And especially in a playoff series where all you've got to do is win four out of seven,

all it takes is one bounce in each of those games going one team's way. And we've seen it a lot. The best team does not always win in the playoffs. And the Rangers have been riding the luck train all season. But the one thing I will touch on, because I was looking at it while I was waiting for you, I was curious. Last 10, all of the metrics are going in the right direction, except save percentage. Save percentage is bad the last 10 games.

On the season, it's 927 at 5 on 5. And then last 10 games, 90.6. So that's the one reason I will say I think they are actually getting better is the goaltending has not been as good and they're still finding ways to win. Yeah, I mean, it's hard enough to sustain 940 for an entire year. And then, you know, think that's going to continue just year after year year just because, you know, goaltending is so volatile. So, you know, it will be interesting to see, you know, especially if, you know,

Shasturton can continue that success for the rest of the season into the playoffs and then, you know, into next season as well. So, a little more to get to for this episode, you know, probably maybe asking Nick a couple more questions in the last segment about, you know, what to look out for in a playoff series as well as a couple of players that I thought stood out on the other side tonight. But before we get to that, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto, why she's choose to spend 30% 50% or 100% more for the same parts of machine store or car dealership. Rock Auto is a family business or undo it yourselfers for over 20 years.

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All right, welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Well, another segment, I should say. I don't know what the heck I'm talking about there. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at LNSquare Penguins. So, Nick, you know, you wrote an article today talking about Kiannjee Miller and, you know, how the stats aren't there, but, you know, he has all the tools and, you know,

maybe the eye test is definitely standing out of me, a little. bit more, I guess, than the stats. And I thought he actually had a pretty good game again tonight. It was definitely surprising to see Jacob Truba hit the net a lot more. I know we were talking about that during the game. He fires a lot of pucks on net and, you know, it was almost rewarded two or three times tonight. You know, do you think he's the X factor on the back end for you all? Because we all know how good Adam Fox is.

He might win another Norris this year. Lindgren's pretty decent. Truba, I mean, he usually fire, again, he fires a lot of pucks on net defensively. he's all right but you know Schneider decent rookie i thought he had a good game tonight too but i i personally think you know for someone who's on the second pairing or third pairing you know miller needs to be the one to you know make a difference at times if fox is not is if fox is being limited i guess the thing with miller is they have asked somebody who has three years of playing defensemen before he got to the nchl two years at wisconsin one year

at the USHL and in his first season in the USHL, they switched him from forward to D. So he had three seasons of developmental games before switching to defense. And Dave Stapleton to Trubis hip. He has the most time on ice of any Rangers defenseman at five on five this season, his third most last year. And this is somebody with, you know, not a lot of experience playing defense, just purely as the position. And the tools are obvious.

He's really good skater. he's got a crazy reach because he got long arms. He's just learning going to play the position. And you and I always talk about this, that the best defensemen are the ones you don't notice because they're always in the right spot. The guys who have to move to throw a hit to block a shot, they're doing that because they're not in the right spot.

The guys who can do everything with just their stick, just the subtle poke checks, disrupt the rush, that kind of thing, those are the best kind of defensemen. And to your point about unlocking the ranger's potential, So they're going to need that second pair to be good. That second pair has drawn the Sid line in all three of these games. The Rangers have consciously played that matchup, even when they've had last change. They've put Miller and Truba out there against Crosby.

And they've been okay. Truba is very, he's flashy. I understand why hockey people like him because he throws the big hits. He blocks shots, and he's got the booming slap shot. His offense is fine. He's got decent offensive skill. He can skate. He's got OK vision.

He shoots way too much. He shoots an ungodly amount. I mean, this has been a thing in the analytics community since, like, 2016. Like, the first year, he requested a trade from Winnipeg. Travis Yost at TSN wrote an article about defensemen losing value because of them taking too many chances. He was one. Chatton Kirk was two.

And then who was three? I think it was Brent Burns was three because they take so many shots that don't even end up on that. They basically turn into turnovers. So that's what you got to. remember with that second pair and part of why their underlying metrics are horrendous is Miller is just out there trying to carry Truba in the defensive zone. Trooper plays awful in-zone defense and he's still learning how to play defense. So you can understand why that could be problematic

asking a 21-year-old who has one season of NHL experience, two at the NCAA level, one at the USHL level to carry somebody who probably should know a little better in zone. But yeah, if the Rangers are going to go anywhere, they're going to need more than just the Fox Linger pair to be good. you want to have two pairs you can depend on all situations on a good team you can depend on all three but even if you want to win a round you're going to need at least two and miller's going to be a big part of that because he doesn't kill penalties and he's not on the power play so he's going to get the most five on five minutes of any defenseman he's going to have to carry his a fair share and you saw it the other day scored the overtime game winner against buffalo he

has a game winning goal he scored the game winning goal it wasn't an overtime against the bruin's earlier in the season where he just went around the net and wrapped it around. He's a good skater and he can handle the puck a little bit. So that'll be when I know he's taken the next step is when he's making plays like that more frequently because if you have the puck skill to handle it and the skating ability to get to space, you should be able to do it. And he's not doing it because of limitations of the system and just a confidence thing. As he gets more comfortable, he's going to be able to do more things with the puck.

And that's when you know your young players are doing it. well. If the puck is starting to find them, that's when you know good things are happening. If you don't notice them because they're not near the puck or playing it, that's a problem. Miller, slowly but surely this year. And he's had his lump. That pair has been on the ice for a lot of ugly goals against because they're just both out of position. They have played more than 110 games together at the NHL level. And no less than twice a game, one of them is floating in the high slot and the other one is trying to defend two people down low. And I don't understand. because the Rangers run a man,

man system when the puck is above the dots. When it's above the dots, highest forward out just goes to prelly the puck. They should not be in a situation where you have a D floating. It's very frustrated. But yeah, that second pair is going to have to be,

I don't want to say good, just passable. 48% of scoring chances, you can live with that. If you're around 48%, you can live with that. Yeah, you know,

just to piggy off that a little bit, Nick, you know, it's kind of similar a little bit with the penguins because they need their second, pair, you know, to be pretty decent as well. You know, tonight, they've been experimenting a lot, you know, with Mike Matheson and

John Marino. And, you know, I like Mike Matheson. I think he's had his best season of his career. And they've unlocked a lot of potential out of him because he's a one-man breakout. I mean, great offensively, he's been fine defensively. But when you slide him higher up in the lineup, more bad things start to happen. And tonight with John Marino, per money puck, 42% of the shot attempts, even strength, 27% of the expected goals.

That's just unacceptable. When he was on the ice with Choward Riedel, it was a lot better. You know, they were probably one of the best third pairings in the league. You know, the Pedersen Riedel pairing tonight, 78% of the expected goals, Duman Latang, 80%, 80%. So Latang is honestly covering for Dumlin a lot more lately just because of how good Latang is. But I still think the Penguins have to experiment a little bit more with their defense,

with their pairing just because, you know, you said the best. You got to at least have two pretty decent pairings if you want to win the playoffs. If you can shelter your third pairing, that's fine. I think, you know, a little bit with Keandre, it's, you know, I noticed when you were talking about him a lot, a lot there. It also reminds me a little bit of Marino in a way because the puck hasn't found Marino as much lately, but if it does, I feel like, you know, other teams will have to start looking out because he's already good defensively.

The stats, you know, more so, I guess, are there. But it's just, you know, when he gets the puck in the offensive zone, it's almost like a plague for him at this point. So once, you know, he starts getting the puck, you know, a bit more, I guess, like Keandre, hopefully that unlocks, you know, more of his offensive game, to say the least. One more thing for you here, Nick. Overall, you know, you look at these the three games. There's one more coming up in about nine days.

No, we've said it. I think everyone's been saying it. Very likely these two teams will meet in the first round of the playoffs, home ice at this point, whatever, you know. How would you feel, you know, for your team, perspective, you know, going into that series, you know, have these three games changed your mind in a way? I know you wrote an article when they got Cop and Mott from Vancouver and Winnipeg saying, I think you put at the end, you didn't know how comfortable you were playing the Pittsburgh

Payne, which is because, you know, how they're built, how deep they are, Mike Sullivan, and all that. Have these last two games changed that for you? Or are you still, you know, I guess more cautious with that? It's a coincidence. I think these things. teams are pretty close to each other in terms of overall talent. I think the only reason I would lean Rangers purely picking is because Shosturkin's been the best goalie in the league and Yari's only been like the eighth best goalie in the league. And of course that could change. Yari could be the best goalie in the league four out of seven times in a week. Justirkin can only be for three out of seven and that's your series, which has happened to the Penguins a lot in their last

couple of postseason runs is just the goaltending bug bit them. And it's weird that it happens like that. But now, it's a coin flip. The Rangers may have won the last two times they've played, but they played to basically a zero zero draw the first time and the Penguins won one-one nothing. Friday, Penguins didn't wake up. They didn't show up for that game. There's three nothing, five minutes in. I can't really judge how they played based on that. And then tonight, coin flip. I didn't think the Rangers were amazing. I didn't think Pittsburgh was awful. I think the two games are pretty close. I think they're pretty close. I would say it's coin flip, 55, 45, I mean, either way, I wouldn't be surprised.

The only thing I would surprise me if it was a short series, it was only four or five games, that would surprise me. Other than that, I think these two teams are pretty evenly matched and it would be stressful. That's the one thing I can definitively say. It's going to be stressful hockey because the Rangers bleed chances and the Penguins occasionally, you can press them a little bit with their forecheck like we saw on Friday and tonight, where if the Rangers press them a little bit in their own zone, limit their opportunity. to break out, that's where the Rangers are going to have opportunities to create offense. Yeah, and, you know, this series would definitely have the makings of one that, you know,

I can see the Penguins losing, Shirley. You know, I still think the Penguins can beat this team. Convincingly, you know, maybe handily, maybe, I think, too. I guess I'm probably a little more optimistic than some other fans just because, you know, I feel like this team is a lot different this year. Compared to other years, heck, I think this team is better than last year's team. You know, they're getting much better goal-tending. That said, I do agree, Nick.

I think this would be a six to seven game series 100%. This is not, you know, I know the Penguins have speedbagged a lot of teams this year. I don't know if they would do that in that series. You know, it would definitely be a lot to say the least. But, you know, it's, as at the beginning, Nick, it's going to take 30 years off our lives. These playoffs are going to be a gauntlet. This is definitely going to be one of them if it happens.

and with how, you know, the first game, what you said, it was basically a draw until the Penguins got the power play goal. Penguins didn't show up in the second game tonight. It was, you know, I guess closer to a draw. You know, you said it best. I didn't think the Rangers played that well. I didn't think the Penguins played that well either. It was just, you know, the Rangers got a couple, you know, good bounces,

and they capitalize on a couple of Penguins' mistakes. And, you know, the Penguins just, you know, they overpassed, and, you know, they just, they didn't take as many shots to the net as it should have been. And I hate being one of those, you know, shoot at people that you hear in the stands. I cannot stand those people. But tonight, I definitely was from my living room, I was probably saying it about five to ten more times than normal. That is for sure because, you know, about one of the times, two minutes left.

Mike Sullivan goes a lot more aggressive than normally does. Crystal Tang has the puck at the point. Brilliant defenseman gives it to Brian Russ when the wind timer's not there. I'm like, buddy, you have an open lane. I know you're going to fire that pug nine other times. times out of 10. So I'm sure the next matchup is going to be great. Right now, the Rangers are one point up. It's going to be a race to the finish line. That's for sure. But again, Nick, I really appreciate you taking the time to coming on here. We're definitely going to have to do this either for the next

game or especially in the playoffs. In case, you know, this is anyone's first episode, let them know where they can find your work and, you know, plug all your socials. All right. So you can follow me on Twitter. My handle is just my name, Nick, and then my last name is Z A-R-A-R-I-S. Blog on Gotham-A-S-N, I had a K-A-O-R-A-R-S-N. I had a K-O-A-N-R-Miller one that went up on, what's today, Tuesday? Yeah, that went up on Tuesday. I had one that went up last week about the deadline acquisition. I'm doing one that should be out with today, Tuesday, probably Wednesday or Thursday about Igor Shosturkin and the leap he's made this year to last year and just why the Rangers are good this year is solely because of the leap that Shostirkin

is made. where I really went underneath the hood and had my, my TI-83 out doing some really annoying math because I've never been good at math. I had to take stats twice, even though I got into hockey stats, even though I had to take intro to stats twice. Gotham Senn, Upper Bull GM podcast. I've been sick for the last couple days. My voice has kind of sounded crappy, so I haven't recorded.

But ideally I'll be feeling better next day or two. We'll be back up there. Do everything. Hockey, football, baseball, basketball, soccer, Formula 1, UFC, NASCAR. If it's a sport, I've talked about it, I promise. It's good for everybody. Guests on, Hunter's been on a couple of times. He's talked about the Steelers.

He's been on to talk about the penguins a couple times. But we've covered pretty much everything under the sun on the show, giving you the perspective of other psycho fans like you are, that if you're listening to this on a daily basis, you probably would like my show. Even if you're not just, even if you are just a Penguins fan, the idea of my show is giving the perspective of other fans on their teams in their snapshot because nobody is more honest about their own team than a fan.

Somebody who watches the Penguins 82 times a year like Hunter does is going to have a vastly different opinion about the Penguins than somebody who watches them once a week, once a month, et cetera. So thank you for having me on, Hunter. It's always good to talk. Hopefully the next game, a little bit more exciting. Like we said, this game was kind of mad. But we'll see.

We got plenty of time until we got there. Like you said, about a week and a half. Yeah, it was definitely not the most exciting brand of hockey from both teams to say at least. We kind of like, I'm not going to say both teams trapped, but it definitely was, I think a game that, you know, fans would maybe like 10 years ago, but, you know, the game is obviously progressed to this then. But, you know, I appreciate that.

Of course, Nick, you know, please go check out his work. You know, us contact creators, you know, we appreciate everyone's support to see at least. And I know Nick especially does as well. So go check him out on all the socials and his articles and his podcast. And he will be out on this show 100%, you know, for the next time. whether it's either for the next game or it's in the playoffs or you know what i decided to do something else and i bring him on he is the one to be back on this show so thank you so much for listening to this one and i'll be back on wednesday with a crossover with set topal the minnesota wild

as it looks like jason zooker is making his return on thursday so i'll leave you all at that i hope you all have a great rest of your evening