Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Getting closer to "contender" category

Episode Date: March 29, 2021

What a win it was for the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night. They get to 5-2 on the year against the New York Islanders and Hunter is back to break it all down for everyone. He starts with the play of Freddy Gaudreau, who's been a sensation ever since he joined the lineup. What's impressing Hunter the most about his game? Does he deserve a spot as the 12th forward? He also goes in de[th about Bryan Rust and the season he's having, plus makes a push for the team to extend him NOW. After that, there's praise for Sidney Crosby, and especially Kris Letang as he continues to fire on all cylinders. Finally, can this team beat the Islanders in a playoff series now?Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey, everyone. Welcome to this Monday afternoon episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at. Hello, underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by Bilpar. Go to Bilbar.com and use promo code Locked 15, and you'll get 15% off your next. order. So, been what, three days since I last spoke to you all? What a win it was for the Penguins on Saturday. I did not catch it most of the game live. It was actually the first night of

Passover. For those that did not know, yes, I am Jewish. Yes, this is also the worst holiday in the world. For those that do not know what Passover is, as a Jew, you basically cannot eat bread or anything flour, pasta related, or honestly, I think dairy related for eight days. So my options are pretty limited because all I do eat is pasta, anything flour, bread, etc., etc., so, you know, this really tests me. But honestly, I can't really ever go

the full weight days just because I've run out of things to eat. I was probably going to get to Thursday because I go back to my girlfriends and then I'll probably just break it then. So yeah, Passover sucks. It's basically the big theme for this first minute of the podcast. But anyways, I was able to go back

and rewatch the game and what a performance it was for the Penguins. They are now five and two against the New York. Islanders this season, something that I don't think any of us, including myself, saw coming this season with the way that the Penguins have struggled against that kind of team ever since, honestly since the beginning of time, just because even during the Dan Baalsma days, the Mike Johnson era for just a little bit, the Penguins would always struggle, and of course, you know, in Mike Sullivan era a bit,

they would always struggle against these very defensively sound teams. But the Penguins, even when healthy, I guess when they're not healthy like they are right now, They have the personnel to compete with the Islanders. And that game on Saturday, that showed me, I think this team, when healthy especially, can take the Islanders in four out of seven games in a playoff series. Yes, I am there. After they got humbled in 2019, an embarrassing fashion with that sweep,

then they got humbled again last year in 2020 against the Canadians three games to one. I think Mike Sullivan changed some things. The players obviously realized that, you know, to get to the Stanley Cup and to win the Stanley Cup, you're going to have to beat some of these very defensively sound teams. The Islanders do not play high event hockey. Everyone knows that. We've watched them seven games already.

They play, of course, the eighth game tonight, 7 p.m. Eastern NBC Sports Network. They're a different team to play against. They don't give you a lot in the neutral zone and honestly in the defensive zone. But the Penguins, they had a lot of players out, and they were like, hey, you know what? If you want to play that kind of game, we'll do it. And they capitalize on their chances.

It almost seemed like every puck that they threw on net was going in. And Ilya Sorokin was, he's been one of the best goaltenders in hockey this year. I think in his last eight games, he's allowing one goal a game. The Penguins blitzed him halfway through the first period. It's what, three nothing already. You go to the second period. It's basically five nothing halfway through the game. Sorokin, I think, is pulled after that fourth goal.

I think Varlamov only allowed one goal. He was pulled after the third or fourth goal. I think it was the fourth goal. But, you know, they chased a goalie. has been pretty damn good this year. And I guess we'll just start, you know, with Frederick Goodrow. He was sensational again, and he needs to continue to get a look to see if he can be the 12th forward that this team desperately needs. Even when this team gets healthy, and, you know, God willing, they do get healthy.

I think a little bit of reinforcements are coming back tonight. For those that do not see, Jason Zucker, skate at the morning skate, took full contact, and I believe was on a line with Jared McKinn of Rodriguez. So, all signs point to him being back tonight, but if he's not out, look for him to be back on. Thursday. So that's the first one. I'll touch you on that a little bit more in a second. But I've just really been impressed with Goudreau's game. That was his first goal in a penguin uniform, if I'm not mistaken. And now his third point in six games, of course, he had that ridiculously awesome feed to Zach Austin Reese about a few days prior to that on that short-handed

chance. But he's just, he's so great defensively. And again, he's only played six games, but he deserves a hell of a lot more leeway than someone like Mark Jankowski, who has in done anything since January. So again, another player that comes into the lineup, first, second game, even now six games, like I just said, and he's already providing a much more positive value to the team than someone who's been in the lineup, basically every game this season. Of course, speaking of Jankalski, he did not play in that game. And it looked like there was potential trade rumors circulating around that, but he was placed

on the COVID list and I believe taken off that yesterday and as well as Braymond Tana. He was on the COVID list and then he was taken off, but he is still not ready to play it, but still, very impressed with Freddie Goodrow. I guess we'll get to Brian Russ now, a hat trick, his first hat trick of the season. That is now 14 goals for Brian Russ. And this has been a popular topic I've been reading about, listening to Jesse Marshall, Mike Darnay and Pat, on the Dying Alive Show for the Athletic. It's probably one of the best Penguins podcasts out there, Tip of the Iceberg. They also do great work as well.

So I love hyping up everyone's work. Of course, Chad and Eddie with the 412 Sports Talk. please go listen to all those even though I know you all love coming back to my podcast but I also want to promote other great content as well like I said going back to the original point you know Ryan Russ only has one

year left on his contract for those that are unaware he makes 3.5 million per going into next year so you probably need to extend him right about now he's getting close to 30 a player like that with how well that he's played the last two to three seasons of course he was almost a 30 goal score

last year. He's probably going to be a 20 goal score again this year. Teams will pay for that. It would not be surprised. If Brian Ross makes it to open market, and there's a chance that he does, they will know without be a team that goes six times six for him. Six years, 36 million. Paying Brian Russ, six million per year to his age 35 year, 36, because of how great he's been these last couple of years. And yeah, you know, there's risk in giving someone like that a six-year contract. I mean, you hope that he can repeat what he's done the last couple of seasons, but also he's not playing with Cindy Crosby every night. He's not playing with Evgeny Malkin every night.

But still, even away from those players, he's still done well. And he's transformed into a great two-way player. An all-around player, honestly, is the best way to describe it. These last few years, because I remember, you know, when we first came into the league, you know, remember that Dom tweet that he had, you know, who the fuck is Brian Rust in the 2016 conference final when he had both the goals in Pittsburgh's 2-1 win over Tampa in Game 7? And, you know, the next year, he still played well, but, you know, people were like, okay, there's still room for movement.

And then 2017, 18 times, still the same thing. And then all of a sudden, last year, 27 goals. I mean, basically, this season, he's playing at a 36-goal, 72-point pace in 82 games. And here's a stat for you all. So, NHL underscore Watcher, great account to follow on hockey Twitter. This is one hell of a stat. 35 goals, 77 points in his last 82 regular. season games dating back to last season.

So at 3.5 million poor season, the penguins have a point per game player just about on a bargain of a contract. That is just how good Brian Rust has been the last two seasons and why the penguins cannot afford to lose him. He needs to be protecting the expansion draft. And honestly, after this season, he needs to be signed to an extension. This is a player that they cannot lose after next season. I know there's going to be a lot of changes after next season anyway.

Obviously, Malkin's contract is up, but you expect him to be extended. Latang's contract is up. You expect him to be extended. I think Caponanin's contract is up. Maybe he doesn't get extended. But Brian Rust is also up to. If you can lock in three of those four, and I know the team is cap strap right now, and maybe they can move someone like Mike Matheson or Marcus Pedersen to make it happen,

it needs to just be a thing because this team cannot afford to lose Brian Rust with how well he has played the last couple of seasons. and how much he means to this team. You can put him any situation, penalty kill, even strength, power play. He is one of the most underrated players in the league. And the fact, I know I said just a couple seconds ago, the fact that he has basically been a point per game player over the last 82 games, and he's making $3.5 million per.

That is a flat-out steal. And I will praise Jim Rutherford for that contract because that is one of the best contracts league-wide. So kudos to Jim Rutherford for doing that as the Penguin's general manager. I know he did a lot of bad stuff, but he did bring the Cups here, and he did sign that awesome Brian Russell extension for 3.5 million per. So I did have to shout him out for that. But, okay, we still have a lot to talk about in regards to this game. But before we do that, it is time to talk about Bill Bar Madness.

We are getting very close to finding out who is the best Bill Pard. Today's matchup is a damn good one. Caramel Brownie versus Coconut Brownie Chunk. I believe that is one of the final four matchups. Tomorrow's one when I do an episode. It will be cookies and cream versus. cookie dough chunk, excuse me, then Wednesday. Mint brownie is going to get the winner of caramel

brownie versus coconut brownie chunk, and then Thursday, April 1st on April Tuesday is the national championship for Billbar Madness. You can go to Billbar.com or bar underscore built on Twitter to vote. Remember to use the promo code locked 15 to get 15% off your next order. That is locked 15 to get 15% off of your next order at BillPur.com and check back to see who won today's matchup and who will become the best tasting protein bar.

All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L-O-U-NorSquip Penguins. So already touched on Freddie Goodrose, Austin game, already touched on Brian Rust. Let's get to the captain. You know, there can never be too much of Cindy Crosby talk. He gets another point.

I believe he's now number six league-wide in scoring, you know, almost back to where he belongs at number one. I'm just kidding. He ain't catching number one, who, of course, is Connor McDade. And to put that in perspective for everyone, Connor McDavid has 62 points in 30-something game. So he's been awesome. Dry Seidlis at 53. Cain's at 48, Mitch Marner, 42, Shifley, Hubert O, 40.

And then there's a four-way tie with Ranting and Matthews, Crosby and Mark Stone. So if Sid gets a few points tonight, he can be fourth overall in league scoring. He'll be a couple points potentially behind Marner. Then there's Kane and Drysada, then of course, McDavid. No one's going to touch McDavid. McDavid's probably going to win the heart this year.

If he does not win the heart trophy, just disband that overall. But like I said, going back to Cindy Crosby, he has really put the penguins on his back ever since these injuries or this wave of injuries really started. In his last five games alone, Crosby has 10 points. If you go back even further, he had a couple goose eggs before that. But before those two games where he did not have any points, he had points in six of his last seven games. So he has been on a real heater for these last 12 to 13 games. He's almost scoring every game now.

His goals in three of his last four games before that. No, goals in four of his last five after a few goose eggs against the devils and the Bruins. So it has been a hell of a season for Cindy Crosby. And just watching his defensive work on the ice too, he's just been diving for so many more pox, just backchecking like crazy. I really hope that people start to give him more Selky Trophy Love. He's finished, I think, top five a couple times. for the Selke.

Well, excuse me. He finished top five once for the Selke. That was 2019 when he got four. He's finished ninth overall in the Selki before seventh. Hopefully this is the year that we do see Sidney Crosby get to be a Selky finalist. I think that would be the first time throughout his career that he has been nominated for the Selke. It would probably be him. Sean Couturier and Patrice Bergeron is my guess right now.

Honestly, if I had a vote on the PHWA, those would be my three, at least. because of how great Couturee has been as well, and Berserang is obviously one of the best defensive centers in the league as well. But watch what Cindy Crosby does on a nightly basis defensively. Like I said, his back checking is so great. Even his penalty killing. Everyone that watches the Penguins knows. Cindy Crosby does not kill penalties very often.

He can do them, and he's pretty decent at it, but for obvious reasons, they want to not play him out there so they can have him rested for the power play, and 5 v. 5.5. But when called upon these last 5 to 6 games, ever since Brandon Tenev and Teddy Bluger have been out, he's been excellent as a penalty killer. In fact, in the last five games

that Brayn and Tannib has been out, the Penguins of 1 4 of the last 5, the penalty kill is 17 for 17. So a huge turnaround for the penalty killers. And who would have thought that it would come as Teddy Blugger and Brandon Tannibu go out, who of course are their two best

penalty killers. And then Sidney Crosby comes in and starts killing penalties with a lot more regularity. And I'll say it again for those that have not heard me say this take before. Penalty killing is not some defined skill in quotation marks. Any player can do it. A bad player can do it. Mark Jane Kounskin can go out there and do it. He's like that, that coach's defensive player who he can do that, but nothing else. You can have Cindy Crosby do it, who is a top five player league wine. You can have Jake Gensel do it, who is one of the five best pure goal scores in hockey. You can have Brandon Tannov do it, who's one of the fastest players on the team, Teddy Lugar,

a very defensively responsible player who can also chip in offenses and having one of his best offensive seasons for his career thus far before he got hurt. You can put Zach Ashton Reese out there, obviously. His defensive metrics are through the roof, but he also is contributing a lot at even strength this year as he already has what, seven goals, eight goals on the season,

something like that. So it's not some predefined skill for a certain kind of player. Anyone can go out there and do it, and you're seeing the rewards right now by putting other players out there They're now 100% 17 for 17 the last five games that Tanef and Bluger have been out. So the PK sometimes is not going to be bad when two regulars go out because you can put other players on there and they know how to do the job because a lot of them have done it in the past. They just don't do it very often for obvious reasons.

Like I just pointed out for Cindy Crosby and Jake Gensel. He's the same way. It's a lot of power play time and a lot of even strength time. And of course, you know, Sid's goal against Allender is just awesome how he was able to put it between the legs of that Islander's defender. I think it was Wallstrom, I think, on the power play. I'm going to have to double check that, but Sorokin really wasn't even playing goal on that play. He was so far out of his net. It wasn't even funny, but a great goal from Sid there. The goal tending for the Penguins, Tristan Jari, again, another very solid start.

29 saves on 32 shots. He gets to start again tonight for Pittsburgh, and rightfully so. I mean, he played a really good game. The three goals of the Islander scored. I'm not going to pin on Jari. I mean, the game was 5-0 halfway through. Of course, Pittsburgh is going to play a little bit of prevent defense. I mean, that's basically a 35-0-0 lead in football.

And then, of course, I know they were able to get it to 35-21 in football terms, five to three, of course, in hockey terms, with about two minutes left. But, I mean, the Islanders were never really threatening to win the game. It was kind of annoying that the Islanders scored three goals after the Penguins put up five on them halfway through the game. But like I said, I mean, when you go out five goals, a lot of teams are going to play prevent defense for a little bit of it. Barzell kind of dusted Letang on the first one. but, you know, I'm not going to really care about that. The game was over by that point.

And I'm going to touch a lot on Crystal Tang in the next segment. That's actually going to take up a lot of what the next segment is going to be about because we need to really talk about how well Crystal Tang has been playing. I'm going to throw some numbers out there for you all on that. And then the second and third goals, you know, whatever. But like I said, Jari, another great start. He's continuing to move up with his stats. And I'll keep saying he needs to continue to play this way.

If the Penguins have any shot of competing in these Stanley Cup. playoffs, even though they basically are a lock to get there at this point with Philadelphia and even Boston. For those who are annoyed that the Penguins have lost two or three to the Devils, I'll say this to you all. The Devils are 4 and 0 and 1 against Boston the season. In other words, the Bruins have just one point in five games against the Devils this season, and they are the 7th place team in the East Division.

So that is ridiculously embarrassing for the Bruins, but I think they're also battling some injuries right now. And oh, yeah, their defense is basically Charlie Macbeth. boy, Macbors, like, and a bunch of sub-replacement level defenders. I honestly can't even name another defender on that blue line just because of how bad it is. And, oh, yeah, there are also, Dukaraz is out for a little bit now. So we'll have to see if the Penguins see him later this week, or if we're going to get a double dose of Yarslav Halak.

But all right, that will wrap up this segment of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Like I said, when we come back, we're going to touch a lot on Crystal Tang from that game and preview tonight's game as well. Before we do that, it is time to talk about bed online. The fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. football might be over with the NBA, college basketball, and the NHL run full swing. Bet Online even covers awards, TV shows and reality TV, real-time updated odds and props to almost anything you can imagine.

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Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. So let's get to some Chris L-Tang talk. I really do believe this is the best hockey we've seen from Tanger since 2015, 2016, where basically should have been a Norris finalist. The fact that he was only fourth that season is basically a joke, 67 points in 71 games, had 16 goals at year two. That's tied for his career high. So far this season, 27 points in 34 games, almost a point per game pace. And in his last five games, five points in those

last five games, so like I said, averaging a point per game almost this entire season, if you go look at some of the underlying numbers, it's any strength offense plus 0.03, expected goals per 60 plus 1% after his even strength offense. There's a lot of red. towards the circles. Even if you look at his defensive impact, it's around plus 0.15. Usually want to be in the minus, but he's taken away a lot of the prime scoring chances.

He's given up a little bit in front of the net on even strength defense. But, you know, he has just been a rock for the Penguins this year. And, you know, I know other people have said it, and I agree. I know this team will go as far as Chris Lattang takes them. I know Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin are the two big guns. for this team.

And, you know, I should say the same thing. They go as far as those two take them as well. But it really hits home for Latam. Because without him in the lineup, this team is not going to go anywhere. Spare me the 2017 talk. Yes, I understand the Penguins won the Stanley Cup that season, but they also wrote a very high PTO percentage during the playoffs that year, and they had 937 goal tending.

I mean, it's probably not going to happen again for this team that they had Chris LaTang out for the whole playoffs. I mean, obviously it's awesome that they won the cup without them. But more likely than not, you know, 99% of the time you want Chris LaTang in your lineup when the playoffs roll. Honestly, I shouldn't even say 99% of the time. 100% of the time you want Chris LaTang in your lineup when the playoffs roll around. And just seeing his play at both ends of the ice, he's shooting the puck a lot more this season. You know, I don't usually like when he just passes the puck around a bit too much.

I know he's a playmaking defense when he's just trying to make the perfect play. But sometimes less is better. And like I said, he's been firing the puck a lot more. And that's leading to a lot more scoring changes. And even defensively, when he makes a mistake, he always gets back to cover it. Or, you know, his defensive partner in Brian Dumlin is right there as well. You know, ever since Brian Dumlin has come back, Crystal Tang's game has gotten even better. I think with Dumlin in the lineup this season, the Penguins are 14 and 4 and 2.

Do not sugarcoat that. Yes, I understand this segment is meant to say that Crystal Tang is enjoying a very spectacular season. But Dumlin being next to him is so crucial in so many ways. And the biggest one is that he lets Latang be himself. And I think that gets lost on some people that watch the games and like watch Chris LaTang on a nightly basis. And you know, hmm, I wonder with the Latang haters, they're not saying anything when he's enjoying some of the best hockey of his career right now, but God forbid he makes one error on a game

night, like the Barzell one. Oh my God, trade Crystal Tang. He's terrible. Oh, my God, this. Oh, my God. That it's just like, you people are so miserable. that is so annoying to watch hockey with some people in this fan base because they'll always have to nitpick what happens with Crystal Tang. How about you just enjoy what he's doing right now and praise him for the season that he's having?

And I'll admit it. I was dogging on Crystal Tang earlier in the season because I call it how it is. He was absolute dog shit. There was no sugar-coding it. He was a mess in the offensive zone. He was in the mess in the defensive zone. But these last four to six weeks, he has really turned it around at both ends. Look at his work on the penalty kill.

he's getting to lose pucks at a very high rate, getting the clears, and he's always in the shooting lanes. Virtually every time a player winds up for a shot. So, I mean, he's just, he's doing it all right now for the Penguins. And here's some more numbers from courtesy of natural stratrix. So it even strength this season, 618 minutes, 34 games, his possession's around 50%. Goals for, 26, goals against 19 for high danger, 144, 14 against his on-a-shooting percentage is 8.1.4.5.0.000. 3.9. So a little bit of a decrease from last year was around 9%. It's on a save percentage this year. I mean, that's a big one. You know, the goalies are making saves. This year, around 940. Last year, it was 905.

I was 20 chance 4 percentage. 49% a bit of a decrease from last year, 52.3%, but also his numbers were pretty shitty earlier on in the season. So I totally expect him to get back to where we've seen him in previous seasons where he was at 52, 54, 55%. in these last 20 games, obviously starting a lot in the neutral zone and the offensive zone as well. But I've really been impressed with Latang these last four to six weeks, and I don't see a lot of people talking about it,

which is annoying just because he's the best defenseman in this franchise history. Well, that's played for this franchise longer than three to four years outside of Paul Coffey. And he does so many things on a nightly basis that people just don't care or talk about because they have an agenda against Chris LaTang. But he is leading their defensive corps right now.

I know Brian Duman is playing well. As well, John Marino continues to play better next to Marcus Peders and Mike Matheson is total chaos. And of course, Cody C.C. cannot forget about him. He's been a rock this year for the Penguins as well. But like I said, I can't say enough how well Chris is hanging has been this season for Pittsburgh. And I hope it continues for tonight's game. Remember 7 p.m. Eastern on NBC Sports Network and then the road ahead, the Penguins will have two more games in Boston as they'll try to win for the first time in Boston

in seven years Thursday and Saturday's game is a 1 o'clock, 1 Thursday's game is 7 o'clock. And I think on Thursday I'm going to do the weekly locker room. It'll either be during part of the game or it'll be right after 30 to 40 minutes along those lines. So that'll do it for today's episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'll have the recap episode for you all for Monday night's game on Tuesday and I will talk to you all then. Hope you all have a great rest of your night and we'll see if the team can get another win tonight against the owners. Thank you.