Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Getting yinz ready for Penguins-Canes with Jared Ellis of Locked On Canes!

Episode Date: November 28, 2022

Happy Monday! It's a new week for the Pittsburgh Penguins as their 5-game winning streak got snapped against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Instead of recapping how sad that performance was, Hunter moves forward since the Penguins are doing the same to get you guys ready for Pens-Canes. He welcomes Jared Ellis of Locked on Hurricanes to the show as they preview the first of four matchups between the two teams. They start with the Hurricanes in the first segment as they've been a bit down lately. Hunter ponders why they've lost eight of their last 11 games while also wondering why the Hurricanes are so stingy defensively. Jared also explains why the Hurricanes have their own set of power play opportunities (they're similar to the Penguins) and why some of their depth players have struggled so far. After that, it's Jared's turn to get into the Penguins as he asks what's wrong with the Penguins' PP and what needs to change to get it going. He also ponders how the Penguins continue to stay in contention each year, despite them continuing to get older, plus how they were able to turn their season around over the last few weeks. Finally, the two give their keys to each team coming away with the victory before giving a prediction on how it will play out.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 “LOCKEDON15,” 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!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL to learn more 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, Penguins fans, happy Monday. Yes, a little bit of a different setup. I'm back in my house in Richmond, but due to the downstairs being a total mess right now, because I am moving in a few days, I have to put my PC upstairs. But for today's episode, we have a very special crossover edition with Jared Ellis of Locked on Hurricanes, as we'll be previewing the first matchup between the Penguins and the Hurricanes. I thought this would be a better episode for you all to hear, regardless, just because the Penguins played like utter crap against the Maple Leafs on Saturday.

They looked gassed. They looked bad. They played three games in Four nights. you know, they weren't going to win every game. That was basically almost a scheduled loss for them at that point. So for today's episode, it'll be me and Jared previewing the game against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, and you can listen to it right after this drop.

You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey there, Kenny X. I'm your host, Jared Ellis, and you are listening to Locked on Hurricane. on the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. And as always, thank you for making Locked on Hurricanes and Locked on Penguins,

your first listen of the day. And today I am joined by Hunter from the Locked on Penguins podcast. Good to be here, Jared. You know, I think this is probably the first crossover we've done. You know, we were really close last year to doing one in the playoffs. I was getting ready to buy a ticket to go down to Raleigh until Louis Doming decided to screw some things up with that. But I'm glad we're doing one now. I'm also glad that the two teams are playing in November and not playing all four games in February and March and April like they did last season.

Yeah. Speaking of that, you know, we already closed our season series against Edmonton and Colorado. It's crazy that, you know, we're just now playing each other for the first time here at the tail end in November. And we're already done with season series for other teams. It's crazy to think about. And, you know, another thing that's crazy. we're both like day one, like locked on NHL host, and we've never done a crossover before.

Yeah, it's weird, you know, because the Penguins and Hurricanes, they've been playing each other in the same division for the last several years now. So you'd think we would do this, at least the one crossover, but, you know, again, I'm glad we're doing it now. Two teams that are in a playoff position, the Metro's a lot more competitive this season. But I figured out, I would ask you, Jared, just to kick this off. You know, the hurricanes, they've been struggling a little bit as of late lost.

eight of their last 11, but they've gotten points in eight of their last 11 games, which is obviously good. What has been the big reason why they've been struggling to win some games during this last stretch where I also believe they lost five in a row compared to in the early parts of the season where they came out playing really well? Yep. They're able to snap that five game losing streak the other night against Calgary, which is obviously really good.

But those losing efforts really come down to two things, really. special teams specifically power play which has been abysmal last i checked the power play was 30th in the nchl uh it was not great uh and then not capitalizing on opportunities they're getting a bunch of high danger chances and just not able to follow through the goals just weren't coming and, you know, I'm hesitant to get my hopes up heading into this game against the Penguins and, you know, the rest of the road trip. But it was a step in the right direction. They've been able to get some power play goals here in the last couple games, last game specifically against Calgary, which is really good because it has been such a bad problem for the team. but it's really getting that confidence back.

I also think it's a bit of a mental issue as well of like our powerplay sucks. We can't get goals and they're in their own heads. But hopefully things are going in the right direction for them now. Like you said, they're able to get points in all those losses, which is a testament to the resilience of the team, you know, being able to fight back and at least get a point.

And then on the flip side of that, some of their issues of not playing the full 60 minutes of letting other teams come back, that Minnesota game comes to mind there. But now we just look ahead to Pittsburgh and play the full 60 minutes and capitalize on power play opportunities and your high danger chances. Yeah, you know, Penguins fans, you know, and everyone who listens to my show, you know, we can sympathize with a bad power play because the Penguins Power Play is ranked

to believe 27th in the league right now. It's a really bad unit overall. It's weird because there's so much talent you can throw on that unit. Three sheer fire, three sheer friar, Hall of Famers, Jake Gensel, who's one of the 10 best goals scores in the league.

I would put him up there as top five, in my opinion, and then you can trot out whoever you want, Ricard, Raquel, Brian Rust, that we struggle. They have Jeff Petrie up there right now. So, you know, we can definitely sympathize with that.

And my apologies, I think it's seven of the 11 games because he won three and got the loser point in the other four. But I have noticed, though, as well for your team. I think the big guns are playing like the big guns. Spaschenachal's been great. Ah, Ho's been awesome. Martin Natchez has been really good as well.

But I think outside of that, it seems like some of those other depth pieces have struggled this season. I was reading today from Admin Grette of Pensburg, who does a great job, just looking at the week ahead for the penguins. And I actually did not know that the quartet of Seth Jarvis, Tevo-Thervine, and Paul Stassan, as very cock and yemi only have six total goals this season i just did not expect to see that especially from someone like terra vinen who i think is one of you be more consistent players and you sign paul stasnie for very cheap over the summer you're paying crock and ymi a lot of term with with a decent aav you know what is what has been missing in their games this year that's just having them not produce right now yeah so tabo he's out of hurt right now yes right uh yeah and he's not

a goal score. He's definitely a pass-first kind of guy. But he's got it just won't come in for him. Seth Jarvis, with him, he's definitely carrying the load there for the goals. But, you know,

with him, he definitely hit a bit of a early season wall of just struggling to get things going. And, I forget which game. I forget if it was the Calgary game or the game before. He was finally able to get back on the board. which is great for him.

Statsney, I don't know what is going on there. I really don't. He had, it was one of the earlier games. He had one goal, but it ended up getting called back. And yes, Spiri, he got his first of the season and the last game. So he's one that he's been knocking on the door a lot this season, but it just like hasn't opened up for me. yet. I really hope that, you know, the door's going to open for him this season. I feel he has

been one that's not necessarily struggled, but is still fitting into his new role as that second line center taking over from Vincent Trocheck and just getting used that role, the more responsibility, more ice time. And I feel he's just trying to get used to that. And, you know, Brent Burns was the same way earlier in the season. Yeah, he's, he's started to get things going a bit in terms of offense. He's still struggling a bit defensively and making some mistakes there. But I think that just comes with being an inner system after being in another one for over a decade. So, you know, I think Jarvis, he's just hitting a bit of a wall.

He just needs that one goal, you know, to start getting some confidence back. Kottniemie. He's there now. Statsney, your guess is as good as mine. Yeah, and my apologize for the terrifying thing. I knew that he had been hurt. I was just wondering if he was still out because I don't think he was on IR last time. No, she was not.

With him, Brendan Moore said this morning after practice that he is traveling with the team on this road trip. Whether or not he plays in that game against Pittsburgh, that is going to be up to Tava. If he's ready to go, he'll play. If he's not, they're going to be rolling with the group that they've been rolling with. Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And you know, you look at the rest of the hurricanes lineup.

I mean, it's, you know, four very deep lines. Obviously, old friend Jordan Stal is still centering the third line. I think every penguin fan out. Most of them, I would say, you know, have fond memories of him. And it's hard to believe it's been about 10 years since the trade happened. So that time just flew by. But, you know, defensively, Jared, you know, that's, I think where the hurricanes also, you know, make their name. Obviously, they're great with shot attempts, scoring chances, high danger

chances, and they can score at will. But defensively, they have some very good players. And it all starts with Jacob Slavin. I think he's one of the 10 best defensemen in the league. He can do it all. And then, you know, he's also playing with Brent Burns, who, you know, I was kind of surprised that they got him over the all season just because I didn't know who was going to trade for his contract, Brady Shea, Brett Pesci, Calvin DeHan, and then Jalen Hatfield. What have you seen from Brent Burns thus far? Just, Overall, you know, has he really been turning it around a little bit after a couple of down years in San Jose has been, has playing on a winning team helped him a bunch. And overall, just what are your thoughts on the defensive group this season?

Yeah. So as a whole, the defensive group, I do like it. They have been, you know, making some mistakes, burns, especially, you know, just some bad decisions, some lapses. But like I said, you know, he played in San Jose for over a decade. I think it was, yeah, 11, 12 years he played out there. So, you know, he is going to take some time to get used to a new system. And, you know, I think, you know, he has started to put things together offensively, you know, between goals and assists, you know, really starting to rack them up, which is great. And, you know, I think with him, you know, he's paired with arguably the best defensive defenseman in the NHL.

So, yeah, he can do his thing. You know, Brent Burns is an offensive defense. He can do his thing, you know, because Jacob Slavin is so good at what he does. With Burns, I do think he definitely brings a level of grit and intensity to the defense. I really like that. I just, you know, think it's going to take a little bit of time for him to, you know, reel in some of those mistakes and lapses in his game to where, you know, we're at midseason. He's putting things together a bit more.

Brett Pesci, that's always a great pairing. Between that and like the third line, those never get changed, barring an injury or something like that. With the fourth pairing, you know, cycling between Calvin DeHaan, Jalen Chatfield and Dylan Coglin. There, Chatfield, you know, he was a guy that a lot of folks were like, are, you know, is he going to make the jump from the HAL to the NHL? he looked really, really good in his little stint here.

Last season, we had a bunch of guys out with COVID. He played so well, he earned himself a two-year extension. And, you know, going into training camp and preseason, very much like Seth Jarvis last year, he just forced Brendan Moore and Gleason and all the coaching staff to be like, well, he's just playing so good, we can't send him back. And he's stuck around. and he's the guy that hasn't gotten cycled out of the lineup.

It's been Jalen Chath, or it's been Calvin Dahan and Dylan Coglin. Those are the guys that are swapping in and out. And, you know, it was looking even more crowded earlier in the off season when Ethan Bear was still here, when we're still unsure of whether or not Jake Gardner was going to be playing this season. In Chatfield, he has been stellar. And he has been really underrated. this season and he's a guy that is flying under the radar and definitely when you're going to have to

watch out for. Yeah, I'm excited to, you know, watch him, at least for that game, just because I don't think I've really watched a lot of his games over his career. And then, you know, finally, Penguins will probably not be seeing Frederick Anderson in that game. I think they saw Antiranto in all, I think all four games last season. So they know him quite well. Or they will be seeing the amazing goaltender, nicknamed Kucci. Of course.

Yep. That's just, you know, I will always love you guys for coming up with that nickname for, um, um, just can you pronounce, can you pronounce his last name for me, Jared? So I do not butcher that on my show. I still struggle to pronounce it sometimes. Peodor Kocheckkoff. Okay. Perfect.

I was probably going to bungle that because I've never pronounced that on my show before. And I did not need to be a meme in my YouTube comments or just in my DMs and stuff. But I'm just going to call him. Cucci because that is his nickname. So the Penguins will be seeing one of those two goaltenders. Just to wrap up this part of the show, Jared, how both of them been playing this season? And which one would you expect to start? They both have been playing really, really well.

Auntie Ronte is coming off a bit of an injury. Nothing major. You know, just kind of tweak something in morning skate a couple games ago. And, you know, I think they can't go wrong either one. I think, uh, Peotter, he's,

he's been lights out, you know, every game, even the games they've lost. He's been the one guy you can look to like, all right, he pulled his weight. It was all the other guys that were just passengers on the bus and,

you know, not doing anything at all. Uh, he's going to be a goalie. You really got to, you really got to watch out for it because he is stellar, like you said. He makes highlight real saves.

He, isn't afraid to tropic gloves as well, as we've seen before this season, as well as last scene in the playoffs. We're squaring up with Brad Marchand, ready to fight him.

And he's definitely a guy that can carry this scene for a long time. As far as who we see tomorrow, it's going to be a bit of a toss-up in the last game against Calgary. We saw, I believe, Antirontah.

in that game. So I feel like it wouldn't surprise me if we saw Ronte again because Pioter did go on such a long stretch of playing and Rod doesn't like guys sitting for too long.

So it's going to be 50-50. Honestly, I don't think you can go wrong either way. I think honestly, Piota may be the go-to for that game because he has been so hot lately and you know, just ride the hot.

set of hands. Yeah, I mean, either way, I think the Penguins will, they'll have their hands full, just going up against one of those two goaltenders just because they've been playing really well this season. Coming up with the next segment, we're going to flip it. So Jared is going to ask me about everything we're going to the Penguins this season. And there's just been a lot, we could probably spend three hours talking about this team overall.

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They're both 26 and 27 in the league in terms of power play percentage. Hurricanes are at 26 at 16.9. Penguins are literally right on their heels at 27 at 16.7%. We talked about what has been the problem for the hurricanes in terms of the power play flip the script what's causing the penguins to struggle so much on the power play yeah i think overall the first unit it's just total garbage right now you know the they get in the zone and even when they do it's cleared right back down and then when they go and get it um they're coming up the ice they do this stupid drop pass which i hate they don't need to go backwards to go forwards

um the zone entries are horrendous right now and even when they do get in the zone they overpass they sometimes get a chance and then it's just going right back down the other way is just that constant cycle. Mike Sullivan removes it after 55 seconds to a minute. Second unit comes on and usually that unit actually looks better than the unit that has three sure fire Hall of Famers on it. I don't really know what they're doing in practice to just struggle this bad. I mean, I'm moving to Pittsburgh in a few days, so I would love to go out there to Cranberry sometimes and just, you know, drop down some notes and look to see what they're practicing and such because it looks like they do not practice it at all. And almost just seems

like they're out of ideas. They can change the configuration as much as they want, but until they start, you know, getting the zone entries down and moving the puck around crisply and getting more than one chance each time you enter the zone, you're just going to see the same old crap. And, you know, you know your power play's bad when late in the game against the flyers after the fourth line was playing really well,

they had three of the Penguins' four goals on Friday night. Mike, they get a late power play. Mike Sullivan's like, all right, I'm going to put you guys out there. We're not going to be doing the free. you're sitting in out here to try and up the score. He just wanted to kill the clock. And, you know, I think the first unit should be, I shouldn't say ashamed, but they should feel a little like, wow, you know, I think that's a code for us to wake up. The second unit has been much better with getting chances that unit usually consists of Jason Zulker, Danton Hinen,

Jeff Petrie before he got moved up to the top unit. Jeff Carter, I think, is on there at times. So they just need to be more consistent. And they need to be more consistent. And they need to stop trying to pass the puck into the net and just, you know, work the puck around the big guns. Latang needs to keep shooting more from the point. They need to get more traffic from the net. And, you know, they just, they get back to doing what they were doing last season. Before that, this power play should be better. This power play should be fine because they probably would have won a few more games at this point in this season.

Even though they're in the playoffs right now, they would probably have a few more wins that the power play wanted to just wake up every now and then. that sounds really familiar and yeah really not surprised that's a lot of the same issues you know that's plaguing both of us especially the overpassing because that has been something I've criticized the hurricanes on pretty much ever since I started

this show. The power play has always been an issue for the hurricanes now so it's going to be very interesting to see these two not so great powerplay units to go against each other tomorrow. But one thing that the penguins do have going for them is their penalty kill. It's ranked ninth in the NHL right now at 81.4%. Hurricanes is improving steadily right now as of this recording ranked at 15th, at 79.5%.

It was much farther down earlier in the season where it was, again, struggling as well. Now, what has been the success to the penalty killing? We talked about the bad. Let's talk about the good. Yeah, I mean, the penalty kill. It didn't start out good, to say the least. It was close to dead last in the league. They were giving up basically a goal per game the first few weeks of the season.

And then it started to turn around a little bit. The goaltending was improving. I think this latest stretch, they're getting, it's like 940, 942, say percentage on the PK from both Jari and to Smith. That obviously plays a big role. But, you know, even, before then. It was starting to turn around because they were getting more aggressive coming up to the puck carriers.

They weren't just sitting back like they were and just being way too passive. And when you also couple that with Teddy Bluger then returning after a lengthy absence, you know, this unit is 17 for 17 since Bluger returned on November 15, two weeks ago. That is huge. He is great at blocking shots. He is great at getting, you know, his stick in passing lane. and he he honestly that unit will go as far as he will take them i think is the way to say it and you know it's it's been a huge catalyst for this turnaround you know you can't you can get by with kind of a meh power play and a good penalty kill but you can't win games if both of your special team teams units are really bad and it was that's why i was kept saying on my show like

if they can really turn that unit around and get better goaltending on it that i can really just get games going in the other direction for the penguins, so they're not making all these losing plays when they're down in man. Sure enough, that ended up happening, and you saw them rattle off five straight wins, and they won seven out of nine before laying an egg against the Leafs on Saturday. I think that was mainly due to them being tired. They played three games in four nights.

I don't think they have another back-to-back for the next several weeks. Yeah. But, yeah, it's, that unit has been great lately, and it needs to continue, especially if the power play is going to continue to stay. Yeah, it's very much in the same boat as the hurricanes. You know, for a stretch later, the PK was abysmal as well. These teams are, you know, in similar-ish positions.

You know, the hurricanes have been able to, you know, rattle off some points, you know, even in some overtime losses to keep them, you know, solidified in a playoff spot. The penguins were able to, you know, get in that second wildcard spot the other day, you know, after you're kind of being on the outside looking in there for a little bit. But we're talking about, you know, how big of the special teams you're going to play a role in this game. But one thing I think that is also going to play a role is how good these teams are on the faceoffs. Because we got two top 10 teams in the NHL and faceoff win percentage right now.

Penguins are at number 10 at 52.2%. The hurricanes are at number four at 53.1%. And, you know, they're so evenly matched hurricanes with a slight edge of being able to gain that edge, you know, while, you know, some people, you know, may not think of it as, you know, super, super important. But when your power plays are struggling as bad as these teams are, every little bit helps, especially the hurricanes are trying to, you know, get those, get that losing streak off their back, get a winning streak started. Penguins, you know, they're starting to get the ball rolling a bit. You know, let's, you know, I feel that that's going to be something that plays a factor in this game. And, you know, your old friend, Jordan Stahl, is phenomenal in the faceoff circle. So how big of a role do you think, you know, gaining that small edge is going to play in this game?

I think it could, you know, definitely a little bit, you know, I mean, some people always say that faceoffs don't matter. And, yeah, I understand what they're saying. But, you know, at times, you know, they really do. And, you know, for as much as I've bagged on Jeff Carter this season, he's actually been one of their best face-off centers this year. And I think that's why he's continuing to have that third-line center squad. Again, he Malkin's been taking some face-off opportunities away from Sydney Crosby, especially on the power play. That's a new wrinkle that really haven't seen Mike Sullivan do before. But I do think it can play a little bit of a role, especially, you know, going up against stall.

he's usually one of the best in the league ahho is usually up there as well so i'll be curious to see how crosbie does against him i would i would have to think malkin has the edge over cock and yammy just because he's been really good on face-offs this year but you know i think overall you know again is it going to play a bit of a factor yes but i think you know for me it's the penguins you know making sure they're not feeling deflated not going to lay another egg like they did on Saturday, it's obvious that they kind of have a little bit of a problem with the second half of back-to-backs. They've been awful in them this season. I believe Josh Joey wrote the article the other day, and they were like one in four and one on the second half of back-to-back. The only win coming

against Lully Chicago plays they hadn't won in since 2009. So I think it's just them not being fatigued, then not be feeling deflated and just making sure they get to their game, which, you know, at times against Carolina, they had some trouble with that last season, but they also did play decently well. at PBG Paints Arena against Carolina State. I think they split the two games there. And one of them was very tight. And then the other one, the Penguins were able to win.

The score was 3 to 1. That was late in the season. So those were some fun games. And I'm excited to see how this one plays out as well. Yeah. So one last thing for you is, you know, something I've talked about for a while now is, you know, in terms of, you know,

the hurricanes, you know, getting their organization together, to put it politely. And, you know, going from, you know, a laughing stock to a really good team. And it seemed like there's a bit of a changing of the guard, whereas, you know, it used to be like the penguins and capitals. They ran the metro. And, you know, the capitals are falling off. They are, they're currently sitting at sixth in the metro right now. and, you know, I keep saying every year, you know, penguins and capitals, they're going to fall off.

But the capitals are, but the penguins are sticking around. And, you know, they're falling down, you know, and they're not as dominant as they were, say, 10 years ago. But what is really helping the penguins stay in the mix so much, even when they are an older team? Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest reasons, at least for me, if not the biggest reason, is the core of getting Malkins, Sidney Crosby have been lights out.

This season is, you know, I believe top in the league in five on five points this season. He's top 10 to top 15 overall in points. He is playing at a ridiculous level. Once again, that should not be a surprise. He's one season away from tying Wayne Gretzky's record of 19 straight point for game seasons. I think Sid is going to hit that.

This season, Malkin was fully healthy coming into this season. It has shown he has been awesome as well. Jason Zucker also played. playing great. He is finally showing why the Penguins acquired him just a few years ago and why he deserves to make that $5.5.5 million in the series. I almost had a point for game pace. Jake Gensel is playing at a high level. It's been those top two lines that's really carried the load for the Penguins this year and just the leadership group that the Penguins core has. There's just a belief in them that they can always win on any given night and the penguins

will go as far as that core will take them. Mike Sullivan, even when the team was on that seven-game losing streak, I was like, you know, he's going to find a way to get them out of this. And sure enough, that's what a great coach does. They won five in a row, seven out of nine before dropping the game against the Maple Leafs. He's one of the five best coaches in hockey, and I think that's showing yet again this season. And also, you know, the health. There was a crazy stat yesterday. The Penguins have been fully healthy for the last six to seven games, knock on wood.

That's the most amount of games they've been fully healthy for dating back for the last decade. like a fully actually healthy lineup. That just goes to show how the injury luck for them has always been bad. And the fact that they've been relatively healthy for most of the season, and now fully healthy, that goes a long way as well because they can finally ice the lineup that they wanted to have over the off season. They couldn't even do it last season, for God's sake, it was just so bad.

But those are the main reasons why I think the team is just, you know, still in contingent, even though it's a bit of an older group of core players or making their money's worth. I think if Chris Lutang is able to really start turning his season around, that's only going to make the penguins a bit more scarier to go up against. But, you know, at least for me, those are the main reasons why I think this team should never be counted out, at least, you know, with many media pundits and stuff. Yeah, and yeah, it's just crazy to think of just how they're able to stick around so much.

But we'll get into our predictions for this game tomorrow right after this. Folks, betonline.net is your number one source for your sports betting infos, news and analysis. Get the latest odds and trends for every professional amateur league out there from football to basketball to soccer and esports. They've got it all at betonline.net. And if you love sports podcasts, you can find all those at betonline as well. The World Cup is going on right now. So make sure you're going over to betonline. online to get your betting fix because they are the fastest and easiest way to get that

betting fix. So head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more. Bet online where the game starts. Now, Hunter, this is the first matchup for these two teams this season. And, you know, we're going to see more of each other, you know, as the season goes along, of course, you know, still relatively early in the year. Folks are still trying to get their feet under them, especially here with the hurricanes.

You know, we've got a lot of guys out. Patcher Reddy still hasn't played. Kasha hasn't played since the first game in the season. Anderson's out. Tevo's out. You know, it's going to be a different team, you know, by the next time we play each other because someone is going to be back in the lineup, hopefully at least.

but what are you predicting to see in this game, whether it be a win, a loss, a guy or guys that you have good games, guys that have disappointing games. What are you expecting to see in this game? Yeah, I mean, I think it's going to be a really tight game. These two teams played for really good games against each other last season

that were very tight throughout. And it was, you know, getting me honestly amped for a playoff series. I think after everyone, I was like, man, be great if these two teams. could play in the playoffs again because they haven't played it in the playoffs since 2009. And, you know, I think all Penguins fans know how that went with the ball. Yes, we do. Yeah.

Long time ago, there's, you know, in terms of Penguin players that were on that team, there's only three now that are still on the team now. And that's for obvious reasons it was 13 years ago. But I think the Penguins, you know, they just got to get back to four checking hard, getting their chances. They are top 10 in most metrics league-wide, shot attempts for per 60, scoring chances, high danger chances, expected goals. They're going to have their time in the offensive zone,

but also to flip that, Carolina is also going to have their time in the offensive zone. Their underlying numbers are very good for usual. They gave the Penguins defenseman fits last season, I thought. I think in the last game that the Penguins beat the Hurricanes in, I think it was that three to one game. Carolina was playing on a back-to-back, and you wouldn't know it based on how the Penguins were playing,

but the Penguins were able to finish off their chances while the hurricanes were not. I think Tristan Jury also made a lot of really good sense. saves in that one. So you know, you don't want to repeat that kind of recipe to beat this Hurricanes team. You know, you will kind of want to, you know, give them a taste of their own medicine, which is, you know, how good they are for checking and going from low to high and getting to the high danger areas. The Penguins also just, again, you know, they got to do that and they also got to keep defending well because before that Leafs game, they were doing a really good job

of keeping the opposition away from the net mouth, which has been a problem for them over the last few years. So I think that is also a big key for me. And I think considering that Trish and Jari is going a start in this game, or at least I believe he will. I don't think they're going to go to Casey the Smith. Jari's been starting to turn it around a little bit for his last few starts before that. Just wasn't having a good season after his first few starts. But if he can keep it up and continue to make saves, you know, that's going to be, you know, it's going to really up the Penguins' chances of winning.

As for like a prediction for me, so I've, I actually picked them to win two times in a row, so I'm feeling good about it. I think it's going to be a close three to two Penguins win. This is a five-deam home stand. They just played 13 of 19 on the road to open the season. Ridiculous amount of road games to open. And, you know, they just lost their first game on the five-game homestand. You know, you can't afford to have a bad homestand here,

especially as they fought their way back into the playoff picture after that 70 losing streak. So either the Penguins will bounce back, they'll win this one, and then they'll have to focus on Vegas and St. Louis and a couple other teams that are going to come to P.PG-Pins Arena soon. Yeah. With this game, I think that the hurricanes are really going to have to have their ducks in a row. I know we don't have JD from locked on ducks here, but still had to get that metaphor in. But I think that the hurricanes, they finally got their power play starting to go. That's going to be key in this game.

And they need to, while they have had their. his high danger chances. One thing I've been critical of them in the past is they feel like they're just taking so many shots and they're just shooting to shoot, not shooting to score. And I think, you know, that's going to be really important here because, like you said, Jari, you know, he's starting to get things going. And if he's going to be the guy that you're going against, you need to be, you know, picking those shots well, capitalizing.

on those high danger chances and tidying up those defensive lapses. You know, there's because you're going against a team that, yeah, they might be older, but there's still a team that can take advantage of those. It's not a team, you know, like, you know, no disrespect, but like Arizona. You know, even though we just got shut out by Arizona, which I don't know why we're using that one, but let's go with it. you know, a team that, you know, you could make a mistake like that and get away with it. You know, Pittsburgh, they're not a team like that.

You know, they're going to make you pay for stuff. And, you know, I think that the hurricanes, Brent Burns, you know, especially playing there on that first defensive pairing, he's going to, he's a guy that's made some noticeable mistakes this year. He's going to have to have his stuff in line, you know, and ready to go. The skaters as a whole, forwards and defensemen, you know, an issue as of late, especially in that five-game losing streak, was leaving the goalie out to drive, whether it was Peotor, whether it was Ranta.

You know, the goalie can only do but so much. And they can only make so many highlight real saves. The skaters have to do their job as well, and they don't need to leave their goalies out to dry. Like they have been as of late, as far as a prediction for the game, I feel like overtime would be a safe bet for this game because of obviously the hurricane's recent history, but the way these two teams play each other, I agree with you. I think it's going to be close. I think a 3-2-21 game is very likely.

Gosh, I'm kind of hesitant to pick the hurricanes to win. I'm going to, obviously. but with the hurricane's recent history, like I said at the beginning of the episode, I'm a little hesitant to start, you know, putting my eggs in their basket because of what they've shown as of late. I really want to see them, you know, all right,

they got that last win. Let's see them get this one against Pittsburgh. Let's see them, you know, get the win after that against St. Louis, against L.A. You know, let's see them get back to their winning way. and then I'll really start feeling more confident in them. Again, they're still a really good team. They're not bad by any means,

but they've been struggling and get things going. I'm going to say 2-1 overtime Hurricanes win. I mean, that would almost be parlor for the courses because these two teams are, they play so tight against each other. And the Penguins will get a point out of that, but still, you know, considering they need to keep banking points to keep up with teams in the metro that wouldn't be the best result that they would need.

But yeah, I mean, again, Jared, I'm so excited to watch these two teams. I've always kind of, you know, I don't want to say this. I've always just like watching them play just because they play a fun brand of hockey. And to see them going up against the Penguins who I think also play a fun brand of hockey, that should make for a pretty good matchup. And so I'm really excited to get this one underway. I am too. I think it's going to be a really,

really fun game and with Metro teams playing each other. I say it all the time. Every time we play a team in the Metro. Metro teams always seem to play each other a little bit harder than they do other teams, whether it's the top team

in the division going against the bottom team or what it may be. They always seem to play each other a bit harder. So it's going to be an extremely entertaining game to watch. But Hunter, thanks for taking the time to chat about this game. Again, crazy the fact that it took this long to do a crossover,

but we did it. And in the meantime, where can everyone find you on social media? Yeah, you can follow the show on Twitter at L-Len underscore Penguins. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. And then the show is wherever you get your podcast, Apple, Spotify, YouTube. All those places will do other places, I'm sure are out there that get my show as well. And for you Penguins fans, you can find me on Twitter at Jared L.

underscore 96. You can find the show on Twitter and Instagram at LO underscore Hurricanes. And you can find the podcast wherever you are listening to this podcast. And thank you for making Locked on Penguins and Locked on Hurricanes your first listen of this Monday afternoon. And now that you've made us your first listen of the afternoon, please make Locked on Sports today your second listen of the afternoon. Locked on Sports Today has the biggest stories of the day, plus instant reactions, big game recaps, and the take of the day.

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