Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Hockey truly is the dumbest sport sometimes

Episode Date: February 26, 2021

The Pittsburgh Penguins lost in one of the worst ways tonight as Kris Letang broke his stick on the PK and Hunter is back to tell everyone not to get freaked out about it. Sometimes, that's just hockey. He touches on the great games from Brandon Tanev, Jake Guentzel, and Tristan Jarry as this is now Jarry's 6th straight great start. He also touches on the struggles of the 4th line and why a trade may need to be made as soon as tomorrow to get some help down there, despite Jared McCann on his way back. Should Drew O'Conner be sent down to WBS? What about Mark Jankowski? Finally, we have the always fun listener takeaways segment as they get to share their thoughts on the game!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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% 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.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn 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 Thursday evening episode of the Locked-On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

Pittsburgh tonight. They have their winning streak snapped. They lose 5 to 2 to the Washington Capitals after coming back to tie the game in the third period. They have like two goals in basically two minutes, though they lost on the worst luck in the world. And that basically is the game. Thank you guys so much for listening. No, I'm just kidding. We have a lot to touch on the listener takeaways.

Krista Teng is really bad luck. Tristan Jari's play, the fourth line play. So much more for this episode of Locked on Penguin's podcast. So I guess we'll just start with some positives. I'm not going to go into the negatives just yet. Tristan Jari again played great. allowed three goals. The other two of course were M-Detters.

But, I mean, Jari was sensational again. And this is now his sixth straight start where he's put up a really good performance. I think if I look up his Sabre Center, I think he was almost in the 9-20 range. I'm just making sure right now. Well, 9-10, basically. But, you know, 30 saves on 33 shots, allowed three goals. I mean, he was great again. I mean, the first goal, you can't really follow to him.

Nick Jensen made a great pass to Nicholas Baxter. for the capitals to open up the scoring. And then on the second goal, T.J. O'Shee, who, you know, I'm not T.G.O. She's biggest fan. I'm sure not a lot of you guys that listen to this podcast are either, has that sick move on Mike Matheson. And as he's basically diving on the ice, he pokes it past Jari. That's just a hell of a move. I'm not going to blame Jari for that.

He was trying to track that the best he could. And then for the third goal of five on three and a half, Wilson gets a nice tip in, and that's basically all she wrote. So I'm not really going to blame Jari for any of these goals. but just for the first two periods when the penguins were down 1-0 going into the third period, he was keeping them in the game. You know, I saw some people tweeting that, you know, it would be a sham if the penguins couldn't get a point for him. It looked like for a bit, especially in the third period, that they were going to get at least one,

and then, you know, the bad luck happens. But, you know, I feel bad for Johnny. Like I said, this is a 6 straight start where he's 9-10 or better. He was coming into this game, I think, with like a 9, I think it's 933 in his last 5 starts. He's trended in the right direction, and he needs to continue to play like. this if the penguins are going to stay in games and even win a lot of games. I still think this team is heading in the right direction. It just sucks that for the first couple periods tonight, they weren't at their A game. They weren't playing like they were last game against Washington.

And you know, these are what these couplet series will do. A team will play like shit for one of the games and then they'll come back and play good the next game. And then a team that will play good for one game and then they won't have that same type of A game in the second game. That's Pocky. It happens. You're not going to play on your A game for every game for these couple of series against these teams. Luckily, the Penguins, they do not see the capitals again until April 29th and March, April 29th in May 1st, I believe is the next time these two teams play in Washington, so they won't see them for two more months. Penguins, of course, four and two against Washington this year. You know, that's still a good record. You know, if you're four and two

against that team that you're in direct competition with for a playoff spot, that's good news. They have a lot of ground to make up. Well, there's still only three points behind them with two months to go before the two teams play again. I think the penguins can make up that ground as I think the capitals go on the road for the next eight out of nine games, if I remember correctly from the NBC with sports Washington broadcast tonight. Kristen Jarre, like I said, great. Brandon Tannett, again, another sweet goal. I think that's his second shorthanded goal of the season.

I will not bash his contract until it is over. He continues to play great. Though, you know, he looked at his underlying numbers. There was a really interesting tweet from Danny Tonight, who writes for Penn's blog. I'm such a huge fan of his work and all. that, but through two periods, I think, Tann have had 10 minutes of ice time before that short-handed goal. He was on the ice for seven chances for, 22 chances against, Bluegar, seven chances for,

23 chances against. When I say Zach Asson Reese is the most underrated player on this team, everyone, I mean it. I mean, he keeps that line going. And when he was taking on that line tonight to play with Fibgeny Malkin, thanks to Jason Zucker being out longer term, you know, that line suffers because Sam Lafferty has to come on it and he drags everyone that he plays with them. So, I mean, it's just the line is obviously not going to be as good as normal.

Though, you know, the third period, it's just tenet Tannes a menace. And we saw another goal from Jake Gunsell. What a move that he put on Brendan Dillon at the back of the net. Dylan, I don't really think is that good of a player. He signed for a pretty bad contract. And then Van Tchek, a little bit weak in between the wickets there, and Gensel's able to tuck it in. I saw this great take from Adam Gretzter in the game, too.

You know, some people haven't seen it as much, but some people really like to go, oh, yeah, man, Jake Gensel, product of Sydney Crosby. He only scores goals because he played with Sidney Crosby. I mean, that's the furthest thing from the truth. Gensel is, I think, by far, the best winger that Crosby's ever played with. Yes, I understand he's played with Marion Hosa, but it was only for, like, what, 15, 16 games, something like that. In terms of, like, a player that he's played with for, like, a full season or even more, like, Gensel has,

he is the best winger that Crosby's ever had. It's just he creates stuff on his own, just like that goal you saw tonight, and the Penguins are able to tie the game for a brief moment. I loved watching them. Gino, I thought tonight, honestly, Gino was fine. I'm not really going to make too much criticism on him. I didn't think he was bad. I didn't think he was great, but I thought he was there. You saw there was more jump to his game again. It's another step in the right direction with him.

He's obviously not going to score every game. He's 34. He's older now, obviously. But I thought there was more jump to his game. I really liked how he was playing. Crosby, I thought, not really his best game. You didn't really notice him with his line out there, Cappanin. not his best game either and okay you know let's just get also to the elephant in the room in the tom wilson hit

um capitals fans will tell you you know i i live in capitals country everyone so i mean i hear this all the time you know he's a changed player you haven't watched tom wilson enough these last couple years after he got matt cook with that 20 game suspension man i don't give a shit if i haven't watched him as much the last 20 years you know a player like that doesn't change that much i mean we penguins fans know that firsthand when matt cook finally got the book thrown to him. He changed in quotation marks for a bit, but he also had some gross hits after that.

I mean, that obviously didn't have that long-term suspension that he had the first time, but still, I mean, a player like that is just not going to change. That's just who he is. And you saw that hit on Mark Jankowski. Puck's not even near Jankowski and Wilson, because that's who he is. At this point in his career,

just has to level him and interfere with him for no reason. Two-minute minor, should have been a five-minute major, if you ask me, wouldn't be surprising if he hears from the Department of Player of Safety, wouldn't be surprising if he gets suspended for that. It's just that kind of hit has no place in this game. I don't spare me like the, oh my God, you're soft hunter, or oh my God, like hitting's a part of hockey. No, I mean, there's only one time, I think Chad had a great tweet tonight.

There's only one time you should really be hitting a player, and it's just to get the puck off their stick. I mean, that's really it. There's just no room for that kind of garbage that we saw tonight from Wilson. He's done that his whole career. That's just who he is. And, you know, I love that hit from CC in response, perfectly clean. The Penguins didn't have to fight him or anything like that. I'm sure Jim Rutherford would be blowing a gasket right now.

If he were still the Penguins general manager, maybe Brian Burke is calling his son who works for the DOPS to get him suspended. Hopefully he's not getting all on that toughness thing. But, you know, it was nice to see CCC level Wilson with the taste of his own medicine. And, you know, I've seen this comparison a lot. I don't think Wilson is like the Vontes perfect of hockey, but he is definitely one of the top three most dirty players in the league. It's just really stupid. Capitals fans will say that like Penguins fans are crying about it. You know, I'm sorry I don't want to see garbage hits all over the ice.

If that were a penguin player, I'd be crucifying him to the end of the Earth too. You know, if that were Brad Marchand or a player on the freaking Calgary Flames or something like that, I'd be saying the same thing too. So, you know, it is what it is with Tom Wilson. I'm just going to leave it at that. He's a dirty player. That's what dirty players do. And he'll continue to do it until he's thrown the book at him again.

So those are my thoughts on that. And then, you know, let's just get to the bad love. So the Penguins, you know, Drew O'Connor takes a bad penalty. In Pittsburgh, for at least the first half, they came into this. The Capitals, I think, were two for 19 on the Power Play going into this powerplay. So, of course, I tweet about it. And, you know, a Capitol score on it, but it was more just a lucky goal, I think, rather than anything else. For over the first minute, 15, minute, 20, they were doing a great job.

I think it's Q's Netsov that shoots it, breaks Letang stick. Letang has an opportunity to go to the bench and get a stick. I saw a replay from Jason from Penguin's Twitter, J underscore A155, and he's basically 10 feet away, and it's like, buddy, I think someone's trying to give you a stick, and he's just trying to play the man along the board. It's like, I get it. That's the ultimate competitor in Chris Letang. I'm sure once he sees the replay, he's going to wish that he went to the bench. But I also wish a Ford would have given him a stick.

I mean, Latang is one of the fastest players on the PK, has a very long reach, does a great job with getting the puck out. I don't know why one of the fords there did not give him his stick. I just don't understand that at all. And, you know, like I said, he should have just went to the bench and gotten a stick. I mean, you can kill a five on three for ten seconds. It's not going to kill you. And then, you know, at the end of the game with less than two minutes to go, Lutang takes a simple pass.

I think it was from Evgeny Malkin. Might have been from Cindy Crosby. Takes a pass. Stick breaks. Hageren goes the other way and scores an empty net goal. It's just like this honestly is the dumbest sport in the world sometimes. and I just wonder why I watch it. I just, you know, you lose a game based on two broken sticks.

That's hockey sometimes. There's nothing really more to say other than that. And you move on to the next one, the Penguins play the Islanders coming up on Saturday and then on Monday. I know it's such that they couldn't get a point for Jari. It looked like they were trending in that direction. But, you know, a team like the Capitals with, I know the Penguins have done a great job on their power play this year,

a team like that with as much talent as they have and how good they've been against the other teams in the division, they will make you pay. So, you know, they eventually did. It was a five on three and a half for, I think, 30 seconds. And they just couldn't find the clear. There were a couple times, I think, that Latang would have been able to cleared if you had to stick,

but, you know, he just wasn't able to do it. But those are my thoughts on that. And we still have more to get to for this episode, including the listener takeaways. That'll be in the third segment. Next segment we're going to be touching on some power play woes and the fourth line. But before we do that, it is time to talk about bet online,

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Welcome bonus on your first deposit. That's Bet Online, your online sports book, experts with the promo code Locked On. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. All this show is Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's just touch on the power play first.

Penguins went over for tonight. The first three times that I thought I was watching it, they just time traveled back to the first couple of games. First couple weeks of the season, pardon me. And they were just very playing the perimeter, not shooting the puck at all. You know, I've said it on the podcast so many times. I am not a shoot-it kind of guy from level 400.

or something like that. But eventually you got to take a shot. But they were also having some done passes when players weren't open and the Capitals were just easily able to clear it. It looked like a momentum swing for the Capitals at that point. And then the fourth time it comes around. And, you know, that one was their best one of the night. They were actually getting some good chances.

I think they had two to three high-danger chances on that one, and they were moving the puck more crisply. But still, another bad night from the Power Play, 0-4. They had that one goal in the last game. But other than that, you know, the last couple of games, not too much to write home on for the power play. We'll see if they can get it fixed. Going into the next game,

maybe they'll need that hour-long practice, as I saw Jeff, aka Latang Colt and Pengman's Twitter saying, because a lot of times tonight it was looking pretty bad. But let's also touch on the fourth line. There's a lot of listener takeaways I do want to get to tonight. I think this is the most we've actually ever had for an episode. So I do want to get those to close out the episode. But the fourth line, it's just unplayable at this point,

especially as you have Jared McCann and Jason Zucker out to good forwards. Your forward debt is going to be a bit exposed. I've been saying for a long time that Ron Hextall needs to go out and make a trade. It's easier to have them done because the payments don't have a lot of assets to make a deal. But, you know, I think at this point he needs to just say, fuck it, and go out and get a bottom six forward or just a top six sports. So some players can move down the lineup. Because, I mean, you have four players in the lineup right now.

You know, I saw this tweet from Madden. I 100% agree with him, guys. I mean, I've also been saying this for the last week or two. You have guys in the lineup that should just not be playing. I mean, Mark Jankowski needs to be sent to the taxi squad, or he just needs to be dumped to a team like Ottawa or something like that. He brings nothing of value to the ice. We raved in the offseason about his defensive impact

and how his underlying numbers defensively were really good, but even those this season have been utterly terrible. It's just he's not contributing anything there. Offensively, he's been a black hole ever since the first two games in Philadelphia. I mean, play Josh Curry or play Jordy Belivier or get those guys their NHL debut or something like that. It can't hurt them at this point. Sam Lafferty's been forced up to the third line.

He's not good. I know some people have been writing in their articles lately about how you can't give up on him just yet and all that. But I just, I don't see it with Lafferty right now. Nothing that he does impresses me. Sure, he's maybe a bit of a fast skater, but I've never liked his shot. I've never liked his playmaking ability.

I've never liked his play in the defensive zone. He's just way too inconsistent for me, and I think he serves the team a lot better as a 13 forward. Drew O'Connor, that penalty screwed the team. He might not play for a couple games now. The more I watch him, everyone, I just don't think he's NHL ready. I don't know. I know I've been saying, you know, I can't really judge him too much yet, but after tonight, you know, with just a little more of his sample size, He just hasn't brought a lot offensively.

And I know I changed my tune maybe a bit too quick, but I just don't see it right now with him, and maybe he does need to sit on the bench for a little bit these next few games and, you know, maybe be sent to the taxi squad, or maybe just be sent down to Wilkesbury to get some games in for the AHL team because I just don't see it right now with him. Colin Severe, same thing.

I just don't think he's good. He was basically a throw-in with the Mike Matheson trade, and I wouldn't be surprised at Hextall Dunson during the season or during the other. offseason. I just don't care for him at all. So yeah. Penguin was in a brand new fourth line. It will not hurt to potentially play the two players I mentioned in Curry and Jordy Belvery or someone else up from the AHL team just because a lot of these players are just below replacement level right now. I mean, it's not like Craig Adams, Zach Sill, Joe Vitale level bad that we saw during the Ray Shiro

era, but it's just, it's bad right now watching these four players. They're just, they're not going to bring anything to the lineup on a nightly basis. There's no point in playing them. And I'm just hoping that Ron Hextol can make a deal at some point here to bring in some forwards who actually know what the heck they're doing, either offensively and defensively. Other thoughts from the game, I really don't have much other stuff for you guys. I mean, it was just bad luck.

That's what happens. Sometimes your stick breaks and you allow a power play goal. That's what happens. I know they didn't play their best hockey in their first two periods. But Tristan Jari gave them a chance to win. They were able to come back in that third period to tie the game. I thought they were for sure going to get a point. But, you know, Drew O'Connor decided to take a dumb penalty,

and, you know, LaTang broke his stick. Well, he didn't break his stick. His stick was broken by a shot. And you know what? That's hockey sometimes. This sport is stupid. Go eat Rbies, everyone. That's basically my life advice for you all right now.

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That is rock auto.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the ball. on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get to the listener takeaways. There are quite a bit tonight. Thank you all so much for sending these in.

I think I count 12 or 13 at the moment. Ryan King 702 says, Drew O'Connor just seems like he doesn't care if he plays or not. He's very careless on the ice and took a bad pendulum tonight that killed the momentum. Tonight as a whole just seemed like the team was lacking that next year. No one popped off on the ice to me. Yeah, man, I just, I agree with you with the Drew O'Connor thing.

It's just the more I've watched him, and I know I've been, I kind of, like I said, I went back and forth on this. The more I've watched him, the more I just think he's not NH already and that he maybe needs some more time in Wilkesbury to develop some parts of his game. I don't think the team rushed him per se.

You know, I think they liked him in training camp, and training camp was so short. But if there were a longer training camp, does he make the team? I don't really know. I know they didn't have a lot of good options, you know, just for their 13th and 3rd. 14th forward spots and the addition of the taxi squad obviously helped him make the team

but if that weren't there i think he starts the season in wilkesbury he also says tom wilson needs to be loaded new can and fired into the sun sick of the dirty BS he pulls year after year and sometimes not even against the pens when does the ant you'll say enough is enough again man i've been saying that forever that hit on oscar sunquist was pathetic um he honestly should have got not a 20 games, especially he should have been Rafi Torres and got 40 to 50 games. It's just, that's who Tom Wilson is. That's just, that's the kind of player he is. He's not going to change.

Capitals fans can feed you this garbage that, oh my God, he's this changed player. He's not going to do this ever again. That's just their guy. They're going to defend him. You know, some Penguins fan did it to, some Penguins fans did it to Matt Cook. Hell, I even defended Matt Cook when I was 15, 16 years old. Now that I'm older, I saw it through his BS, and that's just, he was a dirty player, just like Tom Wilson was.

So we'll see if he gets supplementary discipline after this one. Another comment from T. Nevin, 1996. Feels like a broken record talking about these awful PowerPoint. Sadly, that's not the only broken thing that costs us the game tonight. Caw 58 stick. Yes, that's a good one. Thank you for that. Good Joe.

We don't need to talk about that anymore. No more for you. I'm just kidding. Bringing it back to Tutu, and the third was great to see. But a silly penalty and poor luck was our downfall tonight. Time to sleep. Yes, in case you guys did not know, I believe, I think Thomas is his name.

watches the games in Scotland. Yeah, so he stays up basically until like almost 2, 3 a.m. watching the game. So, you know, that's a true fighter right there. I don't think I could do that every night. I'm sure all of you guys that listen to this podcast probably couldn't either. But, yeah, that basically costs in the game. And yeah, the 3 power points before the 4th one, just so many perimeter passing.

It was so annoying. Gilbert the Goat says, just not a good performance tonight. We have them three points when they should have only gotten two in those two games. Crosby hasn't looked as dominant as he has in the past, but I'm not too worried. Hopefully, McCann is back on Saturday. Big games against the Islanders this weekend. Yeah, I mean, the first two periods definitely was not their A game.

Even in the third period, it wasn't their A game. I think tonight was the Penguin C game. I thought they were good enough to maybe squeak out a win like they were earlier in the season against a couple of teams. But, you know, definitely not nearly as good as it was the last game where they held the Capitol's 22 shots. I also agree with you, Gilbert State was not as good tonight. I had to have to look at the underlying numbers,

but I think he was on for more high-dine. chances against than he was four. He also says, I don't know if this is just me, but every time Pittsburgh loses, I find myself looking at the standings a lot. Super frustrating game tonight I could go on about this loss. Hechtel needs to inquire a top six-winger and soon. Just really hope we can take all four points this weekend.

Yeah, I mean, I think Hectoral is going to make a trade soon. I really do think that. And of course, you know, right as I say this, my phone decides to die, so I have to go to my Mac to load up the rest of the tweets. But I'm really hoping that a trade does come soon, either for a top-six winger or a bottom-six-swinger, or both, you know, maybe Mount Ron Hextal and Brian Burke have some great galaxy brain stuff up their sleeve moving forward.

And yes, I am checking the standings lock too. As of right now, the Penguins, I think, are still in that playoff spot. Thank goodness. Or, you know, they're tied, I think, for the last spot, I think is what it is right now. And also, yes, they do need to take all four points against the Islanders of sleep, and we'll see if they can win those two matchups against them in Long Island. But okay, moving on from Gilbert's suite, Iris A.J. says, can't stick up for Lattang anymore, bad luck on that with a broken stick for every one good thing he does.

he does five dumbest things he needs to drop off the first pair asap honestly a j i think i'm going to have to disagree with you on that one i thought mainly he was fine tonight um but just like that that's just pure bad luck i think i mean it's not every day that you see a player have two broken sticks yes he probably should have went to the bet you get a broken stick you know 10 seconds of a 5 on 3 is not going to kill you it's not some you know impossible thing to basically kill off 10 seconds a five on three. That was where he was wrong, but, you know, I'm not going to fault him for two broken stakes.

That's just more bad luck than anything. AJ also says, I hope Drew O'Connor has never again seen on the main roster. Okay, you know, I can, your latter point, I can see that one. Yeah, he needs to sit for a few games, and honestly, he probably serves him as a 13th war right now on the taxi squad. So, yes, I agree with your second point. Can't really agree with your second point. I'm just, I'm not going to shit on Chris the Tang for, he indirectly costs him.

game. It's just bad luck when your stick breaks on blocking a shot. Johan S says the late penalty costs us the game. Unacceptable. Yeah, I mean, that was an unacceptable penalty from Drew O'Connor. He can't put his stick there. I think it was a hooking call, if I'm not mistaken. He can't do that. There's less than 10 minutes remaining in the game with the way the Penguins are playing. The Capitals are even strength tonight and throughout the season, you probably were going to get a point. These teams always go to overtime. If the Penguins would have kept the game at 5V5, there's no doubt that they go to extra time. and honestly, I bet the Penguins win the game

to considering how good they've been at three-on-three overtime this year. I think they only have one loss overall on three-on-three. I think it was the game in Boston where they botched that three-on-o. Mr. No-it-all says the power play was the difference. Over-four and all the zone time we had, 100 passes and two shots. Don't like 71 at the blue one. Either his passes are too lazy risky.

Captain's not fitting with 87 that well. Still would like to put 18 there. Are you saying to put 18 there? Are you saying to put Sam Lafferty up? on Cindy Crosby's line. If you are, I think that's a little bit odd, considering that Sam Lafferty has not really done anything this season. He also says, didn't have much pep tonight.

Tristichari's holding up again, fourth line stinks. Yeah, I agree with everything basically you said. Yep, the power play was trash. I mean, you can't squander four power plays, especially when the capitals were getting some makeup calls. Yeah, 100 passes, you know. There's still maybe a case that you can take 71 off the powerplay, put Matheson on there.

I mean, could it hurt at this point with how the powerplay has looked at times this season. I understand people want to kind of crap on Kaepinen, but, I mean, he's also only been up there for a few games, and I thought he was great up there last game. So I'm kind of still give him a bit of a pass until he really starts to stink again. As for Lappery on the top line, I think that would just drive Genson Krosby, just insane, just because I don't think he would do anything on the top line. So I'd have to disagree with you on that one. Frytime says with his takeaways, some bad luck, bad penalty cost them the third,

and Tom Wilson is still a dirty predatory player. The league doesn't need. Yep, 100% agree with you there. Bad luck, bad penalty, and yes, Tom Wilson sucks. Penn 67 says, love the way we fought back and didn't give up. Seems like Malkin is getting his game back, and is there any plans for Tanna and C.C. Stachies in Pittsburgh yet. I'm hoping, yeah.

Cody Cici, I said he was going to get a big shout out on the podcast tonight. I'm going to do it again. Cody Cici, we can build the statue right outside of PPG Payne's Arena. right now. He is absolutely fantastic. That hit on Tom Wilson was everything I wanted to be and more. And he continues to put up good underlying numbers. I think this was another game where he was plus

positive, 50% for his course, and I think positive in the chances for versus chances against. And Brandon Tanniv, of course, you know, he's scoring at Will this season and he's great defensively. He's just, he's an alien. I think I'm going to start calling him the alien at this point, just because he does everything on the ice for the penguins.

And yes, I also agree with you as well. Malkin is finding his game back. I thought he was fine again tonight. I think this was another step in the right direction for him. Alex Stevens says talk about a curse game. The comeback was on until the first broken stick. That's hockey for you. Yeah, I mean, I 100% agree with you. This sport is so stupid. I will say that forever. It's the dumbest goddamn sport in the world. We all love it for many different reasons, but you know, you can lose a game for so many different reasons. Case in point tonight where you lose on a broken stick penalty. That's just that's what happens sometimes. But I think will do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

I do see Alan's tweet down there, Alan T. Yoters, I'm going to respond to that. I'm on Locked on Penguins' Twitter. My phone, of course, dies at the worst moment, and I don't have the Locked on Penguins' Twitter account on my Mac, you know, just because, well, one, I really can't remember my password because I'm a goddamn idiot, almost 24-7. But that'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate you all. Sending in those listener takeaways and listening to this show again.

We'll be back tomorrow with another episode, Jeff, from the Penn's blog, who runs the Penn's blog will be on the show to talk all about this game and just his overall thoughts on the team. So look for that tomorrow afternoon. Again, everyone, thank you guys so much for listening and I will talk to you all on Friday.