Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins 12/17-Quick Weekend Recap, Western Canada Trip, Plus Jack Johnson Talk

Episode Date: December 17, 2019

In this episode of Locked On Penguins, Hunter returns to recap the Penguins weekend with a win against the Los Angeles Kings, plus quick thoughts on the Columbus game. He also then talks about the Western Canada trip which starts tonight against the Calgary Flames, then closes with some Jack Johnson talk. 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.

Hello and welcome to this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show on Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Wow, yeah, we have a lot to get to for today's episode. A lot of stuff has happened in Penguin Land since we last recorded, which was, I think, around last Thursday, Friday. I played a couple games.

There's been some injury news, some sickness news, some comments, some trades. So let's just get right into it. Of course, I know it's old news by now. Penguins, they play the Blue Jackets, they beat them 1-0. I think, and then, of course, they beat the LA. Kings, 5 to 4 in a shootout to get a couple wins, get them to 19 and 10 and 4. First wild card spot, there are a few points up on the Philadelphia. They're three points up on the Philadelphia Flyers for that second wildcard spot.

I think they're five to six points up on the team chasing the flyers for that second wildcard spot. And they're also tied for the Carolina Hurricanes for that third spot in the Metropolitan Division. But I think we're not going to dive too much into these games, because, you know, they're also a little bit old news. But I think just a couple of key takeaways. Defensively, the Penguins again, just outstanding. That coach in the Columbus game, holding them to 17 shots through 60 minutes. It's pretty hard to do, guys.

17 shots through almost 65 minutes of play is very, very hard to do. That just goes to show how well defensively the Penguins are playing and how they're one of the top five best teams in limiting high danger chances. limiting scoring chances in general. Adam Gretz was a great article the other day, actually. I know it was mostly about Jack Johnson, but also he included a lot of stats about the Penguins defensively in there. And there's a lot of really good stuff in it.

They're expected goals against per 60 minutes. This season, guys, 1.72. That's one of the best in the league. The scoring chances against per 60 is 21.9. Last year, around this time, it was at 27.7. and their high danger scoring chances against per 60 minutes, 8.47. Last year on this time, it was 12.7. There's really no other way to describe it as just completely dominant defensively by the penguins.

They're just putting up a clinic right now. I know a lot of it, some of it does have to do. Goaltending, Trishinjari, has been the best goaltender in the league for the past few weeks. As I sample size, it gets bigger and bigger. Obviously, there's going to be a little bit of aggression, I mean regression. because you're not going to play that to a 940 level of the whole season that never happens. But right now, he's playing as the best go-tender in hockey, numbers-wise, stats-wise, whatever you want on, eye-test-wise. And that's certainly made – that's certainly helped.

But, you know, we can't really say that the Penguins are bad defensively anymore because they are putting on a clinic at how to be good defensively. And a lot of that, I think goes to Mike Sullivan and how they're just buying into the system. I don't think enough is being made as he could potentially win the Jack Adams Award. Usually, you know, the Jack Adams World winner goes to a coach who, you know, gets a 12th place team to wins a Stanley Cup. You know, Craig Barubi, you know, Garagalon, you know, no one expected Vegas to make the playoffs in their first year.

And, you know, they all go all the way to the final. And, you know, usually the Jack Adams World winner, something happens like that. And, of course, you get really good goaltending with it. But I do think Sullivan has a really good case. to be the Jack Adams World winning this year. I think Rick Tocke also as well. But I think, like I said, I think more people need to pay attention to that.

And just to see how well the Penguins are buying into Mike Sullivan system, I have said many times. He is a top five head coach in this league. I would love for anyone to try to name me five coaches who are better than Mike Sullivan because I really don't think you could do, especially with his resume, and how he's done in the playoffs. Just how good this team is right now, despite so many injuries. And then, of course, we have the Kings game.

really a back and forth affair. Penguins started out that game really just grossly. That first period was a period to forget, but the Penguins, they ended up tying it. Brian Rust continues his hot pace. He is now his 12 goals on the season. He's on pace to shatter his point record right now. He's in his goal record, too.

He's just, I don't know where this team would be without him. And obviously, of course, Jake Gensel, he's absolutely outstanding as well. But I don't really know where this team would really be with how Brian rest this season. He's really coming into his own. He's a more complete player. And when he's out of the lineup due to an injury and he's been injured a lot throughout his career, you just notice it because it's not just when he's scoring. You know, he's getting to loose pox. He's causing a disruption. He's fast on the ice. He's doing everything. His playmaking ability. Just so much, it's just so much that he brings that when he's not scoring that the penguins just

can't replace. And man, for that contract, that value, it's only looking better and better. He's been a hell of a player. I still can't believe that we were talking about potentially trading this player at the beginning of the season. What a run that he is on. He also had this shootout game winner. Penguins ended up having, you know, they're outshot badly in that game. I don't really think they played that well, but you know what? You know, they've outplayed plenty of teams this season, and they've not gone anything out of it.

So the Penguins were able to steal this game. They did end up going up 4-2 on a Jack Johnson goal, and we'll get to Jack Johnson in a minute. There's been a lot of headlines about Jack Johnson. over the last few days. We'll talk about that coming up in the next segment. But I thought, you know, the Penguins did, they let off the gas after that. The Kings came back and scored two quick goals.

I don't know why, how the Penguins allowed the Kings score four goals against them, considering the Kings are not good scoring-wise, but the Penguins were able to win the game in a shootout 5 to 4. You know, poor Jonathan quick. I don't really know what's happened to him. I mean, going back a long time, like just five, six years ago, you know,

Jonathan Wick, he's always been a pretty good goaltender, but also, he's also been a little overrated. Like, that's been Jonathan Quick. You know, there's always been some comparisons I saw, oh, you know, he's the Mark Andre Fleury of the West. And, you know, some of the numbers did support that, you know, his

same percentage was never that high, I don't think, but, you know, I mean, though, the biggest reason why they won the Cup in 2012 was because of him, because he was just a menace in that playoff run. He caught fire, and he didn't let up, so. But he's just, he's completely falled off the rails. these past couple seasons.

I don't think he's been first and save percentage on the Kings the last two seasons, if I'm not mistaken. I don't, I think their backup goaltender has been the better goalie in each season. But you know what? The Kings only have, I think three more years left on that Jonathan Quick contract. Whenever I think of Jonathan Quick as well, I think of that tweet that the L.A. Kings put out that, it's like that's 10 more years of our goaltender being better than yours. Well, you know, he's just been bad for a while now.

But the Kings are going nowhere. They also released Ilya Kovalchuk today. He's not only UFA. He can sign anywhere. But yeah, but now the Penguins, they're 19 and 10 and 4, like I said, a big three-game trip coming up to Western Canada. We'll get to more of that coming up in the next segment as well as Jack Johnson. But, yeah, just really good couple games to the Penguins short-handed again

because of Gennie Malkin missed both those games. But it looks like the team is starting to get healthier a little bit. There's a little more good injury news coming, which is really good as well. So, what should we start here? So the Penguins this week, they have a road trip. Obviously, the Western Canada trip. I'm going to be the first to say. I love this Western Canada trip.

I think it's the best road trip. I think it's my personal, my favorite road trip to watch. You stay up, what games? I know the games don't come on until 9, 10 o'clock. But, you know, just staying up watching your team at 11, 11.30, there's no better feeling. You know, I'm a night owl myself. So it's not a problem. I know some of you guys are a little older that may be listening to this podcast.

so you guys can't stay up that late, which is, you know, it's understandable. But if you guys can, you know, maybe, you know, drink some coffee, you know, go to bed, a little later, you know, maybe sleep in a little bit if you don't have work the next day or, you know, if you don't have school, whatever. But you know what, even if you do, you know, who cares. You know, these games are a lot of fun. The flames are playing better hockey of late. They've climbed their way back into a playoff spot.

They also, you also have Edmonton at the end of the week with Connor McDavid. You always have to stay out for that game. I know that game is at 9 o'clock as well. And then, of course, they end it in Vancouver this Saturday. I think that is a 10 o'clock game before the Penguins will fly back for the holiday break and then have almost a full week off before playing Nashville in a home-and-home. But tonight they play the Calgary Flames, like I said, they've climbed their way back into the playoff picture. I know they obviously they fired Bill Peters just recently with his comments.

Not a good look for him, not a good look for the league. But it was good at the flames. They did their investigation. and they came into the conclusion that, you know, well, we can't have that put up coach behind the bench. But, you know, the players, you know, they're almost like the Western team that I would root for, kind of if I didn't have, if I didn't root for the penguins, they have a lot of players I really like. You know, we talked about that before. Johnny Goodro, Sean Monaghan, Mark Giordano, T.J. Brody. Obviously, he came back after that health scare earlier this year.

Looks like he's doing good. You know, it's just, you know, they have a lot of fun players to watch, you know. Matthew Kachuk. I always live for Drew Doughty getting so butt hurt whenever Matthew Kachuk pisses him off. That's really funny. But he's so fun to watch. I think they still have Michael Fro League.

Yeah, they're such a fun team to watch. And, you know, Mikhail Bathland, and I love watching them. And I don't know why. I keep repeating myself after that, but you know what? They have a lot of really good star talent. I think this team is going to make the playoffs again.

They have the roster, too. They have the star talent. Their only question is goaltending, since I think, I think Riddick is their starter now. I think he unseated Cam Talbot who's there. So, yeah, I mean, you know, this will be a really fun game to watch. Sheldon Smith, I know you're going to be at the game tonight. I'll shout you out after this podcast. Have fun at the game, buddy.

I know you like both the penguins and the flames, though I know you also favor the penguins over the flames. So I hope you have fun. Maybe I'll try to get out there at some point to watch the game at the Saddle Dome. at some point that would be a lot of fun but you know what shout out to you Sheldon

I hope you have a fun time at the game tonight I love you but yeah so otherwise I think let's just talk about this Jack Johnson's stuff

for a minute so in case you guys weren't aware there's been some talk recently and you know the media has painted this story about Jack Johnson is you know

a little bit of redemption for him and you know there's been a couple days in a row where there's just been a story on you know I don't care if it's the Pittsburgh Tribute and review.

I don't really care if it's the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. There was just a headline that I am a reporter tweeted out. I think it was Mike. Blanking on the name right now. Yeah, Mike Defabo, basically, you know, he put out his headline, and I quote, you know, every time the penguins give up a goal, blame Jack Johnson. They lost Jack Johnson. Truck boat down, dog ran away, and wife left me.

It's Jack Johnson. But asking the locker room, and you'll find he's a team leader and mentor, young players. You know, I don't think there's any problem in saying that John Johnson has been okay this year. You know, he's not been a shining turd that he was last season. You know, last season was a complete dumpster fire for him. He sucks.

You know, he sucks. You know, he still kind of sucks. He's not good. Though, I mean, I guess he's playing better. It's not a high bar to clear. I mean, Adam Gretz also looked a little bit into the numbers that he's been better defensively. You know, we know his game offensively sucks. We all know at some point we want to move this contract.

I would still want to move it right now. I still think he sucks. I still think they could use an upgrade. But he's also been better. But the thing with me with these articles writing about, you know, this Jack Johnson redemption story and this, oh, wow, he's playing so good. It's, you know, the media needs to, you know, some of you guys need to take a chill pill. And, you know, it's not personal if people bash Jack Johnson. No one is owning, dissing his family or anything.

We just don't think he plays a. very good style hockey. He's just not a good hockey player. He brings, he drags down players on the ice, possession wise, goal scoring, you know, giving up chances against and four. You know, of course, he, you know, whenever he's on the ice, he gives up more chances against than usually

four. I mean, especially last season, but, you know, I think the writers need to accept that. You know, this isn't just, like, this isn't just, it's not personal. That, like, that's the thing I can really, I really, really need to hem down for these people that are writing about him.

And you can't like just attack people for, you know, having a different opinion about, you know, oh, well, Jack Johnson's not very good, you know. I get it. Like some people, you know, you cover the team. You know, that's, you know, covering a team is something that I personally would love to do. You know, after I graduate college, I now have one semester left. That would be awesome. But, you know, I just, I wouldn't want to, like, call people a troll or anything in a comment section if, you know, if someone disagrees with a story or, you know, disagrees with the notion that Jack Johnson sucks. You know, we can have a conversation about Jack Johnson that doesn't involve, oh, well, you know, I interviewed him. And, you know, it's, it's like, personal to me. And, you know, I have, I have access and all that. You know, that's just, you know, that's just my personal opinion on it. You know, I just, I mean, I guess he's been okay. But, I mean, I mean, is it really worth, you know, like just, you know, a grunk spike in the end zone writing a story about it? I mean, hey, I mean, you know, if you want to, you can. You know, I'm not, you know, I have a lot of.

you know, some of the reporters that cover the penguins. I'm really good friends with, you know, Josh Yoey, Jesse Marshall, they both do outstanding work. I'm really good friends with them. But, I mean, just a couple, you know, articles overall from, I mean, not just not them, obviously, but, you know, just a couple other people. It's like, you know, we get it, you know.

I know you guys know that we hate on Jack Johnson Law, but like I said, it's not because that, you know, we hate him as a person. You know, I'm sure he's a hell of a great person. I'm sure in the locker room, a great dude. I'm sure he's nice. I'm sure he's a great teammate. But you know what? You know, when we talk about his actual hockey skill, we want to evaluate how he's doing objective. We want to use data. We don't want to use any, like, what's the word I'm looking for here that I'm

blanking on? You know, we don't want to use any, um, sorry, I found it. You know, using you just intangibles, you know, to defend him and whatever you want to do. You know, just use you, just be objective about it. Now, that's all I can say at this point. point, just really, you know, it gets me going. But, you know, I mean, it's just, you know, I mean, there's also a really good tweak this morning that I saw. I mean, you know, I mean, he's just, he's not going to be worth this contract down the line. They're going to have to move him.

And, but, you know, I'm glad, you know what? And, you know, we're glad that he's actually playing better this year. You know, I don't root for a player to actively suck. I don't think anyone in the Penguins fan base would want that to happen. You know, I was wanting to be proved wrong about Jack Johnson. Hell, I've been dragged on Twitter recently by one of my best friends, Jeff, who, you know, points out that I was wrong about Brandon Tanef. Hey, I was.

I'll admit to it. I thought the Brandon Tenev signing was bad. I thought it was for too long. I thought he wasn't going to bring much. You know what? He's definitely proved me wrong. He draws more penalties than anyone on the team. He is fast.

He's tenacious. He does everything that the penguins want him to do. And, you know, I'll eat my crow on that. You know, I wanted to eat crow on Jack Johnson. But, you know, he's been bad. He's been bad for most of his penguin's career, and hey, you know, just because he's at a good six weeks. You know, doesn't absolve him from just sucking the previous season, almost season and a half now. So, I mean, just want to get that off my chest.

I know that was a little bit, a lot to say. I'm about Jack Johnson. But, you know, I just wanted to clear the air on what I've been seeing, you know, what I've been reading, you know, just what some writers are writing about him and all that good stuff. So today also we had some more good injury news for the penguin's. it looks like. It looks like if Gany Malkin is going to be coming back tonight due to flu like symptoms. Apparently, Brian Rust also has the flu. But he's a game-time decision. So both them are game-dine decisions.

I would expect, I think, both to play. I know Edgeny Malkin is going to play. He's missed the last two with an illness. I saw someone on Twitter the other day talking about, you know, no, guys, it's going to be a case of Vertico for Malkin. I'm watching me be out for about a month or two. And I'm like, you know what? You guys are just miserable with humans.

Like, please stop. But also, folks, we are getting close. to the end of Sydney Crosby's timeline. It was announced today that Crosby's been skating for about a week straight now, and we are now into almost week six of this timeline. I was listening to Penn Altman of the Athletic this morning. Rob Rossi and Sean Gentile, they do really great work on that podcast, talk about the Penguins, and I was made aware that it is, apparently this Thursday,

it will be week six of Sydney Crosby's comeback from this sports hernia. So I think it's going to be coming sooner or later. when would I expect him back? It's definitely not going to be on this road trip, apparently on the podcast I was listening to this morning. Rossi said that Sullivan said that Crossby will not be coming on this road trip. So it's going to be after the holiday break that he comes back.

So potentially maybe one of the games in Nashville, I would expect him to practice at some point before that. I don't really know their practice schedule. I wish I did so we could see when he would practice. If not, maybe one of those two games, potentially the December 30th game against the Ottawa Senators, I will be at that game, actually. Apparently, my girlfriend is surprising me with tickets to the game in Pittsburgh for New Year's,

so that will be fun to go to. You know, I get to see my second Penguins game of the season, and hopefully that's the game that Sidney Crosby gets to come back for. But some more, some reinforcements are coming back, guys. It's awesome that they are. You know, the Penguins have really needed it. They really just, you know, they've banked points throughout this stretch, which they've needed to do. You know, they're on, they're on a really, guys, they're on a hell of a run right now.

Five out of six. six out of seven, something like that. You know, whatever it is. I know they have that conquer against Montreal, but, you know, when you're playing this good a hockey without, you know, your number one and number two centers and, you know, your number two centers coming back very soon.

That's really, really good, guys. I think hopefully Nick Bukestead comes back soon, but, you know, he could be used as trade bait. And Patrick Hornquist. I still don't, we don't know what the status is on him. I think he has a knee brace, apparently. Apparently some of the media said he had a knee brace on. But, yeah, look.

Looks like, folks, that Sidney Crosby will be coming back sometime after this three-game road trip. Maybe the home-and-home against Nashville. Maybe the home game against Audible before the 2020. But if not those three games, then I think definitely the next game back. And the next five to six games, folks, I think we're going to be seeing the return of Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby, which, of course, will just be awesome because they've missed him for far too long. It's been a long time since Sidney Crosby has missed this much time with an injury. You probably have to go back to his king.

concussion days, actually, to where I think he missed this much time, or broken jaw. I think it's one of the two. I think actually, I think it's his broken, this is his longest since probably his broken jaw. Yeah, it's a broken jaw because he suffered that after he suffered his concussions. So I think that may do it for this episode of Walkdown Penguins. I hope you guys really enjoy listening to this one. I think we're going to have an episode coming tomorrow. Sometimes after I work, I start my job back tomorrow at this place I work at. We'll really be. recap the game against the flames. You know, I hope you all, like I said,

drink some coffee tonight, stay up and watch these three games. This Western Canada road trip is so much fun. You know, I know it's not as late as the California road trip. Some of those games start at 10.30, which I know just struggle for people to watch. But, you know, one of these, the latest game comes on a Saturday night at 10 o'clock. Everyone usually stays up late on Saturday. Anyways, the game will be over around 12.30.

Tonight's game will be over around 11.30 p.m. Eastern time. If you guys have worked tomorrow, you know, it's whatever. But, yeah, try to catch some of these games if you guys can't. So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locktown Penguins, and we will talk to you guys soon.