Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins 1/22- The break is here, plus Gritty is cancelled

Episode Date: January 22, 2020

In this episode of Locked On Penguins, Cam Easton joins the show once again to talk about the latest loss for the Penguins against the Flyers, plus relive some of the rivalries best moments. They also talk about how Gritty is in big, big, trouble perhaps going forward. 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 Wednesday afternoon edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow the show on Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. The Penguins obviously had a bit of a setback last night with their three nothing lost to the Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins were shut out for just the second time this season in 50 games. The Penguins are not very often shut out throughout the Sydney Crosby of Guinea-Malkin era. but they were last night.

And before we talk about that, he's back. He's back again. Cameron Easton is back to join us for this episode of Locked on Penguins. I think this marks his fourth time being on the podcast. Cam, sir, how are you today? I'm doing great. I love doing this and love talking penguin hockey with you.

So, uh, rough night last night. But, you know, we'll talk about that and some other things. Yeah. Yeah, I'm really excited. It was definitely a very rough night for the penguins. That was probably if I had to put one of the worst games, it's probably in the top three along with the Buffalo game. The Columbus game on Black Friday and probably this game.

The Penguins just looked like they partied the night before, that they were on break, and then they realized they were like, oh shit, we actually have a game the next day. We're not fully on break yet. And then they put out whatever the hell that was. It was not an inspiring effort. You could tell they were gassed.

They played 11 games in 19 nights. They were traveling a bunch. And Mike Sullivan was not pleased after that game. The comments that he had were pretty harsh, so to speak. But I don't really think a lot of the players looked good outside of Tristan Jari. John Marino probably made his second mistake of the season, which led to a goal against. You know, you can criticize him for just maybe that mistake. But, yeah, I thought the power play was absolute garbage.

It just looked hopeless out there. I don't know what was going on. And you know things are bad when Mike Sullivan is strutting out Sidney Crosby and of Gennie Malkin on the same line for even straight minutes. And that's something that he almost never does. Yeah, quoting Sullivan, he said, you can't play that way in this league and expect the win. And, yeah, that was a summary of last night.

You know, last night was one of the games I was able to watch these past, you know, a couple weeks. And that was a bad game to watch. It was a rough one. You know, defensively, offensively. It was just all around poor game. They were definitely ready for the break. They all-star break, you could tell. And you just hope they rebound, regroup, you know,

and just get ready to endure this last part of the season. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Sullivan just had, like you said, he had his monster quote that the Penguins, official Twitter account tweeted out that he basically said, yeah, I would hope that the players are as disappointed as I am in how he played. I just know we're a way better team

than we're capable of much more the level of expectation. The standard is a lot higher. We all have to take ownership going into the break. And, you know, I think he likes to pick and choose the moments where he calls out the team. I mean, and that game was definitely one of them. I mean, he hasn't really had to do that basically all season. But I'm glad that he did.

It's kind of a wake-up call saying, hey, you know, let's not play like that. much more often because I know they've played mostly really good games, but they really do need this week and a half off. You could tell going into this, they've almost had nothing left, considering that the way they're playing under Sullivan. And, yeah, the Penguins just didn't do anything at even strangle. Early on in that first period, I could kind of tell that they weren't really going to win this game

because they just weren't generating anything offensively, and the Flyers just weren't giving them anything. The Penguins kept trying to do, I think, the same thing, and just come at them and the flyers were just sitting back and saying like, no, that's not going to happen. And the game really didn't seem like Penguins Flyers at all. I mean, I know we had the Jacob Voracek incident with Chad Ruehito, and that was, I think, a dirty hit. I hate those little knee-on-kits that players over the league, like, just like to throw out there sometimes. That should at least be a five-minute major, if not maybe kicked out of the game.

I just, I hate those so much. But it doesn't really matter in the end. because the penguins just absolutely got manhitted. But you know what? Cam will have another crack at these guys next Friday. When they come out of their All-Star break and the bi-week, they'll be home. And there'll be reinforcements, it looks like, coming back. So, you know, not really too worried.

They're still second place in the Metro. They play the Capitals after that. The underlying numbers are really, really good. And, you know, oh, the horror of having one bad game. It's not the end of the world. Yeah. And I know there's some fans out there that are hitting the panic button, especially with the whole Murray and Jari debate that happened this past Sunday. You know, it's just don't panic.

Time to regroup. This is, you know, this is a nice little break just to catch up. You got Doomlin and Schultz, you know, healing up. So, and, you know, possibly a trade, you never know. It's definitely a time just to look forward and just buckle up. Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's just, I know the Murray-Jari thing happened. And I had my thoughts on that on Monday's episode,

where I just said, you know, that it was just basically embarrassing with what happened, but you know what? We don't need to really overreact about it. Some people make it into a bigger story than it is. Some of the Pittsburgh media has been a bit more annoying with it. They have this kind of revenant-ish history with regards to it with Mark Andre Fleury. But I'm not really going to get back into that because that's just going to make me mad again. But I think coming out of the break, you'll probably see Matt Murray start against the Flyers.

And that didn't take away from Tristan Jarrett being bad or anything. I thought he actually had a really good game against the Flyers. They're the two goals that got past him without excluding the empty netter. I thought it were really good goals. The Vorchek won and then the Van Reeves-Dike goal. were just really good shots. Charon really can do much about a couple. One of them was off a turnover.

But, you know, with these 32 games left, I just wouldn't be surprised if Sali just keeps going back 1A, 1B. 1A, 1B. I don't think a star is particularly going to have to emerge. But I think coming out of the break, though, you're probably going to see Murray go against Philly. And who knows, if he plays well that game at home, that Washington game on Super Bowl Sunday is,

That's the start of four massive games against the capitals. Yeah, the schedule definitely heats up in terms of the type of competition they're playing. But yeah, going back to Marie and Jari, you know, Jari had a no-K game yesterday. And besides those, you know, that not great start by the Penguins, that was a team collective. a bad game, bad beginning of the game against Boston. But nobody talked about how solid Murray was after that first period. I mean, he definitely just regrouped himself and he definitely kept him in there. And, you know, that's definitely a great morale boost for Murray.

And he knows that teams behind him, despite what some fans have been saying. And, you know, I think he's going to use that to his advantage. And I think we're going to see some great hockey from Matt Murray these next couple months. Yeah, he had, he won them the game, I thought, outside of Crosby and Malkins' heroics against Boston. The second and third period, especially in the third period, when the penguins were just getting blitzed by the Bruins. I think they were out of attempted 63 to 35 at even strength or something like that, which is putridly bad. Matt Murray was standing strong in the net. He was coming out.

He was playing like his big self. And, you know, when he's playing like that, he's playing like the number one goal that we know he can be. And I'm really excited about the team overall going in the All-Star break. The Islanders are reeling a little bit. I know they got the win against the Rangers, but still, that's an Islander's team that's only 13 and 12 and 3. They're barely above 500 in their last 28 games, so their level of play has dropped off a bit. But, you know, the Metropolitan Division, of course, there's probably going to be five playoff teams that come out of it.

It's going to be very tight down the stretch. But I'm just really looking forward to it. And coming out of the break, though, we'll probably talk more about the, after this break. We'll talk more about the favorite Penguins Flyers moments because, you know, of course, like I said, they play them right out of the break, and they just, of course, lost to them. So I was really looking forward to that,

hearing what Cam's favorite Penn's Flyers moment was, and as well as mine. All right, so I did this on Twitter came the other day. I think I had people quote tweet, you know, what was your favorite Penn Spires moments as I scroll back here and just make sure. A lot of people's words, of course, you know, Max Talbot, you know, shushing the crowd in Game 6 of 2009.

That was Medina's at least. Another one was, of course, the line brawl, which is one of my top two favorite ones. I remember exactly where I was. I think I was actually down in Virginia Beach for that game watching it on the TV. And I think I yelled some bad words at the TV that all my family heard and they yelled at me afterwards because that was just annoying. Darren says probably the entirety of the 09 series,

Marty Barron looked like he was shell-shocked the whole series, which, you know, that's probably true. Also, the Eamomino, he hit by Chris Kunitz on. him was just one of the biggest hits I've probably ever seen in my life. Chris Coon, it's absolutely decapitated him, but I think my personal favorite one was when Jake Ensel made the Flyers. He's basically, he just killed them in Game 6. They got four goals against them that game to eliminate them.

And, yeah, he made the Flyers his personal biotch for the day, which I found was just awesome. So, what were some of your favorite moments? Well, obviously the Max Talbot, shushing the Philadelphia crowd is very iconic. That will forever live down in Penguins history. But a personal one for me, I went to the 2012 Flyers Penguin series, not one of the most famous series between the two. But I went there and that, you know, I always hated the Flyers, but I never like had a hatred for the Flyers. And so we were, me and my dad went and we were in the upper deck. And the Flyers ended up winning that game 8 to 5.

And I had, there was a couple Flyers fans behind me and one of them spilled beer on me. And that was probably on purpose. But, you know, that was not one of my greatest memories of the Flyers. But, I mean, the stadium series game was awesome too in Heinz Field. But yeah, I mean, that is such an iconic rivalry in the sport. And, I mean, you can compare it to other sports with rivalries. And it's one of the top-tier rivalries in sports, in my opinion, just based off of, you know, the Pennsylvania, East West,

entrant towards one another. It just never dies. Yeah, yeah, I wish it was kind of the same as it used to be. It just hasn't really been the same for about, I think, three to four years now. there's just, there's not a lot of, like, I guess I'd say bad blood between the teams. Obviously, someone like Wayne Simmons is off the flyers who always pissed a lot of Penguins fans off. I'm trying to think of other players that were on. I mean, you've still got Cheroo and Voracek on there, but I've noticed over these past couple years,

it's more, I mean, the game's evolving. Yeah. It's becoming more skilled league, and you're not seeing that enforcer type of, player out there Ryan Reeves, but I'm not going to go down that road. But, you know, it's, it's,

we're coming, I mean, look at the, the capitals and penguins. I mean, it's, it's, I mean, there's, I mean, there's, I mean, there's, I mean, there's Tom Wilson, and God, I hate Tom Wilson, but, um, that's, that's a skill, you know, it's, it's goal after goal back and forth,

you know, and that's what you see in, right over. in today. But yeah, you're right. You don't really see that with the Flyers and Penguins as a blake. Yeah, it hasn't been the same. And, you know, it's fine. You know, some of the, some, I just, that 2012 series was probably one of the most. He did, but also one of the more embarrassing moments of Penguins Flyers for just a lot of reasons with all the penalties and all the, the dirty hits, especially by old pal James Neal, because he was just running around headhunting all game on Caturion.

and it was just embarrassing. When I went to that game, it was game two, and Talbot and Yager were on the flyers. And that place, every time they touched the puck, it was raining booze. And when they both scored in that game, it was just, it was an ugly game. It started off strong for the Penguins.

They were up 3-1, and Prosby scored 15 seconds in. Yep. But, yeah, I mean, that was not one of the, the fondest memories for playoff series. That whole series was just completely awful. That whole season. I mean, there were so many, so much.

They had all the talent in the world to win the cup that year. They were so deep on every line. Their defense was, I thought, fine. But, you know, it only took one playoff meltdown for Mark Andre Fleury to rail it. But you know what? We don't want to really, we're going to leave that in the 2010s because that's where it belongs now. It's a new decade.

And, yeah, that series sucked. I remember driving home for game six and just hearing the penguins lost. Five to one, it was game six. And it was just bad. But, yeah, overall, it's just, it's not the same anymore. You know, there's Penguins Capitals, which is awesome. Hell, Penguins Bruins is really, really good now. What a conference final, I think.

That would be, obviously, I saw a lot of tweets about that after the game on Sunday. He's honestly, after all three games, the Penguins and Bruins played. And yeah, it would obviously be a lot of fun. I think that rivalry is probably better than Penguins Fires at this point because I think the Bruins can, they actually have pissed the penguins off this season. They can get under their skin a little bit and they can get them off their game a little bit.

But Pittsburgh can also play with them really good, which I really like. So, I mean, I think those two rivalries just outdo Penguins Fires. Yeah, I mean, they got players like Brad Mark. and then the Capitol's got Tom Wilson and you don't really have that player on the Flyers and you don't really have that player on the Penguins but the Penguins make up for that with scoring and their intensity and their speed and that's and that's what makes the penguins you know the Penguins game so enjoyable to watch yeah and when that when it's like that clash it's it's fun hockey exactly yeah and you know before we get to on the

next segment we're actually talk about Gritty because some fan thought it would be cool to basically press charge. It sounds like almost just press charges against Grady for assaulting his little 12-year-old son, which we'll get to after the break. But before that, I just wanted to shout this out. You know, if you've been a listener of this podcast, I'm sure you all have heard about the great advertisers working with Lockdown to reach sports fans. But you may not know that Lockdown Penguins is a great way for your local business to reach passionate penguins fans,

just like you. Unlike any other podcast, Lockdown gives your local company the unique ability to reach a local podcast. listeners, not just any podcast listener, a locked-on podcast listener. If your company wants to connect with Penguins fans and all their audience that is well-educated with disposable income, then let's put your company right here on this locked-on podcast. Local fans love to support local businesses. Text the word advertising to 33777 or visit lockdownpodcast.com slash advertising and let us know who you are and we'll get our team to help your team achieve locked-on advertising success.

All right, so, Cam, I'm sure you saw the story that has been out making the Twitter rounds today. Apparently, a flyer season ticket holder, since we're just going to keep talking about the flyers, since it's always happened last night. Is this, let's talk flyers? Yeah, I guess it's locked on flyers today. But, you know what, I like to make fun of Gritty because I think the mascot is awful, and I hope everyone that saw my take about that, if you disagree, you know, whatever. But a flyer season ticket holder has claimed that Gritty has punched his son in the back, and the Comcast, Comcast, which owns the team, says there's no video of the incident, but now Philadelphia Police says an investigation is active and ongoing.

So I was able to read a little bit of this story, and it just, it gets, it gets, it's just amazing how funny this story is. Did you get to read it? I have not, but that gives me shades of, you remember Steely McBeam? Do you remember Steely McBeam when the Steelers reintroduced him and, I believe 2008 or 2009, but they tried, yeah, and they tried to reintroduce him, and he got arrested. The mascot got arrested, and they pulled the, you know, they got rid of him, you know. They've been trying to implement him a couple times here these past couple years, but you don't see Steeley McBean around the Steelers as much.

But, yeah, that's not good news to hear about Gritty. That's definitely not one of the prettiest mascots. He's a rip-off of the Philadelphia fanatic. That's what he is. Well, not many of these. There's probably no listener right now that knows who I'm talking about, but you do, Hunter. That's the Norfolk Tides, the local baseball team right here in Virginia.

Rip Tide, if any of you guys are listening, look up Rip Tide, the mask up from the Norfolk Tides. He is literally a blue bath mat. And that reminds me of great. He's just an orange bath mat, an old orange bath mat. Yeah. This story is just... One of the ugliest mascots, and that's not good news to hear.

But hey, that's Philadelphia for it. Yeah, that's Philadelphia. Apparently, he's dumping his season tickets after 22 years. He was quoted as saying, I know it was not correct for my son to harmlessly tap him on the head, but for a Flyers employee to get sick to throw a full punch of someone with his back turned and hurt a 13-year-old boy is assault, unprofessional, and unacceptable for your organization.

You know, I can only help but not think, you know, if this kid, whoever this kid is, he walks into school, be like, and all the kids are like, hey, did your dad file a complaint or, like, an assault charges on Gritty? Like, I just don't know how you, like, walk into school the next day. And you'll be seen as the Gritty kid for, for years. Yeah. The kid that ended Gritty's career. If it happens. This is like, this is every, it's like, we all strive to write for when we end. You know, journalism school.

That's the kind of story that I strive to write for because it's so funny. And it just under my, you know, it just keeps the train going that Gritty sucks. I hate us. I hate that mascot. It's just, it looks like a rip off of where, of the movie of where the wild things are. Yeah. It's almost just they tried to make another Philly thematic. The Philipsonatic is actually good.

I got to give it to him. I saw it on Twitter. I believe it was last night. And he was hit, he was banging the trash can. They had the Houston Nassette. That's right. logo on it. I liked that.

That's good. That's good. You know, the other lost to the World Series champion Washington Nationals, and they cheated. So that's also awesome. Yeah, but one more thing. Cam, I saw Elliot Freeman's 31 thoughts came out today. And at the top, he basically talked about, you know, some teams waiting on their

upcoming performances to decide their path. And at the bottom, he said, you know, Pittsburgh continues the pursuit of Jason Zucker, but the wild aren't yet ready to concede anything yet on their season. What that sounds like, though, with me is that they're really talking about it, but I think the wild just aren't yet ready to pull the trigger because they still think that there's maybe an outside shot of getting in. So maybe give this a couple more weeks, and we could potentially see Jason Zucker in a penguin uniform for the next three years

since that's how much longer he has on his contract. Yeah, I do think he's going to be a penguin. I think right now I've always thought this person, but I think Bill Garen's kind of just holding it, you know, because, you know, his ties with Pittsburgh, and that probably, you know, if he were to not get a good deal for Zucker, it would probably not look good on him. But, so I think there's going to be a high price on Zucker,

and obviously Jim Rutherford doesn't want to do that. Yeah. So I, they're working on it probably, and I wouldn't doubt seeing him, you know, see him as a penguin here in the next couple weeks. Absolutely, yeah. We are all on Jason Zucker Watch. The deadline is now less than five weeks away.

Jim Rutherford probably for this week and a half is going to be spending time, probably working the phones maybe a little bit, seeing what's out there since his team obviously is not playing until all the way to next Friday while the players will be on vacation. But, yeah, I think Gregoran is probably just waiting to make sure that the Wild don't put themselves into playoff contention, but, you know, they're probably not going to do, considering how really not so good that the Wild have been this year. Yeah, roughly.

Rough couple, past couple games for them as well. You know, if they continue that track, it's, yeah. I mean, that trade's more than likely going to happen. But, yeah. Yeah. I look forward to this All-Star break, you know. I'm not a big All-Star guy, but I'm going to watch it this year since Jari and we'll hang her in. Yeah, I always like to watch the skills competition.

That's way more fun than the All-Star game in itself. It's just they I don't know. They probably need to add a few more things to make it more fun. I could probably spend an episode talking about that for about 30 minutes, but maybe I'll do that another time. Maybe later this week, maybe I'll consider writing some stuff down to potentially do that.

But, Cam, you have any other closing thoughts as we end this episode? No. I mean, rough little in there before the break, but nothing to worry about. I think this team is more than capable of, Putting on a run here and making a run for the cup here. Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think we could be looking at a very, very deep run for the Penguins as they close out these final 30 games starting next Friday.

But always, you know, keep up here on Locked-on Penguins. We'll have another episode coming tomorrow and then on Friday. So, yeah, I'll talk to you guys soon. All right, take care.