Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Locked On Penguins 3/20- A Penguins March Madness tease!

Episode Date: March 20, 2020

In this episode of Locked On Penguins, Hunter previews a new feature coming to the show next week with a Penguins March Madness edition, plus he continues his series of some of the biggest Penguins series that shaped their future, plus answers a listener question about what he's been using the extra free time he's had for. 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, welcome to a Friday afternoon, late afternoon episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins. I apologize for the having episode yesterday. You know, I took it upon myself to basically, you know, go outdoors for a day and, you know, practice some social distancing with my girlfriend. And, yeah, stayed away from people and, you know, went to Shannon Doe National Park, which is probably one of the most gorgeous places. you could go at this time of year, especially as the leaves are ready to bloom. And, yeah, it was basically 78 degrees, you know, away from people. So perfectly fine, I would think.

But you know what, back today, I'm back in my house, you know, quarantining, you know, the same old usual stuff. You know, I kind of feel bad for my dogs at this point. You know, they're both like basically just putting their head down every time they're just they're at there just everywhere. So, yeah, I kind of feel bad for them. But in any case, you know, we still have a show to record and everything. I do have some good news for you.

I'm going to talk about this for this segment. So it took it upon myself. Well, Cam did as well. You know, starting next week, we're going to have a new cool segment for you guys. So for some episodes, we're going to be doing a March Madness-style racket for the Penguins and it involves the best playoff series of all time. Yeah, it's kind of like, it's a little bit of what I've been doing, you know, with talking about some of the biggest penguin series of all time.

you know, how they shape the penguins moving forward, of course, with the 2012 series against the Flyers, 2013 against the Bruins, you know, I think later as a segment we're going to talk about the 2013-14 series against the Rangers and how that's shaped moving forward. But, yeah, it's going to be 32 playoff series, you know, if I can come up with 32, I'm sure I can. I guess I'll give you guys some sneak peeks. One of the number one scenes is probably going to be the 90-91 Stanley Cup final. 99 series against the Devils is going to be very high up there. You know, obviously, if the Penguins lose that series,

if Yard Mir Yarga does not score that goal in Game 6 and does not win the game for the Penguins in overtime, the Penguins are most likely not here today. I don't think a lot of people realize that, just how big he was in saving the Penguins because, oh yeah, the Penguins were basically bankrupt at the time. And, yeah, they had to have new ownership come in. You know, it was just a whole on mess.

And yeah, Yarmory, I talked about that on my Yarmier episode last month, but, you know, it's time for the Penguins to bring him home and retire his jersey for everything he did for the organization. That's perhaps, besides the cups that he helped win when he was here, this was perhaps one of the biggest things that he did. So that is going to be high up there. 9091 series, of course, the Stanley Cup final. 91.92 is, of course, going to be on in the Stanley Cup final. Of course, the 09 series against Red Wings, I think that's going to be a number one. or number two seat. I haven't really decided yet.

We got the 2016 series is, you know, of course, I think 2017 against Washington. That's going to be, I think, very high up there. I don't think a lot of people realize just how awesome. That was one of the best Penguin series just in their franchise history. You know, a lot of these series are just going to be from the 90s and then on because, of course, before that, you know, they made the playoffs, but a lot of their series weren't, like, you know, big in some, like, so big in some way, though, you know, I think we may also have on the bracket, I think Michelle Breyer, you know, where you took the Penguins to the Stanley Cup semifinals back, you know, even before the year, before Mario, he was, of course, some people, you know, my age, honestly,

probably don't remember who he is. If you don't, I really much suggest you reading Stephen Nesbitt's article that he put on the athletic the other day. You know, Stephen does these outstanding. feature pieces on whatever, just whatever for Pittsburgh sports. You know, he did the awesome feature piece on John Marino. He did the awesome one on Mika Fitzpatrick. He did the awesome one on Tristan Jari. But, you know, perhaps his best work, honestly, came for this,

Michelle Brie airpiece. It was just so good. You know, I remember, like, I have this magazine, honestly, upstairs where it just, it was the 50-year anniversary. I think one of my buddies gave me this couple years back for the Penguins 50th anniversary, and it is a bunch on him and just, you know, how, you know, He was the penguin's first superstar. And I don't know, some people don't realize, you know, besides Mario Lemieux, there is not a,

the only other number retired is Breyer. And, you know, no other penguin has worn 21 since his fatal car accident. No penguin probably ever will wear the number 21 after that. But yeah, like I said, I really suggest you guys reading that, that feature piece. It's not often that I cry after those kind of journalism pieces, but the ending and just all throughout it, you know, it would just, it brought me to tears. And I'm sure if you guys read it, it might bring you guys to tears as well,

because Stephen Nesbitt just does such a, like I said, it's just such a fantastic job with the pieces for the athletic. But yeah, the 1970, you know, the quarterfinals, I think that's going to be on there, you know, it was one of the Penguins' first big playoff series victories. You know, he got into the semifinals. And then, of course, they think they lost to the,

oh, my, am I missing? They lost to the St. Louis Blues. in that next round, I think in the game six. Yeah, they went up in the third period. Breyer actually put them up. Then 50 seconds later, the Blues tied it. And then I think they went on to win the game in the third period. The Penguins just couldn't get to the Stanley Cup final that year.

But boy, you know, they were really, really close. And I just, like I said, just reading that article and just seeing all the stories, you know, that someone like, you know, Scottie Bowman said about Breyer and his family and everything, you know, I really wish we could have gotten to see more of him. But, yeah, like I said, great peace. You know, that's going to be on there. Probably some late 80s series, you know, on there, like I said, as well, a lot of the 90s. You know, even after, probably some of the 92-93 series as well, even though we all know what happens that year with the Islanders.

We're not going to talk about it because I don't think any of us need to get PTSD from that. But, you know, I'm really excited to bring you guys this. We're going to make the matchups this weekend, Cam and I, and then next week he's going to come on maybe for an episode or two. We're going to break them down. We're going to put them on the locked on penguins Twitter. L.O. underscore penguins. They're going to be on my Twitter at Hunter Hodes. And, you know, it's going to be up to you guys.

You guys are going to be the voters for this, and you guys will vote on which series you guys think is the best of all time. And, you know, we're going to go, like I said, the round of 32, the Sweet 16, the Elite 8 to the final four, and then to the championship for what you guys think is the best penguin playoff series of all time. I have perhaps I have my answer You know I'm not going to share it with you guys

Because I'm going to share it After this is all over But you know I figured this will be a really really cool thing to do In the downtime until the NHL season Is potentially called back You know we don't know for sure We did see a couple days ago Elliot Freeman did report

That an Ottawa senator has tested positive for the coronavirus Really hope that player is okay There were reports out of Russia saying it was Nikita Zytezib If that's true, I'm not really sure if it is. I'm really, really pulling for him and hoping that he is okay. We also saw Sean Payton of the NFL yesterday. He tested positive for it. I also think he was in a large gathering for whatever reason.

I don't know why, but still, with all these people coming forward, you know, with Kevin Durant too. I think Mark is smart. Also had it from the NBA. I really hope these people, you know, they're okay. They're self-quaranting in their homes. And, you know, hopefully, you know, they'll bounce back. you know, they'll be healthier than ever, you know, but, you know, I'm just, we're going to probably have more sports players test positive before this is all over hell. I'm putting that on 110%.

That we definitely will. But, yeah, so to go back, like I said, to the bracket, just like I probably said so many times, I'm really, really excited to bring this to you guys. It's going to be hard to hear me with the number 30, with the 16, the 216 seeds. I'm going to have to really, really think of that, you know, seeding these playoff series is not going to be easy. you know what that's the thrill of the job i get creative with this um me and cam are definitely going to get creative with it and you know we're going to bring you guys some uh some really really good content with it and like i said you guys going to be voting for it and then you know on some of the episodes we'll be uh talking about you know what you guys voted for you know our thoughts on it

and on if you guys were right you know our opinions on it if you were wrong maybe and we're going to go from there and it's just going to keep going for the rest of the week and perhaps into next week um if we have not grounded on i believe the votes will go um for 24 hours as a whole. So yeah, if you guys, that's that to look forward to for the next week, I'm really, really excited for it. For these last two segments, yeah, there's just, there's not too much to talk about. Like I said, we're still going to continue my biggest penguin series and how it shape the penguins moving forward. But first off, you know, I tried to get a little bit of a mailbag going. Not only people responded to it, you know, which you know is really nothing out of the

ordinary at this point. But we did have one question, you know, that did come in from a One of my, well, Clark, you know, King Clarkie, King Clarkie, he's honestly one of my favorite Penguins, Twitter people. You know, he always just, you know, he's a really good person to talk to. He's about penguins, you know, life. Hell, he even talks to you about guitars. You know, he loves Nita Strasch just as much as I do. Clark, yeah, if you are ever going to get another guitar for Nita Stras,

please do that because she just has some of the best guitars. But he asks, what are you doing with any extra free time that you found yourself having with the way things are not? now. Okay, so that's a good question. So what am I basically been doing now? So with any extra free time, honestly, I've just been going on YouTube. You know, I always, you know, I always, you know, I always, you know, I always, you know, I always, you know, start off by watching the new Star Wars Clone Wars episode. That is, that show is outstanding. If any of you guys that listen to this podcast, watch that show. Bravo, because that show is just outstanding. The seventh season, it's been really,

really good so far, though. I think this episode leads a little bit to be desired. It was a little bit slow, but I think it's also because they wanted to show what I think Assoca was doing after she left the Jedi Order. Okay, I'm getting a little bit of off track, but you know, that's always fun. You know, just

going on YouTube watching a lot of music videos, you know, I'll go from watching a video from Warren, you know, from the 80s. I've said this before a lot of times of the podcast. For those that don't know, I am a very, very big rock fan. I love 80s. Rock, I love 70s rock. I also think some

bands are overrated that people don't think are overrated, like the Rolling Stones. I think they are vastly overrated. I think Bruce Springsteen is also overrated. If you would like to call me out on that, you know, it won't be the first time that I've been called out on it by, you know, I've had a couple of my friends say, you know, I'm a complete idiot. You know, it's nothing out of the

ordinary, but, you know, I'll do that. Honestly, I'll go for a walk around my neighborhood. You know, I think I can't honestly recommend that enough. Just go outside, like once a day. Just walk around, you know. Of course, always practice social distancing.

Don't be an idiot and go to a bar or anything like that. I know I probably touch on this every episode this week. You know, like, you know, don't be like there's idiots down in Florida and all that. They make quite an embarrassment of themselves on that CBS News report that I was circling Twitter. You know, a lot of famous people were basically talking about that. But yeah, just go for a walk. You know, that. I do that too.

Like I said, I watch music videos on YouTube. I honestly I've gone back and watched a lot of old penguins highlights from YouTube. You know, there's this really, really great video of all penguin playoff goals from 2009 to 2019, the 10-year span. Go back and watch those. You know, there's some on there that I totally forgot about. There's, such as the, you know, some of the 0607, that little run that can not only be called a run since they got swept by Ottawa. But, you know, some of the goals from that year I completely forgot about, you know, some of the goals from the next year. 0708, when I was only about 10 years old, I forgot who scored some of those goals.

Those are just really, really, really, that's just really, really fun to do. And honestly, I cannot recommend this enough. Play some video games. That's honestly been my go-to ever since, you know, this pandemic has been shutting down the country and, you know, just canceling everything. Of course, my text tone was not muted. That's my apologies. but in any case yeah I mean just the video games is just so much fun

you know for those of know me obviously I love Fortnite you know I play that a lot I still think the game is good it's not what it used to be I've been playing a bit of Fall in Order a bit recently too I've been trying to see if I could beat that game

I've seen a lot of really really good reviews on it you know a lot of people like apparently like Animal Crossing that just came out I'm not really too big of a fan of that to be honest with you I just, you know, those kind of games. I know it's rated E for everyone, but, you know, those kind of games can just get lost.

You know, I know I'm probably dunking on people that like that game, but you know what? It's just, you know, not for me. You know, if it's for you, perfectly fine. But yeah, like, I just have so much more time now to play video games. I remember I was back in college. I just didn't have enough. And now with the online classes starting, basically,

and I'm probably going to have even more time to play video games during the week with my online classes, which is just going to be nuts. But yeah, it's just basically, you know, it's eat, I sleep, I play video games, I watch YouTube videos with music and sports, I go out for a walk every day. Especially, you know, and I get to play war with my dog, which is just awesome. But, you know, other than that, it's just really boring. You know, this sucks, you know, it sucks for a lot of people, you know, especially with everyone

losing their jobs, which is just really, really sad. You know, states are now going on lockdown. all of California. You know, commencements are getting canceled, which is, you know, I mean, me personally,

mine just got canceled because I'm supposed to graduate in May. You know, totally the right thing to do. I totally understand. And I know people are like, well, you know,

postponing or whatnot. You know, I don't really know if that would make a difference, but you know what, you're allowed to be upset about it. You know, I was, of course,

a bit upset about you're allowed to be upset about that kind of stuff but still understand that it's for the greater good. If you want to call me selfish for that, you know what, I really don't give a shit. I don't call that, I don't call that being selfish.

I just call that having a perfectly fine opinion on it. You know, that's just my take on that. But yeah, but anyways, Clark, yeah, that's honestly just what I've been doing. You know, I would love to know what you've been doing. You know, if you listen to this after, you know, just reading what you've been doing. I'm really curious to see what you've been doing, especially with the other, the guitars and everything. I know you've been looking online and all that, you know, maybe I can give you some song recommendations to play or just, you know, just something like that. But yeah, that was a really, really good question.

I appreciate you asking that. Maybe for the next time, more people will ask questions, though will they? Probably not, but I think that would be just, yeah, I always love doing mailbags, and I wish that more people would ask questions. But you know what? Hopefully, like I said, that can come next time. All right, so yet for this last segment of Locked-on Penguins for today's episode, we'll continue my series of some of the biggest penguin series that shaped what was going to happen for the penguins moving forward.

You know, we'll start, we'll continue this with a 2013. 14 series against the New York Rangers. Not as painful as 2012 against the Flyers, 2013 against the Bruins, but still pretty painful. You know, you had that game one where it was a really, really close game and ended in overtime. I think the Rangers was basically like almost two overtime goals before the refs called it dead.

Then the Penguins were able to tie the series up. I think it was what, Chris Kunitz had the goal in game two. And then games three and four, Mark Andre Fleury was just an absolute monster. Honestly, he was just an absolute monster in games two, three, four. Had those back-to-back shutouts in games two and games three, if I'm not mistaken, then game four. A lot up a couple goals, but still the Penguins depth scoring.

I was really, really good. It was helped also by Mark Stahl kicking in a goal past Henrik Lundquist, Mark Stahl. No Strangers to Controversy that series after a couple questionable little headshots on Sidney Crosby. Then, of course, it all went down south. You know, the 3-1 series lead. there were jokes going around at the time when something happened that we're not going to bring up on this podcast

because I'm not trying to get fired and I'm not trying to say something that would honestly get me to being fired but yeah you know it was just it was very unfortunate during that series that Marty St. Louis' mom died but I also think that that really really sparked the Rangers and coming back you know they were doing it for him They were doing it for his family, his mom, of course, that passed away.

And, of course, that was, you know, but he scored that goal right. It was right before Mother's Day, you know, which is, yeah, that's just, that's hard for anyone to go through, you know, when your mom passes away right before Mother's Day. I think it was the goal in game six, when the Penguins were up three games to two, where he scored right for his mom. You know, sports has a funny way of just having those moments happen to players like that, man, you know, it's just, it really, it really, it really, was awesome to see. You know, I remember, you know, I was, what, 16 at the time still.

You know, just, you know, even, even though it hurt that he did score that goal, you know, I'm sure I'm plenty of you guys did this too. You know, me personally, I stood up and clapped for it. You know, I know it was an elimination game. I know you're not really supposed to do that, but, you know, it was just a great moment for him. And, you know, the garden was just, wow. That was honestly back when Madison Square Garden was really, really loud. You know, I always loved to joke about Madison Square Garden is, you know, not being a not arena because, you know, a lot of the people that come to the game are still dressed in their suits because they still come from work.

And a lot of the lower bowl is just, it's not really sold out. Because I think if I'm not mistaken, a lot of what Madison Square Garden is for down in those lower bowl tickets, you know, they're sold to those companies, those corporations or whatever. And sometimes those people don't buy tickets. They don't show up. And you know what? It just makes it look like there's just not a lot of people there.

And yeah, it's just, it's always been a running joke, basically. that Madison Square Garden was never loud. But yeah, for that playoff series and especially for that moment, and that whole Rangers run for them, it definitely was loud. But then, you know, the Rangers, they were able to blitz the Penguins in game five. You know, it still had that amazing Afghani Malkin goal in game five when the Penguins were down to nothing. And I will play it for you, actually, I'm right here to relive this moment.

On the turning stick of Balkan is the Latang Pax. Balkan trying to sashay by, and he got it on the same. Yeah, that goal, I remember just, yeah, just screaming for pure joy because I thought the penguins were going to come back in that game. That was just a typical vintage Evgeny Malking goal, just splits the Rangers defense, gets a shot off, really great saved by Lundquist, and then gets the rebound, and just, man, that goal was just so beautiful. Just puts it in the back of the net. That was still at the time where the penguins still had their vintage goal song. I was from the 2009 Stanley Cup final in the 2008

where honestly I think that was my favorite one after their horn you know when they do the do do do do hey thing it's just me personally I love that I wish they kept that for longer but yeah man that of any Malcon goal

was just so beautiful in just so many ways at least we got that moment from the series like I said for a moment there I thought the penguin's going to come back but then you know when you realize that you're facing a prime Henrik Lundquist and elimination games who was just really, really, really good. You know, his numbers in elimination games, I think were like, what, over 930, 940.

They were just, they were that freaking good. And, yeah, the Rangers, they crushed them that game. They crushed them in game six. And then game of course, rolls around. Going into that game, you know, I had this thought for a while, honestly. And, you know, I was going back and forth between the day. I remember it, you know, I was like, you know what? They win.

Great. They continue the run. you know, they're potentially either one more round from going back to the Stanley Cup final, but you know what, if they lose, it's really not a big deal. And, you know, that might sound weird, but you know what? I was honestly pretty fed up with the Dan Bilesma-Rash-Hur regime at the time. I think they stuck around a year too late. They both honestly should have been gone after 2012, 2013 after the sweep against the Bruins.

At least Dan Bilesma. I mean, maybe I can see a little more of a point for Ray Scherner-Stang. but to have Dan Bilesma there is basically just... It's just a male practice. It's just, it's dumb. It was just so stupid. You know, of course the Rangers took the lead, and then the Penguins,

UC Ok, he was honestly one of my favorite penguins to watch for just a short time. He's able to tie it, and it's like, okay, it's looking good, and the Rangers, you know, Brad frickin Richards, man, you know, makes it two to one, and then the penguins had that hell of a push at the end of the third period. I still remember that play

where basically it was a shot. I think it was a backhand shot from what James Neal, I believe, redirects off a stick laying in front. Longquist makes the save with Justice Blocker. His stick is not even in his hand. I still don't know how he made us.

I think it went into his equipment or something, but yeah, the Penguins scored that goal there with less than five minutes left in the third period to tie it up. We're potentially looking at a brand new penguins at this day and age. Who knows if they win that? that game, you know, who knows what happens in 2016 and 2017.

But, you know, when you look back at it, you know, I guess, you know, it's a blessing in disguise that they didn't because the Penguins were able to win back to backups. But, yeah, that series definitely stung for a lot of people. It stung with, it stung for me a little bit. But, you know, afterwards, just with the failures of the past two years, this was probably the one where I wasn't, I was probably the least upset with because I knew that they were massive changes coming. I knew Mario Lemieux and Ron Barko and David Morehouse were not going.

to just have this be acceptable, especially with having another choke by the penguins, just like they did against flyers, just like they did against the Bruins, and now the Rangers, where they're blowing all these series leads, except the Bruins, but, you know, they didn't even win a game against them,

but just they're blowing all these series. And, you know, we all know how that's unacceptable for someone like Marya Lemieux and Ron Burkle up there as the co-owners, and they made sure to clean house, and, you know, they got Jim Rutherford, and then, you know, the rest of his history with getting Mike Sopold. and halfway at the 2015-16 season. But we'll be continuing this series next week,

and we'll have a lot more with Locked-on Penguins coming next week with the bracket. I'm really excited to work on it with Cam this weekend. We're going to have the matchups for you starting on Monday before recording. We're going to have the voting setting up before, and, you know, we're going to basically be previewing the matchups starting this Monday. I'm really, really excited to get you guys this. So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode of Locked-on Penguins. It was really great to get to do this one for you.

you guys and you know we're back here on Monday with more stuff about the bracket so yeah talk to you guys down