Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Make it 6 in a row for your Pittsburgh Penguins!

Episode Date: December 18, 2021

Make it SIX for your Pittsburgh Penguins! Hunter is back to end all Penguins fans' weeks with a BANG after the team continued its winning streak. He first goes into Evan Rodrigues and what else is there to say at this point? He's been dynamite all season and ripped another laser on the power play for Pittsburgh to take the early lead. Hunter then pats himself for getting his Brock McGinn take right. How does he compare to Brandon Tanev from last year? Why is the contract much better overall as well? He then walks the listeners back through the Carter OT winner and special play that reminded him of before again praising the penalty kill yet again. All that, plus a small preview against the New Jersey Devils, on this episode of Locked On Penguins.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 “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.StatHeroStatHero is the first of its kind Daily Fantasy Sports platform where it’s YOU vs. the HOUSE in head to head fantasy matchups - winner take all. Sign up for FREE - RIGHT NOW - at StatHero.com/HOCKEY and use promo code HOCKEY for a One Hundred Percent Deposit Match.Omaha SteaksThe holidays are around the corner and finding the perfect gift is tricky. Omaha Steaks makes it easy to send friends and family an unforgettable gift guaranteed to be loved. Go to Omaha Steaks dot com and enter “NHL” into the search bar to order The Perfect Gift Package. 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.

You're 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 episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. Under Sport Penguins, the holidays are right around the quarter and finding the perfect gift. It can be tricky. Omaha Steaks makes it easy to send friends and family on first.

forgettable gift guarantee to be loved. You can go to Omaha stakes.com and enter NHL and do the search bar to order the perfect gift package. So I apologize for the video not being up. My laptop is not agreeing with me right now for those that are viewing this through YouTube, but you still get to hear my wonderful, wonderful voice. This will not be a problem moving forward.

Basically what happened is I've been having problems with the battery for this thing. My webcam for my PC will be here very soon. I'm going to be fully transitioning to doing all the audio and video editing and just recording the podcast, honestly, on the PC as soon as possible. But right now, just for today, we are going to have an audio-only episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. But, you know, your Penguins get about three to two win over the Buffalo Sabres tonight. That is now six in a row, 11 and 2 and 1 in their last 14. Before we get into it, I have to confess, I apologize for not realizing that Buffalo was going to be starting.

Malcolm Suban tonight. That is a ridiculous error that I'm usually pretty good about that kind of stuff. I take pride in knowing a lot around the league. But the fact that I basically forgot that they traded for Malcolm Suban just a couple of weeks ago just goes to show that sometimes I screw up. I apologize. That's not good enough for me. And it's not good enough for people that listen to this podcast. I thought for sure Torgsky was going tonight. I just, I totally forgot that Suban was on the active roster. I apologize, it's not going to happen. Again, I want to get that out of the list. way because I don't want my credibility to be shot here or or anything like that. But I unfortunately did not get to watch basically any of the game tonight. I was actually watching Spider-Man No Way Home at the movie theater with my lovely girlfriend

who is turning 24 on Saturday. Can you believe that? But going through the highlights of the game, looking at the underlying numbers, this looks to be a game, my biggest takeaway right now, that Pittsburgh flat out dominated. The shots were 48 to 21. If we go to only 5 to 5 play, Pittsburgh had 64% of the shot attempts for, they had 67.4% of scoring chances for,

led in high danger 10 to 5, expected goals for percentage, 2.29 to 1.48 for Buffalo. And then if you go to all situations, Pittsburgh had 67% of the shot attempts. They had 72% of the scoring chances. They had 74% of the high danger chances for, and the expected goals for were of 4.4.7.

compared to 1.78 for the Sabres. So this was basically a game. It looks like, and it sounds like from a few people that tweeted me, I asked to see how it was going, that Malcolm Suban tried to steal. And, you know, if he, I don't expect anything less, especially with what happened last time with Dustin Doakarsky. Of course, a goalie like Malcolm Suban,

who is basically just a glorified backup in this league. You know, it's not surprising that he's going to be the one to stand on his head against Pittsburgh in a game that, you know, it looks like, again, that they fully dominated. I don't really know what else to say about Evan Rodriguez at this point. I'm really running out of, again, I'm just running out of positive things to say about him. What a shot that was that I watched on the highlights back. Just a beautiful riff.

Suban had no chance on it. And again, you know, he's not just one of the Penguins MVPs this year. He's one of the best players in hockey. And I think people need to start recognizing that he is playing at that level. He's never been at this level before. Elliot Friedman and Jeff Merrick were talking about it on the 32 Thoughts podcast day that I was listening to while I was working, my full-time gig.

And, you know, they nailed it. You know, this was a player who was basically an outcast with the Buffalo Sabres just a few short months ago. And what, not even a few short months ago, excuse me, a few short years ago. I don't know why I said a few short months ago. And look where he is now. He's making basically league minimum money.

and he's producing this kind of season. And it's not just, you know, well, he's playing with Cindy Crosby. I mean, obviously, Sid is going to elevate players that play with him, but he's legitimately been good no matter who he's played with this year. And, you know, right now it's kind of like feeling like the Jared McCann treatment on that top power play where I don't know if you can take Rodriguez off that unit when everyone gets healthy with the level that he is playing at right now. I know, Evgeny Malkin is expected to come back here soon.

Jake Ansel and Brian Rush are probably a little more ways away than Gino. But, excuse me, I still think once they all return, you might have to find a place for Rodriguez on that top power play. I mean, everything is just, it seems better when he is on that unit. He's such a shot first player. And the Penguins need more players like that on the top power play. Just because, you know, some of the other stars and, you know, they're stars for a reason. but some of the other players, they try to get too key with some passes.

But Rodriguez, he's not that kind of player. He's just going to fire it on net, create scoring chances that way, and voila. So I think I might be starting the petition for him to stay on that unit. But what another ridiculous game from him. It looked like just by watching the highlights and everything, he was having scoring chances all game. And Malcolm Suban was just pretty ridiculous. So kudos to him.

That was a really strong performance from Erod. And, you know, the other goal score, before the overtime winner to Jeff Carter, which I'll get to coming up here in the next segment, Brock McGinn. And, you know, I'm glad that I can actually take a W with this one. I mean,

there were so many people over the offseason, you know, whether you saw it on social media, message boards, calling it on sports talk radio, wherever you saw it that we're saying, McGinn is going to be a bust. He's not going to replace Brandon Tanna as well.

Four years has way too much money. That contract is going. going to look bad. Well, I mean, it looks pretty dang good right now. Mad Chad 412 did basically a comparison on Jayfresh's stuff from McGinn and TANF. So the last few years for Brock McGinn, his wins above replacement, 83%, even straight defense this year, 87%. His PK percentage, 87%.

Penalties, 82% for drawing them, finishing ability. 82%. And you compare that to Brandon Tana of the last few years. TANF's winning in Zabweb replacement was 80%. It's even straight defense was 88. Even strength offense. Tanev is a little bit better. PK.

Brock is right there with him finishing ability. He's better than him there as well. But just for last season, if you look at that one for Tenev, 79% wins above replacement this season for Brock. 84%. I mean, it's just he's 750,000 cheaper, and I really don't understand why so many people were down on that signing. I mean, I understand losing Brandon Tannett is tough. He's a fan favorite. Rightfully so, he's hilarious. He's a lot of fun to watch. But, you know, Brock is basically a little bit of a clone of him. He already has eight goals this year. And the goal he scored tonight was just basically a tap. I mean, Subban had no chance on that. He was kind of scrambling.

again, the net is wide open. If Brock doesn't score that, it basically should be sent down to the HL or something. But he continues to play at a really high level this year. I don't really care that he makes $2.75 million for the next four years. If he keeps producing at this kind of rate, which right now, if you calculate over the course of an eight-season game season with those eight goals, he's on pace for about 20 to 21 goals overall.

And that's something that we have not said about Brandon Tanef for when TANF. was in Pittsburgh, we're saying, we're saying that already with Brock, and he hasn't even been here for, what, 30 full games yet. So he's playing at a pretty high level right now, good defensively, just a great fit on that fourth line with Teddy Bluger and Ashton Race. You know, this has definitely been a big W so far for Pittsburgh in terms of, you know, getting that ripe replacement for TANF. I remember, you know, reading from Jesse Marshall on the Athletic and, you know, a couple

other places that, you know, we're praising the signing. And, you know, if you have been listening to this podcast since the summer, you all will know that I was really high on Brock. And, you know, when he came onto the show over the summer, I full one said to him, I expected big things out of him this year. And he has proven me right time and time again. So I will chalk that up as a W for me right now. Hopefully that continues to be the same because, you know, he's just, he's been awesome this year. And he's really fun to watch. It's coming up in the next segment, we're going to get into that overtime play and just how it looked like.

a set play. At least to me, you're going to walk you all through that. It also kind of reminded me of the 2016 game two against Connor Sherry and a little bit of a way, even though it wasn't that similar. It was still a little bit similar overall. And we also have a couple other things to get to, of course, for this episode. But before we do that, this holiday season, grab the protein bar that tastes like a candy bar or even better than a candy bar, Bill Bart. Still with so much holiday goodness, rich with decadent flavor, covered in chocolate, but is amazingly low in calories. sugar, neck carbs, and fat, and it's high in protein.

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Achieve, gifting greatness with Omaha Steaks. They have incredible flavor, incredible value, and they are 100% guaranteed. Omaha Steaks.com keyword NHL. for you all there. All right, welcome back to you this to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter

at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. That OT goal tonight from Chris LaTangue, Jeff Carter, was honestly such a thing of beauty. And again, you know, it reminded me a little bit of that set play in game two of the 2016 Stanley Cup final against the senior state shorts

where Krazzi was kind of directing traffic. I know Sid wasn't doing that here, but I kind of seem like, you know, one of Carter or Latang talked to each other before that face off, because Carter full-on won it, and then the puck goes down, the sabers are very slow to react to it.

All of a sudden, Pittsburgh has a 2-1-1, and then LaTang has this gorgeous pass right through the legs. Carter is able to redirect it in. The Penguins go home with their sixth in a row. just a really awesome goal there that we haven't really seen much this season well in overtime at least for this team but you know you also don't see that kind of goal a lot in three on three overall where it looks like it was a set play but you know Carter I thought enjoyed a really good game and he's he's been stellar this year you know I've talked

about him so many times on the podcast the last few weeks anyone that's been saying that he struggled at any any time this year I think is kind of fooling themselves he's been perfectly adequate as a second line center and he's only going to continue to get better once Gino comes back here in the next couple of the weeks because then he'll be getting easier matchups he'll still have good line mates whether that's Stanton whether that's Jason Zalker who still needs to wake up a little bit

maybe Kisbury Kappan and plays a little bit with him as well I'm not really sure overall what the line will look like I would have to assume one of his line mates though will be Hinen but will a strong game from him I thought too And then, you know, Chris La Tang, I mean, what else can I say about Tanger at this point? That passed to Carter. I mean, I know I just said it about a minute ago. Absolutely disgusting.

And he continues to play better game after a game, after game. It's honestly just insane. He has eight points in these six games during this winning streak. He's had over a 2.1 average game score, which would be the fourth best among all NHL defensemen throughout this span. He's just, I don't really know what else to say about Crystal Tang at this point. I mean, I hope he's been signed. I really think the management will do it. But, I mean, this is a player that Pittsburgh needs to keep for the foreseeable future.

They do not have his replacement ready to go. It is not John Marino. It is not Brian Duhlin. It is not Marcus Pedersen. It is not. No defenseman can do what this guy does on an every game basis. I've been saying that for years well before I started doing this podcast. And he just, he continues to, despite being older, he plays like he's 22 basically every night.

So just that pass was a chef's kiss, as I like to call it. Overall, this game, it was almost setting up to be a game where Pittsburgh will lose, right? You know, especially to another inferior team where they would get goalie. You know, they got goalied once by Buffalo this year. They've gotten goalied plenty of other times against better teams. I know Batsilewski did it in a couple months ago. They got goalie by Jacob Markstrom in Pittsburgh, and Jake Allen came to Pittsburgh with Montreal,

where Pittsburgh dominated them, and the Penguins still lost. It looked like it was setting up to be that tonight after the Penguins blew that two-goal lead, but at the end, Jeff Carter was able to win it. I'm not going to blame Tristan Jari at all, I don't think, for those two goals. I mean, the first one, just a lot of traffic in front, Jari,

there's no chance he was going to get over there. And then the second one, what a pass to $2,000. who buried that one. I don't really think Jari had much of a chance on that one either. But overall, he still made some, it looks like, some pretty good saves. Even though Buffalo didn't have a lot of prime swarming chances in this one, excuse me, they were still able to get some decent ones when they did, but Jari was able to shut the door and do that well.

It looks like, you know, special teams getting that power play goal and the penalty kill continuing to not allow a power play goal. It has been since. November 15th now since the Penguins have allowed a power play goal. A full month has gone by and this team has not allowed a power play goal. Coming into this game, here's a sad off throughout you all. Coming into this game for the Penguins, the opposition on 68 power play opportunities, I know it's different now, the opposition combined five for 68.

I mean, I don't even, that number is just unbelievable. I mean, I don't know what else to say other than this PK, it is by far the best penalty kill in the league. And if you did not read Jesse Marshall's article on The Athletic today, I definitely suggest that you all do it. It was a beautiful deep dive into the BK and what's making it so successful. He explains it a lot better than I will hear in basically the next 30 seconds to a minute. But, you know, again, just from the highlights, I watch night, they're continuing to stay

aggressive and they're also being really aggressive outside of the defensive zone. You know, example, you know, that first four checker, when the opposition is starting the rush up the ice, when they have the power play, whoever that first four checker is, Brian Boyle, Brock McGinn, whoever, they're pressuring them in the offensive zone. And then in the neutral zone, when that first pass is coming, the penguins are doing an excellent job of breaking that up and sending it down the other way. excuse me, a lot of times this year you have seen teams time and time again just try to dump the puck in on the penguins. But the fact of the matter is they're also getting really good puck support along the boards,

even when they are short-handed and they are winning those puck battles and still standing it down. It is a complete team effort. Whoever is on the PK out there, Brian Dumlin, Brock McGinn, Brian Boyle, Zach Aston Reese, Chris LaTangueh, Teddy Bluger, et cetera, et cetera. And they are doing this at an elite level right now. And that continued tonight against the Sabres from the highlights that I saw at least. But overall, if you want to read that deep dive breakdown, which I basically gave you a tease of, go to the athletic if you have a subscription. Read Jesse's work.

He also touches on a whole lot more regarding the PK, including Tristan Jari's play, which, you know, he has a nine, he saved 95% of the shots while the team has been shorthanded this year, which compared to last year, 870, which is, I mean, that's just not going to cut it. That's for sure. But that would do it for this second segment of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Coming up in the next one, we're going to do a little preview for the game against the New Jersey Devils on Sunday. That team is continuing a slide right now.

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Don't wait to take advantage of all the amazing offers available for the 2021 season. Beninline is the fastest, easiest way to bet on all your favorite sports. That is Benin where the game starts. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown. Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Owners for Penguins. So next up for Pittsburgh is a home and home against New Jersey Devils. Actually, the Devils will be playing Pittsburgh on a back-to-back. They are in Detroit, excuse me, for Saturdays a game against the Red Wings before they come

home to take on the Penguins on Sunday. And then they will fly to Pittsburgh on Tuesday to take on the Penguins at the PPGP and Serena. Overall, though, New Jersey, They have lost four of their last five. I believe they've also lost, I think, I saw this stat yesterday from Hockey Watcher. I believe it's nine of their last 11 games that New Jersey has lost. And it's just they've been spiraling for the last couple of weeks. Now, they had that really strong start where it looked like they were going to surprise some people this year. But it looks to be anything but that at this point.

New Jersey only has 49.4% of the expected goals. 46.5% of the actual shot attempts-wise, 51.2% of those. So that's decent, but their goal differential. They've only scored 54 goals this year. They've given up 62. Mackenzie Blackwood has been okay.

He hasn't been, you know, that number one that I think some Devils fans expected him to be at this year. Their goals for per 60, this is a team that's really struggled to score this year. Only 2.35 goals per 605-5-2.7. goals against per 60. They score a little bit. I mean, they score basically at the same rate as the Oilers,

which I think is more embarrassing for the Oilers, because, I mean, they have two of the best players in the world. But again, it's just, it's been a really big struggle for in Jersey. They got blown out by Philadelphia on Tuesday. They got blown out by the Islanders who have been really bad this year last Saturday. They lost in Nashville that Friday. They did beat Philly on December 8th. They lost Ottawa before that.

They got put an eighth spot by the Winnipeg Jets on December 3rd. They then lost to Minnesota. They lost to San Jose before that. They've lost to Nashville again. They lost to Minnesota again. This is a team that's just been again in decline for the last two to three weeks. And it's definitely been a bit sad to see because, you know, they came to Pittsburgh earlier this year. And that was a team that was playing pretty good.

I mean, they, you know, they have a lot of really nice pieces that, you know, they're going to contend, I think, at some point here. Jack Hughes, he's awesome. Esper Braddest on the top line. Tomas Tatar's in the top six. Pavel Zaka's in the top six. You know, Sharon Govich, he's another young player who I think is going to do a really good job in the future. Kukinen, Jimmy V.C., McLeod, of course. Suggie Hamilton's on the top pairing.

Severson is still there. Ty Smith, excuse me, you talk about one of the most underrated defensemen in the league. Ty Smith is, I think, I think that. I mean, he's going to be,

I think, a star in this league here, at least in the near future, in my opinion, at least. But their last game, overall, that was what the lines looked like. It was Hughes with Brat and Zaka,

Yonsen with Mercer and Tatar, Sharon Govich with Kukinen and Studevich and then Bastian, McLeod and VC so Nico Heeshir He's been in an Abil lineup P.K. Suban was not in the lineup for the game on December 16th. Esper Bilquist was dealing with COVID.

Blackwood is, I mean, the big thing with them is they've been battling injuries with, I believe, yeah, it was Jonathan Burnay. He's still out. So I would assume that Black would will be good to go for the game against Pittsburgh. I don't know if he'll be starting against Detroit.

It might have to be the backup who at this point is John Gillies, who I barely even know who that is. I'm dead serious at this point. He was just traded there, though. I want to say that was this week. Yeah, yeah, December 15th, yeah. Traded to the Devils in exchange for future considerations. So I actually am pretty surprised that I got that right.

In terms of, you know, goals saved above expected this season, I'm going down here to try to find the devil's goalies. They are really far down in here. That just goes to show how bad the devil's goal tending has been this year. John Gillies, 0.2 goals saved above expected with St. Louis. If we go down for Bernier before he got hurt in 10 games played, minus 1.1 goals saved above expected. McKenzie Blackwood in 16 games this year, fellas.

Minus 1.5 goals saved above expected. His overall save percentage just this year, 902, 3.1, 4 goals against Diversed. So he has been anything but good this year for New Jersey. Hopefully Pittsburgh should be able to exploit that in both games against New Jersey. That said, this is still going to be, I think, a tougher game than some people anticipate for Pittsburgh. Just because the last couple of years that penguins have struggled against the Devils, even this year against them, they played well. They got goalied a little bit by Bernier, but there were times in that game where it should not have been that close.

And then last year, of course, when the Devils were not good, Pittsburgh was struggling to beat them at home. and in New Jersey. The Prudential Center is usually a place where it's kind of like a mini house of horrors for the Penguins. It's not Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum level bad, but it's still a place where the Penguins hardly have any luck. And also the Prudential Center is a flat out. It's just, I don't really think it's like a new arena. And it's in Newark. So you have that to deal with.

But overall, that will be the next Penguins game in Newark, and then they will come home to play New Jersey on Tuesday. We will have a full game recap of that game for Monday's episode. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Lockdown Penguins pod. I again apologize about the video, but that will return next week in full capacity and moving forward for YouTube. And then for just the audio people, you will continue to hear my wonderful, wonderful voice. So thank you all so much for listening and are going on YouTube to listen to this show.

And I will be back with you all on Monday.