Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins blow yet another multi-goal lead, this time against Columbus

Episode Date: April 1, 2024

Despite a good start, the Penguins once again let another multi-goal lead slip away, this time to the Columbus Blue Jackets. Hunter and Patrick break down what went wrong against the Jackets, then talk about what went right despite the shootout loss. Finally, the boys discuss a big week for the Penguins which features three games against Metropolitan Division foes.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins let another multi-goal leads slip away over the weekend, and Pat and I are going to recap that game against the jackets, plus get you all set for Penn's Rangers right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Join by my host, Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Center for Wet, and you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. Arnerscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day.

We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper, download Sleeper app and use promo code locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit, terms and conditions apply, see Sleepers, terms of use for detail. So I really thought, heading into this wonderful April Fool's Day.

And please people do not fall for any weird April Fool's pranks on social media. We've already seen one regarding Jeff Carter from our good friend Jay Fresh this morning. Yes, that was April Fool's. Jeff Carter has not signed an extension with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But I really thought we would be talking about another wing for the Penguins based on how they were playing in the second half of that home and home against the Blue Jackets. Ricardo Raquel makes it 3 to 1 almost halfway through the third period. but then the Penguins did what they have done best this season.

And that's blow another multi-goal lead. Because this team is so mentally fragile, they give up a goal nine seconds after Raquel scores. And then just a few minutes later, Zach Wrenski ties the game. They go into overtime. No one scores and they may lose in a shootout. But this is where I want to start today's episode. Another game, Pat, and another multi-goal blown lead because this team still doesn't know how

to defend leads, even though they were doing. a pretty solid job of that for the prior two games. That's still such a small sample size compared to how many leads they have blown. It doesn't matter how big the lead has been in the third period. One goal, two goals, three goals, heck, four goals, what we just saw against Colorado a little over a week ago. This team cannot hold on to a lead. And we can say what we want about the roster management with Kyle Dubus, the coaching with Mike Sullivan, both have been major issues, I think, community when you go back to the summer and then now with Mike Sullivan coaching this team. But I think the biggest reason why this team is going to miss the playoffs is because they can't

hold a lead to save their lives. It's certainly one of many factors that has led to where this team is right now. But I also want to make sure this much is understood. Saturday's game was two not good teams playing a not good hockey game. So as much as I do want to muster up some anger at the game itself, it's really difficult. for me because it wasn't a bad hockey game, so to speak, but it was certainly two teams who are not playoff bound, two teams who have absolutely struggled all season long, one more so than the other. And it's hard to get worked up over a loss like this just because we've got nine

games remaining in this season at this point. We know who the Pittsburgh Penguins are. We know who the Columbus Blue Jackets are. And neither of them would fall under the category of good hockey team. But you're right. A lead was blown in less than two minutes. They, like you said, gave up a goal nine seconds after scoring one. And then about two minutes later, the Blue Jackets tie it. And that's a sign of a team that is mentally fragile.

That's a team that can't hold a lead. it's a team that goes away from everything that was working for them at the slightest bit of pushback. And yeah, I know that we've continued to talk about this team with the thought in mind that they're not totally eliminated from the race because mathematically they are not. But let's just walk down that road ever so slightly here. Is that a team that you can see winning a playoff series? No. And again, this isn't me saying that I think they're going to go. on some crazy run over the next

nine games to make the playoffs. But you just factor in that alone. The fact that the minute this season there has been any sort of adversity, they crumble like cheap printer paper. This is not a team that has the mentality of go, they could go into the Stanley Cup playoffs and surprise someone.

Even though we've seen them turn it on at certain times this season, it's just not a team with any consistency or mental fortitude. And that is a gigantic. problem. They don't know how to play in close games and they don't know how to play with a lead. And that's been a concerning trend all season and it hasn't been fixed. And I was fine with Alex Ndilkevich getting the start. I know last week I thought they were maybe going to go to Jari just to maybe split up these two games. But no, they went to Nadelcovich. And I think to me, in my opinion, I think it's clear that the coaching staff is not thrilled with the way Tristan Jari

is playing and they want to keep riding the hot hand. I am totally for that with the way. Ndilkevich has played. But that said, if you're going to give him more starts, I want to see him make the saves. And when the Penguins were up three to one in the third period against Columbus, we can say what we want about the defensive breakdowns. They weren't good defensively. They kind of stopped playing after they got the 3-1 lead. But I would like Nadelcovich to make at least one of those two saves. I don't think the Marchenko or the Werenski goals were that good of shots, in my opinion, especially the Wrenski one. I can maybe live with the Marchecki. Kinko one, if you can save the Werenski one, that one, the latter is the goal that I think

the Duckwich would really want back. That was from a really poor angle. He's got to play that a bit better and give his team a save where they're reeling a little bit there. For sure. I mean, the loss does not fall squarely on his shoulders. He stabilized after that two-minute stretch where they gave up the lead. He was very good in overtime and he was just as good in the shootout, but not as good as he needed to be. But you're right. The two goals that tie the game, You would like a save. You can't pin them directly on him because everybody else on the ice completely shat the bed. But at this point, you would like to see a save, especially because the coaching staff has placed their trust in him at this point over Tristan Jari, which is another issue that we're going to have an entire off season to talk about.

But you're right. You want to see a save or two there. You want to see him be the guy because clearly they think at this point he is the guy at this point in the season over Tristan Jari. So overall, I agree. But at the same time, I'm not going to pretend like they were humming along. And Alex Nadelcovic was the reason that Columbus got back into the game. They folded like a cheap suit when they needed to up their game. Oh, yeah.

It was a total team effort for why they lost that game. I'm not going to just pin it all on Adelkevision and just say, oh, he's the reason. He's got to fully make that save. The defense was fine. No, the defense was bad, and the goalie still should have had one of those two goals that he held out. It was on everyone in that third period. One more negative before I do want to get to a couple of positives before we wrap up this segment. And that is their play in overtime and the shootout.

They look so scared in overtime. They never have the puck when they do eventually. somehow get the puck. They only have it for like 10, 15, 20 seconds. Oh, they turn it back over. The other team hogs the buck for like another 45 seconds to a minute. The Penguins never came close to scoring in that overtime session. And that has been a theme for this team in overtime virtually all season. They don't know how to play three on three anymore. And after that, it gets to a shootout. This team is also allergic to Deaking. I understand Cindy Crosby had a really nice goal in the shootout. That was a perfectly play shot past Elvis Merz Likens, but everyone else

who came in just didn't know what they were doing. I mean, Raquel, I guess, tried Deak. It looked really bad. I have no offense to record Raquel there. Gino's shootout attempt was also pretty pissed for. I didn't really like Le Tang's one either. I am just waiting for someone on this team to actually make a move in a shootout. I know I'm not the biggest fan of shootouts. I know you're not either. I know there's a lot of people out there that probably listen to or watch our show. that are not big fans of shootouts either. But overall, please, someone make a move. When you saw what Damon Severson did, he's a defenseman, he made Alex Nelkevich look like a

pee-wee goalie there just with the way he brought him way out of his net and then had an easy backhand shot. I just want someone to make a move in a shootout and not just do the same thing where you're coming down and shooting a puck from 20 feet out where it's an easy save for the goaltender. But overall, the Penguins play in the extra sessions, whether it's overtime. or a shootout continues to baffle me. And I get that they don't practice it because they want to do five on five.

They want to do special teams with power play penalty kill. But maybe this team should set aside some time during some practices to at least practice this a little bit, whether it's five or 10 minutes. Yeah, they really should because they're just putrid in it. They play very timid hockey. They play not to lose. And it comes back to bite them. And as for the shootout, I mean, I can understand.

it if Mersleekins was playing deep in his net because that is what you do as a shooter. If a goalie's deep in his net, you look to pick a corner, you look to beat him five hole or something like that. But he was coming out and challenging. Not a ton. It wasn't overly aggressive. He wasn't, you know, at the hash marks or anything. But he was out.

He was challenging. He was cutting down angles. That's when you make a move. And everybody just came down and played it as if he was deep in his net. And you can blame coaching. you can blame a lack of practicing, but that's day one stuff. You learn that very early on,

especially when you're a forward in hockey, is you get told when you're learning how to shoot and how to score, if a goalie's out on top of his crease, make a move. If he's deep in his net, try to pick a corner. And you just saw guys like everybody who went out in the shootout, except for Raquel and Sid, who just sniped a shot, which he is very capable of doing,

just come down and, try to pick a corner and try to beat him low. And that's all well and good. But get him off his angle. Get him to bite on a move. Get him to bite on opening the face of your blade, making them think you're going to shoot. And nobody did any of that. They just went in and shot. And it got the result they deserved. Especially, Gino. I know I've defended him quite a bit on the show this year, while I've also been concerned about his game at times. But that shoot out of time from him was laughable. I mean, he looked like he didn't even want to go out there and shoot that puck, to be honest. And in that instance, send someone else out there before him and see what that

player can do, whether it's Eric Carlson, whether it's some other forward. But it looked like Gino didn't even want to go out there and shoot it with the attempt that he had. And again, I don't want to harp too much on the shootout just because I know it's something we don't usually see as much today as we have in previous years. But I wanted to just take the time again to go a little bit in because I'm tired of seeing them do the same things in these extra sessions. But I think that I'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to get into a couple of the positives surrounding this game, including Brian Russ getting another goal.

Cindy Crosby getting even closer to another point per game season. And then we'll get into the Penguins Rangers preview for Monday night. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor. And that is Sleeper, which is the official daily fantasy app of the locked on. NHL network. Sleeper is our number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey because with Sleeper, you can win 100 times your cash in daily fantasy hockey contest. You can do this by yourself. You can do this with your friends. Heck, you can even do this with your family and you're not even limited to just hockey on sleeper. You can do football, basketball,

baseball, and college football all on Sleeper. And the entries can be made in less than a minute. All you have to do is pick weather suds like Connor McDavid, Sydney Crosby, Nathan McKinnon, or Alex O'Betian will record goals, assists. You can throw plus minus in there. You can throw goalies in there like UC Soros, Connor Hellbuck, and do saves for them, and to win a 100 times bet on Sleeper, you need to correctly predict the outcome of eight player stats.

You heard me, Penguins fans. You can win 100 times your money playing daily fantasy hockey with Sleeper to start paying attention and nail your picks so you can start winning big. Use promo code locked on NHL and you get up to a $100 match on your first deposit.

Terms and conditions apply. that's code locked on NHL, sleeper's terms of use for details and locational availability. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joining my host, Patrick Dam. So we do got to touch on some positives out of this game because there were at least a few that I do think came out of it. And that is the continued excellence of Sydney Crosby. That is a very ho-hum thing that we love to discuss on this show.

But that pass that he had to Brian Russ for that goal late in the second period, Pat, I mean, he threaded it beautifully cross-ice. And the Blue Jackets had no chance of stopping that pass. And Russ makes no mistake, fires it in the back of the net for his 24th goal of the season. He continues his very stellar 2023-20204 campaign. And Sid is now three points away from his 19th point per game season in the NHL. No matter how this season ends,

he is still playing his tail-off these last few games. And both he and Russ have been tremendous. overall. They have. And Sidney Crosby, three points away with nine games remaining. I think we can almost pencil in that he is going to record another point per game season, barring something disastrous. And Brian Russ, despite injury, despite having kind of an up and down start to the year, he's right there. He is having another very, very good year. And he is proving that Kyle Dubus made the right decision hanging on to him at the trade deadline rather than trying to to get him to wave a no movement clause.

And early last week, he spoke with our pal Josh Yohe and basically said he wants to be part of the solution here. He credits the penguins with being a team that took a chance on him and gave him his shot. And he has done just about everything you could ask of him with that shot. So I'm very happy to see his season continue. And I'm looking forward to what he can do as a penguin over the next couple of years. Yeah, I expect Russ back 04 next season.

I think there's a chance that they could look to maybe sell high on him this off season. But if you're asking me, I would only move him if you can get a massive haul for him. I'm not just moving him for peanuts, pennies on the dollar, whatever other term you want to use for it. If you want Ryan Rust, that's for another team, you better be prepared to pay a Kingsmanston for him with the season that he's having at this point. Also, Drew O'Connor, his 13th goal of the season. That was a thing of beauty as well. He was a forechecking menace yet again. There was a play in the first period before any of the goals have been scored,

and he was forechecking one of the Blue Jackets' defensemen. He was able to win the battle, get the puck over to set up a really good scoring chance, and then that led to his goal later on in the game. But he was being a puck hound throughout this game, and I loved watching it. And you can see his confidence level is through the roof. right now. And I'll keep saying it. I said this on Twitter during the game. If you can get an upgrade at third line center heading into next season and the wingers on that third line are Drew O'Connor and Voltairee Pustin, this team will be, I think, in decent shape depending on what

else they do over the officeies. But I think another better third line center could really help O'Connor, excuse me, ascend even higher for next season. 13 goals already this year. Heck, next year we could be talking about him scoring 20 in the NHL, and then he could be commanding at least a decent raise for his next contract. But I continue to be really amazed by him throughout this season. I again compared him to Brian Rust earlier in last week. And I stand by that. He's very much a straightforward, hardworking blue collar player.

And he has a nose for the net. He has a great work ethic. He plays a very honest game. and while I don't think he has the same ceiling we've seen with Brian Rust where he can become a top line forward, I do think it's a little bit less than that. I think he can be a ceiling of a second line guy, but somebody who's constantly a steady presence on your third line

and is very effective in that role. And when injuries come up, he can fill in admirably on a second line. And again, I think it's another guy that you hold on to this offseason. and that's a guy you bring back next year because you said it. His confidence is building. And he's playing a lot more definitive hockey. He's going to places to score.

He's making confident decisions with the puck. And he's taking the opportunities he gets rather than trying to do too much. He's not trying to turn into an elite scoring winger. He's doing what makes him an effective middle six forward in doing it very well. And yeah, he only makes 925K heading into next season. Say he scores close to 20, if not 20 next year. Pat, he could be getting over $3 million on his next deal. He's going to be a UFA after next season.

There's no way I even think of moving him this off season unless, again, you get a massive haul. But again, this is the type of player that you want to build around in your lineup, someone that can get you at least 13 to 15 goals a season because his development this season has been great. and I still think he has another level to reach for his NHL career. Sticking him on the third line for most of his minutes next season, if you can get an upgrade at third line center,

that would be best case scenario. And as you said, we've seen him fill in admirably well throughout the season in the top six. You don't want him up there for 50, 60 games, but if you need him up there for, I don't know, 10 to 12 or maybe 15 games, that's not going to kill you at all either. And I know we've gone at this player quite a bit throughout this season, but Ricard Raquel had a really nice goal to make it three to one for the penguins in this game before they blew the lead.

And it was just a really nice move on his backhand. And I just wondered where that has been for most of the season. Yes, that was a brilliant feed from Afghani Malkin. We should shout him out for that play as well. But the way Raquel came into the offensive zone and was so silky with the puck on his stick, I've been waiting for him to make that type of move for most of the season. And I know it's basically too late for the Penguins at this point to go on any sort of run overall. But still, where has this been overall for this player this year?

I mean, one, before I get into this, I don't want to pretend like the plan needs to change with him. Like if you have an opportunity to move him this summer, you absolutely should. Don't fall in love with a small sample size. But I keep coming back to he's had a very challenging year between injuries and getting moved up and down the lineup in confidence is a very real thing in pro sports. We have seen it in all sports all the time. When guys have challenging seasons, it weighs on their confidence. In hockey, guys start trying to do too much.

They squeeze the stick a little too tight. They try to make plays that normally they can't make because they're caught in a rut. And you just get caught in this endless cycle of your struggling, you're trying to do too much, your struggles continue. You keep trying to do too much. The struggles continue. And that's kind of been Ricard Raquel's season this year. He just has not had a chance to stabilize and go on any kind of sustained successful run.

So I do still think if you have an opportunity to move him this summer, you should. Don't fall in love with a small sample size. But I also acknowledge that if he comes back next year, there's a better chance for him to have a more effective season, just because that's the type of player he historically has been. And should he remain healthy, he'll probably look a lot more like he did last season and two years ago than he did this year. That would be my hope, right? Because he scored 28 goals last season.

And I expected a big year from him this year. And it's why I've been so surprised to see him struggle like this. But I do agree with you. If you have an opportunity to get out of that contract, just because I don't think it's going to age that well for the rest of it. it, I think you need to do it, whether you're still eating a little bit of that contract for the rest of the time, but still getting most of that cap space will be big for the penguins this summer. Even though the cap is expected to go up, they're going to have a lot more cap space than they're

used to having. You can still add to that and maybe move out a player or two that can give you more cap flexibility for signings and trades. And I do think they're probably to do more trades than signings this summer because the free agent market overall is not that good. We'll dive into that later on this offseason. We still have three more months before free agency comes at this point. But if they do decide to bring him back, I feel you're going to have to staple him next to Crosby for the most part for next season, just because that's where he usually plays his best hockey. I know I've said on the show

that he hasn't fully deserved playing with Crosby the season just because he's had a miserable 2023, 2024 campaign. But for next season, it'll be a fresh start for him if he's back with the team. And with that, I would give him an opportunity to play with Crosby just because historically, when you compare the numbers between him and Malkin, he's played better next to Crosby. His entire game just opens up, to be honest. Absolutely. Yeah. So I think that'll do it, though, for this game against the jackets and the second segment for this episode. Coming up to end the show, Pat and I'm going to preview Monday Night's game from Madison Square Garden for the Penguins and the Rangers. And then we'll also look ahead to some of the other metropolitan

matchups that the Penguins will have to dive into for this week. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Fandul. The sports calendar is loaded and Fandals make it even more exciting to get in on the action because right now new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200 you can use to bet on the NCAA tournament, Major League Baseball, NBA, NHL, and so much more. Visit Fandul.com slash locked on and make your first bet a big win. That's Fandall, America's number one sports book. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Dam.

So Penguins Rangers tonight from Madison Square Garden. No, it is not the Garden in Boston. It is the Garden in New York City. And the Penguins will try to avoid a season sleep by the Rangers as the Rangers have beaten them twice already this season, and they'll have a chance to go three-no against the Penguins in this game. We've said the same thing about. the Rangers for two prior previews. This is one of the best teams in the National Hockey League,

50 and 20 and 4, 104 points. They've already clinched a spot in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Right now, if the playoffs were to start today, they would have the number one seed in the Eastern Conference and the number one seed in the entire NHL. They would have the President's trophy if the season were to end today. That is how good this Rangers team has been. They've gotten the full bump from Peter LaVuette that he usually gives teams in his first year. that goes down a little bit in year two, year three. But when he arrives to a team, that first year is usually the best year that that team has under him before things usually go a little bit south.

But this team is loaded top to bottom, especially in their top six. Artaan Panarin is putting together a great heart trophy caliber season, 44 goals, 107 points this season. Vince Trocheck has been good, 25 goals, 75 points, and 74 games. I know we've gotten a lot of questions about Vince Trochecox-Oge and the Penguins have signed him over again he Monk, and what about this, what about that? I'll say this about Vince Trochec. I think Trochuk is having one hell of the season, 75 points and 74 games is no accident,

but I also know that he's riding shotgun next to Artemian and his 107 points. If he is not next to Artemian and he's next to another center, I don't think he has 75 points and 74 games. Again, I think Trochuk is a great player, and I'm glad he's playing well, but I also have to be a bit realistic and know that he would not be playing this well if he was next to a different center on this Rangers team. Chris Kreider, you know what you're going to get from him, 35 goals, Penguin Killer.

Adam Fox is playing like one of the best defensive in the league. Mika Zabenejad is always good, especially on the power play. Alexei Lofrinier, I've been dead wrong about him, 25 goals, 52 points this year. I thought he was a total bust heading into the season. I'm definitely eating at least a little bit of pro on that because he's been legit good for the Rangers this year. And then they're both their goalies, whether it's quick or Shasturkin, both have been outstanding for this Rangers team.

This is going to be a very tough game for the Penguins to win. It doesn't matter if it's special teams or five on five. The Penguins are going to have to defend really well, especially off the rush if they want to win this game. The Rangers can really hurt you in transition. And you do not want to do what you did last game against the Rangers where you try turning it into a track meet against them because we all saw how that went.

So that is where I hand this over to you. How do the Penguins get a big upset win? over the Rangers on Monday night. Well, before I get into that, I do have to correct you. Panarin is a winger. You kept kind of hinting that he was a center. So I will like, but overall, I agree with you. There is no Panarin in Pittsburgh.

So whether you go with Malkin or Trocheck, he would not have had the same kind of winger that would lead him to this kind of season. Doesn't mean he's bad. Doesn't mean he wouldn't have done well, but he would not have done this good. But I thought I called Binaran a winger. I apologize on that. I'm having to sometimes.

I have a case of the Mondays on this show. But overall, I mean, this is a Stanley Cup contender in the New York Rangers. You brought up all of the stuff that I had written down. They are on a five-game winning streak. They're eight and two in their last 10. They've beaten some of the best teams in hockey in the lead up to this with Boston, Florida, Colorado. They are on a heater. And they're going into the Stanley Cup playoffs, red.

red hot and this is the time of year you want to be playing this type of hockey overall though i mean we've seen it in the two matchups so far this year the penguins actually do match up fairly well with them the biggest thing is they have to be more responsible in the defensive zone because you look at their st patrick's day loss to the rangers and the penguins took it to them the penguins were playing very well they just did not defend well in front of of the net and because the rangers are as talented as they are, they don't miss from that area. So if you're the penguins, again, whether it's Shisterkin, whether it's quick, I said this before the last game, you got to get in their kitchen because as good as they are, they get flustered.

You stand in front of them, they get flustered. You make a little bit of a poke at them after a whistle, they get flustered. This is what the penguins have been able to do to Rangers goaltenders for the last few years. And when you have a guy like Michael Bunting on your roster now, he's great at that. And he has to be a catalyst tonight to help the penguins win. Oh, I agree. I didn't mean to cut you off there. I want him to be a total rat on the ice, whether it's quick, whether it's to Sturkin,

and get in their kitchen and make that goalie's life a living hell overall. And another thing, I know this sounds so cliche to say, I just want to see the Penguins play a really good road game overall. Their last nine road games, Pat, 0 and 7 and 2. They have not won on the road in quite some time. And according to Bob Grove, who is the great stats person when it comes to the Penguins, the last time they have lost nine in a row on the road, January to February in 2006, Sydney Crosby's rookie seat. It's been that long. So I want to see a bona fide, true, great road game from the penguins in this one.

Start off the game playing really well, sound in your own zone. Don't give the Rangers anything in transition or off the rush. If you can do that, limit those chances and then also limit the amount of time that the Rangers spend four checking in their own end, I do think the Penguins can potentially win this game. You're right to bring up those two games against the Rangers where the Penguins are. had stretches where they were taking it to them. The first game, they had some chances, but Jonathan Quick was really good.

But that second one especially, Penguins came out right away. John Ludwig scores the opening goal won nothing. But it was after that where the Penguins really struggled defensively. But they didn't quit overall. They still played their tails off throughout that game. I want to see that one in this game as well. Don't quit when you're going up against one of the best teams in the league. And I do think, I don't want to say I'm going.

calling it, but usually Crosby plays really well against the Rangers. I do think you're going to see a big game from him overall tonight. He loves playing at Madison Square Garden. He plays his tail off against the Rangers basically every time. I do think he's going to have quite a big game for the Penguins overall. And outside of five on five, you got to slow down that Rangers power play, man. It's one of the top 10 best units in the league for a reason. It was one of the biggest reasons why the Penguins lost on St. Patrick's Day. was because the penguins kept taking too many penalties. And when you give the Rangers that many opportunities on the power play,

they're going to make you pay almost every time. Even though the penguins have one of the best penalty kills in the league, you cannot try to go blow for blow with the Rangers power play. Because with the amount of talent that they can put out there, box, Sabinajad, Panarin, Trocheck, Kreider, etc., etc., they will make you pay. The penguins need to do a very diligent job and stay out of the box. For sure.

I mean, you just got to play a full 60 minutes tonight. Again, I know cliche. I know that is not exactly in-depth, deep analysis, but we have seen how much this team has been unable to put together a 60-minute effort. So tonight has to be that. It has to be drop of the puck to the final buzzer, whether that's after 60, whether that's after 65, whatever it is. You have to come out and you've got to play every single shift in every single period.

because even though this team is in a race to win the president's trophy and secure home ice throughout the entirety of the Stanley Cup playoffs, they're probably looking forward to that right now. They're probably not too worried about the Pittsburgh Penguins because it's, despite it being in Metro Division matchup, they don't really pose any kind of threat. So you have to take advantage of that. I agree. And this is the first half of a back-to-back for the Penguins. They will go to Newark on Tuesday to play the Devils.

We'll have to see which goalie starts. these two games. As of the recording right now, it is 11.30 a.m. Eastern time on Monday. The Penguins have not announced which goalie is starting this game against the Rangers. We'll have to see if it's the Ndilkevich. If it is, Jari will go on Tuesday. But if it's Jari in this one, that means Nadelcovich will go on Tuesday against the Devils. And then the Penguins will also play the Washington Capitals this week and try to play spoiler for them as the Capitals are fully in a fight to make the playoffs at this point. So, Pat, a couple of very big Metro matchups for the Penguins this week,

those that haven't seen the Metro too much this season, well, you're going to get your fair share of it this week and the Penguins playing some of their top rivals. So this week, going to be a lot of fun if you like rivalries. Yeah. Big week and it would be nice to get some divisional wins. I know again, I don't see this team climbing up the standings and making the playoffs. They're well out of it at this point. But you want to get some wins against teams, you know very well. You got to break this streak against the devil. and then you got to continue to best Alex Ovechkin and friends in the Washington Capitals just because that's how it's always been.

So overall, I just want to see some divisional wins. I want to see some heart. And again, I keep saying it. I want to see guys playing for their job next year. Yeah, I think that's the best way to say. I still want to see some fight in this team. We've been saying it for the last couple of weeks. Don't go quietly into the night.

I mean, Crosby has definitely not. Malkin has not. Ross has especially not Drew O'Connor, but I want to see some more fight from some of these other players. I still am waiting for a big game, for example, from Eric Carlson. I want to see him get back to the level that we saw him play at earlier this season. I want to see Chris LaTang and his season on the right note as well. The last few weeks, he has been dreadful for this scene.

We have to call it how it is on this show. That's what I've been doing ever since I started hosting the show. That's I know what you've been doing ever since I brought you. you on. Chris LaTang has been awful for the past few weeks, and I want to see him get back to the level that I saw him play at for the first half to almost two-thirds of the regular season, because for the last three to four weeks, this has been some of the worst hockey I've ever seen him play, and some of the effort that he's had in the defensive zone and the offensive zone has been really pissed poor. Heck, I didn't even bring up the short-handed goal that the Blue Jacket

scored in this game on Saturday. It was a direct result by Chris, Teng, full-on, messing up on a pass on the power play. That can't happen. And he needs to be better down the stretch here. So I want to see what he can do these last nine games as well. Yeah, I didn't get a chance to bring it up in the recap of the Columbus game. But he has been, I don't want to say very bad, but he has been nowhere near good for the last couple of weeks. Maybe all of March.

He was not playing to the level we've come to expect him to. But overall, he has to step up these last nine games. he has to revert to form and show that he's going to be ready to go for next year. 100%. And I'll say the same about Eric Carlson a little bit. I do think his play has dipped the last few weeks, and I want to see him, again, take over maybe a couple of games and improve his play heading in the next year as well.

But I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another show freewall on Tuesday to recap this game against the Rangers and then get you all. set for Penn's Devils from Newark That Night for Patrick Damp. I'm Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll talk with you all on Tuesday.