Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins dominate the rival Flyers with a 7-3 drubbing heading into the break!

Episode Date: December 24, 2024

The Penguins head into the holiday break on a winning note after dominating the rival Philadelphia Flyers with a 7-3 smackdown at PPG Paints Arena! Patrick and Hunter talk about how the Penguins were able to beat up the Flyers through a mixture of good forechecking, consistent pressure, and some help from poor goaltending. Then, they discuss the historic milestone achieved by Sidney Crosby and how, even at age 37, he continues to play at an elite level and climb up the record books. FInally, it may be Tuesday but with Christmas on Wednesday, they celebrate Warrior Helmet Wednesday a day early and hand out their MVP of the week! Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM 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.

Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and while the Flyers stockings were hung with care, it wasn't coal that they found in there. It was another four points scored by Sidney Crosby, and it almost wasn't even fair. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me. across all social medias at synonym 4. Wet, joined as always, as we're both on the road,

by my co-host Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow at LO underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you, even during the holiday season, making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcasts as well as YouTube. Plus, if you're following us on YouTube, hit that notification button so you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. And before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. You can start the season big with a big return on Fandul. New customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $250 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet.

Visit Fandul.com to get started. Hunter. Let's jump right into what was an absolute whooping. on Monday night at PPG Paints Arena. It didn't start that way. It was a back and forth game, so to speak. The Penguins jumped out to a 4-1 lead. The Flyers pushed back in the second period, cut it to one, but then a big goal from Michael Bunting restores a two-goal lead.

And then the Penguins pretty much put this one to bed in the third period against the Flyers, a 7-3 victory over the longtime rivals. and a lot to get into with this one, but we might as well start where it all begins with the captain, number 87, Sidney Crosby, another huge performance against Philadelphia, and he appears to be all the way back with another four-point performance,

and he ties Mario Lemieux for the most assists in the franchise's history at 1,033. Really, there's not a whole lot left to say about how great this man is, Hunter. It's crazy because like when a player like that verse comes into league, you know, you're thinking like, man, be kind of cool, right, if he lives up to all the hype, breaks all of Mario's records. So you're kind of dreaming about that, right?

Well, Sid is more than lived up to the hype with everything he's accomplished. And now, like, the day is here where he's finally tied one of Mario's records like this, a record that I feel like a lot of fans never thought would ever be touched again. And honestly, Penn, I think we're going to be saying, the same thing about Sidna. Now he's going to break this record, probably as soon as this weekend against the Islanders, considering how poorly they're playing right now,

they just got blown out by the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday. Imagine losing to the Buffalo Sabres in 2024. That's rough. 13 game losing streak that they had. And hey, I think Jesse and I may have uncursed them considering that we talked about the Sabres gravy boat for the Monday episode of the show. But again, man, like the days here

where he finally tied one of Mario's big records like that. And, you know, again, we're going to be talking about this for a long time because I don't think that record is going to be touched again for a long time, if not ever, considering the type of player that Crosby has been. And, you know, we're going to be saying that as well once he gets to his all-time point record. He's only six away from tying Joe Sackick right now for the ninth most points of all time. Who's right after that, Pat? Maryle Mew, 1,723 points as a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins. is going to get that record by the time he retires. He's also only 88 goals away from tying Mario for the most goals ever scored in the franchise's history. We hope he can get that record as well,

but it's just fantastic to see what he can do on a nightly basis. He has been kicking ass and taking names these last few weeks. 39 points now in 36 games, well over point for game as he tries to continue to make history with that streak. And he came into this game against the Flyers with a 129 points against them during his career. He now was at 133 for his career. He loves playing these guys. It doesn't matter if he's 24, if he's 30, now 37. It won't even matter if he's 40.

He loves playing against these guys. He doesn't like them. It's never going to change. And he put on a show in that first period. Some of those passes that he was making, and especially his work down low before that pass to Tomasino was from. and this, he's on another level right now. He really is.

I also want to kind of build off of what you said there about his work down low. If there was one thing I noticed during the game last night that the Penguins did extremely well, and Sullivan made a point to point it out after the game, was that they were the aggressors for most of this game. When you dive into the analytics and everything of this game, they didn't control a lot of the shot attempts. They didn't control a lot of the high danger chances. but if you go back and watch the film, they were all over the flyers for 60 minutes.

They were heavy on the forecheck. They were giving them absolutely nothing in the neutral zone. And there was not a lot of sustained pressure by the flyers in the Penguins end. It was one of those games where the eye test and the analytics don't match up, because you could pretty much tell on this night that for the majority of it, the penguins were the better team. But when you look under the hood and see the possession numbers, the shot attempt numbers, it kind of tells a different story.

So this is where you know, you got to, this is where you tell us nerds to watch the game because the film tells a much better story. But yeah, I think overall last night, this was the kind of game that we have been wanting to see from the penguins, especially against a team that's in and around them in the standings like the Flyers are, a team that they're chasing now or that is chasing them for a wild card spot at this point. So for them to go out and play that definitive of a game is a really, really encouraging sign. Yeah, they blew them out in that first period that you saw just how bad the Flyers goaltending has been this year. I mean, Pat, all three of their goalies

well before 900. You know, Jesse even said during the show 30 second in league in five on five state percentage this year. Don't think last night really changed. anything considering how poorly Sam Erson played. And then Glosov comes in after the bunting goal. I understand why Toritz pulled him, just because you want to be only down one heading into the third period. You just played a really good 20 minutes. I thought the Penguins really slacked off in that second period, just not good enough.

They didn't get back to their forecheck in the second period. They were defending fine, I felt like, but they just weren't skating like they were in the first period. No, Tristanjari definitely would want that third goal back. That was a really bad goal to give. about you cannot give the flyers momentum like that in the second period that contriago cannot go in but to give him a little bit of credit he bounced back in the third made a couple of really nice saves even though i felt like that that third period was very boring but i mean that in the nicest

way possible the penguins did a really nice job i think the better word that you're looking for there for the third period for the penguins was methodical yeah they very much shut the door and took over this game and put the Flyers in a sleeper hold. So sorry to interrupt you, but I think methodical was probably the best way to describe their play in the final 20. No, yeah, I would agree. I only said boring, but in a nice way, just because that's what it was.

Like they were blocking a lot of shots. They were clogging up the neutral zone. There was a lot of one and duns from the Flyers in the offensive zone. The Penguins were doing a really nice job defending that lead. I mean, again, you go to natural statrick and for that game. The Flyers only had 0.57 expected goals. in that third period. Penguins again did a very solid job defending that league, which, hey, you haven't been able to say that much this season,

considering how many multi-goal blown leads they've had. But in that third period, it was really nice. And you get the empty net goal from who else, Cindy Crosby to cap off his 4.9. And yeah, I really like that effort. I just want to see, you know, more of a full 60, I think. Just let's not take a full period off after you jump on a team, go up 4-1. keep blitzing them in the second period, you know, go up five, we'll go up six one. I understand a team can potentially push back. I get it.

I just don't want you to, I guess, what, fully no show a full period, I guess. So that's my, I had a small complaint. That is one. But you get the two points, especially in regulation. You move two points more ahead of the flyers. You look at the standings right now. This conference reeks, by the way. This is a very bad conference right now.

Penguins heading into the break, only one point behind. the Ottawa Senators for the final spot for the playoffs. But behind them, they have now a three-point cushion, you know, on the flyers, the Blue Jackets, you know, the Rangers lost again. And they have an opportunity to make that cushion even bigger, especially if they were able to sweep this home and home against the Islanders and take all four points, not give them any loser points. It's a huge opportunity in front of them right now,

especially with the way they have played over the last month or so. It's been very encouraging from them. they've essentially resurrected themselves from the dead because if we think about where this team was one month ago yesterday, it was coming off that absolute drubbing by the Utah Hockey Club. And we were ready to just bury this team and eulogize them and say, hey, let's get a high draft pick and sell everything off that we can because they looked dead in the water. And here we are one month later. And we're talking about them starting to create cushion between them and other teams.

to get into the Stanley Cup playoffs. But we're going to keep talking about that when we come back because we are at the holiday break and we've only got a handful of games left in 2024. So we're going to take a look at where this team is and where it could go as we get ready for 2025. But before we do that, we've got to tell you about our first sponsor. And that is prize picks.

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So download the app today and use code locked on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. That's right. $50 instantly prize picks run. your game. All right, welcome back to the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. So we just got done talking about what a great effort this was all around by the Penguins.

Obviously, we'd have liked a little bit better of a 60 minutes, but you come through with a seven to three victory. It's kind of difficult to complain at the end of the day. But they're now officially on holiday break. The rest of the NHL is they will not be. The Penguins will not be back in action until Saturday night when they head to Long Island to take on the Islanders in the first half of a home at home. They've got the Islanders on Long Island on 28th. Then they're back here at PPG on the 29th.

And then they end the year on New Year's Eve in Detroit against the Red Wings. And these are all teams that the penguins have points up on. And they're pretty much right now just one point out of the second wild card spot. They're a handful of points out of third in their division. So these next three games, once they return from break, are absolutely massive for them. Because if they can get ideally three of three or they can get two of three and get four to five points out of those three games, we're going into 2025 talking about how this team can grab and hold on to a playoff spot.

Yeah, ideally you want to win all three of these games. I mean, the Red Wings right now, they're 13 and 17 and 4. They're not even in the race right now compared to last year, Pat. They were literally in the race, I mean, all the way until the final. And they were mere inches away from getting that final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. You fast forward to this year. And it's been a struggle for them.

They can't defend. Their goaltending has been a bit suspect. That's a game that you really want to win. That's the third and final meeting against the Red Wings this year. The Penguins have taken three out of four points against them already. You want to win that game. And then as for the Islanders, those are such two big division games because right now, the Islanders, they have a game in hand on the Penguins,

but the Penguins are still four points clear them. If you're able to sweep that home and home and not give them any points, you will be eight points up on the Islanders heading into that final game of 2024 against the Red Wings. That's going to be a very big hole for the Islanders to climb out of to try and catch you eight points this late in the season. We're basically already at close to the halfway point. That's going to be a tough deficit to overcome. So you really want to beat the Islanders in both of those games.

The Islanders, if you combine their overtime losses with their regular losses, they are 13 and 22 this year. This has been a very bad Islanders team. They really don't do anything particularly well. They can't defend. They give up a lot of shots. they don't have a lot of dynamic offense. I mean, Barzell's back, but he hasn't really looked the same. The only thing I guess they have going for them is Ilya Sorokin playing at a high level this year,

and sometimes he hasn't even looked like that. I mean, for the most part, he's been playing at a high level. But otherwise, the Islanders really don't have much going for them this year. Yes, they have been the Penguins Kryptonite for a long, long time, but this is still a couple of matchups that you really want to see them back a couple of points. They're below them in the standings. These are the matchups. you really need to take advantage of in bank points,

heading into the new year where the schedule starts to get a little bit tougher. You have the Panthers coming up in January. You also have the California road trip coming up during that month as well. So the schedule is going to toughen up a little bit again. But these are the games you really want to, again, just to bank points. But going back to last night's game, I really want to shout out a few more players. You know, Michael Bunting gets another goal. He has been fantastic.

And I mean, truly, Michael Bunting, almost a double-digit goals for this. season. These last few weeks, he has been lethal, man. He gets that big, big goal at the end of the second period. I mean, that really put the game away, if we're being honest, you know, great pass from McGinie Malkin to spring bunting for that slap shot for about, it felt like 20, 25 feet out. Really nice job by him. You also had Philip Tomasino also gets a really nice goal. Finally, nice to see him get back on the score sheet, even though he had been quiet for a little bit. So nice job there. And then bunting, of course, gets the power play goal, almost forgotten my notes here for a second in the first period,

really nice passing there for the Penguins after a really nice zone entry. The power play was cooking last night. I felt like Eric Carlson had another really good game. So just wanted to shout out a lot of more players outside of Cindy Crosby for this effort. And of course, Pat, Ricardo McKell, Brian Russ. What else can we say at this point? Those two are just trading haymakers with each other. No, I'm going to lead the team in goals.

No, I'm going to lead the team in goals. But the fact that they're both playing at such a high level is, such a luxury for the penguins this year, especially Raquel, the bounce fact that he's already had, he's already equaled the amount of goals that he had last year. It's crazy. Yeah, the thing for me, and considering we're on holiday break, the penguins are rolling. I don't want to be too much of a grinch here, but it is, there is a little light flashing in my head right now about they got to start getting a little bit more depth production because the top lines absolutely cooking and we're not going to complain about the top line.

He's more than exceeded his goal total from last year. It's actually one now, 16 goals this year, only had 15 last year. Just wanted to make sure I clear that up for everyone. It's crazy. But you're right. Like that top line is is cooking right now and it is carrying them very heavily through these last couple of weeks. So you have to eventually get some more production from the rest of the lineup because

they are eventually going to cool off. That's the ebbs and flow of a season. Let's, we're not going to say that all of a sudden they stink now, but when, when they get to that bust period of boom and bust, we can't pretend like we didn't see this coming. But to get back a little bit to what we were talking about, about what's coming up here. Obviously, these next three games against the Islanders and Red Wings, huge opportunity, teams that you're better than, but then once 2025 begins, this is where we're going to find. out what this team is made of. They play in this order to start the year.

The Panthers, the Hurricanes, the Blue Jackets, the Oilers, the Senators who they are in a dead heat with and often struggle against, then Tampa Bay, then Seattle, and then Buffalo and Washington. So they're going from a very soft schedule to a schedule that is going to test them. we are going to find out, is this team feasting on some lesser talent and they're finding a way to get it done? Or are they suddenly back in the conversation as playoff contenders and a team that could maybe make some noise? And one thing that gives me a little bit of hope that it might be the latter that they are a team that can make some noise is right now they are top 10 in special teams. they have got the seventh best power play in the national hockey league at 24.5.

And then right along with it, they've got the ninth best penalty kill in the league at 82.4. So what did we talk about all last season? Man, if this power play was even league average, if this power play was even league average, they might have made the playoffs. Well, look at them this year. Top 10 in power play. And a lot of that has happened during this month's stretch, where they have really started to figure it out.

They're getting production from both units. They're not making a lot of dumb mistakes and giving up opportunities the other way. Happens every once in a while, but again, that's hockey. That happens. So this team right now, Hunter, there are a lot of positive signs that they might be a playoff contender.

We got to give them a lot of credit for this turnaround. You know, 9, 3 and 1 after they started the season 7, 12, and 4, they looked dead in the water. We were coming on the show, even discussing a little bit like, hey, if this continues, they're going to really contend for a top five pick in the draft this year. Now all of a sudden we're talking about this team potentially trying to eke out that final playoff spot or one of those final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. I do think when it comes down to it, Tampa is probably going to get one of those two wild card

spots, especially also with the way Boston is playing right now. They're playing a lot better after the coaching change. But that final spot, that final wild card spot to me, is pretty widely. open and I hate saying it, but I don't trust the Ottawa Sanders yet. Like, what are they done to get me to trust them these last several years? Nothing, nothing at all. So they're playing well. Don't get me wrong.

Linus Allmark has been awesome these last few weeks. They're getting production from a lot of their top players. But it's still an 82 game season for reason. But again, you look at the rest of this conference, not very good. A lot of mid to flat out bad teams. So they have an opportunity to, opportunity. opportunity, excuse me, to really stay in this race heading into the new year, heading through a lot of January.

If they can navigate that part of their tough schedule like they did during the early portions of this run where they were beating some really good teams, again, they'll have a really good shot to stay in this. It's time for them to really bank some points over this next week heading into the new year. Also, I do have a stack to give you. This king courtesy of the Penguins Broadcast last. night and I'm sure you probably caught it. That game, first one in franchise history with zero penalty minutes against the Flyers, 353 games all time, including the postseason. That is a wild

staff, my friend. First time in franchise history, considering how much the Flyers have pissed the Penguins off at times, that's crazy. All I heard is that the Philadelphia Flyers are just a big time Goon Squad and the Pittsburgh Penguins have the kind of discipline that they only wish that they had over here in the eastern side of the state. But I digress. That is a, that's wild storm off after that seventh goal when Blake Lazotte score. Just like, chef's kiss. Just inject that into my veins, please. Just absolutely incredible. But that is going to do it here for the second segment of the locked on penguins podcast. When we come back, it might be Tuesday, but tomorrow is Christmas. And we will be taking the day off. So that means a day early with the league on,

holiday break. We are going to celebrate Warrior Helmet Wednesday. But before we do that, we've got to tell you about our last sponsor. And that is Fandul. The NFL playoffs, they're almost here, but it's not too late to get in on the regular season action with Fandul, America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can finish the season strong with $250 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Fandul has so many ways for you to pick up a W. especially with Christmas Day action coming tomorrow. There's going to be plenty for you to bet on. You can bet on things like which players will score a touchdown, how many points each team will score, and so much more. Just visit fanduel.com to join today. That's fandual.com for your chance at $250 in bonus bets. Make every moment more with Fandul,

an official sportsbook partner of the NFL. All right, welcome back to the Tuesday, edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And yes, I said Tuesday edition, but as you are probably all aware, Wednesday is Christmas Day. Hunter and I will be taking the day off to spend time with family and loved ones. We will not have an episode. So with that in mind, it's time to give out our MVP of the last week here in the land of the Pittsburgh Penguins. If you are new here, the warrior helmet. it's again our weekly MVP that Hunter and I give out sometimes we agree on the MVP sometimes we give it to a different player each and if you are unaware it is paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning Pittsburgh Penguins their locker room game MVP that the players gave to one another was a warrior helmet so with that in mind it is time for us to give out our weekly MVP and Hunter I have a feeling it's a

a unanimous one this week because there were only three games in the last week. And in those, in two of those three games, a certain player had a four-point performance on two separate occasions. And that is Captain Sidney Crosby. It has been a couple weeks since we have given him the warrior helmet. So this is not a cop-out, but he obviously, we talked about it in the first segment, ties Mario Lemieux for most assists in franchise history, puts up a four-point performance against both the Philadelphia Flyers, but that's hum, ho-hum. He's done that plenty of times,

and he also puts up a four-point performance against the Nashville Predators in an overtime victory. He has been absolutely incredible, and captain is very apropos, because he very much is the captain and conductor of this train. Yeah, this is an easy pick. You know, we still could go, Brian Ross, we still could go, Ricard, Raquel, heck, even Eric Carlson as a dark horse, he's been playing really well this last week. He's been playing really well for the last month,

if we're being honest right now, Pat. But it's Cindy Crosby for my pick. Eight points in the last three games, obviously the eight points came into the games. He was shut out in that game against the Devils like every other pending player was. And just a little something about that. there is no shame in losing like that to the devils because look what they just did to the Rangers on Monday, Pat.

Same thing. Held them to 12 shots. They've been doing this a lot lately, holding these teams to really low shot totals. They are playing very stingy in their own zone, getting production from all their top players. That's a very dangerous team heading in the playoffs. They could be a dark horse Stanley Cup kick. Oh, yeah. And obviously I missed Marshall Monday because I was on the road.

but hilarious how we talked in the preview of the devil's game. I wanted to get a chance to say this on the show. This actually reminded me. We talked on the preview episode going into the devil's game that, oh, this isn't your dad's devils. This isn't that team that plays the neutral zone trap and slows everything down. And while they don't, they still are an extremely stingy defensive team as the penguins found out. They attack you, but then they shut you down.

It is essentially the Gunther Sleeper Hold for my WWE fans out there. It's inevitable. It's coming. And guess what? You've got no answer for it. 100%. But just, you know, wanted to say that a little bit.

Getting back to Cindy Crosby, though, I mean, yeah, he was tremendous in Nashville. One of the biggest reasons why they won that game. And then this game against the Flyers, he was, in my opinion, the biggest reason why they won that. Just torching on an old rival that he will hate forever.

And I hope that he continues to own. the Flyers, even after his career finishes up. So another great effort from him. He has been firing on all cylinders these last few weeks, especially though this last week with the way he's playing. Again, well over a point per game. I know that point per game streak does mean quite a bit to him as he's continuing to chase history with that streak.

Obviously, the bigger fish is trying to get this team back to the playoffs, but I very much know that he does care about that streak. But the fact that he's still doing this at age 37, again, and only six points away right now from tying Joe Sackett for ninth on the NHL's all-time scoring list for Mario is right after. He's just playing at, again, honestly, an MVP level right now. And we are all very spoiled by what he's doing. Oh, for sure.

And to your point, he definitely cares about it. You could see it last night when he was asked about tying Lemieux. He is very much someone who downplays things like that. But you could see in his response and in his. his body language that he cared about this. This was something that meant something to him and something he was clearly thinking about. So really good to see. And yeah, he's playing at an MVP level, but we're in an era where there's so many damn good players that he's probably not going to get it. But he is playing as one of the most valuable players in the league right now.

but that is going to do it for the Tuesday edition of Locked-on Penguins, as I have hinted at quite a few times now. We will have the day off tomorrow for Christmas Day. We will not have a new episode, but we did pre-record a mailbag episode for you, which will be dropping on Thursday since this is the holiday break. We wanted to make sure we had something to discuss. Very fun episode, a lot of great questions from all of you in the Lockdown Penguins community,

excited for you guys to hear that. Then on Friday, Hunter will have a preview for you with the back-to-back home at home coming with the New York Islanders. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in. Have a very merry Christmas if you celebrate happy holidays. Otherwise, we will be back with a brand new episode, a mailbag episode for you on Thursday. But until then, thank you as always for tuning in.

and we'll be back in just a couple of days.