Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins down Flyers 6-2 to make it TEN IN A ROW

Episode Date: January 7, 2022

MAKE IT TEN! Hunter is back to recap another win for the Penguins and it's getting close to being the same old story. Bryan Rust continues his torrid pace with seven goals in his last three games and Jake Guentzel also hasn't missed a beat at all. He remains hot and Hunter recaps both their goals and what led to them, especially the first Rust one. He also gets into Kris Letang: Should he be a Norris finalist this season? What's driving this strong play? After that, he touches on Rodrigues' goal and how he took Carter Hart's soul. What's been driving his overall play too? Other topics discussed: How can this team go all the way? Is Sidney Crosby all the way back still? How great was Brian Boyle's goal? Is the power play starting to heat up? What about the no-goal call? All that, plus much more 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. 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. The number keeps rising. Let's make it 10 now for your Pittsburgh Penguins, the fifth longest winning streak in franchise history. Welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

I am, of course, your host, Hunter Hodries. You know to follow me on Twitter. At Hunter Hoddes. You can also follow the show's Twitter. at L.O. Armistcore Penguins, a 6-2 beatdown of the Philadelphia Flyers on this Thursday night. Again, 10 in a row, they'll try to make it 11 on Saturday afternoon when they go to Dallas take on Tyler Sagan and Jamie Ben and the Dallas Stars. We'll have a full game preview for that for Friday's episode.

This obviously is just going to be a full episode focused on the game tonight. But what are performance again from Pittsburgh, especially on a back-to-back? my first biggest takeaway that I have overall, you know, they took care of business and that's exactly what the doctor ordered. You know, no Claude Jureux, there's no Travis Keneckney, no Ivan Provorov, no Sean Kuturier, no Ryan Ellis, you know, no Travis Sandheim, the list goes on and on, you know, a lot of those players are in COVID protocol. Some of those players are hurt.

There's about seven of the 18 regular skaters are out for Philadelphia. This was basically a win on the stat sheet, well, a win on paper, I should say. And then it translated to a win on the ice overall. You saw Pittsburgh jump out to that three nothing lead. It was over at that point. The Flyers were not going to score or three goals, especially with that depleted of a lineup. But, you know, it was a bit of a slow start. I thought Pittsburgh was dictating play a little bit.

But Philadelphia was, you know, still playing not too bad. But then the penguin started to take over. You know, you saw all the goals come in, you know, from Brian Rust. You know, Jake Gensel gets one. That first one, that was a disgusting pass from Chris LaTang. And he continues to play at such a high level this season. The thing is, I would have him as a Norris finalist if it weren't for Victor Headman, Kail McCar, and Adam Fox, or Devonte's.

It's just those four players have been just as good, if not better than Tanger this year. and, you know, that's why, you know, they're at the top of the Norseus right now, though. If you look at Dom La Chusian's article for the Athletic today, he have Lettang at the number five, number six spot among the Norse, you know, finalists, you know, who he's looking at per his model. I would have to assume, hopefully he climbs up from there. But that still doesn't take away, even though he wouldn't be one of my finalists, that doesn't take away what Latang is doing this year. I just want them to announce the extension ASAP at this point. give him a three to four year deal. I've said it before.

You know, if you can get him, you know, a little below seven, I think that's fine. I don't think he's going to, you know, command a high number, especially with where he's at age-wise for his career. But, you know, I've said this a lot on the podcast as well. The older he gets, the younger he gets at the same time, and the better he plays. And, you know, it was almost like that no look past to Rust.

At the corner of the neck, Carter Hart has no chance on that goal. was able to make it 1-0. And it's just like, you know, you don't teach a pass like that. But, you know, if you go, you know, back a little bit before the Latang pass, watch what Sidney Crosby does in the corner. He's able to corral to Pug win that puck battle, but then fire a gorgeous saucer pass cross-ice to Lattang, who is wide open, probably through, you know,

four to five to six sticks. Somehow it was not broken up. Lattang is able to get it again, like I just said, get it to Rust, opens up the scoring. And then, you know, Ross scores again. just a few moments later. That's now seven goal. At the time, it was seven goals in his last seven freaking periods.

He is red hot right now. And, you know, I always see the same usual suspects on social media during games. And just, you know, just going on message words and stuff, you know, clowning the so-called super genius for talking crap on Brian Rust. Yeah, I've talked about him many times on this podcast. I'm not going to give him the time of day other than to say that he's a flat-out idiot for how he talks about hockey. So there's my only take about the so-called super genius in the city of Pittsburgh.

But he's just playing at a really high level right now. I know it was a slow start for him this season. You know, he was battling numerous injuries, as I talked about on Wednesday's episode. But he's firing on all cylinders right now. I know he may not want to come off the top power play, but with how Evan Rodriguez is going and we'll get to him later on in the show, I think he's going to potentially have to come off. But I don't think that's going to really screw things up for him just because you can put him in the second unit.

And he's still getting chance after chance with Cindy Crosby and Jake Gensol on a nightly basis. I mean, that's one of the underlying numbers wise. That's one of the five best first lines in hockey right now. You know, go to MoneyPuck, go to natural stat trick. I believe per Money Puck, it's the second best. If I'm not mistaken. So that overall, the 5-5 numbers tonight, the Penguins controlled right about 51% of the shot attempts, 51% of the scoring chances for.

They lost the battle in high danger. They had, they actually lost the battle. Yeah, I just, okay, I almost like tricked it over myself there. But at 5B5, it was only three goals for, two goals against. But if you go to all situations, that's where the penguins really made the mark, especially, you know, on the top power play. You know, 52% of the shot attempts, they had 55% of the scoring chances. High danger, it was basically even expected goals for

for the Penguins 2.84 to 2.13 for the flyers. So it was a little bit closer than what, you know, the final score indicated. I think part of that was because the Penguins had a little bit of a lacklust or second period. And I talked about this on my Twitter account. I'll say it here for you all that are not on social media, which, you know, that's not a bad thing. You know, social media. That has a lot of goods, has a lot of bads. I'll say that. But I think that comes with the territory, you know, just having an off period on the back-to-back. right. You're not going to play a full 16 minutes at times on the second half, especially after an emotional win. I know you're playing your arch rivals, though this has really not been the Penguins' biggest rivalry

throughout the last few years. I would say the Capitals have taken that top spot, at least in my opinion. But, you know, there was always going to be a little bit of a lull. Tarr Reardon said to Emily Kaplan on the ESPN Blast broadcast that he thought they were sloppy during the second period. And I would agree. The Flyers were able to make it a little bit of a game with about what, 12, 11 minutes left in the period. Thanks to a goal from Cam Atkinson. He's actually been pretty good since coming over from Columbus, which is, surprised me, a little bit. But, you know, there were definitely some sloppy passes. Trishin Jari had to come up with two. Ten dell saves right at the end of that period. That could have made it three to two and potentially have a different vibe going into the third period.

But he did what he has been doing best this season and just making timely save after timely save. He was sensational tonight as he's been all season, as I just said. But the third period came. And the penguins, again, you know, they were able to take care of business and just keep the flyers on their heels. And they were able to score outscore the flyers three to one in that period. I mean, you know, Jake Gensel tonight, just ridiculous at this point. That's, you know, two more goals. The one that it looked like it wasn't in, but it was for sure in. Parallax angle ain't going to say it caught a hot there.

So that one was for sure. And then he just makes that beautiful move on heart later on in the third. you have Evan Rodriguez just taking Carter Hart's soul and freaking taking it somewhere at Carter Hart's soul it is way gone at this point I don't know where I was going with that reference I totally screwed it up but you know we're just going to roll with it at this one we'll have more on that goal coming up here in the next segment I love seeing the Penguins light up Carter Hart I did I did touch on this on my social media I'll say it here as well again I kind of felt bad for Hart during this game

because he's actually been pretty good this year. I mean, he's top 10 in goals, he's above expected. He just has had no help around him all year. The Flyers, it doesn't help with the Flyers defense is absolute cheeks. I mean, that's just a bad unit. Well, despite, even with Ryan Ellis, I don't like a lot of their defensemen. I think Sanaheim has been pretty decent this year, but ProVrov is not right. Braun is really not that good.

Wrist in line and stinks. have Kevin Kahnotten getting minutes on an every night basis at this point. He's played on numerous teams throughout his initial career. But, you know, it's just been a season from hell for Philadelphia, which is so many reasons. But, again, I will never not love seeing the penguins light up kind of hot, as they like to say up there in Philly. And so, you know, at the end of the day, the Penguins took care of business.

But, you know, there's still a lot more to get to for the show. We're going to go into some play about Sidney Crosby. we're going to go into that no goal call for the flyers and why at first glance I thought it was wrong when on second glance I've come around a little bit on and I understand why the official blew the whistle there do a little dive into ever Rodriguez's goal and then you know we still got to get into Brian Boyle and the impending returns of a couple other really great penguins players those will be coming back hopefully on Saturday so stick with me through here with this next commercial break all right so we're back here on this episode

episode with the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Understool Penguins, starting us off with this segment, Evan Rodriguez's goal. The pass that he got was awesome on that one, but look at the move he made. I mean, last season, he wouldn't even have thought to go backhand, forehand, pass-heart. But as I just said, a few minutes ago, he took his soul and took. it to another dimension. There we go. That's the saying I think I was looking for.

He again, he legit took it, took it to a whole new planet or whatever because he owned heart there. He had no chance to save that puck. And he continues to play at such a high level for the Penguins right now. I hope they can extend him at this point because, honestly, he might be pricing himself out of Pittsburgh if he continues with this kind of production. Danny Shari of DK. Pittsburgh Sports tweeted out the goal. He had a lot of Buffalo fans quote tweeting that tweet saying, well, Ralph Kruger, you ruined another one because the Buffalo Sabres just really stunk under him.

I wouldn't say that he ruined him. I just think that, you know, Rodriguez just matured a lot throughout the offseason. And, you know, he's finally in a stable situation where he's playing with much better players. But this is also not a flute because he's been able to, you know, work hard over the offseason, and especially on that shot and his playmaking ability and just work on all aspects of his game and now you're seeing it pay off. And it's a sight to behold.

ESPN Plus actually had something on the broadcast tonight where it's like money per goal. And Rodriguez, for every goal he scores, it was a $71.4,000 just because of how cheap his contract is. That's the third cheapest in the NHL. He's getting closer to 20 goals at this point. believe the only two players above him were it was Troy Terry and I'm like blanking on the other one. I know one of them was Troy Terry.

But, you know, out of the top five, Rodriguez was third just because of how little his contract is. And, you know, those are the kind of moves that a contending team has to get right. And Ron Hextall recognized that. You know, for a GM like him, this job isn't that hard, right? you have your contending core in place with Crosby, Malkin, Latang. You have a goaltender who's playing his ass off this season. You have, you know, Jake Gensel, who's great, Brian Rust, Jeff Carter is your third line center.

Kasbury captain, hopefully at some point will be rescued from the Gulag again. But it's all about getting the moves around that core, right? And he did just at this offseason with getting Brock McGuendo to fill that Tanev spot, getting Rodriguez back. obviously no one saw this level of him coming, but you still need that depth scoring, and he has provided that and then some this season. So, you know, for a contending team, especially with the penguins,

you've got to get all these moves. You know, Dayton He's almost at 10 goals. He should have had that 10th goal, which would have given me my free cock guy of barbecue. But missed a wide open net that I think my grandma would have hit. I'm sure he'll hit that at some point. So, you know, there goes my little, I guess my cabash. on that little, I'm like blanking on what I was going to go into next.

Anyways, you know, that was just my thoughts on, you know, just making the right moves. Rodriguez has been one. And, you know, he just been sensational this year for the Penguins. Already touched on Crystal Tang. Sid, he was on another level tonight again. At first, I couldn't hear the regular booze that Philly gives him, you know, but also that comes with the territory because the Flyers are not even close to selling out that game. I know, you know, maybe a little ice cold.

but, you know, I never want to hear the joke from Flyers fans about the Penguins fans being bad because, you know, they didn't even come close to selling up this game. Though, I will say, we'll say, I don't blame a lot of the fans for coming to this one because seven other regulars are out. And, you know, that's just a bad product on the ice. That said, you know, I still never want to hear that joke. Overall, I still also don't want to hear the saying that we've heard since 2014, well, you know, you'll see in a few years when we're so good and all this stuff.

And, you know, our prospects are going to be great. Right. yeah your prospects are definitely going to be great from especially from what i saw tonight i know this i'm supposed to be professional all the time but i got to hit a little bit of digs on a cross state rival here i've got to give the fans a little bit of what they want um i don't usually do that too often you know i like to keep keep things usually strictly professional just because you know i cover the team and for this network and everything but time sometimes i got to go out of my shell I'm a little bit and just go go a little dark mode.

But, you know, still, I'm trying to think now. I think I've hit on almost everything. Oh, no, no. Did not hit on the no goal call. That was, it was going to make it one to one. First off, Tristan Jari gave Scott a lot on a hell of a whack right on his leg. I think he did not like that he crashed into him. And then you saw a little bit of a circus breakout with, you know,

the players going out for each other. John Butchagras is like, well, you know, that's what. that's penguins flyers right here it's just like well you know maybe back in 2012 that was penguin's flyers but that's just that's not penguins flyers rivalry from the last four to five years or something like that but um so i know flyers fans will say it's a quick whistle i agreed at first because it looked like it i thought it was the same intent to blow call that we all saw from the stand like a final in national game six when the predators probably should have taken a one-nothingly the penguins got lucky. But on second glance, Jari had the puck covered under his pad at least for a second before

it's squeaked through, squeaked through, excuse me, and then it was poked home and the goal. That's why the ref decided to blow the whistle. I understand why. I know it was probably a bit of a quick whistle, excuse me, but at the end of the day, that's what happens sometimes against you. I know if the rules were reverse, a lot of Penguin's hands would be pretty upset, myself included, but, you know, the Flyers probably got a little bone there. If that happens to every team around the league, at least once per season with a quick whistle. I mean, you know, it's happened to the Penguins numerous times. You know, it's happened to Philly.

It'll happen to Washington, both New York teams, whatever rivals the Penguins have. That's just the nature of the situation with how the game is officiated at this point. So, you know, that's all there is to it with that. Brian Boyle's goal, I mean, good God. You know Cotahot is having a bad night. when he's given up short-handed goals to Brian Boyle, key stat for you all here. This was the penguin's first short-handed goal against the Flyers since February of 2019. Chris Latang scored on Kata Hot.

I'm sorry. I'm going to keep saying his name like that. If it gets annoying, whatever. But I just, I can't not say it just because it's hilarious how people have been able to pronounce it. Anyways, that's the first one in almost three years since Latang did it in 2019. team. So I thought that stat was pretty cool. Another really interesting stat that I came across. During this 10-game winning street for the Pittsburgh Penguins, they have outscored teams 45 to 20. That is a plus 25 goal differential, even better per Mad Chat of the Mad Chat and Eddie show.

Shout out to them on DK. Pittsburgh Sports. They do a hell of a job with all their Steelers and Penguins content. Go check them out as well after you listen to this podcast. I think he's, his, tweet said, actually, I can look it up right here. I have it right here. During this winning street, the Penguins, again, they've scored 45 goals. The New York Islanders and the Arizona Coyotes, they only have 64 goals scored all year. I mean, that's just crazy to think about. 64 goals scored all year for two really bad teams.

The Penguins have done, you know, only 19 less than that in 10 freaking games. I mean, that is just how dominant this team has been. this year and I'll say it again. You know, why not the penguins? Truly, why not? You know, I'm going to get more into that coming up here in this last segment. I know it touched on a little bit last night. I'm going to get into a little bit again just because of some tweets that I fired off.

But, excuse me, you know, they just have the makings of a contender for so many reasons. And again, you know, I will get into that here. Coming up after this little commercial break, first, though, Bet Online would like to wish you a happy new betting year as we continue our March to the playoffs and beyond. Beninline remains the number one spot for all the sports wagering action for 2022. That's a new year and that means a new updated desktop and mobile website to send them today and receive your 50% of open bonus in your first deposit. Just use our phone code locked on to get started.

Vateline is the fastest and easiest way to bet on all of your favorite sports. That is Bet Online where the game starts. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Paying. podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Honor Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins.

So I had this tweet tonight. I quote tweeted, you know, D underscore nasty, Darren O2, great follow on Penguins Twitter if you are on Twitter. A shout out to him. And I'll say it here as well. I think the Penguins can go toe to toe with anyone in the East. I think they can speedbag a lot of these teams in the conference.

You know, they've been doing that throughout these last 10 games. They can 100% take down Washington in four out of seven games. They can beat the Rangers in four out of seven games. I think they have much better forward depth in New York. The high-end talent is what scares me with them. I know Adam Fox is amazing, arguably the best defenseman in hockey. But, and of course, they have a hell of a goal to an Igor Shasturkin. But with how Jari has performed, that's close to a wash. Defensively, I think the penguins are a bit better overall. Though, obviously Fox is really. really good. I think the Penguins can take down them. Carolina would be really tough,

but I think the Penguins can beat them. Florida and Tampa, I think, would be the two biggest ones. But I really think the Penguins can play with those two teams when they're fully healthy. They have the forward depth to match up against them. They have the defense. They have the goal tending. The special teams, especially the penalty kill, is really good this year. The power play is starting to get better. You have a goal tonight. You know, and, you know, I haven't been this excited about a Penguins team since 2017. That is the vibe that I getting right now with this team. You know, 2017-18, I didn't have a lot of high hopes because, you know, going for a 3P,

it hasn't been done in a very long time. Over two decades at this point, they had that nice first round series against Philadelphia, but they will gas going into that Washington series. 2018-19, that team was fading and going nowhere fast. I was not surprised they lost to the Islanders. Just because, you know, you're rolling out Jack Johnson and top four minutes in Justin Schultz. What are you doing there, right?

2019-20 you know the team is good they just got jason zucker but then you know the season's paused and you know anything can happen coming out of that and you saw that with montreal you know beating them carry price goes on a heater whatever last year i thought you know i came close to game that 2017 vibe they were really good they got screwed up by goal-tending this year's team even with the just the subtractions from last year with brandon tannes and jared mccann i think is better than last year's team. You know, with how everyone's going on right now, with Evgeny Malkin coming back in the next few days,

with Jeff Carter going to be getting a couple more practices in before he comes back. You know, it's just everything is much better this year. You know, Danny Shirey of TK. Pittsburgh Sports had a great article on Mike Matheson this morning. He's been playing some of his best hockey this year. Even though I've dumped on him, you know, quite a bit on the podcast, it hasn't been a lot lately. That's because, again, he's having his best season of his career. In terms of the underlying numbers with Matheson among Penguins' defensemen,

he's top three in almost every category in expected goals for, shot attempts for, scoring chances for, go read Danny's article to look at some of the video. It's some of the other stats. I'm not going to give everything away. But, you know, he's been great on that third pair, and that's exactly what they've needed him to be. I know he makes a lot of money, but, you know, you got to get those moves right. I mean, I still would not have traded Patrick Hornquist for him,

but the Penguins are getting the best case scenario right now. with Matheson and he is playing at a good level in Chari Rueedal is, you know, solid as ever. You know, you're never going to hear a complaint for me from Chiavroh unless he has a blatant screw up at this point. So, you know, why not the Penguins for me, you know, at this point, you know, it's just, I feel like this year the league is wide open. I know Tampa Bay is the two-time reigning champions. I get that.

But, you know, they play a lot of hockey these last few years. And teams going on three beats. It's very rare. You know, we also happen to Penguins, as I just said. I don't think Tampa's going to do it again this year. I think there is going to be someone that beats them. Potentially, it's the Penguins. The good thing is hopefully for Pittsburgh, if they can avoid one of the wild card spots

and go through the Metro, I would much prefer that because I don't want to go through both Tampa and Florida to get to the final. I would much rather take my chances, you know, going through the Metro because I do think the Penguins can, you know, beat a lot of those teams in that show, excuse me. You know, you look at the standings tonight, and, you know, Pittsburgh's right there now. And, you know, there are three points out of first. They have a game in hand still on Washington and the Rangers.

Carolina has two games on Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh's only two points behind them. Pittsburgh is setting themselves up to go on an even hotter run here and potentially getting home ice in their first round. This team is 100% making the playoffs bearing an unforeseen collapse. Just wanted to, you know, end this saying. to everyone who listens to this podcast, you know, it's from the city, you know, roots for the team. You all have one hell of a hockey team here. I know D.K. said that on his site and on Twitter and, you know, on his daily shot of the Penguins podcast, which he does a great job of.

But I'm going to echo that here. We have one hell of a hockey team here. And, you know, I hope everyone keeps sleeping on Pittsburgh. I fully want a lot of the national media to not pay attention to them. they're still only fourth in Metro. Keep it that way. I'm fine with that. The days of, you know,

the Penguins being the Stanley Cup favorite by everyone, that's all long over. There's better, younger teams at this point, but you know what? Excuse me. Bet against the Penguins at your own peril. And, you know,

this team's deep. They have top five underlying numbers. Their defense is awesome. They got a Vesna caliber goalie right now, and their special teams are damn good. And we also have a top three coach in hockey and Mike Sullivan. So I feel like, I know I feel like I've been saying the same things throughout the last few podcast episodes,

but I'm just, I'm in awe of how great this team is this year. And I hope some people, some more people, you know, start to realize that. I'm sure once they lose the first game when the beginning of Malcon comes back, and, you know, in typical Penguins fashion, that very well may happen. The takes are going to be bad. They're going to be hot. Don't pay attention to those people. The ship will write itself if they struggle a couple of games when Gino comes back.

It's just, I'm not going to get my panty. He's in a wire here because they lose a game or two with Malkin and the Malian. You know, he brings an element to this team that, you know, few can do in the NHL and they're going to be better off for it when he comes back. So that will do it for this episode. Coming up for Friday, we'll have a full game recap, excuse me, a full preview against the Dallas Stars coming up for that game on Saturday. Remember that's a 2 o'clock Eastern game on NHL Network.

It's also recently televised so you can watch it there. I hope you have a great rest of your Thursday, and I'll be back on Friday for a full game preview of a video. of the one on Saturday against Dallas and a few other things as well. So I'll talk to you all that.