Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins DROP GAME ONE to the Flyers, how can they adjust in game two?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pittsburgh Penguins were humbled in their return to the Stanley Cup playoffs as they were unable to break the Philadelphia Flyers discipline. Hunter and I are going to recap that game, get you set for game two, and talk about everything else on a brand new locked on penguins. You're locked on penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the locked on podcast network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Starting point is 00:00:50 You can find our show's social media accounts on Instagram at Lockedon underscore Penguins, Twitter at LO underscore Penguins, and TikTok at Locked on Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine. Don't forget, we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, make sure you've hit the notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. Before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul.

Starting point is 00:01:27 Right now, new customers can bet just. just $5 and get $250 in bonus bets if that first $5 bet wins. Just head to fanduil.com to get started. More on them later. Well, it is a bit of a dreary Monday, is it not, here in the land of the Pittsburgh Penguins, because the penguins in their return to the Stanley Cup playoffs in game one, at home against the Philadelphia Flyers,

Starting point is 00:01:54 the Penguins surrendered home ice, losing 3 to 2. to the Flyers, and this was not a pretty game by the Pittsburgh Penguins. Now, I'm just going to get the caveat out of the way very early because there's going to be a lot of negative coming from Hunter and myself on this episode. So I'm going to get the caveat again out of the way early. It's one game. You got a win four, and it's a best of seven.

Starting point is 00:02:23 So we understand all of that. But we can only overreact when there's one. one game to react to. So that's what we're going to do. And I'm not going to get into X's and those right away. We're going to have plenty of time for that on this show. Here's where I'm going to start, Hunter. And this really did, to quote Peter Griffin grind my gears. The penguins for the most part on Saturday night, they were outworked. Yes, I agree with that. 100%. It felt like they were skating in cement for a lot of that game. I felt also to start, they look spooked. They looked nervous. I felt that was kind of going to be the flyers a little bit. A lot of

Starting point is 00:03:06 inexperience there. A lot of young players, they look like the more experienced team to start this one. They were way more ready to go, which again, surprise me, considering how many veterans are on this Penguins team. Crosby, Malk, and Latang, three Stanley Cups, Brian Rust to Stanley Cups. Almost everyone outside of a few players on this team has played in the Stanley Cup playoffs. It did not look like it, though, to start this game. The Flyers were outworking them to every loose puck. They were clogging up the neutral zone, which was a theme of this game. They executed their plan to perfection, credit to Rick Tocke and their staff. And the Penguins simply had no answer for it. It's funny, when I was watching this game, it only

Starting point is 00:03:53 almost reminded me of what my soccer team Arsenal does in the Premier League. And yeah, I know. They lost today to Man City. The title race in the Premier League is scaring me right now. But when Arsenal is on, that's what it looks like. Because Arsenal, they sit back, they clog up the field, they don't allow many chances. And that's what the Flyers were doing last night. They sat back.

Starting point is 00:04:17 They put three guys at the Blue Line. They clogged up the neutral zone. They were controlling the neutral zone all game long. And they were daring the penguins to attack them. And for whatever reason, Pat, the penguins did not want to do any dump and chase. They didn't want to try to get to their forecheck, get to the cycle game, because it was a lot of one-and-duntones in this game. But I'll go back to something that you just said.

Starting point is 00:04:41 It is only one game. And I have faith in this coaching staff to adjust to this and to try and find more ways to create offense. Damuse and his staff have pushed every right button throughout the season. I have no reason to think, I have no reason to think, excuse me, that that is going to change right now. It's one game. The Flyers were great. Credit to them.

Starting point is 00:05:04 They played a disciplined, structured game. They had a game plan and they executed it. Rick Tocket 1. Damn you, zero. Okay. Now it's on the coaching staff to adjust. It's a series for a reason, my friend. Well, to your earliest point in that was about the experience per Bob Grove last night prior to the game,

Starting point is 00:05:27 11 of the 20 skaters that dressed for the Flyers had never played in the Stanley Cup playoffs. That included Sam Erson, Trevor Ziegress, Matt Faye-Michikov, Porter Martone, Noah Cates, Jamie Drysdale, York, Forrester, Barkie, Barkley, excuse me, Ristolinan. And Vlidar has never, he's seen two relief games. but he never started one. Correct. So there was a lot of inexperience on the Flyers end of the ice. And I will give you, I will also add to what you said. The Flyers and Rick Tocke it specifically deserve a ton of credit for game one.

Starting point is 00:06:05 Because you look at that roster that the Flyers have, there is a lot of young, exciting talent on that roster. They do not play like a young, exciting talent. team. Rick Tocke got them to buy into playing a boring, disciplined, trap, neutral zone trap kind of game. And on Saturday night, they played it damn near to perfection against the penguins. And for a team of that age group with that level of talent to be able to play that, that is a testament to their head coach. He deserves his flowers for that. It reminded me of some of the games against Boston this year where the penguins were having trouble with that.

Starting point is 00:06:48 that. It honestly, pat to a lesser degree, it was kind of reminding me of the 2017 series against Ottawa when that trap was especially really frustrating the Penguins veteran players, really frustrating the Penguins coaching staff under Mike Sullivan, but they were able to adjust to it, worked the way around it, and then win the series. Now, for this one, how are you going to adjust? We'll get into more of that a little bit later, but again, it's now on damn used to fully get this team to work around that, find different tactics, and most of all, Pat, just show up. Because I felt like for a lot of that game last night for the Penguins, that was a no show. And that's not acceptable when you are starting the Stanley Cup playoffs at home.

Starting point is 00:07:33 The building was buzzing. Everyone was ready to go. Everyone deserves better than what we saw on the ice there. Oh, they do. And the difference to me on Saturday night was this. the Flyers kept themselves at a level for pretty much the whole game. Yeah. The Penguins, they had some pushback here and there,

Starting point is 00:07:55 but the Flyers pretty much played at the same level for about 60 minutes with some shifts and momentum swings here and there. But for the Penguins, it was too infrequent. They had a couple of good shifts, and then they would be falling by the wayside for a few minutes. Then they'd have a good shift or two, and then it would fall by the wayside again. there was not a lot of consistency for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Starting point is 00:08:18 Now, this actually leads into a couple of quotes that I really liked after the game. First one being Eric Carlson, who said, excuse me, I think we battled hard. Everybody was trying really hard, but maybe we were trying a little too hard sometimes overdoing things instead of just trusting one another to do your job. That to me kind of sums up the whole game because outside of Stuart Skinner, who I thought was Brilliant. The rest of the team, it seemed like they'd have a couple shifts. They'd be really amped up.

Starting point is 00:08:51 They'd play physical. They'd try to do too much. And they would have to fall back off of that. And then they would try to do it again. And this is the last point I'm going to make about the way I think the penguins played and conducted themselves. Then we'll talk about adjustments in the second segment. I think the penguins played arrogant.

Starting point is 00:09:10 I think they know they are a better team than the Philadelphia of flyers and they weren't quite ready for the flyers to have that level of effort, that level of discipline, and quite frankly, that level of physicality. I can see part of that. I mean, it was definitely chippier than I expected it to be. You saw Sid and Sandheim really going at it. Gino was going at it with a few of the flyers as well. I felt like both these teams were kind of taking turns running each other into the boards.

Starting point is 00:09:42 It was, there were definitely some. scrums out there, curious to see how that progresses as a series has gone on. I don't know if I would go as far to say that it was fully arrogant. I just don't think they were fully prepped and ready for what the flyers were going to do to shut down their attack, controlling the neutral zone, turning the game into a slog, putting three guys of the blue line, daring them to come at them in the offensive zone. Again, there are way too many one-in-duns. and Pat, when they did get their chances in the offensive zone, they overpassed.

Starting point is 00:10:16 There was no shoot first mentality. You know, Gino had a nice goal. You finally got to the dirty areas. That was nice. Brian Rust, 10 to 15 feet out. It was funny, Pat. Nice to show up in the final minute of the game doing the things that I wanted them to do for the first 59 minutes of the game.

Starting point is 00:10:33 And then Anthony Mantha almost rescued them with less than five seconds ago. He tried to do his go-to move. Dan Wladar looks like he scouted it, shut down the five hole. And they were able to win the game and take a 1-0 series lead. But I just felt everything was a step too slow. The zone exits were also especially putrid for me in this game. It feels like everything was way too hard for the Penguins. The Latang-Jarad pair, which had gotten some momentum to end the season.

Starting point is 00:11:03 Pat, they stunk last night. They were really bad. Latang especially did not have a good game. I was not throw with Gerard. Hell, on that first flyer's goal, Gerard is screening Stuart Skinner. Get out of the way there, man. Because Skinner was the only reason why that was a scoreless game up until that point.

Starting point is 00:11:21 He was stoning the flyers every chance they got, including a couple of breakaways, a couple other odd man rushes. He was playing great. Was the third goal a little soft? Sure, but you know what? He was playing his ass off. I'm not going to really fault him for that. Like there's just no reason to do that.

Starting point is 00:11:39 He was the only reason why the penguins even had a chance. a remote chance to tie that game very late in the third period. But again, man, everything just looked lackluster last night. But I'll say this right now. I could be wrong. I think that is the worst you will see the Penguins play in this series. That's a good spot to leave this first segment because it was a tough night for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And yet it was only a three to two game that they had a very good chance to tie.

Starting point is 00:12:09 So we got to talk about adjustments. what they're going to do next and how they can tie this series up tonight when the Philadelphia Flyers are still in town for game two at PPG Paints Arena. Stick with us. We're going to talk about that when we get back right after this. But we've got to tell you about today's sponsor and that is our friends at Fandul. The NBA playoffs and the Stanley Cup playoffs are here where every possession matters. Every matchup is magnified in every game, whether it's game one or game two,

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Starting point is 00:13:37 I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. The Pittsburgh Penguins are down one-nothing in their first round series of the Stanley Cup playoffs against the Philadelphia mother flipping flyers. And this one, you said something to end the first segment, Hunter, that I'm so, so, so glad that you said it, because I have it written down here in my little handy-dandy notebook. I've got it circled and underlined.

Starting point is 00:14:06 This Penguins team, this season, I have it written here. It says historically, but when we're talking about one season, even though the word historically does apply when you think historically you think way back in in seasons past. But this season coming off of longer breaks, that first game back, they have had to shake off the cobwebs. And part of that is because their biggest contributors are a little bit older. It takes them a little bit longer to get up to speed. So I am with you in the sense that I do think game one is going to be the worst week.

Starting point is 00:14:44 see this penguins team play because their engine's going to be revved back up. And this was a wound for the Pittsburgh Penguins. You could see the way they were talking both after the game and after practice. They kind of got their bell's metaphorical bells rung and they're stinging a little bit today. I think so. I definitely agree with that. And I think also for this game, like the way that you adjust to this neutral zone trap, you get more forecheckers behind their defense, you dump the puck, and you get the cycle game going,

Starting point is 00:15:20 and you don't have all these one and duns in the offensive zone. You try to get some of those more cross-ice passes going a little bit more too. Again, this is why it's a seven-game series and not just a single elimination playoff game that you see in other sports. There's time for coaching staffs to adjust

Starting point is 00:15:40 find the matchups they like. Another thing, Pat, that we really haven't discussed yet. I think that's the worst you'll see Cindy Crosby play as well. He was a complete non-factor on Saturday night. He was frustrated. You can see it all over the ice. I think he is going to get to a different level for the rest of this series. He has to.

Starting point is 00:15:58 I mean, he loves playing the Flyers. He has feasted on them his entire career. You don't usually see him go that quiet against that team. That's going to change. So I'm like Igor Chinakov. I think considering everything that he has done since the trade, that was his worst game as a penguin, and I don't think it was close. A complete non-factor. Personally, I'd like to see him get more reps with Malkin and Novak, considering how great that line was.

Starting point is 00:16:24 But we'll get to more of the practice stuff a little bit later. Doesn't look like that's going to happen. At least not yet. They're not going to over panic to this loss. Now, Pat, say they drop Monday's game, God forbid they drop that game. I think that's when you'll see DMU is really juggling. go up the lines a little bit, but I think right now he's committed to Raquel at center. He wants to see another game with Chinikov and Crosby and Rust.

Starting point is 00:16:48 He wants to keep seeing Soderbaum. And I will say Soderbaum, I thought played really well last night. I thought he had a couple of really nice chances in that game. But the only thing that I'll push back on you about Soderblum is the Flyers second goal. I did not love his defense at the top of the zone. That's fair. And that is a that is a goal that I know some people were. a little bit upset about with Skinner for giving up,

Starting point is 00:17:13 but it was the kind of shot and chance that should not have happened. And listen, it was a chippy physical game on Saturday night. Sauter Bloom, you're massive, dude. Like, you've got to step into that guy. Even if you take a penalty at the top of the zone, when you get a look like that, you got to get in his way.

Starting point is 00:17:37 You can't just sidestep them and swing the stick. but overall, I do agree that he had a good game, but given the moment in the magnitude of giving up that go-ahead goal, it does put some negatives on his performance for me. Yeah, I just don't think you can allow him to go around two players like he did. I will hear you on that. So the ball needs to do a better job there. I was just saying in the offensive zone,

Starting point is 00:18:04 I felt he played fairly well, had a couple of good chances. I'm fine with him continuing when you say in the lineup heading into game two. I also thought Eric Carlson way too quiet in this game. We've been waiting for playoff.

Starting point is 00:18:17 EK hasn't shown up since 2019 for a whole bunch of different reasons, but I felt he was a bit too quiet last night. Again, not going to crap on the guy. I just felt that he was a little too quiet overall. The Penguin Power Play was not very good last night. Hell Pat, they couldn't even gain the zone,

Starting point is 00:18:34 it felt like, for any of those. P.K. was great. I've done a great job on the Flyers PowerPlay, which we all know is not very good. Blake Lazott, as you can sell Pat, makes a world of a difference on that, you know, the way that he presses so high, the way that he gets in the puck carrier's faces, just forces them, excuse me, into very quick decisions that they're not ready for. Man, it's great having him back. Same for Connor Dewar.

Starting point is 00:18:58 So I'm not concerned about that unit, but PowerPlay Pat had chances to kind of take control of this game, and they really didn't, no matter if it was. the first unit or the second unit out there. So, again, outside of really a few players, I did not like the performance from most of the players on this team last night. But hey, they'll have a chance to tie this series up tonight going back to Philadelphia and they'll also have a chance to take home ice back if they are able to win this game tonight in Pittsburgh. It's a big one. Well, let me, let's get into some quick adjustments for tonight's game because you brought something up that I think is a really interesting point from Saturday's game

Starting point is 00:19:40 that they can bring into tonight's game. And it does start with Eric Carlson. Here's the thing that I really want the penguins to do, and it's twofold. It involves Eric Carlson, but it involves all of the defense. The Flyers, especially when Eric Carlson was on the ice, they barely sent in a forecheck because they understood that Eric Carlson can be a one-man breakout. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:20:06 So they essentially sent token pressure of one, one guy to just kind of keep the puck to the outside and on the boards. And then when they went to the neutral zone, they were clogging up all of his passing options because they know that he is an elite first pass kind of player as a defenseman when it comes to the breakout. That led to him near the end of the game, starting to tick up a little bit because he realized, okay, they're taking away my first pass.

Starting point is 00:20:37 I'm just going to break it out myself and attack this Flyers neutral zone trap, but like everybody else, pretty much skated right into it. If I'm Dan Musin' The Penguins, especially when Eric Carlson is on the ice, I'm sending the weak side winger, basically right up the wall,

Starting point is 00:20:55 right through the heart of the Flyers trap. I'm letting Eric Carlson get the red line and dump it in. Because if you give that, winger or that center momentum with Eric Carlson as you're basically decoy, you are going to open up the neutral zone a little bit, you're going to back their defense off, and it's going to get you to the game that you want to play against the stingy defensive team like the Philadelphia Flyers. Along with that, this is going to be such a 200-level nosebleed seat thing. Dan Vladar has been good this year.

Starting point is 00:21:32 I know we as Penguins fans are so not used to saying that the Philadelphia Flyers have good goaltending, but they have good goaltending, at least for now. 17 shots on goal is not going to cut it. No. You need to get at minimum against a goaltender like Vlidar who's this hot. Your minimum needs to be 25. You need him to work. You need him to make saves.

Starting point is 00:21:58 You need to get him moving. and if you're only getting 17 shots, you are not beating him. I agree with that, and I'll take it a step further. I want to see 30 minimum, especially after game one, where offense was just very hard to come by.

Starting point is 00:22:14 Anytime they got in the offensive zone, they were looking for that extra pass. The shots that they did get off, Pat, just very standard saves. They didn't get to the high danger areas enough in this game. They were doing it a little bit before the Evgeny Malkin goal. They were doing it a little bit,

Starting point is 00:22:30 bit at the end of the first period where they started to wake up a little bit. Then when the second period started, they just went back to doing what they were doing for the first half of the first period or held the first two-thirds of the first period. And then Pat Fliers take the lead. And then Malkin, you get to your game a little bit more. You try to string together a couple of other shifts to end the second period. But then the third period happens. And you still go back to doing what you were doing for the most part of the game outside of a few shifts. So again, got to find a way to get to these high danger areas. Another point, just going off of one of your points, I should say, if you do that, you can start working low to high, getting the forecheck going below the dots,

Starting point is 00:23:10 and really just annoying their defensemen. These defensemen can be beaten. Yes, they all had great games last night, but they are beatable. We saw it during the regular season when the Penguins blitz this team twice. But again, let's see how Damu's adjust here. I'm excited to see, man, because he has done a great job coming off losses with this team throughout the year. I'm going to keep trusting him considering the job that he has done with this group. You saw the quotes after the game. They were not happy, but they're ready to go. They want to play this game.

Starting point is 00:23:44 It feels like right now, and we're recording this Sunday evening. We're dropping this episode at midnight. They probably want to play this game right now as we're recording it. But they'll get the rest of this day off. you know, they'll be ready to go. Monday night to try and even up this series. I'm excited, man. Monday night, 7 o'clock PPG paints arena.

Starting point is 00:24:05 Hunter was at game one. He took the L. I'll be at game two. Maybe I can get the vibes back on track for game two. But seven o'clock, PPG paints arena. If they win game two, pet has to go to game five, everyone. That's the rules.

Starting point is 00:24:19 I'll see what I can do. We'll see what my bank account's feeling. But anyway, if you're watching at home in Pittsburgh, SportsNet, Pittsburgh, ESPN, everywhere else around the country. But that is going to do it for this second segment. As Hunter was saying, the vibes were pretty good despite the loss. The Penguins are pretty excited. And Hunter was at practice on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:24:42 We're going to get some practice notes and take a look at some of the games that have happened already in the Stanley Cup playoffs so far. So stick with us. We're going to get into all of that when we come back right after this. We're back here closing out the Monday edition of Locked-on Penguins. I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And our boy, Hunter, as he so often does, gets the boots on the ground for this team. And despite the loss, I will reiterate this, you can tell that this team is poised.

Starting point is 00:25:22 They understand it's one game. They're not lighten their hair on fire. They're not making a bunch of rash decisions. They're not throwing everything out after a pretty magical season. They're just saying, hey, you know what? We lost by one goal. And we lost by one goal when we didn't play our best game. So imagine what happens when we find our game.

Starting point is 00:25:42 But you were at practice, Hunter. What did you see? So a lot of the same types of drills, a lot of two on two work, three on three. The line rushes were exactly the same. So as I said a few minutes ago, I don't think you're going to see too many lines. changes for this game, no changes to the defensive pairings as well. It's so funny, Dem, you said to everyone after practice, yeah, I know which goalie I'm going to start on Monday.

Starting point is 00:26:08 I'm just not going to tell all of you. Dan, I understand what you're doing because you're doing what every coach does this time of year. You're playing mind games. You're not really wanting to admit it to the media, but we all know it's going to be Stewart Skinner. I can't shout him out enough, Pat, for the game that he played on Saturday. He was awesome.

Starting point is 00:26:29 deserves that second start. If they get a similar start from Skinner in this game and they up their overall game by a thousand percent, they'll be totally good. Going back to Philadelphia, aka the Hornets Nest because we all know it is going to be exceptionally loud in that building. It's the first time they've been back in the playoffs,

Starting point is 00:26:49 at least in Philadelphia. I'm not calling it the Ex-Vindic Life Center, man. It's the Wells Fargo Center to me. But the first time for them since 2018, They'll be their first home playoff game in eight years. Remember, Pat, the last time they made it was the COVID-shorten season, so they didn't have home playoff games in Philly. But everyone seemed to be chippy today.

Starting point is 00:27:09 Everyone's having fun. They understand the assignment, of course. They have to go out there and win on Monday. But there were no unexpected absences, anything like that. When I had the chance, I was looking down on my laptop watching the Arsenal Man City game, and then I got sad because Arsenal lost today. and, you know, it's just the Premier League season's getting a little spooky for me right now. But honestly, Pat, not too much else.

Starting point is 00:27:34 They worked on the power play a bit more. They were working on some of the zone entries a little bit. The PK was giving the power play some good work today. So very typical standard stuff at practice. I do, I will say that I do appreciate that they're not panicking because it's one game. It's a lot. It's a one goal loss where they were in it the whole game despite not playing their best. So that kind of tells you that, hey, there's some positive to take away here.

Starting point is 00:28:01 Maybe not a lot, but some. So you don't need to, you know, do the metaphorical clearing of the desk and starting over. You can make some tweaks here and there. But I will say if it doesn't work after the first period, I do want to see that Chinikov, Malkin, Novak line get back together and then reunite Ricard Raquel, Sidney Crosby, and Brian Rust. Because those lines have worked really well. You've got more than enough of a sample size to show you that they work.

Starting point is 00:28:30 But obviously, I am going to give Dan Mews for now the benefit of the doubt because he has pressed every button correctly. So I'll let him cook for a little bit. We'll see what happens. If he serves us a delicious meal, I'll just enjoy it. So we'll keep that there. Obviously, as Hunter said a little bit earlier, we're recording this on Sunday evening. So we are going to miss some of the Sunday games for this little quick. Stanley Cup check in, but let's start with the hate watch series and just get it out of the way.

Starting point is 00:29:03 Carolina, Ottawa, guess what? They played Carolina Ottawa hockey. It was a two nothing hurricanes win. And if you are struggling with insomnia, put that game on, it'll put you to sleep. It was incredibly boring and hard to watch. The crazy one of the day yesterday. Yes, everyone will say the flyers getting the upset in game one. That's fair. But Minnesota, six to one over the Dallas stars. Now, again, everybody's saying it. I had to yell it at my TV because Butcher Gras said it after Carolina won.

Starting point is 00:29:42 Is this the year that they get over the hump and make it to the final? John, it's one. It's one game. They need to win 11 more to get to the Stanley Cup final. Settle down. but this was a dominant win by the wild. I know a lot of the Penguins fans are pretty, you know, down on the team after last night.

Starting point is 00:30:03 How do you all think SARS fans are feeling right now? All that hype going into it, you just get Mero Heiskin and back, and the wild just come in and absolutely dumpster you in your home building. The stars have a lot of adjustments to make. And yeah, I know. They don't have Rupé hints right now. That's really unfortunate.

Starting point is 00:30:20 And, you know, I based my series pick on hastening coming back and hints coming back at some point in this series. I even said stars in seven if they play most of it. It's only been one game. I'm kind of getting a little bit nervous about that pick because, you know, Capriess off was awesome yesterday. Hartman had a good game. Wow, they ran four lines. Their three pairings were great. They got great goaltending as well.

Starting point is 00:30:43 They're going to be a really tough out in this series. This was very much the biggest coin flip series to me going into playoffs. but Minnesota, they showed right away, you know, that this could be different this year. Only one game, but they played the stars very well in Dallas. And Jake Ottinger, not a good performance from him. I've said that if he goes God mode, there's not many goalies that are better than him,

Starting point is 00:31:07 but he's been struggling a bit as of late this year, did not play well on Saturday. You mentioned Carolina, Ottawa. I had that on as kind of background noise as I was cleaning my house before going to the arena for game one. Every time I looked, it felt like

Starting point is 00:31:23 nothing much was happening. You saw that staged fight right off the face off. I'll say this, Pat. And I might get flamed in the comments. Stage fights don't really do much for me. I'm sorry, they really don't.

Starting point is 00:31:34 If you want to flame me in the comments in my DMs, please do it. I just did not care for that fight at all in that game. I don't mind a staged fight if it's with rivals or after a particularly heated game

Starting point is 00:31:49 where you, because here's the thing I'll say. If it's rivals or it's the next game after a really heated game, it's not a deterrent. It's not anything that I think is like going to actually make any big difference. But it's a message to the fans and a message to both teams of like, listen, we're getting this out of the way now because the fans want it. The narrative needs it. we'll let these two guys throw

Starting point is 00:32:21 and then we're going to play hockey because that's what happened in Carolina Ottawa. They did their staged fight and then they played hockey. So in that instance I get it, I think they're dumb overall though. So like in this instance with Carolina Ottawa, you're not exactly rivals.

Starting point is 00:32:37 You didn't have a particularly heated game that I can remember. Maybe they did. So you just do that you get it out of the way, whatever, whatever. But the last thing I'll say for the episode, two quick things. for Dallas. I mean, I think it's both and.

Starting point is 00:32:53 Like Ottinger had a rough night. Also didn't get a ton of help. So. No. But the difference is Ottinger's the kind of goaltender you look at and go, you're a guy who can steal some games. Might be time for Superman to put the cape on. But we'll see.

Starting point is 00:33:08 Lastly, I got to check in on it here real quick, just to make sure I got the correct numbers. But the bracket challenge for Locked on Penguins, you guys have been showing up and showing out as I check it here on Sunday evening. You're not going to have time to join if you're listening to this episode because the brackets did lock at 7 p.m. on Sunday. But more than 70 of you joined our locked on penguins bracket challenge league. Obviously, you get the bragging rights for now if you finish in first. But don't worry, Hunter and I were pound in salt.

Starting point is 00:33:47 finding our people. We're talking to people. We'll figure something out to get you a prize if you win the locked on Penguins Stanley Cup playoffs bracket challenge. But Penguins Flyers game two tonight at PPG Paints Arena, Hunter and I will recap that game in a brand new episode for you on Tuesday as well as cover any other news. And again, take a look around the Stanley Cup playoffs. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always, for tuning in.

Starting point is 00:34:19 And we will talk to you again on Tuesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins DROP GAME ONE to the Flyers, how can they adjust in game two?

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