Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins forward Bryan Rust puts on his best villain act!

Episode Date: May 30, 2024

Pittsburgh Penguins forward Bryan Rust had a lot to say during a Wednesday interview with Twitch streamer Ninja and that's where Hunter and Pat start today's episode. They discuss how Rust said the Penguins would beat the Rangers and whether he's actually right about that. They also look at whether he should've said it in the first place before diving into how he seemed to take a small shot at Todd Reirden when he was discussing the power play. They also get into his comments about how he hates the Florida Panthers before moving on to discuss how the city of Pittsburgh could hopefully get a big NHL event in the future. Finally, they discuss the NHL's Conference Finals and how these are two great series so far.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply.FanDuelFanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook. Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning GUARANTEED That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – with any winning FIVE DOLLAR BET! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Penguins Ford, Brian Russ, got a bit spicy during an interview on Wednesday with Ninja, and Pat and I are going to get a bit spicy on this show right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Damp. can follow him on Twitter at SonomforWed, and you can follow the shows, Twitter, at

LO underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by GameTime, down the GameTime app, create an account and use code locked on NHL for $20 off of your first purchase. Terms apply. So Brian Rust had quite a bit to say during a Wednesday interview with Twitch streamer Ninja. For those that do not know who Ninja is, he is a very popular video game streamer on Twitch.

He does stuff on YouTube. He's done stuff on other platforms as well. And in summary, he blew up during chapter one of Fortnite. He still streams the game to this day. The game is not nearly as good right now as it used to be back in the day, but I digress. I'm not going to go into a massive rant about Fortnite, even though I still play the game quite often. But he was a guest, Brian Russ, that is, on Ninja's sports podcast with his two brothers. And they were talking about all. a whole bunch of different things relating to the NHL. And one of the questions Rust was asked was about whether the penguins would have beaten the Rangers if they had gotten in over the Washington Capitals.

And Russ said with full confidence that he thinks they would have beaten the Rangers. Now, Brian, I admire your confidence, to say the least. I think you're wrong, but I at least admire the confidence in saying that. I know it pissed off the fine folks in New York, but honestly, what doesn't piss off the fine folks in New York at this point? but I just admire him being confident in the team, even though they didn't get in. That said, I still don't think he probably should have said it. I think that's probably something you keep to yourself just because the penguins did not get in the playoffs,

and the capitals did. And yes, I know the capitals got swept, and the penguins maybe would have put up a better fight than that. And Rust even said the Red Wings, he thinks, would have put up a better fight than the capitals. But that's still just something you probably want to keep to yourself overall. Again, I admire the confidence. I admire him saying it, but just maybe next time, keep it to yourself. I have a lot of thoughts on this, and I'm going to try to keep them as concise as I can, because it's pretty far ranging for me at this point.

One, like you said, Riling up Rangers fans is not that hard anymore. I have been the victim of Twitter pylons multiple times in this postseason, alone, including having some fun with Rust's quote earlier today, just kind of saying that I think he's right and he should have said it louder, even though I'm joking. I'm with you. I don't think they beat the Rangers. Then there's the other thing for me, before I get into the actual hockey of it, the NHL needs more of this, man. This is what makes sports fun. I say this all the time. At the end of the day, sports are still entertainment. Yes, it's competition. It's the highest level. Yes, it's elite athletes who have worked their entire lives to reach the

pinnacle of the sport. But as an entire overarching entity, it's still entertainment. And you look at one of the biggest leagues in the world in the second biggest league in the United States, it's the NBA. And this is what these guys do all the time. They go out one another all the time, whether it's podcasts, interviews, Twitch, Instagram Live, you name it. But that drama is what brings people in. You want to see how teams and players respond to getting trash talk away from the court. And in the NHL, it's so vanilla. It's so boring. It's, you know, oh, we, we like those guys. We respect their game and we think they're a great team, but we're a great team too. And we're going to do our bet. Like, we need more of the, we need like to borrow a term from wrestling.

We need more heels. We need more guys who are going to. He's being a good villain. Yeah. The guys are going to grab the mic and say like, no, we would have been. you, but I digress on that anyway. Into the hockey of it, I do actually understand his logic. Like there is something to be said for teams that match up well against one another. And I do think the penguins matched up pretty well with the Rangers, all things considered this season. But at the end of the day, he hit on something that's very true.

The Penguins power play, to use his words, was trash all season long. And we have seen, especially with the New York Rangers in this postseason, special teams plays a gigantic factor in success or failure in the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I don't think after game 82, a switch would have magically been flipped in this power play would have figured it out. So I do think they would have put up a better fight. I do think it wasn't the worst matchup for the penguins. But at the end of the day, I keep saying it, this Rangers team is a wagon. and there was no world where the penguins were going to beat them. Yeah, I mean, I think the penguins maybe would have won a game, maybe two,

against the Rangers, but they were not going to win that series at all. I mean, you saw how good the Rangers were in the playoffs in these first two rounds and how still they're playing pretty well in the conference final. I think the Panthers have been the better team through these first four games, but this is still one heck of a series, more on that a little bit later in the show. But the Rangers literally sleptwalked through an entire series against the Capitals. they were destroying the hurricanes for the first three games of that series for the hurricanes at least made it a series later on,

but the Rangers were still the better team over the hurricanes. I don't think the Penguins were going to go in there and beat this Rangers team four out of seven times. And I do like how honest Rust was while discussing the powerplay. I think that was at least a shot at Todd Reardon for how bad the power play was. You can maybe argue that it was a shot at some of the other core players, but I think it was mostly a shot at Reardon just because they finished 31st in the league and power play percentage.

And he even said, yeah, if we had our special teams in order, I think we could have given them one heck of a fight. I mean, sure, just because I think the Penguins at five-on-five match up a bit better against the Rangers than other teams. But I don't know if I would fully trust the Penguins penalty kill even against that red hot Rangers power play. I know the Penguins' PK was pretty decent throughout the season. It was a top 10 unit for most of the season.

But would I rely on it to really shut down that Rangers power play, probably not. And I'm sure as hell not going to rely on the Penguins power play to score against the Rangers penalty kill, which has been one of the best penalty kills in the Stanley Cup playoffs to date. So I think he was just a little bit off with some of his comments, but I also think he was brutally honest with some of them as well. And then one of the other things I left out of my little mini rant there was what else is he supposed to say? Like is he supposed to come out and be like, yeah, actually our team sucks and we didn't deserve to be in and we're not going to be to anybody. We're awful.

We're one of the worst teams in the league. No, he's going to go up there and fight for his boys and defend his boys. And it's what you and I have talked about this off season. His maturation into becoming a leader on this group with this group. And he's not going to go on the most followed Twitch streamers account and say, actually, my team sucks. There's nothing exciting about it. Because that's the other thing, too.

This is a way to be an ambassador for the sport. Because of all the people that follow Ninja on Twitch, not many of them are probably hockey fans. This is not a very popular North American sport. Yes, you and I and our listeners, we kill ourselves with this team. We pour over everything and we look for every piece of content with hockey. But we are the top 1% of the 1% when it comes to fans,

because not everybody does that. So if he goes up there and says, hey, like, you see how there's this team making their way through the Stanley Cup playoffs? It was the best team in the regular season. My team could have taken them on. That's going to peak some interest. People are going to go, you know what,

maybe I should check out this Brian Rust guy in the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League. So in aggregate, I think it's a good thing what he did, even if it's a little silly and it riled up a bunch of people. But in the aggregate, when you're trying to grow the sport, get new eyes on it. it this is a way to do it right i mean it is a good villain arc overall i think that's going to make these rangers penguins matchups even better for next season i can't believe i'm even saying that because

those matchups right now are must watch tv i think even next year it's going to be even more must watch tv overall he also went into who one of his most hated teams are and that's the florida panthers he said because they have a bunch of ratty players and when he was asked to explain that he said yeah it's a bunch of players that take some cheap shots after the whistle and so on and so forth. And it's like, well, Brian, don't be surprised if this front office tries to copy a little bit of what the Panthers do because the Penguins, let's be honest, they need more of those type of players. They have one in Bunting, but I think they could use another one or two. We've discussed that a few times on the show during the off season.

And I know he may not like the Panthers because of that, but I think he's going to go to like the Penguins even more if Kyle Dubas is. company go out there and get a player or two like the Panthers have. It's the classic guy you hate when you play against them and you love them when you play with them. And we've been saying it all off season. We're in pretty much agreement on it. They need to copy that blueprint a little bit.

They don't need to become the Florida Panthers. They don't need to stock the system full of rats because we know how this organization operates. They love their top end talent. They love being a team that can score. but they do need to get back to some of the ways they were in 16, 17, and 18, where you know if you're going to play the Pittsburgh Penguins, you're in for a long night. Your defensemen know that there's always going to be somebody throwing the body on the forecheck.

You know that if you're going to try to carry it through the neutral zone, you're going to pay a price. You know the front of your own net is going to be a war zone because somebody is always going to be there trying to impede your goalie and move you and goad you into a penalty. Penguins need a little bit more of that rat. in their lineup. And I think like you said, if this front office goes out and gets a couple of those guys, Brian Russell will probably become good friends with them. I definitely think so as well.

He also discussed quite a few other topics on the show. But if you want to check that out, you can go to Ninja's Twitch stream. I think it's at like the five and a half hour mark, timestamp, give or take. Before that, it's just a bunch of Fortnite players. So if you want to watch Fortnite turning a GTA online, because that's what this season is with a bunch of overpowered cars, well you can go do that as well there's my mini fortnight man for this today's episode of the show but that would do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment could pittsburgh get a big n-h-l event at some point over the next few years well pat and i are going to discuss that but before we get to that we have to tell you all about our first sponsor and that is game time it makes getting

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All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host Patrick Dam. So Pittsburgh is at least getting one big sporting event over these next couple of years. The 26 NFL draft will be held in Pittsburgh, and this city is going to turn into an absolute zoo for that in a couple of years. But that got us thinking, when will Pittsburgh have a big NHL event like that? The city of Pittsburgh has not hosted an NHL draft since 2012, and the city has also not hosted an NHL All-Star game since, 1990. That's the one that really annoys me the most. How do you have Sidney Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, and Chris LaTang all in the prime of their careers, and you don't even give

them an NHL All-Star game in Pittsburgh? I feel like the NHL has really bungled that numerous times over the last several years. We might get to a point that these three players will retire without having an NHL All-Star game here. And I know the All-Star game is not nearly what used to be. I kind of get bored watching part of it. But it's still an opportunity for you to showcase the city, showcase the fans, showcase everything about Pittsburgh. And for some reason, the NHL just won't give an all-star game to Pittsburgh. So why do you think that is? A couple thoughts on that. One, I think the time has passed for there to be another all-star game in Pittsburgh. Like you said, it hasn't happened since 1990, back at the old then Civic Arena.

And it would have been better in the first couple years of then-K-energy Center now, PPG paints arena, because it was the brand new shiny toy. It was opened in 2010. You could have had it any time, I think, between 2010 and 2014-15, I guess, the first five years of the arena, but now this arena is over a decade old. It's not really the new toy anymore. Also, and this is more of a, in this, you know, to kind of give our listeners a little bit of a tease, we're going to have a fun episode tomorrow kind of talking about some stuff we would change about the league and the sport and all that. But I also don't think that they need to keep doing this rotating all-star game thing that they do where you have it in a bunch of different places,

everybody gets one. Mostly everybody gets one. If you want to make the NHL All-Star game fun again, if you want to make it something that all the players go to and guys don't suddenly, oh, my hamstring sore, I can't go to the All-Star game this year. You can't have it in places like Pittsburgh.

I love this town. I love living here. I love being from here. But it's not a destination. The NHL should, the NHL All-Star game should be in Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Tampa, Florida, Nashville,

and that's really. it because they have one going to freaking long island pretty soon. Right. Like you want to have it in places that players want to go. You want to have it in places where it's not, oh, God, I got to go to Ottawa. I got to go to Pittsburgh. Do people want to go to Long Island though? I'm not trying to be mean, but come on.

That's what I'm saying. Like you want to have it because you look at things like the NBA All-Star game, even the Pro Bowl a little bit. They are in destinations where people want to go to where players want to take their families, young players want to go because they know they can go party. Like, don't me wrong. Carson Street's fun, but I don't think a bunch of NHL players want to go out on Carson Street after the NHL skills competition.

Okay. That's at least fair because Carson Street, I feel like here it's mainly just for a lot of college kids to people kind of around my age, to be honest. I don't think a good chunk of NHL players would want to do that. I mean, there's still some bars downtown, but yeah, I understand. your point is my counterpoint I didn't mean to interrupt was that 2026 the all-star game is going to long island i don't mean to be rude but i don't think that's like a oh my god a massive destination i mean would people really want to go there i mean sure you got some beaches there i guess i don't know

too much about the bar scene overall obviously on long island but i think it's just kind of similar to you know how you're talking about pittsburgh where i mean if you if you're going to give the islanders an All-Star weekend. And on Long Island, Belmont, you can give one to Pittsburgh. I think that's fair. Oh, for sure. But that's just kind of my overarching point is that if you want this to become a fun event again for the NHL, it should only be in a handful of places. Nashville, Vegas, New York City, Los Angeles, maybe even Seattle. But like, bigger cities with bigger things to do and more to do in places that people want to go. Like again, I know I'm denigrating my own hometown,

but at this point, like, it's not a destination. It's fun. They're things to do. But the difference is, too, with the NFL draft, is that this is going to take over the entire city. It's not just going to be, it's not just going to be Accresher Stadium.

It's going to be Acrester Stadium. It's going to be stage A.E. It's going to be the North Shore. It's going to be the point. It's going to be. all-encompassing, and you can't really do that with an All-Star game. I mean, can you imagine what To Kill a Cowboy is going to look like for the NFL draft in two years? I think it's going to be a zoo there.

It's going to be funny. There is one thing I want to do before we wrap up this segment. Go ahead. I said I was going to do this before we hit record. Luckily, I don't think you've cheated. I hope not. But as Hunter said, 2012 NHL Entry draft was held at Consul Energy Center. And here's a fun fact I looked up before we started.

In the first round of the 2012 NHL draft, there were seven players selected, all of whom have played for the penguins. Can you name them? I'm going to try my best. So obviously Derek Puliott, that's the easiest one. I believe Alex Galcanyuk is another. That's another. Olimata, if I recall correctly, was in the 2012 NHL draft. You are three for three.

Cody Cici was in there as well. Four for four. She got three left. And when I first looked this up, I thought it was six and then I missed a name, but it's seven. Four. I'm trying to think. Man, this is tough. So I got four of them so far.

I want to say another is Mike Matheson. There you go. It's five. So you got two to go. And it is two forwards. That's the hint that I will give you. I'm hoping people are screaming at their radio right now that know it. Tanner Pearson.

I remember you. There you go. You got one more. I forget the other one. The last one, taken 21st overall by the Calgary Flames, Mark Jankowski. Oh my God.

I totally forgot that he was honestly a member of the Penguins a couple years ago. That's just how ineffective he was in the bottom six. But yeah, I mean, like, that was something that even like I didn't know until today. I was, we're getting ready for the show doing our prep.

And I would like, pulled up the 2012 NHL draft one, because I wanted to ran. about Philip Foresburg still being available when the penguins ultimately took Derek Pooley out at 8. And then I was like, wait a minute. There is a laundry list of former penguins on this first round that have played with the team. I'm glad I was able to get most of them. I just, I knew I was going to mess up at least one. I'm actually surprised I got sex to be honest. Yeah, that was a great effort. I tried. I try at least. But I think that would do it for this second

segment of today's show. Coming up in the final segment, Pat and I are going to discuss the NHL's conference finals and how both of these series are must watch for every NHL fan that's coming up right after this. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host Patrick Dam. So both Euler stars and Rangers Panthers are tied to two in their respective series. They're going at least six games, but I'm hoping that we get seven games for both of these series just because that's how slim the margins are between.

these four teams. Any one of these four teams can win the Stanley Cup at this point. I would not be surprised if any of them just based on the way they've played overall. The Oilers in particular have really surprised me in the series, especially with the way they've defended. They've done a great job on the Stars Fores. They've done a great job on Heiskenen. They've also done a really good job getting to Jake Ottinger's kitchen, especially in Game 4. He had a really bad game after the Stars went up to nothing. And Ottinger is going to really have to be. bounce back in game five in Dallas. But I'm just liking the style of the Oilers play.

McDavid's been all over the ice. You saw Dryside'll wake up in game four. Wouchard is starting to cook a little bit more after being great in the first two rounds. I think he was limited a little bit in the first three games. Hyman's been great. But they're also getting depth scoring. When you're getting goals from McLeod, Matias Janmark of all people in 2024,

you're doing something right. And the Oilers' depth has been really able to help out the star talent. And that's a major reason why this series. is tied right now. They're given the stars one heck of a fight. Well, and I got to give full marks to head coach Chris Knoblock because when they announced the, or not announced, but hinted in the lead up to the game that he was going to make a bunch of lineup changes going into that game, it looked like a panic move. It looked like, oh God, they are out of answers. They're going to do, they're going to already throw their hell Mary only being down to one in the series. And what do you

No, it worked. Five unanswered to win that game. And that is just the case of, I don't know if I'm ready to call him one of the better coaches in the NHL or if he's just on a hot streak. But that's a guy who's feeling himself. He is making tough decisions with the lineup and he's pushing all the right buttons because before game four, there was a real talk that maybe the Oilers are cooked and maybe not even so much that the Oilers are cooked. there was a great piece in the athletic about the Dallas Stars that kind of talked about their fine line between confidence and arrogance.

But they have just been this team all playoff long to where no matter the circumstance, no matter the game, no matter the result, they think they are right there. They think they are the team. And it looked like that was going to continue in the first period of last night's game. And then Edmonton woke up. the stars were dominating them in those first 10 minutes. I mean, they go up to you nothing. Skinner does not look good.

He looks really shaky. He looks really nervous. The broadcast actually cut to a fan who was like, nope, get them out of there, please. But I like how Chris Knoblock was like, you know what? I'm going to calm everyone down. I'm not going to pull Skinner for the backup.

And he kept him in. And again, he calmed the team down. And they were able to go full pedal to the medal and dominate the stars for the final 50 minutes. It was a really nice performance from the Oilers. And now it's the best of three stars have home ice, but that really hasn't mattered that much in this series so far. As for Panthers, Rangers, I'll say this.

I think the Panthers have been the better team in three of the four games in this series. I think the Rangers in a way are a little bit lucky to be tied to two right now, but that also can happen when you have the best goal to earn the planet. And the Rangers do right now in Igor Shisirkin. He is, I think, the biggest reason why this series is tied to to you right now. The saves that he made in game three to help the Rangers steal one at sunrise was spectacular, especially in the third period. He was trying to do that again in game four.

And I had the thought going into overtime, oh my God, the Rangers are going to do this again. They're going to continue to have that vibe of a team of destiny. But the panders get a power play. And Sam Reinhardt gets the game winning goal to send this series back to MSG tied. But I'll say this for the Rangers. They're getting the contribution from Shisterkin. They're getting goals from Barclay Goddrave all people who didn't even have six goals during the regular season.

They're getting a goal from Alexander Wenberg, who I think has been a decent acquisition. But they still need to get their big dogs rolling. Zabedad has been a ghost. Panarin, he hasn't been as much of a ghost, but he still needs to be better. Chris Kreider's got to be better. I loved what Matthew Kuch said about how him throwing his mouth guard was the best thing he did all game in game four. And he's not wrong.

but how do you respond from that? How are you going to come back from that on your home ice in game five on Thursday night? I'm going to be watching that for sure. But I think it's past time for the Rangers big dogs to show up because I'm not sure they can win two more games in this series if it's just a couple of debt players, including Alexei Lafran year and Igor Shisirkin just showing up against Florida's big dogs. Yeah, you beat me to it because that's what I was going to say about this series. The Rangers are still in it because, yes, they stole game three.

because of a marvelous performance from Shasturkin. And they have been buoyed by him being great and their depth players stepping up. But we all know, like, yes, you need your depth players to step up, but they need to be a supplement to your big guns carrying the load. And Florida's big guns have been all over this series. They have put their mark squarely on this series. Meanwhile, not a lot from Zabenejad, not a lot from Zabenejad, not a lot from Panarin, not a lot from Kreider, not a lot from Adam Fox.

And maybe they can steal the series because of Shasturkin, but given the way the first four games have played out in the type of hockey, the Florida Panthers make you play, that is a serious roll of the dice. And I don't think it's out of the realm of possibilities that they could steal the series without their big guns coming up big for them, but it's highly unlikely. So for the Rangers to put the Panthers on the brink tonight,

the big guys have to show up tonight, or it could be a real chance that the president's trophy winners are out in six. And I know this is very obvious, but the Rangers need a lot more offensive zone time. It can't just be one and done. You're dumping it in from the red line because that's what it was. It felt like for 40 minutes of game four. in sunrise. The Rangers really couldn't get

anything going in the offensive zone. They felt like they had only one or two chances in the third period, and that was it. They need to actually get their cycle game going. They need dump and chase a little bit more. And I know that kind of goes against what the Rangers philosophy is. They like scoring in transition. They like these kind of

plays in the offensive zone where they score on like their one or two chances. But they got to get their four check going if they really want to win this or reason. That does start with the big dogs overall. So game five tonight. Oh, go one last thing on the series. That's the other thing about what you were just saying is the way the Rangers are playing,

at least in my estimation, is a little unsustainable because everyone's talking about shot attempts and everything that Florida is doing. Here's the flip side of that, because everybody points a game three goes, oh, shot attempts, L.O.L. They got the win. Who cares? Rangers are blocking a lot of shots. Rangers are spending a lot of time. in their defensive zone. You get to game six and seven playing that kind of hockey. They are going to be dog tired.

And that is going to open the door for Florida. So there has to be pushed back from the Rangers. Or even if they push this thing to six and seven, their defenders and their depth players are going to be exhausted. Agreed. Yeah, I don't think I can disagree with any of that. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one.

Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Friday. And yes, it's going to be a fun type of episode to end your week this weekend to close out the month of May. And don't worry, my friends, I think June, it's going to start getting at least a little bit busier for Penguins News overall. But that'll do it again for this episode. Thank you all so much for listening slash watching for Patrick Damp. I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We'll talk with you all on Friday.