Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins looking for some southern success against the Predators tonight!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pittsburgh Penguins are set to be back in action tonight against the National Preders. And for today's episode, the Locked On Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to preview that game. Plus, how it looks like Brian Rust is going to return. Your Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:39 I'm one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Dam. You can follow him on Twitter at Cynum for Wet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O 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.

Starting point is 00:00:56 And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper. Download the Sleeper app and use promo code Locked on NHL today up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper's Terms of Use for D. details. So it's a game night here in Pittsburgh. The Penguins will travel to Nashville to play the National Predators, a team that has won five in row after losing 10 of their first 15 games. And I'm going to hand this over to you right away because you kind of see this as a little bit

Starting point is 00:01:24 of a fluke for the Predators. I'm kind of on the same boat. I don't fully know what to make of this team. Yes, Philip Forsberg is off to a tremendous start this season. He has 11 goals and 25 points in 20 games has easily been their best player. Ryan O'Reilly was a really smart pickup by Barry Trots over the offseason. He has 10 goals, 18 points in 20 games, and he's also second on the team in goals. And another fun fact, both Forsberg and O'Reilly, they're the only two players on the predators who have, or excuse me, who have double-digit goals so far this season. It's basically been a two-man show for the Bears.

Starting point is 00:01:58 I mean, Gustav Nyquist has been decent. Roman Yosi, we all know is one of the best defensemen on the planet. But in terms of their scoring, it's mainly been just those. two guys. So I'm just going to hand it over to you because, again, you seem to think this is a little bit of a fluke for their five-game winning streak. Yeah, I put a Superman cape on Philip Foresburg because he has been single-handedly keeping this team afloat. He's great. But you look at the last, the five-game win streak. And it's not a lot of impressive teams. Now, I will couch this and say, you can only play the games that are in front of you and on your schedule. You can't say, hey, Mr. Official, this

Starting point is 00:02:35 stretch of the schedule is not cooked right. Please take it back. These wins don't count. But you look at their five-game win streak. They have beaten in order. Chicago, I know, Penguins lost to them, but we know who they are. Colorado, okay, very good win, very good team. Calgary, St. Louis,

Starting point is 00:02:57 eh, Winnipeg. Like, four of the five games are against teams that, given this Nashville, while it's not totally impressive when you've got a top end of guys like Philip Forsberg, Ryan O'Reilly, Roman Yossi, Gustav Nyquist, and so Romney O'C. Yossi again, UC Soros in net. Those are teams you should beat with the exception of Colorado. Colorado is a very good win. Regardless of how it happened, you get the win over them, you get the win over them.

Starting point is 00:03:26 But I look at this five-game win streak and I'm like, you know what? This is a team that's kind of in the same position as the penguins are right now. They're trying to find an identity. they're trying to figure out who they are, and they're getting some bounces, and they're getting some help where they need to get help. So for the Penguins tonight, you put these rosters up to each other right next to one another. I think you have to give the advantage to the Penguins, and they are a very good candidate to

Starting point is 00:03:53 end this five-game winning streak that Nashville has. I agree. And, you know, I will say Winnipeg is off to at least a decent start this year, 12, 6, and 2, they won't aid the last 10 games, but I'm still not that high on them this year. And that win against Colorado was a very fluky win. The avalanche, it's funny, they had the lead heading into the final minute. They give up the tying goal, and then National scores the game-winning goal 15, 20 seconds later, and they skid out with the two points, and Colorado doesn't even get a point.

Starting point is 00:04:19 Even though it looked like for most of the game, Colorado was going to get the two points, and Nashville was not. That was just a very fluky win in general. And we all know how good UC Soros is. He's one of the best goaltenders on the planet, but this year, I will say he has not played like it. In the month of November especially, he only has an 882 say percentage for the whole year in general. 7 and 9, 3.05 goals against average, 898 say percentage. This is a goalie that can be had right now, but I will also stress the fact to everyone,

Starting point is 00:04:49 he can turn it on at any time. I mean, if you look at his past two starts, he's starting to play like the goalie that, you know, he's what we all know he can play at throughout his career. On the 22nd against Calgary, and that 4-2 win, he was 923 against Winnipeg. a three two win, he was 941. Two very good games from Sorrows, potentially building something after a really slow start to the season, the Penguins are going to have to find ways to really make him move in the net.

Starting point is 00:05:16 Because I know he's a little bit of a smaller and a little bit of a shorter goalie, but he still makes saves after save after save. And again, even though he struggled this season, he is still going to be a tough goalie to beat. Always. And conversely, you look back at what last five games. for the penguins have been. Carolina, legitimate Stanley Cup contender, Vegas, Stanley Cup champions. New York Rangers, arguably, if not for a fact, the best team in the Eastern Conference.

Starting point is 00:05:46 Buffalo, good team that's figuring it out, but not great. Toronto Maple Leafs, another great team in the east. But then, here's the funny part. So if you go to natural stat trick and you just look at the stats for the season and you sort it by expected goals for a percentage. number eight in the national hockey league with a 52.9 percentage, the Nashville Predators. Guess who's number nine? The Pittsburgh Penguins with 52.8. So again, these are two teams that when we are, that are both 20 games through the season and kind of look like mere images of one another. And it's funny, because I was looking at Moneypuck before you brought up

Starting point is 00:06:25 natural statuary. It's basically the same thing. The Penguins are seventh in expecting goals at 53.66%. The Predators 8, 53.65%. And then in terms of the actual goals, the Penguins have 57.4% of those, the Predators at about 52%. Andrew Burnett has them playing more offensive hockey this year. This is not John Hines behind the bench anymore, people, who's just going to lead a more defensive-minded system. We're going to see how he does in Minnesota. And that's a move that I disagree with when it comes to Belmont. I was going to say, we're going to see how John Heinz does behind a bench again because he's got another job. Right. Billy Garon-Cand, Dean Everson, on Monday.

Starting point is 00:07:02 and brought on John Hines to coach the Wild. It's a move that I disagree with, but, you know, I'm not the host of the Lockdown Wild podcast. If you want to learn more about that, go listen to Seth Topal of Lockdown Wild. But Andrew Burnett, we all saw what his team did in Florida before he got canned. They bring a lot of offense. You're seeing that so far this season.

Starting point is 00:07:18 I think Forsberg especially has benefited from Brunette behind the bench and O'Reilly. But, you know, you look at this team. I mean, there's still, even outside of those two big guns, Pat, there is some talent here. I mean, you have Kiefer Sherwood, who's in your top six. Colton Sizzins can still play. You have Tomasino, who I guess is fine. Michael McCarran.

Starting point is 00:07:39 I already talked about Gustav Nyquist. Roman Yossi is on the back end. They have one of the best names in hockey. Evangelista, I believe is how you say it. I hope I did not say that wrong. You can yell at me if I just said that name wrong. Luke Evangelista. I totally screwed that up by accent.

Starting point is 00:07:54 That's my fault. Again, that is one of the greatest last names, I think, in the NHL. You know, again, yeah, Roman Yossi, I mean, Ryan McDonough, he's fine now, but I don't think he's a top pairing defenseman. Tyson Berry can still play. But again, even outside of those top two guns of O'Reilly and Forsberg, there is still some talent here, not as much as other teams, but there are still some decent to good players on this team. Yeah. Especially in Roman Yose's case, he's a all-star. The biggest thing here right now is you look at the comparison for the Penguins of the top. end talent when you've got Brian Russ with 16 points, Eric Carlson with 18, Malkin with 18,

Starting point is 00:08:35 Gensel with 23, Crosby with 24. That's a high-end group that's producing, but then you go over to Nashville, Forsberg with 25, Ryan O'Reilly with 18, Roman Yossi with 15, Nyquist with 15, and then it drops off where Novak and Evangelista have 12, Sisons and Sherwood have 10, and then it starts really dropping off again. So tonight for the Penguins, this isn't so much a matchup of your depth has to be better. This is a simple matchup where your stars have to be better. If your top end guys play better hockey tonight, which again, I said it already, you compare these two rosters side by side and the penguins have the better roster.

Starting point is 00:09:18 They just have to play like it tonight. I agree. I think the top line should be able to feast tonight. I also do want to see the second line start to get some of that mojo back. Kevgeny Malkin has been a bit quiet as of late. So is Riley Smith. I'm hoping that that that changes in this one, because that would be big if the second one could get back to basics a little bit.

Starting point is 00:09:36 But I agree. I think if the top six outperforms Nashville's top six, the Penguins should be able to win this game. And I assume Tristan Jari will start in net. If he continues to play like the good Jari, I think he should be able to out dual UC Soros, but we all know that Saros can turn it up at any time. And he especially has in his last two games.

Starting point is 00:09:54 But I think that would do it if you have anything else to add that. Yeah, there's one thing I wanted to add here real quick for tonight. I'd like to see. And we're going to get into it here in the next segment. Should Brian Rust return, I think the best roster move Sullivan can make is to put Brian Rust back with Crosby and Gensel. And instead of putting DOC back in the bottom six, put him on Malkin's wing. Because I do think Malkin plays pretty well when he has a guy like Riley Smith on his wing.

Starting point is 00:10:25 the guy on his right, if he is just a blue collar fast hard worker on the forecheck, it's going to help his wing a lot more. So I think DOC would actually do pretty darn well because he is very much a poor man's Brian Rust, and I mean very much a poor man's Brian Rust. But I think if you put him on that line, it will help jumpstart his game and get Smith and Malkin back on track. Right. I wouldn't mind that per se just because I haven't seen anything from Alex Nealander to, I guess, have him warrant a spot in the top six right now.

Starting point is 00:10:57 And I understand Ryan Russ has been out. Rickel is out longer term. You don't have that many options right now. But Alex Neander just hasn't done the job on Malkins Wing. So if you do want to maybe move him down the lineup a little bit to the third or fourth line and then put O'Connor on the second line who had a really good game against Toronto over the weekend, I don't think I would mind it that much. I think I would rather have O'Connor than Nealander on the second line in general.

Starting point is 00:11:20 But that would do it for this first segment. And coming up in the second segment, Pat and I are going to get into the big news regarding Brian Russ and whether he's going to return tonight. Plus, how the Penguins, they did make some more personnel changes to the power play, but we'll have to see if those actually translate to some results. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper, which is the official daily fantasy app of the locked on and its own network. Sleeper is a number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey

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Starting point is 00:12:29 big. Use promo code Locked on NHL and you'll get up to a $100 match on your first deposit, terms and condition supply. That's code Locked on NHL, C-Sle ther's terms of use for details in locational availability. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by Mikeos, Patrick Dan. So it looks like the penguins are going to be getting some help on the injury front tonight, Brian Russ. Looks like he's going to be returning from his lower body injury, practiced fully on Monday. I didn't see line rushes tweeted out, but if they did do line rushes,

Starting point is 00:13:03 I'm sure he was up in his usual spot with Sidney Crosby. He was also taking rushes with the power play as well. We'll get to that a little bit later. But, man, Pat, this is very welcome news for the Penguins considering his start to the season and how much he has meant to the team. Yeah, you can't discount his start. because a lot of us talked about it with this season and how he had to bounce back. And while a lot of people kind of were getting into the discussion of whether or not Brian

Starting point is 00:13:29 Rustle still has it, if we can give ourselves some snaps and collapse here, both of us kind of said last year was an anomaly. His shooting percentage was in the toilet. He was getting the same amount of, basically the same amount of chances the puck just wasn't going in. And then this year starts off nine goals, 16 points plus 10 before he gets hurt. and he only misses a handful of games. So assuming he plays tonight, which I think all signs point to it, you usually aren't a full participant in practice.

Starting point is 00:13:58 And then on a top power play unit, if you're not ready to go. Now, we could very much be wrong. Maybe they're just easing him back in and getting him some reps before he plays again. Who knows. But I think all signs point to him returning. And the biggest thing for me is I think at this point, you put them on that top power play unit.

Starting point is 00:14:16 just there's no more there's there's what do you have to lose basically right and speaking of that we'll just get into that right now the penguins they did make some more changes to the personnel on their power play unit that crosbie malkins split pat that lasted about one or two games as expect i mean i was down for trying it even though i haven't been that much of a fan of it but i just wanted to be like okay you got to throw them into a blender to see what happens this didn't work so they kind of went back to basics a little bit first power play right now er carlson sending Crosby of any Malkin, Jake Gensel, and Ryan Russ. I'm fine with Ryan Russ being there.

Starting point is 00:14:52 Riley Smith gave it a spark for at least a game or two, but he's been cold as of late. I have no problem taking him off that top paraplegal unit. You add Ryan Russ there, someone who has scored quite a few goals for the Penguins this season. That's fine because he has a shoot-first mentality when he is on the power play, which is something that, let's face it, a lot of these other players on that top power play unit right now, they don't have the shoot-first mentality. It always feels that the Penguins are looking for that perfect play when the power play is out there.

Starting point is 00:15:20 And if Russ can, I guess, maybe, I don't know, take charge on the power play, even though he's not quarterbacking it, maybe that'll lead to some of the other players, you know, shooting it when they actually have the chance to. So I'm fine with Rust up there. It's looking good for me. What do you think about it? It's what ails this power play, I think. Add on what you said about him having a shoot first mentality as a player in this power play

Starting point is 00:15:43 missing a shoot first mentality. It is what ails this power play unit. I also, I want to add in the fact that it's what I've said about this power play on Twitter and on this podcast. They play like they're entitled to goals. They play like they're going to jump over the boards and the other team's going to go, well, it's the Peguant's top power play unit, a lot of talent there. I guess we should just lay down and quit.

Starting point is 00:16:11 And that obviously doesn't happen. that's not Brian Russ game. It never has been Brian Russ game. Brian Rust, despite having a scoring touch and making himself into a top six winger, Brian Russ is a blue collar player at heart. That dude works his ass off every time he's on the ice. That guy is shot out of a cannon every time he's on the ice. And he'll go to the front of the net to get rebounds. He'll go to the front of the net with the puck to try to make a move and score a goal. And that is what this power play has been lacking. It's an extremely perimeter passive power play. And when you have this much talent, there needs to be aggression. There needs to be a willingness to shoot. There needs to be a

Starting point is 00:16:52 willingness to just have that killer instinct to say, we are better than you. We're going to score. And we haven't seen that yet. Inject a player like Brian Rust onto this top unit. And it's not a cure-all, but it's certainly something that I think could help. And for Brian Russ on the power play, would you stick his butt right in the front of the net and have him as a net front presence? Because let's face it, I haven't seen enough from Jake Gensel this year being in the net front. I think he's honestly better used as a sniper. But I would potentially look at parking rust in front of the net and see what he can do with deflections in Sweden and the goalie and all this stuff.

Starting point is 00:17:30 Obviously it sucks that they don't have that Patrick Hornquist type. And speaking of Patrick Hornquist, we're going to discuss him in the final segment. but I honestly, I would use Rust as a net front guy just to see what he can do in that situation. I mean, again, don't run the 131 anymore. Run an overload. Run an overload and put Brian Rust in front and just put Jake Gensel in the slot and put him in a position to shoot and put Evgeny Malkin on the wall as an outlet, put Eric Carlson up top and keep Crosby as your quote unquote behind the net general.

Starting point is 00:18:05 and just overload and shoot this thing because your one three one's not working. It just isn't. So at this point, as always, I love to say go back to basics, keep it simple, and try to fix what's ailing this power play. I don't think they have the will or the skill to play this one three one anymore. So stop bashing your head against the wall and trying to make it work. Simplify your game and get back to something that might work. And yeah, just going off what you said, I think that would also require Ty Rood in making adjustments to his system for the powerplay.

Starting point is 00:18:39 But based on what he's done so far this season, I don't know if he's really willing to adjust. And just to put out what the second power play was during practice on Monday, Chris LaTang, Riley Smith, Alex Nealander, Jeff Carter, redeems a hornah. I still find it funny that Jeff Carter's on the second power pole unit. But if you park his butt in front of the net, I'm sure you can maybe score a goal or two at some point, even though he's not really doing much else on that unit. But I think that will do it for this second segment of today's show. coming up to end the Tuesday episode of the Walkdown Penguins podcast, we're going to discuss

Starting point is 00:19:08 Patrick Hornquist and how the Penguins and the Florida Panthers are going to be honoring him in just over a week. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Collective. If you're running a solo small business, you're an army of one, but you still need a CPA, bookkeeper, separate payroll solution, and more. Let Collective take care of the paperwork while you take care of business. Collective is the number one financial solution for freelancers, contractors, and self-employed entrepreneurs, but let us focus on your passion, not your paperwork. Let Collective handle all the paperwork you dread like corporate formation and compliance, taxes, bookkeeping, accounting, and even payroll.

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Starting point is 00:20:09 Remember, tell them locked-on NHL sent you. One more time, that's collective.com slash locked-on NHL and tell them locked-on NHL send you. All right, we're back here on this edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm Hunter Hodes. Join my Mikeos, Patrick Dam. So really cool announcement was made on Monday by both the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Florida Panthers.

Starting point is 00:20:31 both teams are going to be honoring the one and only Patril Hornquist on December 8th down in sunrise for a retirement ceremony for the legendary penguin. I'm so happy about this, man. I love that the Panthers decided to do this when the Penguins come to town on December 8th. I thought that's just very fitting for the situation considering how much success Hornquist had with the Penguins. The Penguins do not win those two Stanley Cups in 16 and 17 without him. And I'm just going to be so happy watching that ceremony. knowing what he did for this franchise when he was here. I mean, if you're watching this episode on YouTube, you see it.

Starting point is 00:21:09 Like, I can't keep the smile off of my face because how do you not love this guy? And it's fitting not just because, obviously, Florida was the last team he played for and then Pittsburgh before that. It's fitting because he did the same thing for both teams. he really helped reshape teams that needed a reset in culture. The Florida Panthers up until he showed up, and while the seeds were being planted, until he showed up, that team just didn't have a direction.

Starting point is 00:21:43 They were starting to figure it out. They were starting to get pieces in place. They finally have a stable ownership in front office that are actually committed to pushing this team forward and getting better. And the same thing happened with the penguins. before they traded Neil to Nashville to get Patrick Hornquist, this team was kind of soft. They were kind of divas.

Starting point is 00:22:09 They were broken, to be honest. They were broken. They always complain into the referees, all this kind of, like a skilled team that didn't have any bite. And then Patrick Hornquist comes in and gives them exactly what they need. And the guy just, you look at the guy, the interviews that everybody gives about this guy,

Starting point is 00:22:33 incredibly positive, upbeat, great in the locker room, but as soon as his skates touch the ice, he is going to kick your ass. If you're not wearing the same jersey as him and you get in his way, he's not skating around you. He's skating through you. And you watched all the miced up segments of him from those Stanley Cup runs. from the moment he walks out of the locker room to the moment the final buzzer rings,

Starting point is 00:23:00 he does not stop. Yeah. And he was exactly what the doctor ordered for both teams. And like, he's not a guy whose number you're going to retire. He wasn't that great. But he's a guy who if you have a ring of honor or a hall of honor or anything like that, he should immediately be placed in it. Absolutely.

Starting point is 00:23:23 I 100% agree. And outside of his play on the ice and I'll get that in just a second. He was such a great leader for the Penguins in that locker room when I think the Penguins really desperately needed another leader in that locker room. Outside of the Corps three, they needed someone else in there who could really speak up when needed to. And Hornquist was that guy. I mean, I saw so many media availability when he would always send a message to the team, fans, whoever, when the team was struggling a little bit. and he was always knew exactly what to say in the situations. And then obviously when you go out onto the ice,

Starting point is 00:23:59 you take a beating like he did in front of the net. And you know what? He shrugged it off and he's like, you know what? I don't care. I'm still going to score from that area. And the way that he pissed off so many opposing fans, so many opposing players by parking his butt right in front of the net and just taking wax at the goalies, wax at players right there,

Starting point is 00:24:18 and scoring and all this other stuff. It was a sight to behold, honestly. And the Penguins, to this day, ever since he left, they still miss that on the power play and at five on five. They have not replaced Patrick Hornquist since he left. And I know it's easier said than done, but they haven't even come close to doing it. It just goes to show how great of a job he did at parking his button from the net.

Starting point is 00:24:43 He was a modern-day Thomas Holmstrom, in my opinion, and he played like it. Yeah, that's the funniest thing, is everybody loves to say they haven't replaced him since he left. I don't know if you can because they don't make them like Patrick Hornquist much anymore. And to what you were saying about the way he parked himself in front of the net, I'm fairly certain even though his life is going pretty well and things are going well for him on TNT.

Starting point is 00:25:07 I think Henrik Lunquist still sees Patrick Hornquist in his nightmares. Because he tortured Lundquist for years. And my favorite Patrick Hornquist story of all, just to show how intense and how real of a human being he was, was when he scored that goal in Nashville to win the Stanley Cup. And Sullivan tapped him on the shoulder to get him out there for the last shift for the empty net. And he just straight up turned around and went, I can't. I don't have it in me.

Starting point is 00:25:38 I'm too emotional right now. I will not be a good enough player for you. And they didn't put them out. But just because just to put it in perspective, Like it's not just because he scored a Stanley Cup of what ended up being a Stanley Cup winning goal. He scored it against the franchise that drafted him as Mr. Irrelevant. He was the absolute last pick in that draft. And it was in Nashville.

Starting point is 00:26:04 And it was right there. It was just a perfect ending to that series. And just like I have missed having him as a penguin since he left. And it's pretty much impossible to replace a player like Patrick Hornquist. I agree. You can't, it's super hard to replace him on ice in the locker room, off the ice, all that good stuff. They are still missing him to this day. And I think they're going to miss him for a very long time.

Starting point is 00:26:38 So that night's going to be a lot of fun. December 8th, down in the sunrise, Patrick Hornquist's retirement ceremony. I hope everyone is watching that. And, you know, maybe some fans may shed a few tears. because of how much he meant to the Penguins organization during the Crosby Malkin. Let's Hang era. But that would do it, I think, for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Really appreciate all of you listening to slash watching this one.

Starting point is 00:26:58 Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday to recap the game against the fighters and then get you all set for the games later on this week. But again, that would do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to slash watching this one. And we'll be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins looking for some southern success against the Predators tonight!

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