Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins looking to rebound on Marshall Monday!

Episode Date: December 23, 2024

Marshall Monday returns as Jesse Marshall is back on the Locked On Penguins podcast to discuss all things Pittsburgh Penguins. It's only him and Hunter for this show since Pat is on the road but they start with a recap of Saturday's game against the New Jersey Devils. They discuss how the Devils showed they are the better team and how great of a job they did in shutting down the Penguins before getting to a conversation about Owen Pickering getting a concussion. They discuss what it means for the defense going forward before having a funny conversation about the Buffalo Gravy Boat. Finally, they preview Monday's matchup against the Philadelphia Flyers and what the Penguins need to do to secure a victory and two big points. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET ! Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins two-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils, but they'll have a chance to make it three wins in their last four games tonight against the Philadelphia Flyers. Chessie Marshall is back for Marshall Monday to break it all down right after this. Your Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Usually I'm joined by my co-s, Patrick Dampe. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Center for Web. But he's driving to Philadelphia right now to see his family for Christmas. We try to get him on for a Elliott Friedman edition, car edition of the show, but, you know, just didn't want to really lose his connection on the turnpike. And, well, you know, we want to be safe, of course, here on this podcast. He will be back with another episode with me on Tuesday. But joining us once again for Marshall Monday is the man, the myth, the legend,

himself, Jesse Marshall. Jesse, I hope you're on the holiday spirit today. Yeah, hard not to be. You know, Christmas right around the corner. Feeling festive. Of course. Christmas in a couple days. Hell, Hanukkah starts also on Christmas Day. I think that's the first time for as long as I've been alive that Hanukkah starts on Christmas Day, exactly. So that's pretty cool. But getting to a couple of other things. First, thank you so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, This episode is brought to you by Fandul. You can start the season with a big return on Fandul.

New customers can place a $5 bet, and you will get started with $150 in bonus bets. If you win your first $5 bet, just visit fandul.com to get started. So Jesse, the Penguins, two-game winning streak came to an end on Saturday as they were shut out, 3-0 by the New Jersey Devils. I thought the Penguins came out with a purpose in that game. I thought they dominated those first 20 minutes. Markstrom was really good in that period,

as he was really good in the latter two periods. After that, I thought like the Devils took the Penguins to school. They were really doing a nice job of clogging up the neutral zone. A lot of won and guns for the Penguins when they got into the offensive zone. I mean, they just weren't generating much of anything. If you were to tell me that this game was played in the late 90s to early 2000s, I honestly would have believed you. A lot of this game I felt like was pretty low event.

The Devils did break through late in the second period. Thanks to Stefan Nason, excuse me, who made it 1-0. Then they got two more goals in the third period to win this game. It would be nothing. but Penguins just did not generate enough in this one. Usually they are very good at generating chances. They're five, top 10 expected goals this season, but not in this one. Jesse, it's been a little bit since we've had you on.

The Penguins are on this eight, three, and one stretch right now. What did you take out of that game against New Jersey? And are you more still optimistic about this team, at least a little bit going forward now that they've clawed their way out of a little bit of the mess they put themselves in? Yeah, I mean, I think my takeaway is just that New Jersey's, better team right like you said it right like the penguins came out in the first 20 they threw their best punch um i was kind of surprised at how well they skated with new jersey right out of the right out of the

gate i thought that would be the area where like the deficiency showed the most but it did eventually right i think as the game went on like you mentioned they started to take it away um now i think that nico hishier on a side note has just been like one of the five best players in the national hockey league this year. I'm very bullish on his performance. So I thought that you know, you talk about like neutral zone dominance. He's one of the players that make that, that stir that drink for New Jersey. So yeah, I thought that the penguins did, they hung in there as best they could, but they lost to a better team without embarrassing themselves. So that's the key. It's a far cry from like the 6-0 drubbing you saw in opening night against the Rangers, right? It wasn't, wasn't one of the

those, but it was just them losing to a better team, which is, which is going to happen, right? Like, that's just the way it is. I mean, I think that is, you know, there's obviously like the disconcerting trend of them being really bad in their own division right now, which is not great. And you can't sniff the playoffs and have that be true. But if you look around the division 200, like New Jersey, Carolina, heck, even Washington now, these are teams that play with some speed, right? They're fast. They have up-tempo forecheck. They can control the area in between both blue lines. So it's not a surprise to me that those are the kinds of teams that the penguins are going

to struggle with. And even Columbus, to their credit, has got some element of speed on their roster, right? So, yeah, that's disconcerting. But overall, I don't think that you walked away from this game with, like, blaring red lights, you know, or flashing red lights. There wasn't any chaos or, you know, real cause for concern. New Jersey is just a really solid hockey club, and they won the game as a result. Right. I mean, in New Jersey's been doing this really well defensively throughout the season.

I mean, you go back and look at the shots on goal they've allowed these last eight games. And you know, credit to Dmitri Filipovich for putting this whole stat out there. He is fantastic. I know you go on his show quite a bit, Jesse. You go back for some of these holding the penguins to 12 shots. Then before that, 20 shots, 20 shots, 17, 14. There's another 17 in there as well. They are very stingy defensively in their own zone. Credit to Sheldon Keefe for, you know, really getting that point.

across for his team, but they've been doing this to everyone. It's not just the Penguins. Obviously, you know, 12 shots really poor, but it's not like, you know, that's a one-off for them. They've been doing this to a lot of teams this year. And the Penguins, they had chances at times, at least in that second period, even though they were being outskated, out-chance during that time, they had a chance or two to still take control of that game. You had Sidney Crosby flat out robbed by Jacob Markstrom, that one. One heck of a save, gets a little bit of the glove on it, and then the puck hits the post. if he doesn't get the glove on that, that's a goal. It's won nothing.

Who knows how the rest of that game goes. So that's just a situation where, again, you want to see him convert on that chance. But that's the fine line. You know, Jacob Markstrom, he plays usually fairly well against the Penguins. But with Markstrom in general this year, that's been their biggest difference, I think, for me. They finally got their goaltending position solidified. And it's no wonder why they're one of the top three teams in the Metro and why I think, when healthy, they are going to be a very tough out for whoever they play in the playoffs.

I wasn't, you know, mad or annoyed of the penguins in that game. It was just the devils did a great job clogging everything up and just making life really difficult for the penguins, which is difficult to do at least during the stretch because the penguins have been greater generating offense. And they remind you a little bit of those 2016, 2017 penguins, right, with the way that they weren't necessarily good defensively by nature of like the on-paper roster,

but the way that they forechecked and controlled the game meant that they didn't give you a lot of chances at the other end. right that it reminds me of the same thing um where they really killed the penguins i thought hunter was like i don't want to pile on the malton like this is something i'm piling on of guinea malcolm but that line got worked really hard they struggled um i think that the devil's depth tested them um the penguins fourth and second lines really got sunk in that game uh the crosbie line shredded water but that's a far cry from them controlling like what 60 percent of the shots and expected goals in the games were honestly that's where they've been

for really the most of the last month is it just absolutely been dominating in the game. So they came out with their heads like slightly above or below water, but it was that, you know, that's not good enough, right? So that when you can confidently roll four lines like that in a variety of situation, it just handcuffs the other team so hard. And I thought that especially again, the second and fourth lines for the Pengersers, really struggled to find their way out of the zone and cross the red line with possession. And you don't, you know, that's so important for the penguins now hunter because they're just not as good anymore as they used to be at hunting down loose pucks, right?

Like the dump and chase game comes with some level of risk if executed poorly because it's hard for them in a lot of cases to win these foot races, right? So if you can't cross the red line with possession, you've got a team like New Jersey, it's effectively shutting you down from doing that. It just, it makes everybody's life harder, but it makes the penguin's life especially harder given their makeup. Right. No, I hear you on that. I do think Tristan Jari played as well as he could in that game. The second goal was tough because I know what he was trying to do. He was trying to cover the puck.

I don't like that Nason was just kind of standing there, cross-checking people from the net, not really going for the puck. I think that was just kind of a pretty annoying play. But you know what, whatever. But I still felt like he made a lot of really timely saves in that game. Also, one more thing, want to get your thoughts on P.O. Joseph's debut at least this season for the Bengans.

Obviously, he was not here before this because he had just gotten traded over. He was with the St. Louis Blues. But Jesse wanted me at your thoughts. How do you think he looked? At least for me, I thought he made a couple pretty solid defensive plays, even drove a little bit of offense in this game. He created a little bit of offense from the blue line. All in all, I thought it was a pretty solid debut for him, even though I know at least

a little bit lately he hadn't been playing as much in St. Louis because their blue line is really crowded right now. Yeah, I mean, if you showed me like the video of that game and asked me if I thought it came from last year, I probably said, yeah. You know, which is not a knock on him, right? Like you, why said this when the trade happened, Hunter? Like the one thing you can say from is like a known commodity, right? And like in the sense that you know exactly what you're going to get.

And there's rarely been times where you look at his play and be like, man, that really sunk the team. You know, I mean, sure, as a puck-moving defenseman, he's prone to that same like egregious, you know, oops, I pinched mistake that like every offensive defenseman on the squad is liable to make. but and obviously like him not being the greatest defensively comes with some and I thought I think like in situations under where he's got to read a play right and audible or switch with someone he struggles the most right none of that was really on display but we know that those are his faults we know that that's what it comes with you know you can get these kind of like minutes out of him I mean he played 17 I think 18 and even strength which is like you know a lot but you know I think you know you can plug him and those situations and get a decent performance out of me. And you know, on the Tristan Jari thing, people are going to think I'm insulting and when I say this, I'm not because like, if you think about where he was two months ago,

this is an improvement. He just exists to me, right? I don't know if that sounds, if you know what I mean by that. Like, he's not costing them games. No. Right? But you very rarely would look at him

and say that he's winning them games, right? But you, I think this also proves the theory that you and I have had for years, which is that the Penguins just get an average goal-tending performance and that's fine. Like, that's all they need with their offense, most nights, it's sort of like eternally true that if you could just give them an average league average performance, they can make something really pretty out of that. And that's really what it's come down to. So again, is a compliment to him because his performance at the beginning

of the video was just quite simply below the line. But I don't, I don't think about him anymore, which I think is a good thing, right? Like, you know, you're not spending all night long, like being concerned about, you know, you get a much more calm vibe, if you will, from his performance recently. Yeah, I mean, you take out that empty netter. It's only two nothing. Again, I felt like he made a lot of really good timely saves. He was fine. In net, the Penguins, again, just really didn't generate much of anything. I feel like if they were able to capitalize on, you know, a couple of those chances in the first period and then obviously that big Crosby chance in the second period, this game's potentially, you know, way different. Who knows? But I think that will do it for this

first segment coming up in the second segment, Jesse and are going to tackle the Owen Pickering injury and what the rest of the defense will look like. And a little bit later on, we're going to preview tonight's big Penguins Flyers matchup as well as look at the rest of the week here, especially that's big back-to-back against the New York Islanders. But before we get to that, we've got to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Fandle. Get right to tackle the NFL action with a Fandle. That's America's number one sports book because right now new customers can bet $5 and get

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That's fendil.com. Never waste a hunch and make every moment more of Fandall and official sportsbook part. of the NFL. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by a special guest, Jesse Marshall for Marshall Monday. Patrick Damp, we were supposed to have him here, but he decided to leave early because he's a loser. No, I'm just joking.

He's heading to Philadelphia to spend Christmas with his girlfriend and her family, and I hope he's having a really safe drive on the Pennsylvania Turnpike right now. So, Jesse, Penguins will be out with another defenseman going forward. Marcus Pedersen, still week to week, though he did skate for. the morning skate today. Really good news. Kyle Duba said last week that this is only a two to three week injury. So we're a little over a weekend. So hopefully another week or two. And then he's back for at least a little bit. That's great news. But Owen Pickering, he is now out with a concussion. Nathan. Korman, was we called from Wilkesbury today. And that's another big blow

to the defense. I like how Pickering was playing for the most part since coming up from Wilkesbury. I feel like this week was probably the worst week he's had as an NHL or just because, I don't know, just really wasn't making the right plays in his own zone. My dog, of course, is starting to bark a little bit behind me. I just felt like he wasn't as consistent this week compared to the other weeks that he had been playing, especially on the top pairing with Chris Lantang. That bumps up P.O. Joseph to the top pairing with Latang. You have Matt Rizz of with Eric Carlson.

And then Ryan Schitt, Ryan, not Ryan Shay. Ryan Graves will slot back in with Ryan Shay for this one. So, Jesse, what do you make of the pickering injury and how big of loss do you think this is going to be going forward? I think it stinks. He wasn't lighting the world on fire, right? Like, it wasn't like he was, you know, jettising himself into the Calder nomination trophy

or trophy nomination conversation. But, like, I thought he'd played really well, especially, I don't know where my expectation was, Henri. I think he beat it. I think he for sure beat where my expectation was. What you mentioned there is, like, what I said on Twitter before he got called, right when he got called up,

is that the problems he's had this season have come from game. games that go really fast and speed up. You almost playing like NHL 24 and that pressure meter builds up while you're stuck in your defensive zone. That's sort of like him in a nutshell. I think sometimes when things get really, really chaotic,

he has a tendency to make no looks with the puck. You know, he's just getting rid of it as fast as he possibly can and it causes a turnover and causes more chaos. Or he throws a puck to a teammate that's in a really bad position for it and is maybe compromised in some way and does not want that puck. So I think those are things that are continuing to evolve for him and they can get better with time and become less and less of issues. But that's why you want to see him in, right, is to continue to work those kinks out.

I think that he inserted a much needed element of patience into this defensive group, right? Not only in how he chooses to not defend, not to attack in some situations, but I think even defensively, you know, his gap control has always been at strength, you know, his one-on-one defensive ability facing down and the forward. That's really where he's at his best. And I think you rarely see him make the first move. You know, it's always forcing the forward into a bad decision. That sort of seemed to be somewhat infectious as a theme among the penguin's defense, as thanks to him. So I think that that's a loss, right, is that element of like calming things down and keeping people in front of you because we know that

when things generally go sour for the pennies defense under, it's because they're, you know, heading the wrong direction. So I think in that case, you know, it was a much needed, much needed presence. But hopefully this doesn't last too long. He can keep racking those, that experience up because that's what it's about right now, right, for him is just shake off, shake the green off those antlers as much as you possibly can and, you know, get ready for the spring. So when the games get faster and more physical. So yeah, hopefully he's not out for too long. Right. He'll also have a more elevated role. I feel like when that time comes around just because we both don't expect Marcus Pedersen to be here after the trade deadline. So he's going to be playing

full-time, I would say, in the top four once the spring rolls around. But again, I felt like this week he was a little bit too aggressive with some of his pinches. His gap control came a little bit down this week. But I do think once he comes back, he's going to be playing quite a bit better. You know, Every player that's in his first stint in the league is going to have a week like this. So I'm not really too concerned, especially after what I saw before this week where he was playing really well in showing that. I feel like he's NH already at this point. Jesse, you mentioned this before we started recording. And I guess we'll get to it now before we preview this big Penguins Flyers game.

What is this buffalo gravy boat that you wanted to discuss? I told you about this. Yeah, I told you about this before the show. I just wanted to mention people because they might not know this on Thanksgiving, the Sabres. nightly giveaway for the fans was a small porcelain gravy boat it was like a zamboni

I personally think it's pretty hideous I think it's a poor giveaway like I just don't think that's a great giveaway for a franchise haven't won a game since the gravy boat over bro the gravy boat sank the Buffalo Sabers season

so just be careful out there you know you're picking your PR campaigns for your team you get on the wrong path you pick a little gravy boat that could be it for you So just want to let you know, Ofer since the Gravy Boat. I think it was November 22nd.

They haven't won since. Hey, you know, that's definitely one of their problems. Another one is that they just need to make a big move, man. I feel like it's time to really shake up that team. And I think Kevin Adams knows that his job is very much on the line right now. I just got a vote of confidence from the owner. The owner says he's doing a great job. If he survives this season, I don't know what Terry Beagle is doing, man.

I really just don't get it. I mean, you have that team that's going to do. They don't need to wait until the end of the end of the job. the season to not know what Terry Pickle was doing. You could just say that right now. Like, we don't need to wait. Regardless of Kevin Adams, like, we've already established that we don't know what Terry Pickle was doing.

No, especially with the same. Anyway, him and his family, they're good with the bills, but with the Sabres, I just, they don't really know what they're doing with that team. You have high ones. They're huge Penn State donors, too, right? Is that true? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, because he's involved, like, the whole ice hockey arena up there is like all him,

right? Mm-hmm. Is it, Pagula, his name's on it, right? That's I thought. I believe you're right, yes. Come down and go to stay. Yeah, I mean, do you have the Rangers, they're going through. Chris Kreider was a healthy scratch today.

I mean, goodness gracious. Then you have the Islanders who aren't very good. So pretty rough times for the New York hockey teams right now. But I think that'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, it's the Battle of Pennsylvania with the Penguins and the Flyers, the Penguins who try and notch two big points in this one on Monday night, Jesse. It's going to help me preview that game, as well as looked at the rest of the week here for the Penguins, especially again that big back-to-back against the New York Islanders.

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We're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by special guest Jesse Marshall. again, Patrick Damp, he will be back for Tuesday's episode to recap this game against the Flyers once he's all settled in in Philadelphia. I'm where I need to be for this week. I'm in Virginia with my girlfriend and her family. So yes, apologize for the different set up today. I'm also recording on my work laptop. But big game tonight, Jesse. Penguins, Flyers, two teams, right with each other in the standings. One team is 15 and 15 and 5. The other is 15 and 14 and 4. So two mediocre slash average teams going at it. But when you look at where the both teams are in the standings, they're right around that final playoffs on the Penguins. Only a few points behind the Ottawa Senators. Again, the biggest thing right now for the Penguins, that's their enemy, the games in hand. They have more, they don't have games in hand on those other teams. So you have to bank points when you can. And I've been saying it for the last several weeks. You know, they've been playing really well throughout the month of December.

They're eight three and one in their last 12 games. If you can finish this month off in style, get two points of regulation here against the Flyers. Maybe sweet, that back-to-back against the Islanders and then maybe even beat the Red Wings, I will be way more confident heading into January after what they just did in December. You know, you drop the game against the Devils, okay, that's whatever. But now you've got to get back to it and play well against teams that are literally right around you in the standings. This Flyers team, you know what you're going to get with John Tortorella, very disciplined,

defensive team. Matt Mae Michkov is, in my opinion, one of the two favorites for the Calder right now. I would say him in Celebrini are right up the top. He has been fantastic for the Flyers this year. Travis Kinnakeney has been their best player, 40 points in 34 games. Oh, and Tippett, excuse me, also has double-digit goals. Travis Sandheim is still there. You have Sean Keturier, Scott Lawton.

So a lot of regulars that have been in this team for a long time, and with a veteran head coach, they started this season struggling, but they've really come on a bit as of late to get themselves back in the race. Jesse, what are you looking for from the Penguins tonight in order to secure two points? shot volume. The flyers, from a C-A-percentage perspective, are 32nd in the National Hockey League

and even strength. And a raw goal is against perspective. Their 30th in the National Hockey League even strength. You know, you get, you know, goals share overall. They're 26th. You get the idea, right? You know, they're sort of still trying to find themselves inside the pipes, between the pipes and the net. That's not quite clear yet from an identity perspective, organizationally and for the future. It's affected them. You know, you named it. Like Michab's been unbelievable.

Their offense is significantly better this year than it was last year by almost a half goal a game, which is a non-insignificant amount. The problem is they've gotten worse defensively in a net. So keeping up with that has been hard, right? And they're scoring more goals, yes, but they're also allowing more goals. So I think the net benefit has somewhat canceled itself out to some extent. And I'm sure much to John Tortorella's chagrin. But overall, this is a tough out now, right?

They play John Tortorella hockey. It's very much a team that's emblematic of their coach. You know, they love to dig out of the, work out of the corner in the offensive zone and maintain long offensive, deep cycling sort of like triangular possessions in the offensive zone. I think that's going to be a handful for the penguins. but they've shown recently Hunter, they could just not shoot themselves in the foot with like the bad pinching and the poor decision-making

at the offensive blue line. You know, they can do a little bit of that themselves and draw some shifts out and start controlling the game. So, you know, I mentioned earlier on the show, last night was a blip on the radar for Sidney Crosby, right? And what has been an otherwise, you know, since the Sabres put the gravy boat out, the opposite's been true for Crosby.

I mean, he's just been unstoppable. So we know he loved him. to play the Flyers. We know he didn't have a great night last night. And like you mentioned earlier, I missed some chances to get the Penguins on the board early. So I'm looking to, one, take a lot of shots as a team tonight, and two, feed Sidney Crosby as much as possible. You said it. He loves playing the Flyers, especially in the regular season.

In 87, career regular season games against the Flyers, he has 55 goals and 129 points. I got that. Straight from my notes for today's episode. because I love preparing. So, yeah, to say that he's crazy too, right, thinking that goes all the way back, Hunter, and when Hatcher broke his tooth, right? You remember that game?

And he was spitting blood after he scored the overtime goal. Screw you can hitchcock, by the way. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's the other thing, too. Well, we don't have time for that right now. But we could do, we should do a whole show one day about that game and the impact that had on the future of the Penguins because I don't know any people

realize. Like, there's a lot that came out of that. But that's a lot of points, man, 120. Wow, I knew it was a lot, but I, you know, been a while since I checked, I guess. Sheer dominance. He loves playing the, you know, you have the famous interview. I don't like anyone on their team again. You said it.

We could probably do a hour to two hour episode on the Penguins Flyers rivalry, especially from this era of Penguins hockey. We honestly could go. Yeah. Well, I mean, even like I would call, I would say the prior, that was just about to ask you to close, like, the one question I had for you today is, does this hit the same? Like, thinking about this game tonight,

like is it like where do we put this like where is penguins rivalry like what the flyers at in present state like on a scale of one to ten where are you grading it i got to go four right like the two teams are just not in competitive spaces like they used to be i mean when that you know that's the difference right is that when you're meeting the playoffs that jacks everything up and spices everything up like the penguins in ottawa whenever on the same division but they played each other in the first round every year and you know develop that sort of organic hatred you know same with detroit for that matter but regular season games aren't enough to do it. You know, it's just not.

It's just that they're not. And I think as a result, the unfortunate sacrifice of like the Penguins Flyers rivalry has been like, you know, Phillies rebuilding. The Penguins sort of getting older. I still look forward to it, you know, because it's ingrained. You know, if you grew up in like, you know, a certain era, like it's ingrained in you. But it definitely lacks the pizzazz that it used to have for sure. Yeah, I feel like for me, I'd probably go even a three.

It just, it's definitely not the same as. It used to be even just, you know, from, you know, obviously the 2012 series, like that was an 11 out of 10 the series. Oh, yeah. A few years later when we played in 2018, that was probably at like a six, even if I had to say. But now it's kind of out of three because, you know, you get the Rangers right now, that's a 10 out of 10. I would probably have the capitals at around still like a six or a seven. It's not a nine or a 10. But it's still, say, like average to above average.

The islanders up there, I would say still probably in that, you know, six range. Other than that, yeah, I mean, I probably put the flyers below all of them right now just because of the way the rivalry is. So I'm starting to stick Carolina up there because they just can't, the penguins can't beat them. You know, it's one-sided rivalry, right? The way the hurricanes play, well, first off, it's not enjoyable to watch, let's face it. I just watching, I don't know how Keynes fans do that for 82 games. Like, it's, they're the more fun version of the Islanders.

That's the way I like saying it on this show. Pat usually reviews with me. They are the more fun version of the islanders, but their style, it just bleeds the penguins dry, truly. It does, yeah. Well, the same thing, though, like we said earlier, about speed, right? It's the same thing. You know, they can't keep up.

Right, no, 100%. Yeah, as for the other point you made about, you know, the penguins and, you know, just they're playing defensively. I agree. I mean, they've been really able to keep things a lot simple during this 12-game stretch. They've really been less aggressive with their pinches. They're being more diligent.

they're on the ice. And I want to see that continue in this one against the Flyers. The Bengals have also struggled against Metro teams this year. Yeah, they have beaten the capitals. But they've lost a couple of times to the Rangers. They've lost some Islanders. They've lost to the Hurricanes twice. They've now lost to the Devils.

They need to start winning more games in the division. They also lost the Blue Jackets, of course. But the biggest thing, my point is, Jesse, of course. They need to start winning games inside their division. Usually they play this division, excuse me, fairly well, at least average each season. this year though, it's been anything but that. And that needs to change ASAP if they really want to get back into this race even more. Later this week, they will play the New York Islanders for a big home and home.

You got to, in my opinion, I think you've got to sweep those two games. Yeah, I mean, you know, the thing you have going for you right now is that, you know, you clump together the best teams in the National Hockey League from the perspective of generating quality shots and the penguins are in that clump, you have to lean on that right now. These are teams that play like ugly, nasty, chip it up hockey, right? They try to slow it down. They try to make it low event. You can't play that game.

That's not what your strength is. Your strength is to live by the sword and die by the sword, right? That the penguins are going to be exciting offensively and they're going to terrify you defensively at the same time, not because they're good defense because they're bad at it. But that's the way it's supposed to be. Like, that's what this team is built for. And to be anything less than that is trying to force your dog to, me now so I hope that we see them just you know bring some of that I do you say like recklessness

in hunter you know against some of these teams and if you can get them down early and not let them do what they want to do it changes your fortunes a little bit agreed and you also made a point about the flyers goaltending a bit earlier yeah it's been ugly I mean you have ursin who's played 16 games kolasov who's played 11 Ivan fetatob who's played 10 but they're all well below 900 this year you know ursin's at 881 colosov 878, then a top 877. So the Penguins, funny enough, we can't really say this that often this season, Jesse, but they will have the goaltending edge in this one.

The rare moments where you could start anyone, and that would be true. Yes, the Flyers goaltending this year has been atrocious. So the Penguins, with the way they generate, there's going to be quite a few opportunities, hopefully for them to score quite a few goals in this one. One more thing, Jesse, before I get you out of here, has this stretch of good play change the way you look at this team this year, eight, three, and one and 12 games. They've climbed their way a little bit up the standings.

How would you say this team is right now heading into these final few games of 2024 and then into the month of January? I mean, it's definitely changed, it's definitely changed the way that I look at them, for sure. But like, the bar was so low, honor, right? Like, they were getting embarrassed on some nights. There were some that they couldn't execute simple line changes, you know, like day one, day minus one stuff, you know.

So that seems to have gone the way of the Buffalo, which is good. The goaltending has stabilized and is no longer hemorrhaging them opportunities. Their offense has been there all year. Like that's been start, that is the only consistent thing they've had from start to finish. and their defense is leveled off. So, you know, there again, I think, like, at almost what you would say is their best, they're a bubble team, right? Like, they're not, their best stretch run doesn't put them amongst the monsters of the east.

Like, they're not suddenly on Tampa's level, right? But they're competent. They've made a couple people on Twitter, we're talking about this this week, a couple of people on Twitter said to me, they've made it fun to watch the games again. I'm like, you know, that's true. That is true. You don't sort of like sit there and have to suffer through a game where they're down

by six, right? So I think there's a big difference there. So it's changed it, Hunter, but I don't know that it's changed it in terms of like their ceiling has really adjusted. I think that their basement is just lifted. Maybe their ceiling has gone up a little bit. But, you know, like, you know, I have used the term mid to describe them a lot. But in this case, it's complimentary, right?

Like, mid is better than what they were at the start of the season. So, like, you know, you can hear the word. mid and get mad or you could be like wow yeah that's actually not bad considering that they were like but at the start of the year you know so i think you know you and i have both said consistency right is the name of the game here like if they can continue to do this or even if it breaks up and they go through a rough patch if they can do it again right like and get right back on that horse that's what makes the difference to me yeah agreed and they've beaten some really good teams during the stretch too and and i said that last week these aren't just fluky wins they're not just sure they're getting by by the skin of their teeth

well, the Panthers won a little bit. That was a wacky game in general. All these other teams they've beaten, they've dominated them. Like they've actually gone out there, played mostly a very good 60 minutes, and they have earned those wins. So if they can do that again to end the year here, I'll start to get even more confidence

that maybe, just maybe, they can potentially pull something off and sneak in to that final spot. Again, long ways away. Let's see what they do this week and then heading into the new year. But it's at least a little bit possible, right? now, and we really couldn't say that, you know, three to four weeks ago at this rate.

No. I think that would do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Jesse, thank you so much for coming on for another edition of Marshall Monday. We hope to have you on again next week and when Pat is hopefully here. But what do you have coming up either this week, next weekend? We got coming up content-wise. Nothing. It's Christmas.

Taking a break. I just dropped a new episode of the PDO cast at Demetrich Silipovich. It was about Macklin Celebrini, real nerd-level stuff. So check that out if you're into players working with. We told a good story. And they were like celebrating and working with the company to create like his own blade. That I thought was pretty cool. So that's what I, that's what I'll, that's what I'll pump for now.

Hey, I like it. I was hoping, you know, stuff. Obviously, I know Christmas is on Wednesday. You're not going to be posting anything by then. But hey, I had to ask at least potentially for something after Christmas. Though, again, I know New Year is also next week. But again, that will do it for today's episode. 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 Tuesday to recap this game against the Flyers and detail anything else regarding this hockey team. So for Jesse Marshall, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. And Pat and I will talk to you all on Tuesday.