Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins meet the RED HOT Sabres before the Olympic break!

Starting point is 00:00:00 We've got just one more game before the Olympic break in. Buddy, it's a big in. The penguins are heading to Buffalo for a matchup with the red hot Buffalo Sabres. Hunter and I are going to get you ready for that game 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. Welcome in to another edition of the Locked on.

Starting point is 00:00:34 On the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me across all social media platforms at Synonym 4WET, joined as always by the one and only my partner in crime, Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can give our show's account a follow on Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. You can find us on Instagram at Locked on underscore Penguins and TikTok at Locked on Penguins. Of course, as always, we appreciate you making us part of your daily routine.

Starting point is 00:01:10 Don't forget, we're free and available, wherever you get podcasts as well as YouTube. And if you follow us on YouTube, which as always, you should be. Make sure you've hit that notification button. That way you can be among the first to know when we drop our daily Monday through Friday episodes. These are not your grandpas, your uncles, even your day. Bad's Buffalo Sabres, ladies and gentlemen. This is a Buffalo Sabres team that if I can, as I often do, steal a line from the great Jeff Merrick. My tongue is not used to saying these words, Buffalo Sabres are good.

Starting point is 00:01:52 They are really good. They have been one of the hottest teams for the last couple of months in the National Hockey League. Right now, they find themselves right in the thick of it, in the Atlantic Division. They currently are in the second or the first wild card, excuse me, but they are just two points back of the Detroit Red Wings and all of six points back from the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Starting point is 00:02:17 They are a team that we didn't have many expectations for going into this season. It felt like it was going to be another year of the Buffalo Sabres, just being the Buffalo Sabres, and nobody was going to think differently. And yet they fired General Man. manager Kevin Adams, Yarmou Kekalinen steps in. And suddenly this team decides that, oh, yeah, we're pretty talented. It's so funny. Usually you get the head coach bump.

Starting point is 00:02:46 That's exactly what the blue jackets have going right now, Pat. And they are also red hot. They're making a charge up the standings. And they're trying to get back into a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. Penguins don't play them again for the rest of the season. But the Sabers, who the Penguins obviously are playing tonight, they got the GM change bump, because they have been a wagon ever since the early part of December.

Starting point is 00:03:08 They have been mowing teams down every single night. They are six in the league in goals for per game. Their defensive metrics have also improved. They have 10 different players with double-digit goals this year. And oh, yeah, Alex Lyon is kind of in the quote-unquote savior, Annette. 10th in the league in goals, say it above expected,

Starting point is 00:03:29 also has a 9-14 say percentage. this team is firing on all cylinders right now. And this was kind of a make or break year. It felt like for some of the talented Sabers players, they have been sick and tired for losing throughout their careers. I honestly felt like if they were going to have another similar season to what they've had for the last decade plus, I think you were going to see some of these guys ask out.

Starting point is 00:03:54 But they put it in their hands. And ever since the early portion of December, honestly, Pat, a couple weeks after the penguins played them and beat them 4.2, you know, remember at that point, the Sabers, they were well below 500. It looked like it was going to be another loss season. A couple weeks later, they started stringing together win after win after win, and it's carried over into the month of February where they have this fan base believing for the first time in basically 15 years and good for Sabers fans. They are such a great fan base. They're full of diehard fans.

Starting point is 00:04:26 It would be really cool to see playoff hockey back up in Buffalo, considering the market. that is up there. And this is going to be a tough test, man. They're potent offensively. It starts with Tage Thompson, who's going to the Olympics, and rightfully so, scored the golden goal for Team USA at the World Championships last summer. 29 goals and 58 points in 56 games.

Starting point is 00:04:44 He has a threat to score from everywhere on the offensive zone. In his release, it's explosive. Again, it is really fun to watch. Alex Tuck, he has also been great with 22 goals and 48 points. I can't say enough about how awesome Rasmus Dahlene has been. he's played like a top five defenseman on the planet this year. He's going to Team Sweden for the Olympics. He has 11 goals this year in 47 points in 52 games.

Starting point is 00:05:09 He does it all for Buffalo on the blue line. And he is one of my favorite defensemen to watch in the league. That's obviously not on the Penguins. But you keep going down the list here. Ryan McLeod has been great. Josh Stone almost has 20 goals. Jack Quinn has over double-digit goals. Bowen Byram, Jason Zucker, old friend of the Penguins.

Starting point is 00:05:27 this is a deep team this year and it's a team that's really come together after the first, I would say a couple months of the season and they've just been kicking everyone's asses. So when you combine how potent they are offensively with the goalie that they have, who's also been on a tier and how well they've improved defensively, this is going to be a really tough game for the Penguins, especially since Pat, they may be without three of their forwards tonight. Yeah, we will get into. what the penguins are going to be missing and what is going to be coming down in the lineup in the next

Starting point is 00:06:02 segment. Let's keep the focus now, though, on the Sabers. If there's one thing I think that really contributed to this turnaround, and if we have any Sabres fans listening, please feel free to tell me otherwise or tell me that I'm on the right path here. I think a lot of this turnaround for the Sabers more than anything has been psychological, simply because it feels. felt like there needed to be a breakup in the front office with all of the bad press that Kevin Adams was getting, with the way Adams himself was acting, with all of the discontent among the fan base. It just felt like everybody was sitting there just checking days off the calendar and going, it's almost coming. It's almost that day. It's almost that day.

Starting point is 00:06:52 in the environment was just not good. Once that breakup was made official and Kekkeleinen takes over, that whole mood shifted. That whole aura was gone. And as much as Kevin Adams deserved a lot of the smoke that he got, if you look at what the Sabres have done since firing him, it's not much of anything. It's the same team for the most part.

Starting point is 00:07:22 Kevin Adam is going to get GM of the year votes even though he's gone now. But I do think it was more just a fact that this really, we can relate it a little bit to the penguins in a sense that, yeah, the penguins did make a good bit of change over the past year, both in their roster and on their coaching staff. But a lot of the key pieces for both teams remain in place. You just changed a couple people in the suits. You just changed your general manager.

Starting point is 00:07:53 You got rid of that relationship. You started anew. And now this team has a different feeling. And it's the same thing here in Pittsburgh. You changed the coaching staff. But a lot of the roster, at least when the year began, remained mostly the same. That new feeling, that fresh start, it really kicked them into high gear. Now, looking at this roster, there is one player that.

Starting point is 00:08:21 that you did not bring up that I am going to have my eye on tonight. And that is 25-year-old defenseman, Matthias Samuelson. This kid is really good. He's got 34 points, 11 goals, and here are the two stats. And we know these stats can be a little bit fluky and not exactly precise with the NHL. But according to the NHL, 120 or 112, excuse me, blocked shots and 91. hits. This is a complete young defenseman who is only going to continue to grow. He's going to be a problem for a while, both for the Atlantic Division and tonight against

Starting point is 00:09:03 the Penguins. Yeah, and he's on the top there. He's such a great compliment to Rasmus Dahlian. You know, Dahlene, obviously, he's so great offensively. And, you know, Samuelson has been really good offensively this year, too. But he just compliments him really well just with the way that he can also play in his own zone. And that's no slight to Daly. And who I also think is, great defensive way and you're seeing him just excel in all three zones. But that pair just does a great job of working off one another. It's one of the better top pairs in the league. Owen Power on your second pair with Bowen Byram.

Starting point is 00:09:33 And Byram himself is having a pretty decent year. I brought him up a little bit. 10 goals, 27 points in 56 games. You know, it's nice seeing him. Again, have that good year with Owen Power. Their bottom pair is fine. But again, their top four, that's where you see a lot of their high-end skill, especially defensively.

Starting point is 00:09:51 You know, their four group, again, Thompson on the top line with Alex Tuck and Payton Krebs. You have Zooker on your second line with Ryan McLeod and Jack Quinn, Josh Stone, who I already said is having a really good year with Noah Osland. You know, constant healing this is on their third line as well. He's been one of their top prospects for a while. This team is still, you know, relatively young. And, you know, if these guys keep going, man, I feel like they have a nice, solid window here where they can potentially keep adding to this group

Starting point is 00:10:21 and they have more young prospects on the way. You know, this could be the start of a potential nice little run of years here where they can make the playoffs for a few years in a row and maybe even contend for a Semi-Cup. Obviously, they just want to get in the playoffs. Like, it's been a decade and a half past since they got in and the job is not finished yet.

Starting point is 00:10:40 But again, for the Penguins tonight, have to make simple quick decisions. You don't want to try to get into a track meet with a team like this. I know the penguins are also top 10 in goals for per game, but just with the firepower that Buffalo has, you can't afford to get into tracking it against them. No, you simply can.

Starting point is 00:10:58 And you're right. The city of Buffalo in that fan base really deserve this. They really deserve to have a good team, but not tonight. Tonight, we want to see the Pittsburgh penguins come out victorious. And that might be a little bit of a challenge because there has been a lot of roster shuffling today and we are going to get into that and some more keys to victory for our Pittsburgh Penguins when we come back right after this. But first, we've got to tell you about today's sponsor in that is Indeed. If you've ever hired someone who looked good on paper but

Starting point is 00:11:35 ended up not being the right fit, you know how important this is. When you want candidates who truly match what you're looking for, trust Indeed's sponsored jobs. Hiring, indeed, it's all you need. Stop struggling to get your job posts seen on other sites. Indeed's sponsored jobs, put your post at the top of the page and help you reach the right candidates faster. Hunter needed to hire me for this show. I don't know if he used Indeed or if he just used DMs, but I guarantee you if I was on the lookout, Hunter would have found me there because I've said it before during Indeed ads. Back when I was on the job hunt, Indeed got me quite a few interviews as well as my current job. So Indeed does quite a good job finding those correct

Starting point is 00:12:19 candidates if I do say so myself. Sponsored job boosts your post to the people who are the best match for your role and make a real difference. According to Indeed data, sponsored jobs posted directly on Indeed are 90% more likely to report a higher than non-sponsored jobs. So spend more time interviewing candidates who check all of your boxes with less stress, less time, and more results using Indeed's sponsored jobs. Listeners of this show get a $75 sponsored job credit to help give your job the premium placement. It deserves at Indeed.com slash locked on.

Starting point is 00:12:56 Just go to indeed.com slash locked on right now and support this show by saying you heard about Indeed on this very podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Back here on the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp, running right alongside my pal Hunter Hodes and, oh boy, we got quite a few updates from Dan Muse at Morningscape today. Here is who will be missing. Ricard Raquel, he is now day to day with a lower body injury.

Starting point is 00:13:32 He will not play tonight. Noelle Achari. He is a game time decision with an illness. And Blake Lazot will not be available tonight because him and his wife are expecting their first child. Congratulations to the Lazots. We wish you all the best, all the healthiness in the world, and congratulations once again. But this means that Rutger McGrory and Kevin Hayes will draw back into the lineup. And another Hayes has been called up.

Starting point is 00:14:03 Avery Hayes has been recalled from Wilkes-Bair. We will see if he draws in. It depends on what happens with Noel O'Chari, if he is ready to go or not. But these are some key pieces that are going to be. missing from the penguins tonight. Obviously, Raquel is a big staple on that top line. We know how great Blake Lazot has been on the fourth line. Same goes for Noah Lachari. So for the Penguins tonight, this has to be a lot like what they did in New York on Long Island. They're going to have to play a really simple, really straightforward road game.

Starting point is 00:14:40 I agree. And it sucks that we're not going to see the fourth line fully intact for this one, but I assume that this, again, this is only for a one game thing. Lazat's going to be back after the Olympic break. And again, congratulations to him and his wife for the birth of their first child. Achari, he'll be back after the Olympic break, and he's still a game time decision tonight, so he could still draw in. I'm curious to see what happens with the lines, because say Achari does go, for example, Pat.

Starting point is 00:15:10 I assume you're going to have him and doer still on the fourth line. who joins him down there? Do you have Kevin Hayes come down there? Or do you have Rucker McGority? I think if you want to start with Magrorty up there with Crosby, I've really liked the way that he has played since coming up. And this will be his final game before the break as well, before he goes down to Wilkesbury.

Starting point is 00:15:32 He's going to get some games down there since, obviously, there's no Olympic break for HL players, obviously. But I think that's kind of what I'm leading towards that. If Achari is good to go, I want McGority to get that first crack with Sid and then you put Kevin Hayes on the fourth line and you just roll that way. You know,

Starting point is 00:15:51 we've seen at least Kevin Hayes be, you know, fine in a fourth line role, but there were times earlier this year where they were trying him in the top six and it just was not working, you know, especially you go back to that game in Boston,

Starting point is 00:16:02 especially Pat in January. It was just not very good. I think if I am Damus, that's what I do, but we'll have to see if Achari can't go, the lines are going to be mixed up even more. You know, grats to Avery Hayes for getting the call.

Starting point is 00:16:16 He's been very good as of late for Wilkesbury. Goals in three straight games on a six game point streak. 13 goals in 23 points in 31 games this year. I imagine, you know, he'll be on the fourth line. If in a chari spot, if he can't go with, you know, Dewer and, you know, one of Hayes and McGority and then we'll have to see who replaces, you know,

Starting point is 00:16:34 Raquel in that case. So all in all people, the lines are going to be jumbled because at least two of the regulars are going to be out, if not three. But again, if it's two, my vote, I think Magrorty goes up to the top line. At least that's what I would do. And I would put Kevin Hayes on the fourth line.

Starting point is 00:16:48 What do you think? That's where I am. And I know it was a bit of a limited sample at the end of last season, but McGority showed that he could hang on a line with Sidney Crosby. I don't know if I'm ready to say that he could be a long-term solution with Sidney Crosby. But in his time with Cid at the end of last year, did not look at all out of place. So if you need to put him up there for tonight before the Olympic break, before we take this long break and the team hopefully starts to get a lot healthier, I'm fine with doing that. But it's even more so that I know this team, I know the players, I know the management and the coaching staff like Kevin Hayes.

Starting point is 00:17:34 I myself like Kevin Hayes. I think he still has some usefulness in the NHL, but he does not have that usefulness in the top six. The speed is no longer there. And the penguins aren't a blazing fast team anymore. They're a lot quicker than they were in years past, but we're not talking about a 2016 level team anymore where they are just skating circles around teams.

Starting point is 00:18:02 But they have increased their speed. Hayes does not happen. you need to shelter him. You need to limit his minutes in the way you do that is putting him on the fourth line. It sucks because you're going to be without at least one of the regulars from the fourth line that has been so, so good lately. But you got one more game. Then you're off for basically three weeks. Everybody can get healthy.

Starting point is 00:18:30 Everybody can get back up to speed. We'll see what happens with Raquel in regards to the Olympics because who knows. how severe this injury is and if he goes. But at this point, you got four players, maybe it's going to be three. We'll see what happens going to the Olympics. Everybody else gets the time off, gets to recover, gets to get back to health. So at the end of the day, I want to see McGority up on the top line. I want to see Hayes fill in on the fourth.

Starting point is 00:18:59 Yeah, especially if it's only two of them that are coming in and Achari is good to go. Obviously, if Achari can't go, they're still going to jumble the fourth line, jumple the top line. I don't think you're going to see them really mess with that second line. You really can with the way that Chinokov and Malkin are going also with Novak with them as well. The third line with Brazo, Mantha, and Kendall continue to be really good. So the main two, they're going to be jumbled a little bit today or the fourth line, which obviously has been great, and the top line. And hey, maybe Magrorty, if they put them up there, can also get Sid going a little bit more. It was nice seeing Brian Rust get back on the score sheet after

Starting point is 00:19:32 coming off his three-game suspension. But, you know, it was a step in the the right direction for Sid, but, you know, still not all the way there yet. One more game before the Olympic break. And, you know, I'm sure the Olympics are obviously weighing heavily on him. This is potentially his last chance to win another goal. Just four years later, Patty's going to be in his 40s. We still don't know if he's going to be playing by then, but I still want to see him have, you know, a really good game just to at least go out on a high note heading into the Olympic

Starting point is 00:20:02 break. And I can say that for the overall team as well. I do think the break is coming at a really good time. You've had a mostly really nice stretch since the end of December. Yeah, you've lost a couple in a row, but you're guaranteed to be in a playoff spot, go into the Olympic break, go out there tonight, get a big win over Buffalo, stay in second place,

Starting point is 00:20:22 because you're going to be at least guaranteed to be in third, but stay in second place, go on a little bit of a high note, and then everyone will be back, refreshed, ready to go for that six-week stretch to end the season, starting in late February and then obviously with March the gauntlet there and then into April as well. So just a few keys to victory. I also want to see the power play be a lot better. It's just, it's still looking clunky and I want to see it back. I like the way the P.K. is going. I'm glad

Starting point is 00:20:51 that Archer Shilov is getting the start tonight. He deserves it for the way that he has played over the last couple of weeks. I mean, he almost got them a point on his own on Monday against Ottawa. and it's also kind of a reward for him as well for this start because this will be his last start before potentially starting for team Latvia Alphe Olympics, it's probably going to be him or Elvis Merslikens for that team. So it's nice to see him get a little bit of that reward. But yeah, man, big game tonight, big opportunity to get two points and really stay in the second place, at least in terms of points heading into the break.

Starting point is 00:21:26 That's, you brought up what is one of my biggest keys to victory for tonight. And that is she loves because, His performance on Monday against the Senators when the rest of the team was pretty lifeless, showed a lot about where Shilov is. And we hyped them up in the first segment. This is a good Buffalo Sabres team. It would have been really easy for Dan Mews and the staff to decide, you know what? Buffalo is pretty good. This isn't your usual Buffalo Sabres team.

Starting point is 00:21:57 They've got a lot of talent. They're on a role. We got to go with Stuart Skinner, who's been our guy. they instead turn to Archer Shilovs. And it's another opportunity for him to show that he is capable of potentially being a starting goaltender in this league. If he has a similar performance to Monday, that is nothing but good for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Starting point is 00:22:18 So really curious to see how he goes tonight. But Penguins, Sabers, 7 o'clock tonight in Buffalo, you can catch the game on Sportsnet, Pittsburgh and obviously Hunter and I will be recapping this game on Friday as well as bringing back fan take Friday but this isn't the close of the show. There is some other, there are at least one or the thing that we got to get to before we close out this show and we will do that when we come back right after this. Closing out the Thursday edition of Locked on Penguins, I'm Patrick Damp right alongside Hunter Hodes. And this story came out yesterday just before we recorded. So we missed it for a little bit,

Starting point is 00:23:11 but we do have to discuss this. The Penguins announced that defenseman, Caleb Jones, has been suspended for 20 games for performance enhancing substance violations. And when you read everything that came from the league from the Penguins and even Caleb Jones himself via the penguins. This just sounds like it was an accident. And even though it was an accident, the penguins and Caleb Jones are not appealing it. They're taking full responsibility for it. It just sounds like a little bit of tough luck. Right. I don't think he meant to do this or anything like that. Just accidentally took something while trying to recover from his various injuries just because he's been very banged up throughout the year. And then he was very forthcoming,

Starting point is 00:23:58 at least that's what Kyle Dubas said in the statement, and he'll be now suspended for the next 20 games. Patty's not eligible to come back until early April against Tampa Bay, so we'll see if he even plays in the final couple weeks of the regular season anyway, just because right now, and even when Latang is eventually back, I just don't really see a spot for him on the bottom pair. I imagine he's probably going to go down to Wilkesbury, get another conditioning stint at least,

Starting point is 00:24:22 but I think right now, and I know he only played seven games at the beginning of this season, I didn't see much overall in terms of his initial game. So even when he gets back, I still don't think he's going to be a regular in the lineup or anything like that. But yeah, just seems like a total accident he'll learn from it. And he'll be back in early April.

Starting point is 00:24:41 And oh, yeah, that came out. I believe it was actually right after we recorded yesterday. And we were like, we're just going to post this episode because we didn't want to go back and edit it. So we wanted to get to it at least to end the show today. And then also, Pat, one little bit of news. Philip Larson was also, put on waivers for the purpose of contract terminations because he's heading back to Sweden.

Starting point is 00:25:00 So he is no longer with the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. Played in nine games for Wilkesbury this year, 3.51 goals against average, 8.76.8%. He was with the organization for the last couple of years, got a lot of time in Wilkesbury, especially last year. But I just think you're doing him a service here. You can go back overseas to Sweden, get the starting reps for a team over there, because he wasn't getting it here in Wilkesbury.

Starting point is 00:25:26 Blumquist and Murshov have been really pushing each other throughout the season. They're both playing extremely well. And speaking of Murshov, he was great once again against Hershey on Wednesday. So they're helping Larson out here. Excuse me. So no problems with that. It also frees up the little goaltending log gym that they have. So Blumquist and Murshov can keep pushing each other, excuse me, in Wilkesbury.

Starting point is 00:25:50 And you know what team Larson is going to when he goes overseas? a team that is coached by former penguins cult hero, the moose. Yeah. Yohan Headberg. Love it. Now, this is going to be a really, really sharp left turn and a bit of a downer to end the show,

Starting point is 00:26:11 but this news just came across my timeline, so we got to end the show with it. The penguins have released a statement in support of their long-term, long time and legendary general manager Craig Patrick. He suffered what is being described as a severe stroke in late December at his home. He has been in a Pittsburgh hospital since then. It appears though that he is in acute care and recovery. He's expected to return home and begin therapy within the next week.

Starting point is 00:26:44 But the 79-year-old Craig Patrick is really one of the giants in, penguins history. He was the architect of the first two Stanley Cup championships in the franchise's history. His family is obviously one of the founding and legendary families of the National Hockey League. And really, you can't talk about the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins without the name Craig Patrick. He swung some of the most iconic and legendary trades in franchise history. And all around just a fantastic human being. And being that it is the Olympic season, it was also the assistant coach for the 1980 Miracle on Ice team.

Starting point is 00:27:33 So our thoughts, our prayers, our vibes, however you choose to say it, are with Craig Patrick and his family. We hope he is able to recover and get back to being just one of the best people in the business. So with that, that is going to do it for the Thursday edition of Locked On. on penguins. Hunter and I will be back on Friday to recap this game, as well as bring back our favorite fan take Friday and cover any other news that might happen between now and then. And then next week, we're going to shift into Olympic mode. We'll be keeping our eyes on all of the penguins who are playing at the winter games,

Starting point is 00:28:12 as well as Team USA, Team Canada updates. And oh, yeah, we'll obviously keep an eye on the baby penguins. And don't worry, we're not going anywhere. We're also going to try to get some friends and some new guests on the show throughout the next couple of weeks without the penguins around. But don't, as I said, don't worry, locked on penguins ain't going anywhere. So for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Friday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins meet the RED HOT Sabres before the Olympic break!

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.