Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins move into playoff position after a WILD win over Detroit

Starting point is 00:00:00 Well, they never make it easy and they always keep it interesting, but now the Pittsburgh Penguins are in a playoff spot. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back Penguins fans to another edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet. joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can follow our show's account at L.O. underscore Penguins.

Starting point is 00:00:51 And we thank you for making this your first listener watch the day because we're your team every day. And before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Indeed. Indeed knows when you're growing your own business. You have to make every dollar count. That's why with Indeed, you only pay for quality applications that match your must have job requirements. Visit indeed.com slash locked on to start hiring now. Terms and conditions apply. So here we are after an absolutely wild back and forth game that ultimately is won in overtime,

Starting point is 00:01:23 six to five by the Pittsburgh Penguins. They finish off Thursday night going into Friday morning in playoff position. They now hold the second wild card spot after, as I said, a crazy game against the Detroit Red Wings. that saw the penguins cough up multiple leads. It had a short-handed goal. And if you can believe it with the 23-24 Pittsburgh Penguins, an overtime victory. And we had everything in this game.

Starting point is 00:01:54 We had Sidney Crosby reaching incredible milestones. We had a Jeff Carter short-handed goal. We had Eric Carlson look like he was going to throw the whole game and possibly the season away to saving it in overtime. and I am glad I wasn't wearing my Apple Watch during this game because I'm willing to bet I would have gotten the notification that said, hey, your heart rate's been a little bit elevated for these last few minutes. Is everything okay? Because no Apple Watch, it was not.

Starting point is 00:02:24 I was watching the 2020, 23, 2024 Pittsburgh Penguins fight for their playoff lives. And that raise just about anybody's blood pressure. So Hunter, just go ahead and cook for this one because this game had so. much. It's going to be hard to pinpoint where to start for this because if that game didn't sum up the 2023, 24 Pittsburgh Penguins in a nutshell, then what other game has? I mean, this one had everything. Sidney Crosby being an absolute force once again. You had the big guns carrying the load. You even had Jeff Carter of all people scoring a massive goal for the penguins. You had crazy goal tending in this game. You had a power play that didn't do anything for the Penguins, at least.

Starting point is 00:03:11 You had another third period blown lead just because that's happened so often this season. The one thing that actually did surprise me about this one was the Penguins winning this game in overtime. Heading into this overtime, I was not confident at all just because the Penguins have lost nine of 12 games decided in just overtime. I'm not counting games that were decided in shootouts when I bring up that stat. They were three and nine just in overtime this season, and this goal was the biggest one yet there. Now, four and nine in overtime, thanks to Eric Carlson having the most Eric Carlson game of all

Starting point is 00:03:49 time. Flawless through two periods, he's been playing some of the best hockey, I should say, the best hockey of his Penguins tenure. Then he barfs all over himself in the third period. I have no idea what he's doing, chasing Lucas Raymond behind. the net and then he pinches at an awful time which leads to the tying goal from the Detroit Red Wings but then he does what all great players do when they screw up. He redeems himself and gets the Penguins biggest goal of this season yet. Again, this game had everything and somehow some way

Starting point is 00:04:25 the Pittsburgh Penguins will wake up on Friday in a playoff spot and control their own destiny heading into their final three games of the season. Yeah, let's start there with Eric Carlson. I think that's a really good spot to kick this off with is the fact that you watched the way he played the first two periods, and it was brilliant. He was very good defensively. He was helping drive offense.

Starting point is 00:04:52 He was getting shots at the net. He was making the kind of passes that only Eric Carlson and a few others can make. And then you get to that third. period. And he picked two of the absolute worst times to make a bad decision. You brought up the pinch that led to the tying goal. No need for a pinch there. You're up a goal with less than 10 minutes to go in regulation. No need to press the issue there. Obviously, you don't want to go into a shell, but you don't want to play reckless either. And that was pretty much a reckless play.

Starting point is 00:05:26 If we were in a tie game or they were down a goal, you take that risk all day long. But up a goal, got to play smart, got to play responsible hockey, and that is not that. And then on the other goal where he goes behind the net and leaves Larkin wide open in front, I mean, that's day one stuff. That's not some sort of a risk-reward kind of play. he just leaves Dylan Larkin, who is one of the better players in the national hockey. He's no slouch wide open in front. And you give a player like him that much time as he did.

Starting point is 00:06:02 He's not going to miss there. So you have that. And then there's the other defenseman that we have to talk about. And that's Chris Lutang. He is mired in some kind of a slump right now because he is just not playing good hockey. Right. I mean, I know he had the goal to redeem himself after that really bad pass. the end of the first period. I really don't know why he made that past.

Starting point is 00:06:26 Drew O'Connor really wasn't ready for it to begin with. He should have just given it to P.O. Joseph, who was ready on the left side, and he could have taken that puck and try to hit Drew Connor's stick, dump the puck in the Red Wing zone, and then you finish off the first period and you take the lead into the second. I think Letang was just trying to be too aggressive in that situation. Yes, he does redeem himself, but even after that, he was coughing up the puck too much in his own zone. We like to say this a lot on our show. Yes, when someone plays well, we shout them out, but we have to be fair and be objective. And Latang has been not good for the past month.

Starting point is 00:07:01 And it does need to change heading into the final three games if the penguins want to pull this off and sneak their way into the playoffs. Absolutely. And I will say this, and I know it's going to come off as kind of some Chris Latang apologista here, but we hold him to such a high standard and rightfully so because he has such an incredible body of work that you expect him to play to that level. And he's not playing to that level because you look at his overall game tonight. And obviously those big mistakes stand out as well they should.

Starting point is 00:07:35 And that's been the story of his entire career. When he makes a mistake, he doesn't just make a mistake. He makes the big mistake. But you look at his overall game tonight and it was bad, but he only made a handful of really crucial mistakes. overall his game was fine, but his game can't just be fine. The type of player he is with the role he has, he has to be great. And speaking of great, Sidney Crosby, man, just I'll talk about the milestones here in a second.

Starting point is 00:08:07 Let's start out of the positivity now. We got the negativity out of the way with Carlson and Letang having some bad performances, though they did redeem themselves, especially Carlson in overtime. But let's get into all the positivity with the scene with Sid. But before I get to the milestone, I mean, what a performance again by him. He is, I don't want to say singlehandedly because he's getting a lot of help as of late. This team has been playing a very good brand of hockey.

Starting point is 00:08:33 They're 7.0 and 3 in their last 10. And he's been getting help from his linemates. He's beginning to hitting help from the defense, help from Alex and the Delcovic. But the way he is playing, this is the type of performance you see from an all-time great. because I have been saying this all season. The greats, yeah, they get their points, they get their goals, they have their moments, they have their highlights, but they drag their team into the fight. And for the last month, he has been dragging this team into the fight night in and night out.

Starting point is 00:09:07 Sig lives for these types of games. With everything on the line, you know that he is going to be your best player. And he was exactly that in this game. Congratulations to him. Top 10 all time and NHL scoring. Only the 14th player in NHL history to reach 1,000 assists. Again, he's a top five player in the sport and will be forever. But you could tell this was going to be a vintage Crosby game from the opening shift of the game.

Starting point is 00:09:37 He created a scoring chance within seconds of this game starting. He was tremendous all night long. The way he cooked that Red Wings player behind the net to set up that Drow Connor goal, was a sight to behold. I just knew that this was coming right after the opening shift. And it's just been awesome seeing him do this, not even for just the last to several weeks, but for the entire season overall.

Starting point is 00:10:01 Yeah, it's an absolute treat to behold. And I think before we had to break here, I think my biggest or my most impressive play that he made was actually off of the opening face off of overtime. He gets kicked out of the face off. and Brian Rust has to go and take the face off. And what does Sidney Crosby notice? He notices the way Dylan Larkin is holding his stick in the center in the center circle

Starting point is 00:10:26 and sees, okay, he is going to try to win the drawback to his defenseman. So as soon as that puck drops, he assumes Brian Rust is going to lose it, which is a fair assumption because Dylan Larkin was cooking in the faceoff circle tonight. He was tremendous in the face off circle. So he makes a break right for the puck and gets the penguin's possession. right off of the faceoff. And that made the difference because outside of one two-on-one rush, the Penguins had the puck, all of three-on-three overtime,

Starting point is 00:10:56 something that we have not been able to say about their game and overtime this year. But Hunter and I will talk more about this massive win against the Detroit Red Wings and the playoff picture as it unfolds at this point. But before we do that, we have to tell you about our first sponsor, and that is policy genius. PolicyGenius is the country's leading online insurance marketplace. It saves you time and money so you can provide your family with a financial safety net starting today. With PolicyGenius, you can find life insurance policies that start at just $292 per year for $1 million of coverage.

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Starting point is 00:12:21 That's policy genius.com slash locked on NHL. All right. We're back here on the Friday recap edition, a victory Friday here for the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And boy, we left off talking about Sidney Crosby. we left off talking about how great he was tonight. And unfortunately, though, we're going to have to take it back into a little bit of a negative despite a win.

Starting point is 00:12:51 I do think now with the outlook of the season in the three games remaining, I think it's Tristan Jari time once we get to Saturday against the Bruins. We are going to preview that game here in the third segment, but just not his best game. And I know that there were a lot of defensive brookyons. breakdowns. This wasn't exactly a highlight real game for the Penguins defensive zone coverage, but he makes 25 saves on 30 shots, 833 save percentage. I wouldn't put all of the goals against on him, but you would like a save or two on a couple of them. I think the tying goal from Raymond,

Starting point is 00:13:34 that's probably the one that Nadelcovich would want back. And yeah, I know it's a breakaway, but I still think he's probably going to want that one back overall. You're right. A lot of these goals came because of defensive breakdowns. I also think he may want the Jeff Petrie goal back as well, but that's 10 straight starts for this point with Alex Nelkevich. And I know everything is on the line, but I think you are going to have to give Jari a start in one of these final three games.

Starting point is 00:14:04 I don't think it's going to be on the island against the islanders, but it has to be in one of these next two, home games against the Bruins or against the Predators. I keep saying I think it's going to be the Predators, but if Sullivan were to decide to start Jari on Saturday against Boston, I wouldn't be surprised at all just because I think Ned is running out of gas just a little bit and you've got to give him some breathing room heading into the playoffs where I do think he would be their starting goaltender if this team makes it. Yeah, for sure.

Starting point is 00:14:35 And then we look at Saturday's schedule and it's going to be another huge night for both the penguins and as we were doing to on on Thursday night scoreboard watching because right now the penguins hold the second wild card spot with 86 points but right behind them are the capitals red wings and flyers again all with 85 points and then we look at saturday night's lineups outside of the penguins and you have the islanders and rangers going at it once again that's at 1230 so we'll be able to watch that one in its entirety without having the second screen it and then you continue to look at the rest of the schedule. You also have the Red Wings at the Maple Leafs,

Starting point is 00:15:15 and that's another huge game that we'll have to keep an eye on. And then you have the New Jersey Devils and the Philadelphia Flyers and the Washington Capitals in the Tampa Bay Lightning. So a lot of favorable matchups again for the Penguins, because you look at that and you hope that the Rangers can find their stride, although they're mired in a tough slump right now. at least in the fact that they have not scored at even strength, I think, in two straight games.

Starting point is 00:15:44 It's been a long time since they've scored at five on five, so they're struggling. Flyers broke out of their eight-game losing streak on Thursday night, but they're going to go up against a young, fast, hungry Devils team, so that'll be an interesting one to watch. Tampa Bay, obviously, has been Tampa Bay again, so you got them playing the caps. So we'll see what happens there.

Starting point is 00:16:06 Toronto, Austin Matthews, is two goals away. from 70. So I have a feeling they're going to come out guns ablazin against the Red Wings. So interesting slate of games on Saturday. For sure. And it would be great for the Penguins if they were to get some help from some of these teams that need to lose. But the Penguins can only control what's in front of them. They control their own destiny right now. You win these final three games against three pretty solid teams. You are in the playoffs. Doesn't matter if you're third in the Metro or if you get that second wild card spot. You're in the playoffs no matter what. But going back to this game

Starting point is 00:16:43 as a whole, I wanted to shout out a couple more players who I thought played brilliant games, starting with Brian Rust. You know what that goal reminded me of? 2016 Game 7, Andre Vasselowski. He comes in the offensive zone and fires an absolute rocket past Vasselovsky. He did the same thing here against Alex Lyon. I'm like, that goal definitely looked familiar even though it's been eight years since that happened. And I also want to shout out, your man, Jeff Carter,

Starting point is 00:17:15 massive goal for the Penguins in the third period. I know they ended up blowing the lead a few minutes later, but he got the team a pretty rare, short-handed goal. This team does not score many short-handed goals this season, and that was one heck of a shot by Carter coming in. I know you were smiling like a butcher's dog is Mike Lang, like to say when that goal went in.

Starting point is 00:17:37 So I do want to shout out both of those players for two pretty solid performances in this game. Well, good little bit of trivia here from the Penguin's premier historian Bob Grove. That was the penguin's first shorthanded goal and I think about a month. And you know who got the last one? I'm blanking on it. Jeff Carter. Of course. But yeah, I mean, and then, you know, obviously putting that aside, you know, joking aside,

Starting point is 00:18:04 was a huge goal, but I agree on the Brian Rust thing. I said it during the game on Twitter. That is a guy you hold on to. I know the aging curve is real. I know he's 31 years old, but you look at the way he plays the game. He scores goals. You can put him on literally any line, first, second, third, fourth. You can play him on the PK, which he was brilliant on tonight, by the way. He was maybe the penguin's best penalty killer. And you can put him on the power play as well. I know that he's 31 years old. I know that he is eventually going to burn out. But that is a guy you hold on to and run him until the wheels fall off because that's just a guy that you win with. I agree 100%. I mean, you could probably get a good haul for him over the off season, but I'm really not looking to move him right now with the way he's played his tail off every single night this season. Could that change next year? Sure. But I'm banking on him having a pretty solid

Starting point is 00:19:03 year next year as well. A couple other players I wanted to shout out before we get to the final segment. I think Rickel is playing the best hockey of his season of the last couple of weeks. The past that he had on Chris Lattang's goal in this one was really nice. He picked up a couple of assists overall. I'm just really liking where his game is at. And I like how Michael Bunting played yet again. And I should shout out Ryan Shea. I tweeted this during the game. He just looked so comfortable back there right now. It looked a bit much earlier on the season. It looked like he just didn't really know

Starting point is 00:19:36 that he was playing at the NHL level. But now that he has some more games under his belt, his stint over these last several games, it looks like he's a seasoned veteran playing on the bottom pairing. That pair with St. Ivany has been a really strong pairing over the last few games. I would not touch that at all for the final three games.

Starting point is 00:19:58 I would say St. Ivney had a pretty sound game as well. I just like how Ryan Shea is playing. really strong in his own zone. He's great at getting the puck out of his own zone and also has a really active stick. I wasn't noticing any of that during his first stint this season. It's been nice to see him improve

Starting point is 00:20:13 now that he's getting some more games under his belt. Yeah, Ryan Shea, along with Jack St. Ivan, have been, I don't want to say very impressive because they are two defensive defensemen. They're not going to wow you with anything they do, but they have been perfectly solid. They have played very stable, and that's really what you need from your third pairing.

Starting point is 00:20:36 So I have no complaints with them. And I think I'm right there with you. Should this team make the playoffs, don't touch that pairing. Let them play. I know they're young. I know they're inexperienced. But the way they have played in the biggest moments in the last couple of weeks, I think they've proven they deserve a spot should this team get into the Stanley

Starting point is 00:20:56 Cup playoffs. But we still have a ways to go before we get there, including a Saturday night. primetime matchup with the big bad Boston Bruins. Hunter and I are going to preview that game right after this. Now we're going to tell you about our next sponsor and that is Indeed. When you're drafting your fantasy team, do you ever wish you could handpick the best stars for your business team? If you're building your talent roster, you need Indeed. Indeed is the hiring platform where you can attract, interview, and hire all in one place. Don't spend hours on multiple job sites looking for candidates with the right skills when you can do it.

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Starting point is 00:23:35 Head to FactorMeals.com slash locked on NHL 50 and use code locked on NHL 50 to get 50% off your first box plus 20% off your next box. That's code Locked on NHL 50 at factor meals.com slash locked on NHL 50 and you'll get 50% off your first box and then 20% off your next box while your subscription is active. All right, we're back here on the Victory Friday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. And we're going to transition into the preview Saturday version of the Lockdown Penguins podcast because the Penguins got a big old showdown with the Boston Bruins. And they've actually had a mixed bag of results against the Bruins this year.

Starting point is 00:24:20 They had maybe their gutsiest win of the year back in January against the Bruins where they pulled out a 6-5 win. fun score. We like that one tonight. And then they got walloped by the Bruins 5 to 1 back in March. And these are two teams right now that are absolutely rolling. The Bruins are 6, 4 and 0 in their last 10. As we said, Penguins are 7.0 and 3 on a 10 game point streak. But the Bruins, once again, man, they are the Boston Bruins. The Bruins right now are the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. I was hoping heading into this game that the Bruins weren't going to have too much to play for, but they're still playing for two things. A, the number one seat in the Eastern Conference.

Starting point is 00:25:03 They have 107 points right now. And B, the Atlantic Division title. They are only one point ahead of the Florida Panthers, but the Bruins, excuse me, do have a game in hand on the Panthers. So they're still fighting for both things. So this is still going to be a pretty big game for the Bruins overall. But I want to continue to see that same desperation that I've been seeing from the Penguins. over the last 10 games.

Starting point is 00:25:26 It all obviously starts with David Posternach, 47 goals, 107 points in 79 games. I would say outside of Austin Matthews, I think he's the best goal score in the league right now. He is that good with the puck on his stick. Brad Marshan, he's having one heck of a year as well, and he can do it all. Five on five, five on four, four V-5.

Starting point is 00:25:49 He is just a great all-around player on the Bruins. And just when you think this Bruins team is going to slow down, they just keep on winning. Despite having very mid-center depth, their four-group outside of that is still pretty solid. Then defensively, you have some dudes there, especially with Charlie McAvoy. But their biggest strength this season, in my opinion, is their goal-tending. Both Jeremy Sleeman and Linus Allmark have been awesome for the Bruins. In 38 games, Allmark is 21 and 9-7, 9-17-saver percentage. Jeremy Swayman, 43 games.

Starting point is 00:26:23 he's 25, 9 and 8 with a 915. It really doesn't matter which goalie the Bruins start in this one, just because both have been two of the best goalies in the league. And now we can hit on something that we kind of hinted at earlier in the show. Alex Nadelcovic has started 10 straight games for the Penguins. And I know this game against the Bruins is another massive one just because of where the Penguins are. Sending wise, they will hold that playoff spot heading into the games on Saturday. do you start Tristan Jari in this one, or do you wait until Nashville?

Starting point is 00:26:56 Because Jari overall against the Predators, I have a couple stats to give you. He's 3.0 and 2 in 5 games against Nashville with a 1.97 goals against average and a 928 save percentage versus Nashville. I'm kind of inclined to save him for that game and maybe ride Nadelcovic for an 11th straight game, even though he could be gassed. But that said, if Sullivan does go to Jari in this game, even though Jari has, kind of mixed numbers against the Bruins, I wouldn't be surprised. But where do you stand on that?

Starting point is 00:27:27 Hear me out on this. I think it's Alex Nadelcovic's net if this team gets to the postseason. I think he's earned that. I think you can give Jari two straight starts here. I think you can rest up Alex Nadelcovic and get him going into what is probably going to be a consequential game in Long Island against the islanders. And at this point, you could. see it tonight. Ned's slowing down a little bit. He is struggling a little bit. Yes, a lot of the

Starting point is 00:27:56 goals against the Red Wings were not his fault, but a couple of them you could probably say, hey, let's get a save there. And he has started, what is it, 10 straight? Yes, 10 straight. I think he's a good goalie. He didn't play all that much leading up to this current 10 start stretch. But even a good goalie, even the best goalies in this modern era can't handle that kind of workload. They just can't. The game's different now, especially this season with scoring an offense through the roof, they're under assault every single game. And on the flip side of it, you've rested jari for 10 games.

Starting point is 00:28:41 And it's not like when you rest as a goalie, you just sit on the bench for everything. He's in practice every day. He's getting work every day. He's getting extended work in the morning. skates when he's not starting. And by all accounts, we hear about this guy, he's a fierce competitor, he works hard, and he still is talented. I know he struggled the last month, especially when he was getting consistent starts,

Starting point is 00:29:04 but now he's got a chance to go out and prove himself. And at this point, I know that everybody's wincing at this and thinking, oh, no, you can't do it. Jari stinks, Jari stinks. You have to play this correctly because, yes, you're trying to get into the postseason. But if you go into the postseason with an ice cold Tristan Jari and a burnt out Alex Nadelcovich, it doesn't matter who you play because you're probably not going to get many saves. See, I agree with you on that.

Starting point is 00:29:32 I don't want Adelkevich to be gas heading into the playoffs if they get in, but it just carries so much risk starting Jari to straight games with the level that he's played at over the last month. I mean, this would kind of be a redemption chance for Jari as this team is trying to make the playoffs, but with how he's played over the last four weeks, I know he's been off for the last couple of weeks overhaul, I just don't know if you can start him two straight games with everything on the line. I'm there to start him in one of those games, especially against Nashville, but that Bruins game, that scares me, especially with the talent that they have up front. I don't know, man. It's still going to be really risky if you start him in that game again.

Starting point is 00:30:14 I won't be surprised, but with the numbers that he has against the Predators, I would save him for that game personally and just with how Nashville doesn't have have excuse me as much star talent I just think it makes more sense to put him in that game because the Bruins game right now it still means more it does but I mean at this point I think you really have to just go out and just play the way you've been playing I mean if you're relying simply on your goal tending then you've already lost so you have to go out and play the Bruins with the same desperation you have been playing with for the last three weeks. And if you're Tristan Jari, you want to show these guys, hey, I still got it.

Starting point is 00:30:58 And either way, I'm going to start them on Saturday night. I have to. Ned is starting to slow up a little bit. You can't burn them out. And hell, if Jari plays well Saturday night, start them again on Monday. And then you just say, you know what? we're in a metro division showdown here in the last game of the season and this could maybe get us into third in the division.

Starting point is 00:31:23 We're going with the guy who has brought us back from the dead and Alex and Delcovic. Tristan, thanks for the help. You'll be back next year maybe. And if Ned falters, we need you ready. So that's at least where I stand. I agree, I mean, it's a very value argument, but, you know, Jari, three, six and three in his career against the Bruins two of his last three games

Starting point is 00:31:44 against Boston overall. sub-900 Sabresage. It's just a very high risk, potential high award if the first half, Tristan Jari shows up in this game, but I'm just not sure that's going to happen with everything on the line. I just, I think I get spooked after how Jari played in the playoffs a couple of years ago, not even just the Rangers. He had a broken foot in that game, please, people.

Starting point is 00:32:07 I'm not trying to crush him through that. I'm just talking about the Islanders. I think I'm just a little bit spooked still from that overall. But is there anything else you want to say about this game against the Bruins that we really haven't discussed yet? Got to play with desperation. That's the main thing because it's a great Bruins team with talent top to bottom and two great goaltenders. So it's a formidable task even if you're not fighting for your playoff lives. Got to play desperate. Got to play smart. And you got to just feed off the energy in the building because Bruins and Penguins, 8 o'clock PM at PPG paints arena. and I do think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:32:48 Thank you always for tuning in. Hunter and I will be back on Monday to recap the Bruins game and get you ready for the Nashville Predators game. But until then, the Penguins currently hold a playoff spot. So enjoy that for a couple of days here. Enjoy this run. Embrace it. Have some fun.

Starting point is 00:33:07 And we will talk to you on Monday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins move into playoff position after a WILD win over Detroit

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