Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins shock Edmonton with a massive home win!

Episode Date: January 10, 2025

The Pittsburgh penguins rode a fast start against one of the best teams in the league to bank two massive points. Hunter and Patrick break down their surprising 5-3 win over the Oilers and how they were able to get it done. They discuss how every line chipped in and how the Penguins showed a lot of heart in the third period with the way they defended and the way they each five-man unit was playing. They give a big shoutout to Alex Nedeljkovic for his performance and how he made a lot of timely saves before Hunter goes on a very small rant about the officiating (Shocker!). After that, the two hosts get you guys set for this weekend's back-to-back against the Senators and Lightning and give their keys to victory.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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 TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win or lose 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 scored a gigantic win over the Edmonton Oilers on Star Wars Night on Thursday. Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus get you all set for a massive Pittsburgh sports weekend right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunts for Hodes. you can follow me on Twitter at Hunters Hodes, joined by my co-st, Patrick Damp, you can follow him on all social media platforms

at Senator Fruwet, and you can follow these shows, Twitter, at L.O. Ornestore Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So, Pat, the Penguins, surprise, virtually everyone in this fan base

by beating the Edmonton Oilers five to three on Thursday, snapping that seven-game losing streak against them, and the Oilers were not ready for the start of this game because the penguins were playing like a team that was fired up. That was really mad after what happened in that Columbus game on Tuesday, how they blew that two goal lead with less than eight minutes to play and then losing in a shootout. They came out like a house on fire.

You know, one nothing really quickly. Ricard Raquel have a season, my friend. He continues to be awesome. Brian Ross makes it two nothing. Kevin Hayes makes it three nothing. Thanks to some great work down low by both Drew O'Connor and Jesse Poyarvey. Please, Mike Sullivan, even though of Guinea Malkin is getting closer to playing, please keep Poo-Yarvy on that line with O'Connor and Hayes.

I think they're really showing something in these two games. And then you have Drew O'Connor's score. And then you also have Sidney Cappoff with another goal. And congratulations to Sid now, Pat. Ninth all-time officially on the NHL's all-time points list passing Joe Sackick. So who's next? The big boy, number 66. Mario Lemieux, he's going to get that.

We already discussed probably at the end of next season, if not maybe the start of the season after that. but the time is coming when Sid is going to pass Maryaulamu. But again, man, I loved the way the Penguins started this game. They were really taking it to the Oilers. Stuart Skinner was not sharp to start this game. Heck, the Oilers as a whole were not sharp to start this game. And you knew the Oilers were going to wake up later in the game.

I mean, A, they were double shifting Connor McDavid and Leon Drysidal for the last two periods. And B, you just knew that that level that they showed at the the start of the game, that was not going to sustain. They've been playing really good hockey heading in this game on a four-game winning streak. You knew they were going to wake up sooner rather than later. And even when they went up, for example, 3-1, sorry, 3-0, 4-1, and even 5-1, I kept saying, this game is not close to over considering how the Oilers are able to score at will. And then you saw, you know, 5-2 and then they made it 5-3.

Heading into the third period, I got a, I can't lie, man. I was nervous because we've seen the Penguins blow so many multi-goal leads this year, but the way they played in the third period was outstanding. They limited the Oilers to no high danger chances at five-on-five. Alex Nadelcovic made some timely saves. He was great all-game. I think that's his best start of the season. That's the level I want to see from him on a more consistent basis.

I want to see one of these two goalies, take the reins and be like, okay, I'm going to give this team at least average to a little bit above average goaltending because that's really all they need so they can win on a more consistent basis, considering how this team generates at even strength and how they're finishing chances a lot better lately compared to how they finish chances the last two or three years. I know I've been rambling a lot about a whole different stuff, Pat, but those are just a few of my observations from this game. What say you?

My biggest thing that I said to you was when it comes to the, Edmonton Oilers in a 60 minute game, maybe even a 65 minute game, that team is not dead until the body is cold and it is buried six feet under. So I was like you. Even at five to one, I was thinking, you got to finish this one out because the Oilers, they're too good, they're too fast, and they showed it. And I said this on social media and I had the thought during the game, but now having some time to think about it. The Penguins didn't really go into a shell in the third period. They had some pushback here and there.

Edmonton's just that good. Edmonton just took control of the game, but it was too little too late for them. You dig yourself a five to one hole. Even a team like Edmonton up against the clock like that is going to struggle to make a comeback. So they were really haunted by a very poor first period. that might have been Edmonton's worst first period of the season.

I obviously haven't watched all of the Oilers season, but even with the Penguins playing better hockey, you can't fall behind four to one after 20 minutes. That's really unacceptable no matter what team you are. For the Nadelkovich part, I agree with you to an extent. Definitely his best game of the season. You can't look at a 40 save percent,

40 save performance and not chalk that up is maybe his best performance. That said, you can't make a 40 save performance, a 930 save percentage performance commonplace. But overall, I'm with you on that. It needs to be a game where you get a bunch of timely saves. You get a, and maybe one or two unrealistic saves because he had a few of those last night. He had a few saves where you watch the replay and went, he had no business stop in that one. So getting that kind of goal tending will help this team.

I know breaking news, extremely obvious. Thank you for that one, Pat. Good goaltending helps you win. Who would have thought? All that said, I'll wrap it up with this. This fits into something last night that I have been noticing from this team for the past couple of months. This team, if nothing else, has heart.

Because this would have been a really easy game. for them to kind of just brush off. And I know when you have the likes of Sidney Crosby, Michael Bunting, and a few others on your roster, they don't know how to not compete, but it would have been real easy for them to schedule loss this one. Western Conference team, one of the best teams in the league, you're struggling.

You know what, boys, let's go out. Let's just do what happens. If we lose, we lose. But no, they went out from the drop of the puck and said, uh-uh, we're winning this game. or at the very least, we are going to make Edmonton earn a win over us. So that was a gutsy performance from the Penguins last. Especially in the third period.

I like that you brought up heart because that is really what I saw in the third period. They played with a lot of heart, a lot of pride. Yes, I know. I'm using a little bit intangibles. I'm not really looking at the stats when I'm saying this, but just look with the eye test. Look at the way they were blocking shots. Look at the way they were keeping Edmonton to the outside.

I looked at the way Ndilkevich was making those timely saves. Everyone was selling out that five-man unit on the ice. Every time they were five skaters out there, they were selling out, playing their tails off. I saw so much heart, so much pride, so much effort, so much enthusiasm from that team in the third period. That is what I want to really carry over into this next thing against Ottawa, Tampa Bay. Heck, into all those other games in the second half of the season. I really liked that third period. And as a whole, yeah, Connor McDavid had his, had three assists.

Leon Drysidal did his thing. But for the most part, I really did like the way the penguins defended those two. Again, for the most part, they did what they could. You're never going to shut down those two players. They are two of the five greatest players on the planet. One of them is the best player on the planet. But they did what they could to shut them down. Again, they got their production.

They were double shifting them the final 40 minutes. They played almost half of the game last night. If you were looking up at the screen basically every 30 seconds to a minute and you kept seeing McDavid out there, trust me, your eyes were not deceiving you. That was literally what was happening. He was being double shifted with dry sidle, with Zach Hyman. They had Bouchard out there. They were putting that five-man unit out there to try and get them back into the game every minute or two. That's what the oil to do because it's a luxury that they have with that five-man unit.

And the penguins, to their credit, they did a fairly good job. Well, and here's something that I think that backs up what you're saying and what both of us are saying when it comes to them playing with heart in the third period. You look at the stats from the third period specifically, both the top of the line stats and you pop the hood and look at the analytics in the third period. Edmonton has 15 shots on goal, but they get 57% of the shot attempts. Here's where the penguins played really well defensively. They got seven shots in the third period because they had a couple of shifts where they

mucked up the works. They got some time in Edmonton zone. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough. Like they said it on the broadcast. It was enough to kill some clock, especially late. So it takes away time for Edmonton to mount a comeback. But here's the biggest stat that stands out to me from. last night. You know, how many high danger chances Edmonton had in the third period? Zero.

So the penguins, they let they, they, they, you can say they, that they might have turtled a little bit because they were in their end a lot, but the thing was, they didn't let Edmonton very often get to the middle of the ice in the defensive zone. So the penguins basically said, all right, you guys are down to in the third period with less than 10 minutes to go. You want to play patty cake on the outside or you want to throw shots from the point or the half wall. Ned's on one tonight. Go for it. He's going to stop it.

And we'll let you play out there all game long. Then we'll clear it. We'll make you regroup or we'll put it in your zone and we'll keep Skinner in the net for a while. So the Penguins did an extremely good job the final 20 minutes of saying, listen, we're not totally going into a shell, but we're going to play smart defensively so we can limit this team from actually mounting a comeback. And if you have a team like Edmonton with two of the best players in the world that eventually break through, yeah, it's going to be annoying.

Yeah, you're going to be upset that you blew the lead. But when great players do great things, that's life. But it didn't happen. The Penguins played extremely well defensively in the third period and limited what little chances Edmonton had. Yeah. I mean, again, dry side limit, David. They hurt them a bit in that game.

and it really mattered, especially in the third period, the penguins did enough defensively in their own zone, and they got some really nice, timely saves from Nadelcovich to earn a much needed two points. And when you look at the standings now, my friend, both wild card spots might be opening up. Tampa Bay just whipped Boston at home. And Tampa Bay, they have a lot of games in hand on basically everyone in this race. They're gunning for that third spot in the Atlantic right now. and I would be stunned if they didn't get it.

The Bruins are on a six-game losing streak. Penguins have a game in hand on them. And then you have all the other teams going for that second wildcard spot. You know, Columbus, Ottawa, which we'll get to in a few seconds. You know, the Islanders won last night over Vegas. You know, the Rangers got a big win over the Devils. You have all of these teams. You know, again, Montreal, Mayor, Detroit.

All these teams still in it. But again, Pat, both wild card spots right now appear to be opening up for the penguins, which is fairly big considering that for a while, it looked like it was only one wildguard spot that was going to open up because the Bruins were playing well. But lately, they're stinking it up. They're not getting any offense. And they're relying a lot on swayman right now.

So again, if you're able to bank some serious points coming up here with this homestown, especially this weekend with two really good teams coming in that are right around you in the standings, that's going to pay potentially huge dividends down the line. opportunities in front of them now. They just have to jump up and take it. And that's kind of the story of all these teams sniffing around the wild card right now is the spots are there for the taking. You look at this log jam in the east and it's funny

enough, taping up like the end of last year where it's basically you've got a couple spots open. Does anybody want to step up and take them? And it seems like every couple weeks, whether it's the penguins, the blue jackets, the senators, the Canadians, now the Bruins, all these teams are just going, no, you have it, nope, you have it, nope, you have it. So the first team over the next month or so to step up, put together a few good weeks, they're going to solidify themselves in the wild card. Yeah, just to go back to a little bit of last night's game against the Oilers. Again, really like that third line with Hayes O'Connor and Puyarvey.

They were forechecking really nicely, especially in that first period. and I can't say enough about the way Kevin Hayes is playing right now, especially Pat. He has been awesome since coming back into the lineup. Even when Tomasino is ready to go and especially when Afghani Malkin is ready to go, I don't think he should come out of the lineup. And again, I don't think Puyarvi should come out of the lineup right now either. He was foreshacking really nicely last night. I want to see more of that third line.

Would that mean taking out a veteran or two for those two players? Yeah, you know what? So what? You have that luxury with how you're forward. is. So really like that performance. Cindy Crosby had a great outing against McDavid. I always love seeing those two go against one another. And it's going to be awesome seeing them team up. And again, man, Ricard Raquel continues to be great too. I got one more thing, though. Pat, you know what's coming. I've been texting at you about this all day. Garrett Rank was the official

last night. That dude is a bozo. And I have no problem saying that on this show. He sucks at his job. has it out for the penguins every single time he refs their games. I'm sorry. I don't believe in a lot of conspiracy theories in this world, but I do believe that he has it out for the penguins with the way that he refs them every single time. That was textbook reffing to the score last night. We talked about this a little bit over text, Pat.

The Brian Russ little pick play with McDavid. Yeah, literally the law, it was a pick play. It's just never called. But McDavid went down a bit soft there. We got to admit. I feel like you probably could have at least done four on four there with the way that he went down. I even did the Jim Montgomery diving motion when I saw that. That was good yet.

Evan Bouchard basically tackling Sidney Crosby later in the game. No call. Michael Bunting and Darnell Nurse get into it. Bunting's the only one that gets called just because, again, you're roughing to the score. I don't want to spend too much more time on this, but I have to say it once again, tired of that officiating, Garrett Rank, he is the Angel Hernandez. of the NHL, the TV Ted Valentine for my college basketball fans

of the NHL. He stinks. Yeah, and our apologies to our guy, Sean. Sorry, we're having a very long opening segment because there was a lot to talk about in this game. But I'll say this. I'll keep it brief, is, I didn't hate anything that was called last night. Everything that was called was a penalty.

Like you said, the pick play on Rust, it should be called every time. It's not. but if we're going to want that stuff to be called, start calling it. The Michael Bunting and the scrum, yeah, he didn't come from across the ice, but he inserted himself into it. We know that refs will allow guys in front of the net to wrestle and fight and do their whole thing and then just go, all right, everybody got their licks in, go away.

And Bunting kind of joins the fray for no real reason. They're going to call that. So I was more annoyed with all the stuff that wasn't called because there was a ton of penalties that weren't called. I can't take much issue with anything that was. My annoyance was a bunch of hooks, bunch of holds, bunch of borderline hits, and you don't call those. So it's a weird place to be because I have no issue with what was called. It was just so much else went uncalled that you go, what exactly are we doing here? That's Garrett Rank for you, man. But it also goes back to something I've been saying for the last couple weeks.

too much reffing to the score in this league. I just, you don't need to ref to the score every single game. When something happens, call it. But that's, that's the bottom line. But that will do it for this very long first segment coming up in the second segment. We're going to get you all set for a massive home matchup on Saturday between the penguins and the senators. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our first sponsor.

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All right. We're back here on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-os, Patrick Dam. So, Pat, two very big points on the line Saturday afternoon when the Ottawa Senators come to town, take on the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Penguins got a point against the senators a few weeks ago,

lost in overtime. Linus, Allmark had one heck of an effort on the second half of a back-to-back against the Penguins in that game. He wasn't even supposed to start in that game, but he did, and he was fantastic. but the penguins will not have to worry about him in this game on Saturday because he is out right now week to week with an injury. So that is a fairly big loss. And since he's gone out, the senators, man, they are going through it right now.

They just got embarrassed on the home ice by the Buffalo Sabres. They have been shut out, the senators, that is, two of their last three games. They have lost four in a row, and they have lost six of their last seven games. The penguins are up three points on them right now. Yes, the senators do have some games in hand. but if the penguins are able to get two clean points here, you are five points up on a team that is right with you in the standings. You have one more meeting against them.

And by also getting those two points, you're snapping a five game losing streak against senators. They are 02 and three in their last five games against senators. Again, three of those five losses coming in the X recession. So it's time to really get this monkey off your back with how you broke one streak with the Oilers, right? You stamp a seven game losing straight against them. Now get this monkey off your back. and snap this five-game losing streak against the Senators.

You know what you're going to get with them in their lineup. You know, Drake Batherson is in their top six with Claudrew and Tim Stutzla. Brady-Kachuk leads the way on the top line. You have Nick Cousins and Josh Norris on your third line. Defensively, you have Tomas Shabbat manning the blue line on the top pairing. You then have Jake Sanderson on your second pairing. And then goal-tending-wise, at least with Allmarked out, you have Anton Forsberg, who it looks like is probably going to get the start in this one.

So two pretty big points on the line, as I've said 5,000 times this episode already. And this is a nice little appetizer before the big main course comes your way at 8 o'clock when the Steelers go to Baltimore to play the Ravens. So pretty big sports day in Pittsburgh on Saturday. It is. It's going to be a lot of fun. And as one of my favorite columns from years and years and years ago from Bill Simmons

previewing March Madness Day 1 where he basically said, I hope your butt needs a lot of sitting and your beers need a lot of drinking because Saturday will be that day for us in Pittsburgh. So I look at it this way when it comes to the senators. One, you got a vulnerable team coming in. They're going through it right now. You have to take advantage of that. And this will be a theme of the weekend for the Penguins as well.

You're playing a team that struggles on the road. Edmont, or Edmonton, excuse me, Ottawa, not too bad up in Ottawa, 10, 7 and 1, but they're 9-11 and 2 on the road, which not that bad, but also not that good. So you can see that this is a team that doesn't do that well outside of the Canadian Tire Center. So you need to take advantage of that. You also got to take advantage of the fact that, like we said, they're going through it. This is a team that is struggling. And like we have said, there's a lot of talent on this senator's roster.

They are trending in the right direction. I think this is a team that while they're, not in a playoff spot right now. They are in the same position as the penguins just going the opposite way. If the penguins are kind of coming down off of their time of being one of the best teams in the NHL, they're coming down the mountain. Ottawa's going up it. There is a lot of talent on this roster.

Brady Kachuk, Shane Pinto, they just extended Ridley Grigg, who's a very good player. You've obviously got Tim Stutzla, Drake Batherson, you got your veteran presence in Claude Jure. and then on the blue line, Shabbat, Jensen, Sanderson, and they're right there. They're figuring it out. There's young talent in the system. Their time's coming, but it's not here yet. So you've got to take advantage of that.

And then like we said, the goaltending. Anton Forsberg's a hot and cold goalie. There's times when he looks really good. There's times when he's below replacement level. If you can put up the kind of performance you had against Edmonton in the first, we'll say 35 minutes of the game, last night, this should be a team you can take two clean points from. Agreed. And I will say once again, special teams can be a pretty big factor.

The senders come in with the ninth best power play in Lake Pittsburgh still in the top five, but the Penguins penalty kill going to have another big test in this one. They mostly passed the test against Edmonton. They did give up a power play goal. But I will say there's not a lot of shame in giving up a power play goal against the Oilers, considering the five-man unit that they can run out there on the power play because they basically do the same thing at even strength. They were doing that at five on five, the last two periods.

But with this one, I need an even better performance from the penalty kill. Going back to New Year's Eve, they are well below water in terms of penalty kill, you know, in the bottom third of the league in terms of penalty kill. Yes, there's still, when you look at the overall rankings for the penalty kill, they're in the top half of the league. But over, you know, this last week and a half to two weeks, they're in the bottom third because that unit is really struggling. So I need to see a much better.

performance from the PK, you saw Marcus Pedersen playing really well on that unit on Thursday. Struggled a bit on Tuesday against the Blue Jackets, but came back to Earth on Thursday. Need to see more of that. And then for the Penguins with their power play again, Pat, top five unit, you're going up against a Senators team, though, that is 23rd in the league in penalty killing. So that's a big mismatch, right? There are penguins that continue to stay hot on the power play, not just in general, but especially on at home where it feels like they're scoring.

a power play goal every time that they get one on home ice. So you're going to have to really take advantage of that mismatch in this one. Oh, yeah. And the biggest thing for me on this is I don't want to oversell or I guess undersell would be the better way to say it. The struggles of the PK because they're getting lifted by the power play. Yeah. In an ideal world, you do want both to be clicking.

at a good rate. But if you have one unit in the top 10, hell for the Penguins, the power plays in the top five, so long as your penalty kill doesn't fall to the bottom half of the league, you can survive that because it means on most nights you're probably going to win the special teams battle. You may give up a power play goal, but if you score one yourself or even two, you take that in the plus in the plus column and move on. But that said, the way the penalty kill is trending could turn this into an issue. So they did pretty well last night. Yeah, they gave up a goal, but at the same time,

they did fairly well otherwise. It's exactly what I said. You scored a goal. You gave one up. You take that even, you take that even especially because you only got one power play opportunity yourself and you took advantage of it. So that has to improve.

And the main thing for me, looking at Ottawa, you have players like Stutzla, who you know as well as I do, Hunter. He is going for a spot on the Olympic diving team. You also have Claude Jureu. You also have one of the Kachuk brothers. So you know those are three guys right there who are going to do everything in their power to get under your skin. Don't let them. 100% and I do think Alex Nadelkovic should get the start in this game against Senators. I would go Jari on Sunday against the Bolts because, well, A, I think the Senators game is a bit more important than the Bolt's game.

They're both very important. But when I look at, you know, the standings, I do think this game against Ottawa is just a bit more important. And I would reward Ned for the way that he played against Edmonton to get him the start in this game against Ottawa. And then I would go Jari on Sunday against Tampa, even. even though he struggled a bit in the first matchup earlier this season. But that'll do it for this second segment coming up to end the show. You know what's coming. We're going to preview this big game against the Tampa Lightning on Sunday,

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What time is it? It's game time. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s Patrick Dam. So, how the Penguins will play another game at home this weekend on Sunday when they welcome in the Tampa Bay Lightning. They've won two in a row, beating the Boston Bruins pretty handily at home on Thursday by a score of 4 to 1.

Before that, they beat the Caroline Hurricanes. Coming into this week, this was a lightning team that was struggling. You know, they had lost four to one to the ducks on the road. They lost two to one to the Kings. They lost two to one of the sharks. They actually got swept on the California road trip. Not good, especially when two of those teams are two of the worst teams in the league. They did not look good against those three teams at all.

I mean, the Kings, they're obviously a really good team in the Western Conference, but the sharks and the ducks, not good. And they only scored two combined goals in those games, well, at least against the ducks and the sharks. but they scored three goals in the three games in California as a whole. But then they come out here this week, beat the Hurricane Suite of Two, they beat the Bruins Sport of 1. Things are backed on track.

And with how many games in hand they have on a lot of teams in this conference, I actually expect him to get that third spot in the Atlantic, and we could very much be going for another round of the Battle of Florida, sign me up for that. I'm not a big fan of the NHL's playoff format as it is, but I will always watch a Battle of Florida series, especially with how much those two teams do not like each other. for the lightning this year, the Penguins have already seen them once.

They lost an overtime. They had a multi-goal lead in that game, but then they lose an overtime when Tristan Jari, you remember, Patty, kind of overplayed the puck in that situation. Definitely a bad look for him in that game. But this year, we all know where it starts once again with Tampa. And that is Nikita Kutrov, 17 goals, 58 points in 37 games, a top five player in the league, a big contender for the Hart Trophy. He continues to age like fine one this year.

Braden point, he's also been great, 25 goals, 47 points this year. Brandon Hegel, he's over a point per game. Jake Denzel has 21 goals and 40 points. Anthony Sorrelli is playing great. You have Victor Headman playing great still. Nick Paul. Their top players are very much playing like their top players. They can run out that super line if they want to with point.

Kutrov and Gensel, they've been doing it. You know, at times this season, heck, I mean, they've been doing it this week as well. I would expect to see it on Sunday in this game against the penguins. I will say one big edge, excuse me, that the penguins have in this one, is Tampa Bay, they're also playing three games and four nights with travel. They're playing New Jersey on Saturday. Then they're coming to Pittsburgh. So there's a chance that the penguins might not even face Andre Vasselowski in this game,

which would be a big break because he is one of the best goaltenders on the planet. So yes, while the penguins do have a similar back-to-back, of course, they have three games and four nights, all of them are at home. While as for Tampa Pat, they're on the road and they have a back-to-back with travel. Yep. And as I said about the Ottawa game, this is a team that doesn't totally struggle on the road, but they're also not great at it. They're 9-9-1 this season away from Tampa Bay.

So that can play in your favor. and to the goaltending part of it, I actually agree with your idea for how to play the goalies this weekend. I think Ned earned another start to play against Ottawa after his performance in Edmonton, plus with how big of a game that is. The other thing is that I'm sure the penguins are well aware of this. For all the struggles Tristan Jari has had over the past few years, they don't really exist against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

In 10 games against the Lightning, he's got a 6-3-1 record and a 9-4. 24 save percentage. So for everything Jari has done over the last couple seasons that we, we have rightfully criticized him for, like the Penguins at large, when they play the Tampa Bay Lightning, they play them pretty well. Yes. So that includes Tristan Jari. And yeah, Newark to Pittsburgh, not that long of a flight, not that long of a travel, but you're playing them at 7 o'clock on Saturday night, and then you have to turn around and play the Penguins at 5. So there's not even a 24-hour break between these two games.

And you're not going to go play the New Jersey Devils, and it's not going to be 60 minutes of open ice. It isn't going to be a hard battle for Tampa Bay coming in to Pittsburgh. Not that Ottawa was going to be a cakewalk on Saturday for the Penguins, but you're looking at a team that, like you said, got swept on the Carolina trip. And before going on the Carolina trip, they actually lost the Montreal.

So they've been able to bounce back, but they squeaked by the Carolina Hurricanes with a three, two win. Then they play a sliding Boston Bruins team. Now they got to go face some really good competition in New Jersey. Then they finish off coming here in Pittsburgh. So another golden opportunity for the penguins, especially if they're able to,

take two clean points from the Ottawa senators on Saturday. Yeah, I think it's a successful weekend here, three out of four points if you can get it. Obviously, all four is the dream, especially in regulation. But if you can get three out of four, that'll set you up really nicely heading into next week where you play Seattle to end off that Polman and the Cracken are not really good this year. And then if you're able to maybe win that game, that sets you up for hopefully even more success when you go on that huge. and I mean huge seven-game road trip to end the month of January, where you have Buffalo, Washington, you have a California team's in there.

That road trip, we'll get to it when we get to it, but as an early preview, that could honestly make or break their season with their struggles on the road this year, how long the road trip is. Again, let's see how they do these next three games, but that road trip could really, one way or the other, I think it could really make or break their season. But again, you know, we'll get to that when that road trip comes. But still my biggest key for this one, slowing down that super line of Kutrov, point and

Gensel. They're going to get theirs. It's kind of like Edmonton, right, where they bring their great five-man unit out there. They're going to get theirs. You just have to do what you can to defend against it. Same principle applies here with Tampa. Yeah, you just have to do a lot of the things you did against Edmonton. You have to be willing to push back and take the fight to them in one way or another.

And like most teams, in the NHL, if you keep a team to the outside and you protect the middle of the ice, I will take your chances most nights. Yeah, there could be fluky goals. Yeah, sometimes you can have a Braden point or a Jake Gensel score a goal from the outside that most times doesn't go in because they're elite goal scores. but you put those principles in place. You play sound defensively, keep your team to the outside, and take advantage of the opportunities that you get. I will not be against the penguins if they do that.

Even if they come out in a losing effort, yeah, I know we're to the point of the season where there are no more moral victories. You have to start putting points in place. But sometimes you just lose games. So if they can play that kind of game that they played against Edmonton against Tampa Bay, I think it's going to lead to the same kind of success they saw on Thursday night.

Yeah, I mean, well, a really good start will go a long way for this one, much like the one against Edmonton as we're making the comparison of that game as well. But I think that'll do it for today's episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. Pat, do you want to remind everyone about our new episode drop time? Because we are super excited about it. So we said it yesterday. We'll say it again today. Starting next week, every episode, Monday through Friday.

the normal episode will drop between 11 a.m. and noon Eastern Standard time. We'll be recording in the morning. We'll have it dropped for you to listen to when you're eating your lunch at work. You put the air pod in and listen to your podcast while you have your lunch. My work schedule has finally changed. So I am going to be able to record this at the same time, five days a week, rather than making Hunter do all kinds of crazy things to get this podcast up and published. So Monday through Friday, locked on penguins will drop between 11 a.m. and noon Eastern standard time. We are super excited about this. No more will we be posting previews for a 7 o'clock game at 3.30 to 4 because Pat's awful work schedule. Those we posted well in advance of the day of the game. Sorry, Pat, I had to say it, but we're super excited.

I know. We're still super excited about this. And again, that will do it for today's episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. And we'll be back with a fresh episode on Monday, hopefully another Marshall Monday, with Jesse Marshall to recap both of these games this weekend. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We will talk to you guys on Monday.