Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins split the weekend, are they ready for another massive week?

Episode Date: November 20, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins had a positive weekend against two outstanding teams and Hunter and Pat are here to talk about it. They first recap the 4-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes and why these coin flips continue against the Penguins. They go into how they had a great start but couldn't get some of the bounces late in that game. They then dive into the situation with Rickard Rakell and what the Penguins need to do about him since he continues to be a non-factor when he's on the ice. Hunter then discusses how the Penguins will need to figure out how to beat a team like the Hurricanes sooner rather than later before Hunter and Pat analyze the win over the Golden Knights. They go over how great the Penguins played defensively, plus dive into how the depth players stepped up to get them the win. They also shout out Alex Nedeljkovic for a great start and if he could get more starts moving forward. After that, they break down the success of the PK before ending the show by looking at the week ahead.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetterHelpThis episode is brought to you by BetterHelp. Find your bright spot this season, with BetterHelp at betterhelp.com/LOCKEDONNHL and get on your way to being your best self.eBay MotorsWith all the parts you need at the prices you want, it’s easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride-or-die alive at EbayMotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeToday's episode is brought to you by Gametime.Take the guesswork out of buying tickets with Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelScore early this NFL season with FanDuel, America’s Number One Sportsbook! Right now, NEW customers get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS with any winning FIVE DOLLAR MONEYLINE BET! That’s A HUNDRED AND FIFTY BUCKS – if your team wins! Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON 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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The penguins split their back-to-back games against the Carolina Hurricanes and the Vegas Golden Nights this weekend. And on today's episode, the Locked-on Penguins podcast, Pat and I are going to recap those games, plus get you all set for another massive week for this hockey team. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. of your hosts, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes,

joined by my co-s, Patrick Gant. You can follow him on Twitter at Cynum for Wet. And you can follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O. underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Sleeper, download Sleeper app, and use promo code locked on NHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper's Terms of Use for detail.

So it is a victory Monday. We are going to get to that win against the Vegas Golden Knights a little bit later. But we do have to start today's show with the, I guess, bad vibes portion with the loss of the Carolina Hurricanes on Saturday night. I was not able to watch those first two periods. I was in Blacksburg for Virginia Tech Games. It's my first time back in my alma mater since before I graduated. Really nice to get back down there.

I was able to watch the full third period, though, but I was also able to go back, watch the film on the first two periods. I really liked how the penguins came out in that first period against the hurricanes. They took it to the Carolina. And Cindy Crosby got things started with a goal. Really nice seed from Jake Gensel to get that to say, to get that past Antironta. And the second period, like good teams do. The hurricanes pushback.

Penguins did not really play that well of the second period. And then the third period, it's kind of, it kind of went like how a lot of these past games against the hurricanes have gone. It's a coin flip going in. and the Hurricanes win it. And that's how it's gone for the past four or five games against that team. It's tied going in. The Hurricanes get that first one. Sidney Crosby wills the team back to tie the game.

And then a bad defensive blunder by Eric Carlson. And then Ricardo Raquel not picking up his man in front of the net. Hurricanes get the game winning goal three June. Then they get the empty netter late in the third period. But it's just really frustrating, man, that these games against Carolina, I don't know. I just said it twice in like the 30 seconds span. they're total coin flips, but they never go the penguins way against the hurricanes and the devils now.

The penguins are 0 and 7 and 3 in their last 10 games. That's not good enough. And it has to change if this team wants to make the playoffs this year. Yeah, I mean, here's the thing I'll say, though. The devils give them fits for whatever reason and they're just never good against them, at least not in the last couple of years. they have not been good against the devils. The hurricanes are just a good team, man.

And when you play a good team, sometimes you lose. And I know people are going to hear that and think I'm making excuses. I agree. Yeah, eventually you got to beat this team. Five in a row, Pat, five in a row. It's just frustrating. But you look at that game on Saturday. And it was played on fairly even terms throughout most of the night.

And it just didn't go the Penguins way. I can't watch that game and sit here and get mad about it because Carolina's a great team. Penguins are a pretty good team, and it just didn't go their way. What I will say, one of the problems is, you know, you look at who scored for the Penguins. It was Crosby twice, assist from Gensel, assist from Carlson, assist from Letang, assist from Rust. That's where the difference between these two teams is. Aho scores, Tervinen and Jarvin. Burns scores Slavin and Svetschnikov.

Jarvis scores his first, Slaven and Burns. Jarvis, Ahio, and Tara Vinen. Penguins' depth players have to be better in a game like that. They have to supplant your team a little bit better. And I know that the guys I named for Carolina are their top guys, but Slavin had been in a pretty long slump, and it was time for him to break it. And he finally did.

And you look at a guy like Ricard Raquel, who really needs to get himself out of a slum. That would have been a nice night for him to do that. But then overall, though, like I said, you look at the stats, you look at the analytics from this game. It was an even game. And Jari played fairly well. 9-10 save percentage.

Didn't really give up anything that made you worry. And just that's the thing that remind yourself is that National Hockey League and the Metro is a pretty damn good division. So there's no shame in losing a one goal game because I'm not counting the empty netter to that Carolina Hurricanes. Yeah, I mean, you look at the stats here. I mean, hurricanes had 11 more shot attempts, five more scoring chances at 5 on 5. Penguins led in high danger. They held Carolina to 10 high danger chances 5 on 5, and I'll take that against a team that's as good as Carolina.

Expected goals, a little bit more lopsided. Carolina had 58% of the expected goals, 41% for the penguins. If you go to all situations, though, 57, 42 in terms of expected. goals and then the penguins, again, 15 high danger chance to score at all situations, 10 against. You'll take that against a team as good as Carolina. Again, it's just super frustrating that every balance I think that the hurricanes, they get all the balances, I think is what I'm trying to say against the penguins. And they had a golden opportunity in this game, the Penguins, to at least steal a point.

Crosby ties that game after a ridiculous rush by Eric Carlson. He drew a penalty. Honestly, it could have been a penalty shot there, to be honest. and Crosby able to tie that game. Just a nice celebration right after. You're thinking, okay, if they can just weather this storm for the final eight, nine, 10 minutes, get this to overtime, get a point, see what you can do in the three-on-three because the Penguins have been a bit better in three-on-three going back to the late stages of last

season. But they weren't able to do that because of the blunder from Eric Carlson. I didn't like what he did there from behind the net after his great rush to tie up the game. The fans were starting to boo. I don't care about that, man. You can let them boo. Don't make a rash decision from behind your net. He sends the puck to the left side, gets intercepted, starts the rush from Carolina,

and then Ricardo Raquel is not even picking up Seth Jarvis in front of the net. And honestly, man, we can get into that right now, too. I don't know what the solution is here with this player. You could scratch him like Columbus is doing with Patrick Lainé, though I'm not sure how good that's going to do for him, considering how much money he makes. You could try to look to trade him, even though I don't know who's going to want him right now. They tried demoting him in that game against Carolina. It didn't work.

They tried putting him up in the top six against Vegas. It didn't work. Pat, they have a major problem with him right now. He's not scoring. He's not even showing off his playmaking abilities. He's not playing low defensively. He is a black hole when he is on the ice. And I just don't know what the solution is with him.

I think a night or two in the press box helps. I don't know. You think they should have upon him, I guess? I think, and here's the thing. Everybody is rightfully flaming the Columbus Blue Jackets for scratching him, but I listened to what Pascal Vincent said about it. He said he's a great goal score. He's elite.

He does things well. He's just in a slump and he needs to get back in the lab and get back to the things that made him successful. And you look at what they've done with Raquel. It's very similar. And I'm not comparing the two players. it's similar to what they've done with Line A into where they moved Line A to center, then back to wing, they put them on a different line, they put them up in the lineup, they put them down in the lineup.

You'll get Raquel, they've put them up in the lineup, they've put them down in the lineup. They've tried all the stuff you can try to keeping him in. And this is a moment where you sit them down and you go, listen, Ricard, it's the old Bob Johnson thing. If you ever watch the 1991 Stanley Cup movie where he, I can't remember what player he's talking about. I think it's Kevin Stevens he's talking about where he said he basically says he told Kevin Stevens get away from the hockey rink. Go see a movie. Go out to dinner. Don't think about hockey. Just disappear for a while. And if you're Mike Sullivan, sit down with Ricard Raquel and go, I'm sitting you down against the Rangers on Wednesday. Next day or two, go to the movies,

go see a Marvel movie, go watch something on HBO Max, whatever it is you do. And just don't think about hockey. Don't think about the penguins. Don't think about the Rangers. Don't think about goal scoring. Do anything else. Just go get your head on straight because this isn't a bad player. This is not a guy who suddenly got Space Jam, Monstar, taking all his talent away.

He's still a very good hockey player. He was great for them last year. I had over $25 goals. And I think if you pull them out of the lineup for a game or two and just say, go back to basics. This isn't us saying you're terrible. this isn't us saying we're giving up on you. This is us saying you need to hit the hard reset button. And if that requires sitting down for a game or two, sit down for a game or two.

It's a long year. Long way to go here. And you just tell him, hear head on straight. Dispere for a little bit. And if that doesn't work, they may have to explore other avenues. And I can't even believe I'm saying that because I thought he was going to be really good this year. And it's just really unfortunate seeing him just not out there like he normally is for the Penguins. But we'll have to monitor that situation.

Going back to something you said earlier about the Hurricanes debt players for this game, but the last point I make, you're right. You know, it was Crosby and the same usual suspects on the score sheet of the Penguins. Not good enough from the third and fourth lines. And I challenged them going forward. They did make me shut up for that Vegas game. We'll get to that in just a second. but it still is out there where sometimes, you know,

more than even just this game against Vegas, you need your depth guys to step up when your top six doesn't fully have it and you didn't see that against Carolina. Sure, Sidney Crosby was on top of his game, 11 game points streak. He has been unbelievable this season, leads the league in 5-on-5 scoring.

The fact that he is playing at this level and the penguin's record is what it is, it's just crazy to me. You know, the only 9 and 8 and said, it's just honestly turned back the clock to when he was 22 when he's 36. But I didn't see enough from the debt players in that game. And again, they turned it around against Vegas, but I still want to see more of that Pat against teams in their division, especially Carolina.

Yeah, a lot of big, a lot of chances coming up here in the next week for them to do it. And as we're going to get into here in a minute, it was a great showing against Vegas. And I do think that this bottom six, and we've said it on the show, is starting to turn a corner. They've started to put in more consistent, more encouraging performances, and that can only mean good things for this roster. I didn't think the third line or fourth line played that well against Carolina, though I think the hurricanes are also much deeper than the penguins are, in my opinion. But they did play a bit better against Vegas. And speaking of that, coming up in the second segment, Pat and are you going to get into that game against Vegas, what the penguins did right versus what they did wrong against Carolina and everything else regarding that game.

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because with eBay Motors, you're burning rubber, not cash. Keep your ride or die live at eBaymotors.com. Eligible items, only exclusions apply. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, to one of my co-patrick Damp. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list of slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. I feel like if the Penguins had lost this game against Vegas,

the city would have just burned, considering what happened this weekend with Penguins losing on Saturday. You had the Stewards losing an embarrassing fashion on Sunday. This city needed something to celebrate. And we get a victory Monday with the Penguins, beating the Golden Knights, 3-0. Their fifth shutout, Penguins, their fifth shutout already this season.

They have already broken last year's total for shutouts. I believe it was two all of last year. So the Penguins, their commitment to defensive hockey has been very evident so far and their goaltending in those games. It's been excellent. Let's start out with that. Alex Deltkvich,

A.k. Bow, coming back from that injury that put him on injured reserve. He was seeing the puck really well all night long. He was aggressive in net. Just played a very sound game. And I know it's been early. Only three starts for him this year. Two of those three, though, have been awesome. And I think he's already played at a level that Casey DeSmith didn't reach last season. And I'll also say this. Usually the penguins over the last couple of years, they've been really bad in the second half of back-to-backs that haven't gotten the goal-pending, especially from Casey to Smith. But in this one, D'Elkevich was fresh. He was healthy.

He gave them a spark. And I think the skaters really fed off that in this game. And I've been seeing the upgrade with the backup goaltender spot already this season. And it's been nice to see. Shout out, Nadelcovich. Also has these stones to wear a Miles Garrett jersey in the Penguin's locker room after what happened with the Steelers Browns game. Hey, if people are really mad about that,

go kick rocks he's a rounds man it's fine but still really great performance from him man and it's nice seeing what a competent backup looks like i will say i don't believe in the goalie controversy here people i'm not going to sit here and say that he should be they should be riding him and all this stuff but if you do want to maybe do a split like 6040 in favor of jari 55 45 45 i won't argue that i don't think there's a controversy or anything but i do think he could at least get some more starts compared to just getting the second half of back-to-backs like Casey to Smith did. I will say, I do think Jari is your starter, but I'm not believing in a controversy.

I do think there is a case to give him more work now moving forward, especially with the volatility of Tristan Jari. We don't know what we're getting out of him night after night. As nights he shows up like in Carolina, he was genuinely pretty good. He was good. Wasn't great. But at the same time, you're also leaving out, I think, the most important. important fact about Alex Nadelcovic.

Less than 48 hours after scoring a goal in the American Hockey League and a great performance with Wokes Bear. So big couple of days for him. And I mean, you look at the way this team has played this month overall. I think this has been a very, very good November so far. Three shutouts already. Like they shut out the ducks. They shut out Buffalo. And now they shut out Vegas.

And those are three teams that aren't really bad. Those are impressive shutouts. So, yeah, I mean, also you look at the way they played last night. It was, again, it gets into what we've talked about on this podcast. They played a very disciplined game. They did not let themselves get into a track meet with Vegas. Now, to be completely fair, Vegas did not look like Vegas last night. That did not look like the team they have been all season long.

And they also play the night before too. Right. But again, you can only play the game that's in front of you. You can only play the opponent that's in front of you. You can't say, Mr. Official, please take this game back to the kitchen. It's not done well enough. I don't want it to count. So you have to give the credit where it's due.

They did not take unnecessary risks. They did not try to play a track meet with the Vegas Golden Knights. And then most importantly, with the exception of the empty net goal, two bottom six goals and you get two more goals from your bottom six against arguably the best team in the sport right now.

Things are looking good. Right. No, I agree with you. And again, I challenge the bottom six to be better after that loss against Carolina because it wasn't doing it. I mean, I saw the third line cook a little bit during that winning street, but it tailed off I thought a little bit

towards the end. The fourth line I thought was okay, still not good enough. Well, and this one, you get Ryan Graves scoring his first goal as a penguin. Congratulations to him. I also thought he played a pretty sound game in this one, one of his better performances this year. Nolachari, he gets his first goal as a penguin. Really nice feed from Matt Nietto, by the way. And on a night where some of the penguins players don't have it, heck Steny Crosby's point streak was snapped in this one. You need those depth players to step up. And they sure did in this one. Heck, I've been waiting for Nolichari to do anything this year.

He scored 14 goals last year, finally gets his first in this one. Hopefully that's a start of something that come with him. Ryan Graves, you know, he's not known for scoring goals for his role as a defenseman, but it's nice to see him get his first of the year, even though, again, he doesn't score that much. And you can see, again, the rest of the team, especially the top six, they fed off that. They're not being relied on every shift to try to go out there and score. And this is the type of game that I feel like has honestly been a little, few and far between in terms of who scored in this one.

But it was nice seeing those players really step up when he did. And of course, of getting Malkin gets the empty net goal. It was funny. I was watching that game live at PPG. And Sid was right there with him. And Gino's like, nah, you're not going to get your point streak for this one. He just, he ripped it to the net. And I'll tell you a story about Nadelcovich.

I was speaking with Josh Yowie at Fem. I met him after. And he told me that Nadelcovich was actually trying to score when the net was empty when it was two nothing. Letang took the puck from him. and was like, no, you're not going to do that. But Ndolkevich was going to try to score in this one. I wanted to see what he could do with it.

But again, man, overall, really nice performance, especially, let's get into this defensively. Ten high danger chances against it for Vegas at five on five. Just a really sound job from the penguins defensively. I thought they clogged up in neutral zone a lot better in this one. They kept Vegas for the most part outside. I mean, Ndokovych had to make some high danger chances saves, excuse me. But it wasn't.

I think as bad as Carolina with Tristan Jari, especially in the third period. It's the blueprint continues to be there for this team. They just have to execute it at this level. And they really did a great job of shutting down Vegas and their top players. Because I didn't really notice Jack Deichael at all. Mark Stone was a ghost. Just a really great job defensively by the big ones. And I said this during the game on Twitter.

And I was very impressed with it because it looked like in the first 10 minutes or so of the third period. They were going to be content to just sit back and kind of clear the defensive zone, gain the red line, dump it in deep, and just retreat to a defensive posture. But the Penguins team, even though they have five shutouts, I don't think it's the credit they deserve for being as good defensively as they are. Are they a good to great defensive team? No, they never have been.

They never will be. That's not the franchise's DNA. but they are a lot better defensively than they get credit for. However, the thing they started to do that I wanted to see them do last night was when you have that lead and you get into the final period, whether it's the last 10 minutes, 15 or the entire 20, they always tend to struggle when they go into a shell when they decide they're going to defend rather than attack. And then once they kind of got their bearings back in the third period, they went back on the attack. Yeah. They started taking the game to the Golden Knights, and that's when the penguins are at their best.

That's not saying you have to stay in full out attack mode. You don't have to be pushing the issue and forcing everything when you're up, but this team does not do well when they sit back, when they go into a shell. And they looked like they were getting ready to do that against Vegas in the third period. And then something shifted, and they went back to taking the attack to Vegas. And it ended up leading to a shutout. Yeah, those first five to six minutes. It kind of felt like the penguins were content with just, oh,

we're going to skyhook the puck out, sent him to the red line, and then, no, we'll play defense. But I think hopefully Mike Sullivan must have been like, okay, we're not going to do that. And they went back on the attack. And I will say this, so far this season, compared to last season, Penguins are doing a much better job at defending leads in the third period. Remember how bad they struggled with that last year, whether it was a one goal lead, a two-goal lead, heck, even a three- or a four-goal lead. They would always let the other team creep back into it.

they didn't really do that in this one against Vegas, and they haven't really done that in these other games, especially against Colorado. Heck, they did it against the Ducks during the West Coast trip. A couple weeks ago, the Washington game, and I know Washington's been playing a bit better as of late. They've been defending a lot better in the third periods, and that's at least a step in the right direction.

I also thought the penalty kill came up massive in this one, especially late in the third period, where the Penguins took that penalty with about four minutes left. the PK was very aggressive, which I liked. They still took away the high danger areas for the Golden Knights, and they also let Nadelcovich see everything. They were clearing the net front, whoever was there, whether it was Stone, whoever else the Golden Knights wanted to put in there,

and they were making his job easier, and of course, Indelcovich was making the saves. I also thought Chariwaid enjoyed a pretty solid game in this one. I know he got hurt towards the end. There's really no update as of right now, the Penguins don't practice on Monday, but he was getting his stick into. lanes breaking up some passes, also deflecting some shots into the netting.

I thought he was pretty good on the PK. But overall, I thought that unit was really stout. It's continuing to, I think, build some momentum this year. Power play, though, that's a mess, to say the least. But I really wanted to highlight the PK because it's been making some progress throughout the year. Don't look now. Top 10 penalty killing team in Pittsburgh right now.

Where you go, Mike Polici? There we go, man. Eighth best penalty killing the league right now at 84.9%. And considering the way the league is starting to shift towards more offense and more of a focus on scoring, having around 85% penalty kill is about as good as you can realistically ask. Do we want it to be better? Of course, we'd love them to be 100%. That's not realistic. So if they can stay in the 85 to 90% range this season as a penalty killing unit, that's a huge success.

So same time, though, I got to agree with our pal Josh Yohe. Like 15.2% on the PK is not great. The power play, you mean? Yeah, the power play. But at the same time, at the same time, they're not getting a lot of penalties. They're not getting a lot of opportunities. So it's kind of a chicken and egg a little bit because, yeah,

you would like to see it do better. You would like to see them score more on the power play. But they're not getting a ton of opportunities. Then again, when they get those opportunities, they should score. And it's not even just that. Like, obviously, I want the penguins to score in every power play they get,

but that's not realistic. I just want to see even a semblance of what a power play should look like. And we saw it in the first opportunity in that game against Vegas. The first year was out there for about a buck 30. Got a lot of very quality chances. I'm surprised the Penguins didn't score.

But then the next one after that, it looks like they hadn't practiced a power play ever this year. It's just the volatility in what the power play looks like compared to another one. that they get right after. It's so weird to me. And I don't know what the answer is.

I really don't. I mean, I know Tarr Reardon is not doing his, the best job with this unit. I'll say that. But something's got to be fixed with this, man. There's too much talent on this unit for it to be this bad. It's unacceptable.

And I want sooner or later, sometimes you need your power play to win you a few games. We haven't seen that so far. far this season. And the Penguins do want to make the playoffs, I think you're going to have to see that in at least a few games down the stretch here because it's unacceptable for you know that has Eric Carlson, Cindy Crosby, Evgeny Malkin, Jake Denzel, the list goes on. We put Riley Smith in there, Ricardo, Riquel, he's been on there too. It's unacceptable for a unit with that much talent to be this bad and look from going like world beaters on one time to just absolute

trash the next one. And heck, it's been a few and far between when we see them look like. like role beaters on that unit. It's just not good enough, man. Yeah. And real quick, before we head to our final segment, it's also why I can't quite totally get there on the coaching. Like, it's not excusing it. Like, it's got to be better. He's been bad. Yeah. But when you have a unit with that much talent, eventually execution is your problem and not the coaching. Like, there's so much talent on this unit that you've given them the keys. Now they just need to drive the damn vehicle. Right. And we also have played 17 games. I mean, it's a decent sample size here, people. I mean, almost 20 game mark here. Thanksgiving is this Thursday. You'd like to see more progress with this

unit. Hopefully that'll come, but right now, it's a big issue. Overall, though, man, great win against the Golden Knights. That's six of the last eight for the Penguins heading into this week. And speaking of that, coming up to end the show, Pat and I are going to get into this massive week for the Penguins. It's the schedule, man. It continues to be very daunting for the Penguins. We're going to going to get you all at least a little bit set for the game against the Rangers and then later on this weekend a big back-to-back for the Penguins. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Sleeper, which is the official daily fantasy app of the locked on NH network. Sleeper is the number one choice for daily fantasy sports and especially daily fantasy hockey because of Sleeper.

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C sleepers terms of use for details and locational availability. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my coach Patrick Dam. So another big week coming up for this hockey team starts on Wednesday against the Red Hot. New York Rangers, a team that has taken the league by storm this year. I thought the Rangers were going to be a playoff team. It's funny, I said before the season.

I thought the penguins could potentially compete with them for the third spot in the Metro. I didn't think they would be competing for the top spot in the Metro, but Peter LaVuette has those boys playing really well. Artemian Panarin has been incredible this year. They have Shostarkin back. They are just getting contributions from everywhere in that lineup. And, man, that is going to be a very tough game for the Penguins to win. They did split the four games against the Rangers last year.

Penguins beat them twice in Pittsburgh before losing both games at Madison Square Garden. But another big test for this game on Wednesday. It's the annual Thanksgiving Eve game. Always a fun crowd for this one. But what are you looking for in this game against the Rangers, Pat? Well, I want to give myself a pat on the back because I said this is kind of what would happen with the Rangers this year. I didn't think it would be to this level. But I said they were going to get the La Violette bomb.

Every team that La Vialette goes to in the first couple of years, they end up being a lot better than you think. And he is the ultimate short-term solution of a coach because he will get blood from a stone for three to four years and then everybody tunes him out. Yep. So, you know, he did it in Philly. He did it in Nashville. Like he does it in Washington. He does it everywhere he goes. So that's, but the biggest thing for them, the guys that I'm watching that he's getting the most out of are Lafranier and Capo Caco.

Lafranier is finally living up to being the number one pick in the draft. And it's good to see. I wasn't ready to call him a bust just yet. But I was kind of at the point where, okay, you've been in the league for a little bit now. It's time to show why you were a number one pick. And to his credit, he has been good this year. Capo Caco, I agree. But I think they haven't even gotten enough out of Mika Zabedajad this year.

Yeah. He starts cooking a little bit. This team, I think, is going to be even scarier than they already are. They've won four in a row. They're 9-0 and 1 in their last 10. And they are winning these games. Igor Shisterc and just came back. He was banged up for a little bit.

They have been winning games with Jonathan Quick, who has somehow turned the clock back. He has been awful these last few years. And they even won a game or two with old pal Louis de Meng. Louis de Meng got them a winner too, man. They are just playing stout hockey right now. And for Penguins for this one, and we'll preview this game later this week, Tuesday and Wednesday before the game.

I still want to see them commit to that level of defense, and I'm looking maybe also for a big vintage Crosby game, man. He's owned the Rangers throughout his career. I think he'll be fired up for this one. This is an opportunity for the Penguins to show that, yeah, you know, we can compete with the best team in the division and a bona fides only-com contender. They show that against Vegas. You know that's a Western Conference team, and of course they are the champs.

But now to do this against a team in your own division, a team that you'll be playing not just two times throughout the year, it's a big opportunity for them in this one. Yeah. And it's then, you know, you go from the Rangers who have looked like one of the best teams in the National Hockey League. You got another shot against Buffalo who while struggling is still pretty good. They're young, like I say this all the time about them. They're ahead of schedule, I think. you know, a lot of people, I think, expected them to be better than they are. They're still very much on track to be a good team in the next few years.

I think a lot of people just got a little bit ahead of themselves when it comes to the Sabres. Thanks, but again, it's not an easy team to play. They're young, they're fast, they're talented. And when you're a young, fast, talented team that doesn't know any better, sometimes you go into Pittsburgh or they come to you and you end up beating them. And then all of a sudden, next night in Pittsburgh, Caldubis' old squad comes to town. And even when in that team looks like they have suddenly figured it out.

They went from struggling the first few weeks of the season, where everything started to look kind of bad in Toronto like it always does. And just on schedule, right on time like they always do, they start heating up. And that's a very, very, very good team in Toronto. Leafs are 10 and 5 and 2 right now. Just to go back to your Sabres point. Yeah, I mean, no Tage Thompson definitely hurts, though.

One of the best goal scores in the league. His losses, gonna be felt for as long as he's out, Buffalo. So below 500. Again, I predicted him to make the playoffs. I was pretty high on Devon Levi heading into the year. He just hasn't lived up to the hype just yet. He's also still a pretty young goalie. And defensively, they haven't been there just yet.

Either big opportunity for the Penguins and that one, and then you set it for Toronto. They are playing some very good hockey as of late. and can we shout out Alex Neander's brother, William, for this start that he is off to. 12 goals, 27 points in 17 games, playing like a contender for the heart trophy this season. He was on another level. Austin Matthews, you know what you're going to get out of him. 14 goals, 21 points in 17 games.

Mitch Marner's averaging over a point per game. John Tavares has been very good. Morgan Riley has been great. Their top players are all playing like their top players. They're very potent. and the parents are going to have to be on their A game for that one, even though it's a back-to-back. For that one, it's funny, Buffalo, Toronto,

I would start Nadelcovic against Buffalo, and I would put Jari against Toronto. I think that just makes the most sense. But three very good offensive teams, a lot of talent that's going to be coming to Pitsville, where the Penguins are going to be going to that destination, Buffalo, I should say. Three big games for this hockey team, man. And you want to keep building off that momentum,

that you've had in November with the shutouts, with the way you've been committed to team defense, with the way Crosby has been playing, the rest of the top takes outside of Ricardo, Raquel, you finally got some depth scoring. Dedelcovic is playing well. Hopefully you get the good version of Johnny in a couple of these starts.

Penguins have another big opportunity this week to get some points. And if you can somehow win all three of those games, man, you'll have won, what is it, nine of your last 11 games in the month of November. That's very solid after that start that the penguins had. So just a massive opportunity, man, coming up here with the schedule.

Gotta go kind of full Mike Tomlin on this one right now. The only important game right now is the next one. And that's the Rangers. Ideally, in this little stretch, you want to go two and one. If you know, win two, lose one, that's fine. But I think it's not a must win against the Rangers, but it is a very, very much should. win because they got to get back to bank in divisional points.

They've got to get two clean points against the Rangers and not just a three point overtime split because this division's tight. It's very tight. And now any chance you get to bank points in division, you have to. If you lose to an Atlantic team in Buffalo or Toronto, no big deal. Or even if you go to overtime, no big deal. But Wednesday night is the big one. Yeah.

And you're right. You want to bank the two points against a divisional team and, Pat, you don't want those games going to overtime. I don't like giving away loser points in divisional games. But I think that will do it for this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. We'll be back with another episode of Fuel on Tuesday. And actually, Pat, I'm going to hand this over to you. What does these schedule look like for this week? Because obviously, it's Thanksgiving here in the United States, one of my favorite holidays each year.

We're not going to have an episode every day for you all because of the holiday. So, Pat, I'm going to let you fill in the listeners. on what the schedule looks like for this week. So the schedule is going to get a little silly around Thanksgiving. So what we're going to do here today is obviously we'll have this one up today. We'll be back tomorrow with another episode. And then we're going to record twice on Wednesday. So here's what we're going to do.

Wednesday morning, we're going to do our usual episode. We'll get you ready for the Rangers game that morning, early afternoon. We'll have our preview out. And then because the both of us are absolute and total sickos, what we're going to do is we're going to record after the Rangers game. Rangers game on Wednesday night. We will have that episode up on Thanksgiving morning. And that will be a recap of the Rangers game as well as a preview to get you ready for the back to backs this coming weekend on Friday and Saturday. And the two of us are going to take Black Friday off.

And then we will be back on Monday the 27th to recap the back to backs and get you ready for that week ahead. And then we'll have a full slate of episodes for you all this week, that week, excuse me. So that's the schedule for this week, and then we'll get you all set for the following week after. Again, thank you all so much for tuning into this one. Really appreciate it. We'll be back with another episode for you all on Tuesday.