Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins stun the Hurricanes with a surprisingly solid victory!

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins got a surprise win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night and Hunter and Pat start the episode with some praise for Alex Nedeljkovic. They discuss how he turned back the... clock to the first half of the season with how great he played while also praising the Penguins defensive effort, especially in the third period. After that, they dive into some of the kids that played well, including Jesse Puljujarvi. They gloss over his performance and how it could potentially mean big things for next season. They also look at Sam Poulin's debut before ending the show with Warrior Helmet Wednesday. Who gets the helmet for this week? All that, plus much more, is on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.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.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 The Penguins notched a big win over the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night, and a big reason for that was the play of goaltender Alex Nadelcovich. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.
Starting point is 00:00:37 you can follow me on Twitter at Hunts or Hodes. Join by my co-host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Cynum for Wet, and you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O on a store 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
Starting point is 00:00:56 Fans Will Make Every Moment More. Right now, new customers get $200 in bonus bets with any winning $5 bet. That's $200 if your bet wins. visit fandul.com to lockdown to get started. So Penguins 4, Hurricanes 1, a day after you and I both said that it was pretty unlikely
Starting point is 00:01:17 that the Penguins were going to win this game against one of the league's best teams, the Penguins told both of us to shut the hell up as they go out there and get a pretty convincing win over the hurricanes and assure themselves of at least a season split against the hurricanes. The Penguins won both games in Pittsburgh, but lost both games on the road in Raleigh.
Starting point is 00:01:36 And the first thing I want to discuss when it comes to this game is the play of Alex Ndilkevich. He was tremendous throughout. And for someone who has struggled in the month of March, honestly, both goaltenders for the Penguins have really struggled in the month of March, it was nice seeing him get back to basics and get back to the level that we saw from him for the most part for the first half of the regular season for the Penguins. The goal that we saw start lighting it up in October, November, even December. a little bit as well. He was square to every shooter. He was not giving up too many rebounds to any Carolina shot that was coming from the point. And you all have access to the data. The Carolina Corseys were in full effect for this air firing everything they could from the point. The Penguins
Starting point is 00:02:24 were just doing a great job defensively by boxing out some of those Carolina shooters to making sure they don't follow that up with high danger chances. We'll get into that a little bit later. But the play from Nadelcovich, when he needed to make a big save, especially in the second period, numerous times the hurricanes did have quite a few high danger chances. He was there to bail the team out. And I think he's the player of the game for the Pengas. I know Paul Yarvey was amazing.
Starting point is 00:02:49 I know Brian Russ was great. So Nick Rosby had another three-point game. We'll get into those a little later on for the show. But to me, player of this game was Alex Nelkevich. It was great seeing the goal tending. Come back to the first half of the year for him. He certainly was. He is the first star from last night's game. You look at how many saves he made. He gave up one goal. I believe he made 38 saves, if I got the numbers correct. And you're right. It was the Carolina Corseys last night because you go into natural stat trick. You look at the advanced numbers and Carolina had 69% nice of the shot attempts in the game. And the thing I, observed and I texted you about this was you look back at that game. And yes, it does say that
Starting point is 00:03:41 the hurricanes had 10 high danger chances throughout the game. All of those came in the first two periods. There were two in the first, eight in the second. But even more so than that, this was a Carolina team that just shoots the puck from everywhere and anywhere because I watched the game last night and I'm thinking, okay, Carolina is getting a lot of zone time here, but they're not really getting anything out of it. They're shooting from the point, but the penguins are doing a good job, either blocking it, Nadelcovich is stopping it and covering it, or if there is any sort of rebound or scramble, the penguins are clearing it out and there's no second attempt. So the penguins to me last night, along with a great performance from
Starting point is 00:04:26 Alex Nadelcovic actually played a very stubborn defensive game and they were genuinely great in the defensive zone all night long. I agree. In two of those three periods, the Penguins only gave up two high danger chances at all situations. In the third period alone, as you mentioned, no high danger chances for the hurricanes. And that was the most surprising part to me because we've talked ad nauseum about the penguin struggles to defend a lead in the third period throughout the season.
Starting point is 00:04:59 It's become a common meme. It feels like on social media, well, oh, they have a lead heading into the third period. Oh, it's only going to be a matter of time before they blew it. But every time the hurricanes came into the offensive zone in the third period, I was saying to myself, it just doesn't look like they're going to score at all, because the Penguins are doing a great job defensively, keeping them to the outside. And yeah, you're letting a lot of point shots through. But those are easy saves for Indelkevich.
Starting point is 00:05:25 I thought Ned was especially great in the second period where the hurricanes were really pushing after the Penguins opening goal. You know, they're able to tie it a little later on in that period before taking the lead in the final stages of that second period. But that was when I thought he was truly on top of his game. Yeah, he had to make a couple of good saves in the third period, but he also wasn't fully tested as much in that period. Again, I still think he's the player at the game.
Starting point is 00:05:49 He was tremendous. 39 saves on 40 shots is no small feat. but we do have to shout out the penguins defensive work in this game. I think that's one of the best games they've defended all year, especially in two of those three periods. Without a doubt. And even the only goal that they gave up came because Marcus Pedersen was involved in a freaky collision and essentially was down and out and out of the play.
Starting point is 00:06:16 So the penguins were essentially at five on four in a broken situation with an injured player. so you can't even really fault their defense for the goal against. It was just. It was a lucky bounce, by the way. Yeah, it was a tough break. And you look at back at that and you say, okay, if that's the only goal they give up is an unlucky moment where one of their best defensemen gets caught in a bad collision,
Starting point is 00:06:41 you'll take that almost sight unseen. And I looked at last night's game tape. And the biggest thing for me was that, like I kind of started to hint at. everything Carolina had in the offensive zone was from the outside. We talked about it in the preview. One of their big offensive trademarks is that they take shots from the point. They hope for net mouth scrambles, rebounds, deflections, tips, or if nothing else, they hope to draw more defenders up top so they can open up the down low areas.
Starting point is 00:07:13 But the penguins didn't fall into that trap. They either block shots, they cleared the front, and they stayed positionally sound, which is something. we haven't seen them do a lot this year. Agreed. One of the biggest things that I noticed was that the penguins were doing a great job of boxing out Carolina's best players when those point shots would come in from someone like Brett Pesci, Jacob Slaven, Brenz, whoever was out there defensively for the hurricanes. And the penguins were able to take those small rebounds that were coming off to Dahlkvich and
Starting point is 00:07:42 being like, okay, we're just going to send this to the corner. You're not going to be generating high danger chances that way. And it was like that throughout this game. Yeah, it got a little bit dicey. at times in the second period. I mean, the hurricanes had all eight high danger chances in the second period compared to zero for the penguins. But the Delcovich was able to make those saves.
Starting point is 00:08:01 And then in the first and third periods where the penguins are playing a bit better, at least in my opinion, they're able to really box out those Carolina top players, whether it's Sebastian Ojo, Marty Natchez, Evgeny Kuznetsov, Jake Gensel, of course, et cetera, et cetera. I liked how the penguins were able to force the hurricanes players to the wall quite often when they were entering the offensive zone. One play that really stood out to me, it was at the end of the second period.
Starting point is 00:08:27 And Eric Carlson, and I know he's been a lightning rod for a lot of fans this season. I understand at least a little bit. But whose netside was coming in with a puck on his stick. And Carlson played it beautifully. He forced him to the wall, pinned him there. He was able to steal the puck, get it to Marcus Pedersen,
Starting point is 00:08:45 and they were able to get out of their own zone to get to the second intermission with the lead. And that is textbook type stuff from the Penguins. And they were doing that for most of this game. Yeah, they were. And on the other end of it, on Brian Rust's goal, I got to say, Rod the Bod is probably not at all happy with Pesci. Because when Rust got into that scoring area, and I know that shot blocking has evolved a little bit in the NHL guys actually have more padding. So they turn to the side now rather than directly on.
Starting point is 00:09:17 Brett Pesci came very close to pulling a flamingo and just lifting his leg up and kind of let Brian Rust have nearly an uncontested shot on net. And if you're playing on a Rod Brindamore coach team, that is unacceptable. He's not towards level where he's going to make stars and everybody block shots, but he is known for having a disciplined stingy system. And what Brett Pesci did is the antithesis of what he preaches. Right. If he were in position there, that probably would have been a block shine.
Starting point is 00:09:51 That puck does not go in the back of the night. But, you know, kudos to Brian Rust. He had a sheet first mentality there. He gave the Penguins the lead. And now that's his 23rd goal of the season. I know he's been injured a bit this season. He's only played in 51 games. But he's had a really nice year overall.
Starting point is 00:10:07 And as I said, to start this week's worth of episodes, he is one of the top players on this team that plays his tail off every single night. And it's just been a really great year from Rust overall. He's a Swiss Army knife. And I understand why they're respecting his no movement clause. Maybe he drops off a cliff in the next couple years. It's entirely possible. Time is undefeated.
Starting point is 00:10:31 But that's a guy that helps you win championships. He's done it with this team twice. But at the same time, when you have a guy who can play in your top six, he can play in your bottom six, he can play on your power play, he can play on your penalty kill, He can play in six on five situations regardless. You hold on to that guy because he's worth his weight and goal. 100%.
Starting point is 00:10:53 And I think he's still going to be on this team come next season. I mean, yeah, things can change over the summer if potentially he wants out or the Penguins are maybe looking to move him for a big return because I do think his value is really high right now with the year he's having. But I still don't see the team moving on from him at least right now. But that's just my take on that. But I think that will do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment,
Starting point is 00:11:17 Pat and I have to discuss the kids that played for the Penguins last night, especially Yes, Epo Yardv, because he was tremendous. And also, what are our thoughts on the same Pulin's debut this season? We're going to give you all our takes on that in the second segment. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about eBay Motors. Passion driving patience, what brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors is everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers, roof racks, exhaust kits,
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Starting point is 00:12:14 Keep your rye or dial live at eBay motors.com eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay guarantees that is only available to US customers. All right. We're back here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Dam. So outside of Alex Nelkevich and the Penguins really stingy play in their own zone against the hurricanes, we got to discuss Jesse Poole-Yarvy, by far his best game as a penguin last night.
Starting point is 00:12:43 I thought he was great along the walls. He was great below the dots. He was a four-checking menace for the Penguins. And of course, that release that he had to open the scoring, just shot out of the cannon coming off the bench. And I will say, we have to keep it fair on the show. For as much as we have dragged Ryan Graves this season, because he has not been good,
Starting point is 00:13:03 he provided a great screen in front of Peter Kachecov. and Cachecov had no chance to stop that Pouill-Y-R-V missile. I even think without the screen, that puck was probably going to go in the back of the net, but that was a really nice screen overall by Graves. And I thought also Graves was pretty decent in this game as a whole. Maybe we'll get into that a little bit later on. And I thought Pau-Yarvey was also a menace hitting-wise. He was laying the boom overall.
Starting point is 00:13:31 And I'm really fascinated and intrigued to see what he can do heading into next season. he's going to have a full offseason to fully train. He's not going to have to worry about another surgery. God forbid, hopefully he doesn't get hurt in the final 10 to 11 games here. But if he can stay healthy, I think there could be some bigger things going forward for Pooey RV for next season. And that's also now goals in back-to-back games for him too. But by far, overall, his best game as a penguin in this one.
Starting point is 00:14:00 There needed to be exactly one conversation today at practice or team meetings or whatever you want to call it today at UPMC Lemieux between Mike Sullivan and Yessie Pooey-RV, and that conversation should have been, don't leave your locker because the rest of the way out, he should have a sweater. He should not be out of the lineup the rest of the way. And I understand it's only two games. It's a small sample size. He has been up and down. I know that we've been calling for him to play more. And we do, like you always say, we have to be honest. And I'm not going to pretend like he's been a world beater or elite, but he's been effective. And the last two games, he has genuinely been one of the five best Penguins players
Starting point is 00:14:44 in two games. And he earned last night, I believe, a look the rest of the way out. Because like you said, the goal was beautiful. We can't, we can never discount a goal. They're what win games. But he was in the corners all night long. He was throwing hits. He was in on the forecheck.
Starting point is 00:15:02 He was blocking shots. He was playing physical in the defensive zone. And again, I have been beating this drum since the Jake Gensel trade. If there's one thing this Penguins team has missed the last few years, it's a couple of hard-nosed guys. I'm not talking goons. I'm not talking big, slow guys who do nothing but hit, but they need guys who will crash and bang and play hard,
Starting point is 00:15:26 as Steve Dangal always likes to say, makes your night long. Just like Michael Bunting in a way as well. And another thing they've really missed, especially those last couple of years, more youth. And I liked the bottom six as a whole last night with the kids that played overall. Even outside of Puyarvi, Sam Puan made his Penguins debut for this season, at least. And while I don't think he fully stood out, I thought he was just okay in this game.
Starting point is 00:15:55 He didn't have too many moments that wowed me. You've got to give him a little bit of time. It's only one game. See what he can do on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jack. It's a team that's obviously lower than the penguins in the standings. I don't need him to wow me every single shift that he's out there, but I still thought he was fine. Overall, didn't make any mistakes defensively in his own zone,
Starting point is 00:16:17 no dumb turnovers or anything like that. What did you see from Poulan in his debut for this year? Main thing is he did not look out of place. He didn't look like he was overwhelmed. He didn't look like he was somebody that wasn't quite ready for a call-up. up. I will say this, though, should he remain with the organization into next season, he has to spend this entire summer on skating because I was not impressed by his skating. I'm not, I don't think he's a bad skater. I just think he needs to add a step and he needs to get
Starting point is 00:16:54 a little bit more agile on his feet just because this is not the American hockey league. And I don't say that in a derogatory manner. He has been very good. the American Hockey League. And that's no small feat. There are a lot of guys who get to that level and can't hack it. But then the same thing happens when guys come up to the NHL from the AHL. But the tools are there for him to be an effective middle six forward in the national hockey league. But he has to get a little bit faster and a little bit more agile. But overall, I don't have any complaints about his game last night against the Carolina Hurricanes. But again, the one knock that has existed on him since he's coming to the
Starting point is 00:17:34 organization has been skating and it's still there. I was going to add that if you didn't say it just because even before he got drafted, one of the biggest complaints that people had was his skating. And if he's able to work on it during this summer, I do think he has a really good shot of potentially making this team next year. I mean, we all know Paul Yardby is going to be on the team. Drew O'Connor will be there. About Terry Proustin should be a lock, I think, to be on this team next year as well.
Starting point is 00:18:02 But I agree with you. overall. There were a couple of shifts I felt like in the first period where the fourth line was actually generating some offense with Buiarly and Guden and Poulin came, I wouldn't say really close to scoring, but he was right around the net mouth area. And that's where I want him to go for most of his shifts. Be like Michael Bunting a little bit and go to the dirty areas and try to get yourself a greasy goal or two, excuse me. And that's what I liked about his game, at least in the first period of this one, was that he wasn't afraid of going to at least a couple of times. I want to see more of that down the stretch here as we get closer to game 82.
Starting point is 00:18:40 There's always hockey justice for guys who play an honest game, guys who aren't afraid to do those little things. It may not pay off tremendously. You may not end up being a 15, 20, 25 goal score, but you can pop in 5, 10, 12 goals. You can be an effective player that leads, does things that lead to offense. So for those guys, especially those three last night, the more we see of that from them, the better. Agreed. And speaking of one of the other kids that is in the light up, Drew O'Connor, I mean, again, we all know that he has established himself as a full-time bona fide
Starting point is 00:19:16 NHL player. I think in a perfect world that he is a good third-liner on a cup contending team. He did struggle a bit last night. There were multiple instances in this game where the Penguins had an odd man rush going into the offensive zone and he fumbled the puck or a couple other times he had a couple of bad turnover. It's just not a good game from him overall. But then of course, he had a great individual effort to ice the game in the third period to get that empty net goal. The first one hit the post, but then he was able to follow that up, put the puck in the back of the net to make
Starting point is 00:19:47 it three to one. Even though he played poorly overall, it was nice seeing him have at least one good shift to end that game as he continues to have overall a really nice season. For sure. And we have definitely lamented the way Mike Sullivan likes to. to keep playing guys even on nights where they don't have it. And last night was a rare instance where it pays off because his empty net goal wasn't anything spectacular. It was just pure unadulterated hard work. And a guy like that usually gets his due.
Starting point is 00:20:20 And yeah, he had an off night last night, but he has put together a nice little season as a middle six forward for the penguins. So it was nice to him get rewarded for that. And I know that, you know, there's been a lot of discourse over it on hockey Twitter these days, but there is no substitute for hard work. And Drew O'Connor showed us that last night on a night where he was struggling. All he did was kept it simple, straightforward speed, hard work, and he gets him an empty net goal to seal a very hard-earned win by the penguins. Agreed.
Starting point is 00:20:52 And I'm sure he's going to be much better on Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets. I don't think he's going to have that kind of showing that he had against Carolina for most of that game. before the empty net goal heading into tomorrow's game at home as well. But I think that will do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday. You all know what that means. It's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. And I think Pat and I both agree on who we're giving the Warrior Helmet to.
Starting point is 00:21:17 Hint, it's a player that we really haven't discussed much during this episode, even though we probably should have by now. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about Fandle. Say goodbye to Busted Brackets because Fandul lets you bet on every game of the N.C. AAA tournament. Whether you're betting on a big upset or a number one seed, it's time to go dancing on America's number one sportsbook. You right now, new customers get $200 of bonus bets. If your first $5 bet wins, that's $200 to use on point spreads, money lines. You can even pick on who's going to win it all, especially now that we are into the Sweet 16 for this tournament. Just visit fandual.com
Starting point is 00:21:55 slash locked on and bet on college troops until they cut down the nets. All right, we're back here in this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my host, Patrick Dam. So, sir, I think I know who you are giving your warrior helmet to for this week. It is a player that has been on fire
Starting point is 00:22:16 over the last two games. He has seven points in his last two games. Had a three-point night against the hurricanes on Tuesday night. We all know you're giving your warrior helmet to Sidney Rosby. It has to. It has to go to Sid. He has woken up. He's now
Starting point is 00:22:32 six points away with 11 games to go of matching a point per game pace, which would tie Wayne Gretzky for most consecutive point per game seasons, which is an incredible feat in and of itself. The other thing that I want to talk about with Sid, though, is that he is far in a way about to perform his best season in the faceoff dot. His best season to date right now was the 2009-20 season where he went 55.9% in the face-off circle. Right now at this moment in this season, he sits at 58.7. He has been damn near automatic in the face-off circle this year.
Starting point is 00:23:16 And that's exactly how Brian Russ scored the game winning goal last night. It was a face-off win by Crosby, which led right to a scoring chance and puts the penguins back on top. he is, I think, telling a lot of us to put our heads back in the sand because we're like, ah, he knows this season's cooked. He knows that his, you know, his buddy got traded. His winger got traded. And you know what? He had a game or two where he played like that.
Starting point is 00:23:46 But Sidney Crosby is right back to doing Sidney Crosby things. He's playing at the level that we've seen him play at for almost the entire 2023. 20-24 season. You're right. He had a couple of bad games, especially after Jake got traded where it looked like he was maybe nailing it in a little bit. But these last two games, again, seven points in those two games, he was a man on a mission during that game against the avalanche. I know the Penguins lost that game, but that was a spectacular performance overall. And then to get two assists and then the other empty net goal in this game against Carolina, the Penguins are following his lead right now. And I know they're far out of the playoff race.
Starting point is 00:24:25 They're not going to be making the playoffs by the end of the season bearing a massive miracle, but they're still following him every night. And he continues to lead by example with this team. And another thing he continues to show, I think this entire team, the coaching staff, and the organization as a whole,
Starting point is 00:24:43 is that, yeah, I still have quite a bit left in the tank. You want to make some changes this summer. You go ahead and do that. Bring in some younger players to help me and Gino and Chris out and potentially Eric Carlson, if he's still here as well, and I do think he's going to be there as well.
Starting point is 00:24:58 But I'm still good enough to bet on heading into next season that I can try and get this team back to the playoffs if you are able to give me at least a little bit of help. More help than I've had the last two years overall. That is what I think he's at least trying to send that message to the rest of the organization right now. And I do think he is going to get six points over the next 11 games. I'd be stunned if he didn't.
Starting point is 00:25:23 Well, and to build off your point there, I also think that there probably has been a sit down between him, Dubis, probably Sullivan as well, letting them know about the plan that they kind of want to do moving forward, which is using him to shepherd in the next generation, so to speak, of penguins. So with guys like Sam Poolean, Drew O'Connor, Yassie Poo-Yarvy, Jack St. Iveny, in those guys, it's him kind of saying, all right, this season's frustrating. I hate that we're not making the playoffs again, but there is a standard I have set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and you guys have to understand what it is.
Starting point is 00:26:06 100%. I don't doubt that they've probably had some sort of that type of conversation. And if they haven't, I'm sure they would potentially have it once this season wraps up in a few weeks, and then they can get down to business with figuring out, moves. So the offseason trade, signings, and all that other good stuff. But yeah, Cindy Crosby is also my pick for the Royalier Helmet. If he didn't wake up really good these last two games, I think I would have given it to Brian Rush just because he's been fantastic as well these last two games. Yes, he probably would have been a prime candidate for me as well. And also Alex and Delcovich.
Starting point is 00:26:40 I thought he was great against Carolina here. I know he was kind of, meh, against the avalanche this past weekend, but I still would have had him in consideration as well. But is there anything else you want to add about this game against Carolina, Cindy Crosby in general before we wrap up? One last quick thing. We didn't get to it in the How About Those Kids segment. I got to give a shout out to Jack St. Ivany. He looks like he's going to be a very solid, very dependable five, six defensemen. He doesn't do anything overly impressive.
Starting point is 00:27:08 He doesn't do anything spectacular. But watching him the last couple of games, he's always in good position. He has a very active stick. And he constantly makes the smart and simple play. and with the Penguins sending Ru-Weedle to the Rangers at the trade deadline, that's a very good replacement for him. And I'm excited to see what he does the rest of the way out. Right.
Starting point is 00:27:29 It's a pretty small sample size overall. I don't want to make too many rash declarations just yet. But he's been fine in the few games he's played so far. He's also getting some work on the penalty kill against the hurricanes. And that's no small fee considering how good the hurricane's power play has been. It's a top 10 unit in the league so far this season the Penguins made that unit look pretty bad overall in that game. And he was pretty aggressive on the penalty
Starting point is 00:27:53 kill, I thought. He wasn't sitting back like sometimes a couple of other players doing the PK. He was up in everyone's face and stealing that puck and just sending it down virtually every time. And also doing a great job of pinning the puck carrier along the boards and that allows help to come in to get the puck
Starting point is 00:28:09 and then send it back down the rank the other way. So I really liked his work on the penalty kill. And yeah, he's just a steady number six. And that's all you can ask for someone who's replacing Ruudel who is steady as they come as a number six defenseman when he was in Pittsburgh. And I think we can shout out Ryan Graves for a pretty sound performance as well. I'm sure they're going to keep putting that pairing out there for at least the next couple
Starting point is 00:28:32 of games to see what they have in a pairing in. We all know that Graves has not been good in the top four, but he was fine in the bottom pairing for this one. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode. Pat and I will be back with another show for you all on Thursday to preview the first of two games against the Columbus Blue Jackets this weekend. This one is at home for the Penguins on Thursday.
Starting point is 00:28:59 It will then go to Columbus on Saturday for the second half of the home and home, and then they won't see the Blue Jackets again until next season. But we'll be back on Thursday to preview that game. But for Patrick Camp, I am Hunter Hodes. We'll talk to you all tomorrow.

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