Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins win a WILD one over the Habs before Winnipeg comes to town!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Pittsburgh Penguins are many things, but one thing they are not is boring. The Penguins find themselves sitting at 2 and O after a crazy home opener on Saturday night. We're going to recap that game and get you ready for the week ahead on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. 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 to the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp. You can find me on most social media platforms at Synonym 4 Wet. Joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes.

Starting point is 00:00:49 You can find Hunter on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Also, make sure to follow the show on social media as well. We're at L.O. underscore Penguins on Twitter. Locked on underscore Penguins on Instagram and locked on penguins on TikTok. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel. Make this your most rewarding season ever with the FanDul Rewards Club. Every week, check the FanDul app to see what's waiting for you. Later on, we are going to preview tonight's game against the Winnipeg Jets who come to town.

Starting point is 00:01:24 We're going to hand out our three stars of the game from Saturday night. And first, we're going to recap that game as a whole. So let's go over that crazy home opener, Hunter. They get a six to five overtime victory over the Montreal Canadians in the home opener of their 60th season. Simply put, the Penguins were down one-nothing. Then they scored five unanswered goals to take a five-one lead. They blew that lead when the Habs tied it at five late in the third. then Tommy Novak gets his second goal of the night to win it in overtime, six to five.

Starting point is 00:02:05 And this is where I want to begin, Hunter. This is not to completely excuse a blown four goal lead. That's bad no matter which way you cut it. But I do want to put it in context. Training camp in the preseason was a week and a half long. the first couple weeks of the season are going to be chaos, they're going to be sloppy, there's going to be mistakes,

Starting point is 00:02:33 there's going to be wide open games, and Saturday wasn't an exception to that. The penguins, to a man pretty much after the game admitted that as well, they basically were like, hey, we're happy we got the two points, we're happy we got the win, but we know that there's a lot of stuff that we have to work on.

Starting point is 00:02:53 And this is what I will end with before passing it over to you. The big takeaway in thing that I took from Saturday night was that this team is working incredibly hard. They're playing fast. They're playing hard. They're involved for 60 full minutes. And if they clean some of this stuff up, which I think that they will, I'm pretty happy with where this team is through two games. Yeah. At the end of the day, you got the two points.

Starting point is 00:03:23 that's what matters. You're 2.0 to start the season. Good for four points. You have a chance to get to 3.0 tonight against the Jets. More on that in a few minutes. Still, though, you do have to clean up those in-zone problems at the end of periods. And don't get me wrong.

Starting point is 00:03:39 I understand part of it was because of that, let's call it what it is, Pat. A weak call with less than four minutes to go. If the roles are reversed there, like, you know what I'm going to go with that. So I just don't really like that call in that situation. It's just peak, reffing to the score. I do not care for it.

Starting point is 00:04:03 And it was the same thing in the corner pat member before Kreider's goal, Ricard Raquel easily gets tripped up. It is right in front of the ref. He's like, nah, I'm going to let it go. You're already up by two goals. However, if the penguins are down in the situation, you know damn well they're going to get a power play out of that. So I'm just over the reffing to the score.

Starting point is 00:04:22 they pick and choose them when they want to make these calls. So that didn't help. However, they still need to clean up all of that to end the game, especially the tying goal right at the side of the net. Where's the end zone coverage there? You're leaving him on an island. Poor Artie Shilovs has no chance to stop that. And hell, when it was 5'3 late in the third,

Starting point is 00:04:41 I literally had a tweet lined up saying, we got playoff Artie Shilov's back because he has been locked in for the start of the season. I know he gave up five goals. I know he had an 800-say percentage for this game. but when you watch that game, he did not deserve to give up five goals. He was stupendous with some of the saves that he was making, especially flashing the leather late in the 30.

Starting point is 00:05:01 He made some big saves in overtime. But my big takeaway before I give this back to you, just the resilience they showed. You know what? Something really bad happened, but we're not going to let it get to us. We're going to go out there in overtime. We're going to win it,

Starting point is 00:05:14 and we're going to get that extra point. It should never have gotten to that point, but they showed some really great stones in winning that game. Because last year, Pat, they lost a lot of those games in a situation where they blew a lead and then lost an overtime or shootout.

Starting point is 00:05:28 So a good start to try and at least correct that in overtime, even though you don't even want it to get it to overtime. You want to win that in regulation. I also do have to come back to something that I talk about quite a bit, that I think I get that I suffer from this, you suffer from this,

Starting point is 00:05:46 Penguins fans, the whole suffer from this. And it's not unique to Pittsburgh. it's not unique to the penguins. It's just a part of sports fandom is that the team that we cheer for, the team that we support is forever and always the main character in every story. So when you blow a lead, you look at it as how did my team screw up? How did my team let this happen? The habs are really good.

Starting point is 00:06:12 Like they are really good. The first 10 or 15 minutes of that game ish, they kind of dominated. They were the better team head and shoulders. The Penguins held in. Artie Shilovs had himself a hell of a start. But to my point of both training camp and the preseason being shortened, here's the other thing. More than a third of the Penguins roster going into this game

Starting point is 00:06:37 was either brand new in their second game or their first game with the club. And there were a couple of players who, while they've been with the team, either were injured or missed extended periods last season. On the other end of it, Penguin Killer Chris Kreider, only newcomer for Montreal. That is an entirely familiar team that took a run to the Eastern Conference final last year. And they are all for the most part on the same page. Mix that with being really young, really fast, really talented.

Starting point is 00:07:16 I, again, this isn't to totally experience. skews a blown four goal lead, but they are a talented enough team, especially in the East, where down four goals, you're not totally panicking because that's a good team with a lot of talent and a lot of firepower. And they showed it. And Artie Sheelovs, who will get to in the second segment, as I'm sure you can all imagine, held the fort pretty well. Yeah. And when you look at a lot of the goals that were scored by the haves, wasn't so much Archer Shilovs or even the defenseman. It was a lot of mistakes by forwards that led to those chances happening. Yeah, if I want to be nitpicky, I'd maybe say he wants the second goal back where he's trying

Starting point is 00:08:03 to put out that poke check. I think if he doesn't do that, he probably makes that safe. But again, I'm being nitpicky. I thought he played a great game. He did not deserve that 800 to say percentage. he was lights out for basically that entire game. Cole Cawfield, Patty's one of the best goalscores in the Lee. He is going to do Cole Cawfield things. Nick Suzuki was just disgusting for Montreal, as always. You and I were texting about this. The Canadians are one of like a select handful of teams

Starting point is 00:08:26 that have the ability to come back from four goals down at any given moment. Obviously, Edmonton is number one, considering the firepower that they have. I would put Tampa up there, Pat, considering the firepower that they have. And I'd have Montreal kind of right there in like that third, fourth spot, something along those lines. They are just so offensively talented. They're so quick. You saw the problems they were giving the penguins in the first 10 minutes of that first period. The penguins could not keep up with them at all. And it was really just already

Starting point is 00:08:52 She-Lawks holding down the fort and keeping the penguins in it long enough for them to get to their game. Because the final 10 minutes of the first period, I thought the penguin settled in. I thought they took it to Montreal. And then for basically the entire second period, it was belt-to-ass for most of it. And the Canadians, they had some chances in that period. they got a goal to make it 5-2 late in the period. But I still felt for the most part in that middle frame, the penguins were just kicking their butts that entire time. And they really getting the four-check,

Starting point is 00:09:21 they were doing enough defensively, even though Montreal was still getting some chances. Then the third, they relaxed a little bit, got a little too complacent. Again, things to clean up, things to work on. It is only game two. Blowing a four-go lead is not good, but they were still able to get the result that they needed.

Starting point is 00:09:39 they get to two and no. Do you want to save the offside goal for the second segment? Do you want to get into it now? Because I think we both have some thoughts on that. Let's, let's, you know what, let's save that for the second segment.

Starting point is 00:09:50 We'll start with it. And then we will get into our three stars because, just to tease it, I'm 50-50 on that call. I will talk about it. Hunter will talk about it. We'll get into it and give out our three stars when we come back right after this. Healthy eating gets a lot simpler when

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Starting point is 00:12:28 Head to Fandul.com to get started. We're back here on the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp. That's Hunter Hodes. We are going to get to our stars. in shame segment, though it is a victory, so it is only going to be stars. So park that for a sec, because we do have to talk about that off sides review that led to a disallowed goal from Igor Chinikov, which count or not count, absolutely incredible effort by

Starting point is 00:13:06 Igor Chinikov thought he had a hell of a night against the Canadians. We can talk more about him on a later episode, but he has had a good star. to the season. Let's focus on that challenge and that call. I am 50-50 on this, and this is what I said to you over the weekend, Hunter. I don't like the call. I think it's nitpicky. I think it's a judgment call. But I will say this. I think if I had to put truth serum into the video review officials, the refs themselves. I think the big determining factor of overturning it wasn't so much that Carlson didn't have the puck directly on his stick, but that he had a player in his pocket.

Starting point is 00:13:56 He had a Canadian right on his hip as he entered the zone. And I can see an argument that that's essentially a contested puck, though I will say common sense tells us he has possession. But I do think if that happens and he's on an island, he's by himself, he doesn't have a back checker right with him. They're not overturning that. I think the determining factor was the fact that he had a Habs defender right with him when he crossed the blue line. See, like, I get where you're coming from, but I think he had control. I think he had possession. I think taking that goal off the board is just being nitpicky. for the sake of being nitpicky.

Starting point is 00:14:42 You know, stuff like that for me, that's not why the offside challenge, I feel like, was put in place. It was put in place, at least in my opinion, to get rid of the plays like Danny Breyer in 2012, where he is literally two miles offside, and that is clear cut. Now, Pat, we reduced it down to this, where, like, this is just so nitpicky.

Starting point is 00:15:05 Like, you have to put so much time back on the clock. It was over 30 seconds. What are we doing here? I don't like it. I hate that type of call. Echo something that Dan Hopper said, our good pal on social media. He called it a get out of jail free card. That's exactly what it is.

Starting point is 00:15:21 And you're just, you're taking away offense for the sake of it there. Like, I thought he was on side. I felt he had possession. I do not like that type of call. You know, we've seen it called like that around the league as well, not just the Penguins. And even when that's happened, I've just cringed. I don't like it. And you're just, I know,

Starting point is 00:15:39 we already have a fair amount of offense now compared to where we were several years ago. But we don't need to be taking goals off the board for this, man. Like, I just don't really see the need for it. Sorry. I, I, I totally agree with what you're saying in the spirit of what you're saying. My thought process was more trying to figure out why they made the call. And I think for me, the call is more to do with the defender than Carlson. having control or not. They're going to frame it as whether or not he had control, quote,

Starting point is 00:16:15 unquote, but I really think they looked at the defender being right on his back and going, you know, in a different play or a similar play, he's technically in a contested situation. But overall, I agree with your point that this is not why we have the off sides challenge in the league. It's to prevent those egregiously missed calls, not these pixel by pixel frame by frame hundred times magnified reviews. It doesn't make that big of a difference. But again, I don't like it overall, but I can at least understand what I believe to be the logic as to why they made that call. All right. Enough about that. Let's get into our three stars of the game. If you missed it last, week. This is our newest segment this season. We're going to do it after each and every game,

Starting point is 00:17:12 or if it's over a weekend, we'll do it for both games. After victories, we're going to hand out stars, the stars that you will see on your screen if you're watching us on YouTube. One star, that's a good game. Two stars, great game. Three stars, elite game. In the points, self-explanatory, one for one, two for two, three for three. So when this team loses a game, whenever that may happen, we will hand out shames. But in this vein, Penguins get a 6-5 win. So we have stars, Hunter,

Starting point is 00:17:47 who are your three stars from Saturday night? Yeah, my three stars for the game, they're pretty self-explanatory. I'm going to go with, you know, Evgeny Malkin for all the three stars. He was just all over the ice. Just spectacular. The assist that he had on Novak's game winner was great.

Starting point is 00:18:07 Also, don't forget about Chris LaTang's play on that, Pat, the way that he was able to protect the puck at the red line, because it looked spooky for a second, but the way that he was able to protect the puck, Malkin's able to get it and then passes it off to Novak for the game winner. Great play. He also goes to the net for his goal in the first period to tie it up, thought he was great.

Starting point is 00:18:28 Artie She-Lovs, he also gets two stars for me. as I said, he does not deserve that 800 save. He played better than that throughout this game. He was locked in from the opening puck drop. He's been great to start the year. And then my one star, I will give that to Tommy Novak. Two goals and three points. Both goals that he scored were fantastic.

Starting point is 00:18:50 He was everywhere with his line, no matter if it was up getting Malkin or Igor Chinochokov. He's had a really nice start to the season, and all three of those players deserve to get the three stars. of the game. So again, for me, Pat, I have Tommy Novak, Artie Shelovs, and of Guinea Malkin as my three stars for this one. What say you? A lot of overlap between the two of us, though, there is one difference. So I'll put this up on screen. So our viewers on YouTube can see it. I have Artie Sheelovs for my three stars. I've got Tommy Novak for my two stars agree with pretty much everything that you were saying. I will add for Sheelovs. He deserves a lot of credit.

Starting point is 00:19:34 The counting stats aren't going to look good. It's not going to tell you the whole story, though. He was great early. He was solid in the third. I can't really fault him for any of the goals that Montreal scored. He was a big reason this team got out with two points. Novak, obviously two goals, one of which being the game winner. He also made a lot of really good passes.

Starting point is 00:19:58 that line as a whole is picking up right where they left off at the end of last season. And then one star for me goes to Ben Kindle. He had a goal. But overall, I'm usually pretty skeptical of the whole. He's in the best shape of his life in training camp. He looks great. He's doing awesome. It's training camp.

Starting point is 00:20:25 They're pro athletes. If they don't show up in great shape, They're doing something wrong, but you could see it on Saturday night in his season debut. He's a step faster. He put on muscle. He's bigger. He's faster. And he just looked great all night long.

Starting point is 00:20:44 And it's one game, so we can't get overly carried away. But early returns, it looks like Ben Kindle is poised to have a breakout year. Yeah. I'm with you on. that. I think he's been great so far. And it was only that one game. He also, we did see him briefly in the preseason before he got hurt.

Starting point is 00:21:05 But he looks faster. He looks bigger. He was also going to the net a bit more in this game. He was adding like a couple of power forward elements to his game, which I didn't expect considering the way that he plays. But I loved it, to say the least. So just everything that I watched on Saturday, I'm with you. I think he's going to have an even bigger year this year.

Starting point is 00:21:27 I said it. 20 plus goals, not out of the realm of possibility, and potentially upwards of 50 points, maybe, not out of the realm of possibility either, considering the year that he had last year, he's already off to a good start, gets his first goal of the year in that game, looks healthy, looks great, I'm with you. So glad you shot him out.

Starting point is 00:21:46 And again, as I talked about my three stars, Pat, I do think Crystal Tang has also had a good start to the season as well, the play that he made in overtime at the Red Line is a play that's not getting enough love. So glad that he's having a play. had a good start. I continue to be impressed with Sam Gerard. He got his first goal as a penguin. He's playing just fantastic for the penguins. Crazy Pat, what something can do when you are fully healthy. You're not playing on a broken foot down the stretch. But I will say,

Starting point is 00:22:13 will a good start for him happy to see it. So I wanted to shout him out as well. I do have to shout out the defense as a whole as a six man unit. I think through two games, they've been solid. And I will reiterate, I know that you'll look at a game where you blow a four goal lead, give up five goals. A lot of people are going to side-eye that comment, but they have been good and they have looked like a more cohesive unit. And it looks like players like Corsack and Carlisle are going to be, at least for now, through two games, solid replacements for the departed Shea and Watherspoons. So really like where they're looking through two games, there were a lot of candidates even in a goofy game like Saturday to hand out stars.

Starting point is 00:22:58 But I think the two of us landed on probably the four best candidates to get stars from Saturday's game. But they are right back in action tonight at PPG Paints Arena. An old friend is coming to town. The Winnipeg Jets are in town. We will get you set for that game when we come back right after this. But we've got one more sponsor to get to before. we do that and it's our pals at Odu. Running a business shouldn't feel like you're trying to connect

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Starting point is 00:24:10 And that is true in sports, just like it is in business. The Penguins, they made a bunch of depth moves this off season. And through two games, when you look at the stat sheet, a lot of those moves are starting to pay off. It shows that the organization as a whole is pulling in the same. direction. Great organizations win because operations matter and that is why you should be using Odu. Odo again is a platform to manage, grow and scale your business and you can try for free today by going to Odo.com slash locked on. That's OD OO dot com slash locked on. We're finishing up

Starting point is 00:24:55 the Monday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Patrick Dan. and Hunter Hode is here with you, and we have got a big week of hockey coming up for the Pittsburgh Penguins, and it starts tonight against the Winnipeg Jets. Before we preview it, though, just a quick note about tonight's game in case you missed it. It is a rare 730 start at PPG Paints Arena, so do not be surprised when you tune in at 7,

Starting point is 00:25:24 and you still got about 38 to 40 minutes to go before puck drop. Now, Hunter, let's get into the Jets. The big story, obviously, is the holdout and suspension of goaltender Connor Hellebuck. He requested a trade this summer, then refused to show up to camp. The Jets suspended him. And now starting duties fall on the shoulders of our old pal Stuart Skinner. But unless I'm wrong, Hunter, I don't believe he's starting tonight against the Penguins. No.

Starting point is 00:25:56 So the Jets played on Sunday. this is the second half of a road back-to-back to the Penguins. They are waiting for Winnipeg here, Winnipeg had to travel in yesterday to get in for today's game. So this is a schedule advantage for the Penguins, the team that they're playing. They beat the Red Wings 3-2, a Red Wings team that is just in the mud right now

Starting point is 00:26:16 with all the rumors and everything there. I don't think they're going to have a really good year. But Stu Skinner played yesterday. It played really well against Red Wings, only gave up two goals. 33 saves on 35 shots, but it will be Clay Stevenson starting. If you remember him, he was in the Washington Capitol system.

Starting point is 00:26:34 He has a few games of financial experience, but he has played for the most part in the H.L. With the Hershey Bears, but he will be starting tonight against the Penguins. And for the Penguins, Pat, this will be the debut for this season of Sergei Murashov. He is officially starting for the Penguins tonight. I am a big fan of this. You and I were kind of wondering if he was maybe going to get that game against Montreal. Penguin said no, we're going to ride with Artie Shilov because he played well,

Starting point is 00:27:00 and then he put together another good performance against the Habs. So now you can kind of give Marasov the easier of the two teams on this two-game homestand and a Winnipeg Jets team that just don't think is going to be that good. And I just don't think they're going to be able to score enough with a lot of these other teams. They still have a few really good top players. For example, Kyle Connor had a couple of goals on Sunday. Cole Pfebetti played pretty well.

Starting point is 00:27:22 Mark Sheifley, of course, is their top line center. They have young rookie Vigo Bjork, who we all know the Penn. England's really wanted in the draft. He is on the team. They still have Josh Morrissey on the back end. Other than that, though, there's just not like a whole lot in this lineup. I like Gabe Valardi, at least.

Starting point is 00:27:37 You know, Nino Nider Rider in a bottom six role. You have Adam Lowry there, but they just don't have the horses that a lot of these other teams do. So as long as you really shut down the likes of Kyle Connor, Mark Schifley, Josh Morrissey,

Starting point is 00:27:50 you'll have a pretty good opportunity to win this game. Clay Stevenson, a pretty inexperienced NHL goaltender to go to bat. with that of the four games the penguins have this week i think this is the easiest one schedule-wise but of course you still have to go out there and win the game so those are some of my quick thoughts on the jets just a lot of really big drama there with hellabuck and i just don't think they'll be able to score like with some of the other top teams it's going to be to me like on paper it's more

Starting point is 00:28:17 like the flyers where they're not as nearly as offensively gifted as the canadians they're kind of more in that range with the flyers offensively speaking even though they do have you know a couple of really good goal scores again and Shifley and Connor. So those are my main thoughts. But Pat also really excited that Sorgay Murshov is making his season debut tonight. I do think that this is probably now looking at the whole board rather than just looking at what's right in front of our faces, the best way to debut Marashav this season. Because obviously the HAB's very potent team.

Starting point is 00:28:51 And you also had a great performance, though it was not a lot. lot of work by Artie Shilovs against the Flyers in the season opener. So realistically, you rode the hot hand, you gave the veteran the game against the more offensively talented team in Montreal. And then you look at the rest of this week. You got the capitals on Wednesday, Columbus on Friday, and then the stars on Saturday. So there is a world where you can get two more starts for Artershalovs, Wednesday against the caps and then Saturday against Dallas and you can probably give Sergey

Starting point is 00:29:29 Marischoff Friday against Columbus and then basically have a rotation. The thing for me looking at tonight's game though is I feel bad saying this because I hate insulting fan bases and teams this way, but I look at the Jets and it's they're just a mid team. Like they've got some talent and they lost. their biggest talent in Hellebuck. When you had Connor Hellebuck in the net, regardless of what was in front of him, you had a chance because he's one of the top five, if not top three goalies in the league

Starting point is 00:30:09 right now. And he is one of the few that can just straight up steal you wins. And I like Stuart Skinner. I think he gets a little bit of an unfair treatment because he's gone from the Edmonton Oilers to the Pittsburgh Penguins, two teams notorious for not wanting to play defense and did a solid job with both. Now he goes to a Jets team where they're going to have to play defense. They're going to have to insulate and be a little bit safer because they don't have, as you said, the kind of horses that other teams do. So this will be a big test for Skinner throughout the season.

Starting point is 00:30:49 but for tonight, I mean, if I'm the Penguins, just play the kind of game that you have played through the first two is work extremely hard, get the chances that you have, play some responsible defense and very good opportunity for the Penguins to jump out to a three oh start this season. Yeah, like if you can get back to the level of defense that you played, for example, against the Flyers, a team that I'm kind of comparing to the Jets is not as potent offensively. you'll have a pretty good shot also of winning this game. The special teams also have to continue to be a factor. They're five for five on the PK to start the year.

Starting point is 00:31:24 Four for eight on the power play, going for 50%. Both units playing really well. So I want to see that continue. And then, you know, as a key, like, you know, for Sergey Murshov, for example, just bringing that same, you know, coolness, that same confidence that we saw in the HL playoffs, the confidence that we also saw for brief parts of the preseason, bring that into here.

Starting point is 00:31:47 So I'm really excited for him. Covenant, it looks like, is coming back in the lineup for Philip Hollander. It looks like he's going to be on the third line with Ben Kendall and Andre Kuzmenko. Brian Rust is not ready to go just yet, but I think that's going to happen a bit later on this week. So, yeah, Pat, pretty excited. Maybe we'll get Sidney Crosby's first goal of the season because they have scored a lot of goals, but Cindy Crosby is not one of those scores yet. Would not be surprised if that changes tonight.

Starting point is 00:32:11 And finally, right at the end of the episode, it's a big day. Happy birthday, Mario Lemieux. We saw him in the building on Saturday. Rock his ovation, as expected. The absolute goat, I don't think anyone knew that was happening until he was brought out on the ice for that first puck drop alongside Jeff Hoffman, the new owner of the Pittsburgh Penguins. So Mario, happy birthday.

Starting point is 00:32:34 You're the greatest of all time. We had to bring it up to end the show, Pat. You know, it means something when the big man is in the building. And who, that reaction absolutely deafening and incredible. but Penguins, Jets, 730 at PPG Paints Arena. And that is going to do it for the Monday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back with a brand new episode for you on Tuesday, recapping this game and then going over any other news or anything that might happen between now and then.

Starting point is 00:33:09 So as always, make sure you're following us on socials. Make sure you're subscribed across all audio platforms and YouTube. And Hunter and I will talk to you once again on Tuesday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins win a WILD one over the Habs before Winnipeg comes to town!

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