Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Sidney Crosby is closing in on ANOTHER milestone...

Episode Date: January 26, 2022

It was a slow start for the Penguins but they notched another win on Tuesday night against the Arizona Coyotes. Hunter starts the show with the biggest storyline and that has to be Brian Boyle. He may be up for Goal of the Year at the end of the season with how he was able to score between the legs. What's driving his success this season? Is he going to be playing every game down the stretch? Hunter then gets to Sidney Crosby's unbelievable night as he's inching closer to 500 goals. How many more can he get up to? We can't forget about his play on Bryan Rust's goal either as he did a vintage pass. Other topics discussed: Bryan Rust's season and why more people should be speaking about it, another memorable Kris Letang game, Brock McGinn getting to double digits, and so much more.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. 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.

Now let's make it six in a row for your Pittsburgh Penguins. They have a 63 win over the Arizona Coyotes. We're going to have a full game recap for you all coming up right after this drop. Your 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 your host, Honohie. He's going to follow me on Twitter at Honohote's. of all those shows, Twitter, L.O. Arnold for Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. As I said, in the cold open, penguins get a 6-3 win over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday night. That's now six in a row, and they are 17 and 2 in their last 19 games. Just a ridiculous stretch here for the Penguins ever since, basically, you know,

mid to late November where they really started to turn it on. I think the biggest storyline tonight, we got to start with Brian Boyle. laughing about it just because what a goal that was. I mean, first off, great pass from Zach Aston Reese. I mean, just to thread that in there through Arizona County's defense defenseman stick, really nice, and then Boyle is able to do the rest between the legs with his stick, top cheese. That is a goal of the year candidate right now. And honestly, the coyotes should probably relegate their franchise.

And, you know, there's a lot of rumors going around what Arizona's going to do. the city of Glendale. What's the arena situation going to be like all this other garbage? But, you know, just because of that goal, they should have to move to like Houston or Quebec City or whoever else is going to take them. I mean, you're letting a freaking 36-year-old, how old he is at this point, he's in his 30s,

you're letting an old man Brian Boyle do that to you. It is time to move your team somewhere else. And, you know, that is his fifth goal of the season, believe it or not. And, you know, I do have something to say that i have definitely been dead wrong about brian boyle's impact on this team you know i said before the season i didn't think it was going to move the needle much i thought they had you know better players inside you know the dressing room and just you know down in wilkesbury that could fill his role pretty

easily i've been wrong about that and you know i don't mind being wrong um i'll own up to it i'm objective that's fine you know i can all takes expose myself but you know it's really been a pleasant surprise to watch and play um he definitely was a little weak i would say on the turn of and that led to the coyotes third goal, though Dominic Simone, I think, was the culprit there mainly. And we're going to get to that later on in this episode. But, you know, Spoil has been so good in a bottom six role this year. And this is just a really good fit for him.

You know, he's good defensively on the PK. You know, that goal tonight is spectacular. But even before that, you know, he was scoring a few other goals. You know, he still has it in some capacity. And, you know, he's going to be playing, I think, a lot of hockey down the stretch here, which is fine. How do I want to say that? you know, he's been pretty good even before he gets scratched, so I don't really have a problem with it. Jason Zoker, he's weak to week at this point with a core muscle injury. So he came back

and tried to play through a hernia. That's just ridiculous. Again, I'm going to get to that later on in the episode. But, you know, again, I don't mind me. He's going to be getting a lot more playing time down in the stretch. He's been good enough when he's played. He deserves to be in the top 12 right now. Now, when the team gets healthy or if they get healthy with Teddy Blueger and Jason Zucker and God forbid there are no other injuries for this team. He probably will be one of the odd man out. And, you know, that's fine. Jason Zoker is a better score, I think, than him.

Teddy Blugher is a better defensive player than him. But he is still a player that can be that 13th floor that can come in, you know, if the team needs a spark or if Mike Sullivan just, you know, wants someone else to come out of the lineup if they're struggling or something like that. So I'm really liking what I'm seeing from Boyle. I know I haven't talked about him a lot on the pod recently, but, you know, I wanted to give him a special shout-out tonight, especially with that goal.

But just overall, I've liked his game a lot this season. And, you know, I've been dead wrong about him overall. Overall, game-wise, just go into there for a quick second. The first period, you know, that was definitely a period where it was like watching your water boil for pasta. You know, just you sit in your kitchen waiting to cook yourself mac and cheese or whatever, you know, butter noodles, spaghetti meats, whatever. The coyotes, they came in with a plan.

they were executing it pretty decently. And then, you know, obviously, you weren't going to do that for a full 60 minutes against the penguins. I mean, that's just not going to happen. But they did it pretty well, I would say, through the first 20 minutes because there was not a lot there. There was one shift that I noticed. I'm sure some of you all noticed this as well. You might escort here for a sec. I'm sure some of you noticed this as well.

The penguins were completing a full line change in their own zone. This was during the first period. It was about 30 to 40 seconds in Arizona had no one coming into forecheck. They had all five players below the red line in a full 1999 New Jersey Devil's level trap. And it's just like, I mean, I've always hated that kind of hockey. I think it's just, it's bad for so many reasons. But, you know, they were executing it.

It was working, you know, up until it didn't. And again, they were not going to do that all game. If we look at the underlying numbers for this game, the penguins dominated in the shot of temps almost for two of the three periods. The other one, it was 11 to 10 in favor of Arizona. Overall, the penguins had 64% of the shot attempts at 5E5. They also had 66% of the scoring chances for 55, 73% of the high danger chances for, and then 63% of the expected goals.

1.77 expected goals for, though, for Pittsburgh, one expected goal for the coyotes. So, I mean, the fact that the penguins only allowed 11 scoring chances against it even strength. They played well defensively. I mean, one of the Arizona's goals was on a two-minute five-on-three, which is rarely called in today's NHL. Before this, I actually don't remember the last time I've seen a five-on-three for two full minutes with two penalties called in the span of a few seconds. I do not recall the last time I've seen that.

I know it's probably happened a few times a season. Definitely is not for the Penguins. So to see that being called, definitely a little weird. The Penguins have started to get some momentum, and then the refs had to, you know, insert themselves into that moment there. Whatever. I know the Penguins went down 2-1, but they got it right back with another power play goal. I know Arizona scored early on the third period, but then Penguins were able to score four on the answer to make it 6 to 3.

As for a couple of the other goals tonight, Sidney Crosby, I mean, what do you say at this point? I mean, that no look between the legs passed. It's absolutely disgusting. I mean, and the funny thing is I don't even get surprised at this stuff anymore, and I don't think anyone that listens to this podcast should be surprised when he does this stuff anymore because he's been doing this for over 15 years. I mean, this is who Sid is. He's one of the greatest players in the history of the game. He's a top five player in hockey. He does this on a routine basis at this point. He knew Brian Russ was going to be there. He shoots that point to tie the game. Arizona goaltender

had no chance there. And the power play really came alive tonight. I'm going to get to out here in just a second as well. You know, the last game, it kind of was a little ugly against Winnipeg tonight, you know, you're starting to see just, you know, that unit come alive. And it's badly needed. I mean, don't get it. Don't get me wrong. I mean, the unit has had its struggles this season for sure. But it's starting to get going ever so slowly. The PK obviously has been really good. But if the team can get the power play really rolling here, I mean, I mean, the penguins, I think, are going to be even scarier, at least in my opinion. So that goal from Brian Russ is awesome.

And shout out to Brian Rust. He now has 27 points and 20 games a season. I don't think that's being talked about enough. I know Sid has been awesome since, you know, just after his first eight games, Juno's played pretty well for the most part since coming back. Chris LaTang is having a Norris caliber season. We're going to get to him a little later on in the show. But Brian Russ has been right up there with those players.

And Jake Gensel. Of course, I'm not going to not mention him. But, you know, a little bit of a slow start for Rust. But he's really come alive. It really started kind of close to around Thanksgiving, I would say. You know, he was banged up a lot before then, came back, played well. I think then I think even got hurt again, but then has been awesome since coming back. You know, it's really fun to see him.

Just, you know, continuing the level of play that we've seen the last couple of years. Remember, this is a point per game, this is not a point for game player, excuse me. This is almost a 30 goal score two years in a row. I mean, you don't just luck into being that kind of player. This is not a third line forwarder or anything. He is a bona fide top six winger. He's been a menace on the top line this season. Heck, the top line has been one of the best top lines in hockey.

And, you know, excuse me, I just don't think he's being talked about enough for how good he's been for the bankers this year. So shout to him there. Really nice goal. We have a lot more to get to for this game coming up in the next segment. Cindy Crosby being three goals away from getting his 500th. Chris LaTang having another magnificent. this performance.

We're going to touch on Tristan Jari. Mike Matheson had a couple of ridiculous rushes. And, you know, going a couple, you know, some of the negatives that I didn't like as well. But before we do that, Ben-Line would like to wish you a happy new betting years. We continue our march to the playoffs and beyond. Ben-Lyman remains the number one spot for all the best sports wagering action for 2022. It is a new year, and that means a new updated desktop and mobile website to sound today and receive your 50% off the gross on your first deposit.

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Heck, here's an even better question for you. When is the last time you felt welcome in an art museum? It can really feel like for a hockey fan, you know, you don't belong in an art world. but it's really the perfect place for us when you think about it. Great hockey fans are passionate. They're all dedicated and we know how to have a good time. That sounds like an artist, right? Well, we just so happen to know that the Mattress Factory,

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Fordard to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at LonaSquare Penguins. So again, you know, the Penguins took them a little while to get going tonight. I didn't really like the start overall just because it was so boring. But once they got their legs under them, they started dominating Arizona. I mean, you look at the shot clock, or not the

shot clock, the shot counter, excuse me. I mean, they were dominating. them except for a few lulls defensively. I did not like the third goal. And it wasn't really so much as Tristan Jari giving that out. I thought he was a little off tonight.

Let me get to him in just a second. But Dominic Simone had a really horrific turnover there. Just basically gave the puck away for no reason. Nick Schmaltz is able to come in on a breakaway and then, you know, score the goal there. And it's just like, okay, I mean, Simone deserves to sit on the bench

for the rest of that period with a kind of an effort like that. And he's been pretty good lately. He was uncharacteristic of him, but it was still like in that situation, it's a tie game. Why are you making that kind of pass? I just didn't really care for it. I'm not going to blame Tristan for that. He had a really nice move. That said, I do think Tristan left a little to be desired tonight,

but I'm not really going to make too big of a deal out of it just because he's been so good this season. He's still a Vezna finalist in my mind. He is allowed an outlier game where he doesn't have his best. He made some strong saves tonight, though he wasn't really tested that much as well. but, you know, I think, you know, the second one, he maybe was a little too deep in his net, but that's also a hell of the release from Clayton Keller to make it two to one on the five on three.

I mean, you don't teach a release that goes top cheese right over the blocker. So it's kind of whatever, I guess, to me, you know, I would have liked him to be maybe a little more aggressive in that situation just because Keller was so close to the net. Overall, though, I still think he was fine. he's allowed to have kind of the men performance, especially coming off that game against Winnipeg where he was their best player.

So at the end of the day, I'm not really worried about Tristan. I don't think anyone else should be either. Chris Latang, going back to some calls it is. You know, two more goals tonight. He is now, this is per Jed from Penguins, Twitter, top 50 all-time long-defendman and goals scored in the NHL. So congratulations to Chris Tang on those.

I hope everyone chronicles those, in quotation marks, if you don't know what I'm talking about, well, there is a Twitter account called Penguins Chronicles, and he likes to bash Chris LaTang for no reason, and it doesn't make any sense. And that's the last I'm going to talk about that. So he was magnificent again tonight. I tweeted about it on my social media again. I'll say it here as well. It's a crime that he's probably not going to be a Norris finalist because of Adam Fox,

kill McCarr, McDragg. Because he really is having a special season. This is some of the best hockey we've ever seen him play. both of his goals tonight were, you know, they were just vintage Lutan goals, you know. The first one, maybe gets a little bit of a lucky balance, but the second one, just a really beautiful snipe past the blocker side of just, I'm like almost forgetting the Arizona goaltender's last name, whatever, you know, I probably honestly, when I saw it last night, I wouldn't be able to pronounce it.

He has been good on the road this year, according to Bob Erie. he was he actually has the second base say percentage on the road so he was playing pretty well coming into this i know he only has a 905 say percentage but this is still a goaltender that he's playing better than his numbers i'll say that but you know still gave up six tonight the penguins be able to get to him but no again overall great performance from tanger i really just am loving his play this season. And I really hope as well that everyone is taking notice of it and is appreciating it just because, you know, nothing is guaranteed. Who knows if he's going to be back next year? God willing, he will be. But, you know, this is a special season, but we're witnessing

right now from Chris the Tang. And it continued tonight in such a big way. So two massive goals from Tanger there. Already touched on the Brian Russell. One, Cindy Crosby. He gets goal number 497. So three away from 500. You know, that's got me thinking as well. You know, how many will he go towards, you know, for his career? I think he'll get 600. I don't think he'll get 700. I think that's probably a bit of wishful thinking, at least in my opinion.

You know, you don't get to 700 unless it's, you're basically a pure goal score. You know, he's not Alex Obetchkin over here. He's the greatest goal score to ever do it. I'll die on that hill. I've always appreciated what Obetchkin's done with that, especially while playing in day's game. He might even catch Wayne Gretzky. And you know what? I hope he does. It would be great for the game if he did.

It will be talked about for every day, I think, in this sport for years to come. So again, really hope he does that. Going back to Sid for just a second, though. I think he can get 600. I think he will. 650 is, that's going to be close. I'm leaning towards 620 to 625 right now. Though, with Sid, I shouldn't be surprised if he gets 650, because, you know, I shouldn't be surprised by anything Sidney Crosby does anymore.

But right now, I'm definitely leaning towards 620 to 625, at least in my opinion, for how high he does. But that's going to be a special ceremony when he has the 500th this year. It's probably going to come in the next few games. He's really starting to heat up. This was another really good performance tonight from Cindy Crosby. And, you know, if you go to the site that has, you know, the most initial point, of all time. I believe it's quanthockey.com. Sid, so sit at another three point game tonight. Sid right now is 27th all time for the most points in actual history. He has

13, 159. With tonight he'll be up to 1,362. He's seven, he's almost close to tying Mike Madonna for number 25. That would be awesome. I mean, if he does that, Ovechkin is a little above Madonna, but I mean, you're looking at for most points here with Sid. He's going to pass Madonna. He'll pass Brett Hull, who's at 1391, Luke Robodyte at 1394, Yari Curry, Dale Howard Chuck is at 1409, Doug Gilmore, 1414, Adam Oates, 1420, Brian Trotier at 1425, T-Musilani at 1457, Stan McKeough at 1467. Sid is going to finish top 15 all the time for the most points in financial history. Paul Coffey's at 1531. I think Sid has a chance to even get up to there. Now, maybe Mark Recky, Joe Thorne, 1535. I think Joe Sackett could get 1641. That might be pushing it,

but I definitely think Sid is going to be top 15 all time when it comes to that. I mean, it's pretty crazy that he's already in the top 30 all time and he's only 30 years old. So, you know, he's been awesome. Just continue to be amazed by Sid. at this point. But that'll do it for this segment. Coming up in the next segment, a couple other thoughts about this game before, you know, going into, you know, a big back-to-back this week with Seattle and to try and to go into what I would do for the goalie situation with that. This is a couple other things from tonight's game that I noticed as well. So stick around with me through this last commercial break.

All right. So we are back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Arnscore Penguins. So again, I know I mentioned it earlier on in the podcast. There's some injury updates that came out of the last couple of days today. So Jason Zulker, he will be week to week. He was placed on long-term IR, which means he does have to miss a minimum. If I recall correctly, 24 days or 10 games.

So he's out for at least three, three and a half weeks. We will probably not be seeing him until, I'm looking at my phone here. late February, if that. He had surgery to repair a core muscles injury. So what that means, he was battling a sports hernia injury. And, you know, there's been a lot of, you know, athletes over the years that have tried to play through that. I think, you know, Sid even tried two for a time. But everyone that's talked about has said that, you know, it's ridiculously painful.

And remember, Sid actually had to have that surgery a couple of years ago, believe he missed about four to six weeks from that. So that's probably what the timeline will be here for Zulker, wishing the best in his recovery. Hopefully he can come back strong because he had a great game coming back from it the first time, had two goals. I don't want to hear anyone question Jason Zulker's toughness ever again. Again, the guy literally had two goals of battling a hernia.

So I don't really, I'm not going to, you know, stand here and subscribe to the notion that he's not tough or anything like that. He plays his ass off every shift. I know he leaves a lot to be out, a lot to be desired sometimes, just with scoring and all that. But he still gives it as all every shift. And I do really appreciate that about him. So he'll be out for the foreseeable future.

But that also means for the Penguins, they might have a little bit of extra money here to play with before the trade deadline. Remember, Jason Zucker makes over $5 million per. With the team right now, Blue Grover's only on IR. Even with him coming back, they're going to have a good chunk of change

if they want to go out and get a veteran backup. If they want to go out and get Braden Holpey, Anton Fudob and Yaroslav Halak, they will have the money to do that. You know, cap-friendly has them, you know, again, you know, a few million under the cap with this Zooker on LTIR. Even with him coming back, I still think they should be under the cap, you know, at least when I look at, you know, just playing around with cap-friendly. So we'll see what the ping was decided to do with that.

The trade deadline is still a little ways away, you know, it remains to be seen what happens there. Teddy Bluger, he'll be out six to eight weeks. It's just, you know, again, a tremendous loss. Broke his job with that Brendan Dillon hit. I wish I was surprised with the league not giving out indiscipline, but, you know, it's the permanent player safety. I'm not surprised by anything they do anymore. Trying to think of other things to discuss about the game tonight.

There honestly was not much else to discuss other than, oh, Tard Weirden doing this massive fist pump that I just did on camera. Like the Penguins just won a game seven in the Stanley Cup final. I think that was after the fourth goal. that was hilarious to me. It's just a, that's just a boss move right there. I really appreciated that. Brian Dumwin's controller, I think,

disconnected on a play in the second period, got a prime scoring chance, has the puck, is waiting out the goaltender, and then he gets his pocket pick by two coyotes. And I'm just like, what are you doing there? I understand he's not known for his offense,

but I was still really confused when he just kind of sat there, he didn't do anything what the fuck it's like you know you don't have all day right so um definitely i think a little bit weird there didn't like how peterson kind of got walked on this on the first goal i think that arizona scored um just i think played that wrong along the boards um dry again you know he didn't he couldn't get over in time with his glove i'm not only going to blame him too much for that but i would mainly put that blame on peterson um you know he'll be better he's been fine for most of the

season um anyway but i think that we'll probably do it for this episode of the locked on England's podcast. I don't think, again, I don't think I miss anything. I will say, though, best wishes to Patrick Alvine. It looks like he has taken the conduct general manager job, general manager job, excuse me, Jim Rutherford, all signs point to him, hiring him. And, you know, he's been one of, you know, Rutherford's right-hand men for a long time. You know, he was basically, you know, the G, his, he was basically his second while he was in Pittsburgh, you know, Ron Hextall, I think, thought of him very highly as well. So I think it might be a bit bigger of a loss than what some people are making it out to be.

But, you know, I'm curious to see how Ron Hextall fills that void as well. So best wishes to him, I really hope he kills it. I always loved. Listening to his scouting reports every year during the draft, you know, he always knew his stuff. And, you know, I know he didn't hit as much at times on some of the prospect, you know, down Simone, but Pustin in looks really good. The goaltenders are potentially going to be good. we'll have to see with some of the other players that they selected under his watch.

Just, you know, how good they may turn out to be. I did forget one thing as well before I let you all go. Brock McGinn, he got his 10th goal of the season tonight. I don't really want to hear about how he's worse than Brandon Tannis. It's just factually not true. Well, I shouldn't say that. Excuse me. In my opinion, I don't think it's true.

Wait, what the hell am I saying right now? in my opinion, you know, he is a lot better than Brandon Tanneth. Geez, the third time is the charm there. I am just completely screwing out my words right now, and I wholeheartedly apologize about that. You know, I know Tanna brings a lot more energy than maybe McGinn does, but he had a couple pretty big hits tonight. That was like, whoa, did not see that coming from him.

But, you know, 10 goals and we're halfway through the season. That's a 20-goal pace for a 42-game season. We'll have to see if he hits that. But I've been really impressed with him all season. He started out a little bit slow, but he's been a really good signing from Ron Hexon and still that Tijuana void

picture perfectly at least in my opinion. But again, that'll do it for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. That's now six in a row for the Penguins, 17 of 19.

They were back in action on Thursday against the Seattle crack and then they'll play Detroit on Friday before playing L.A. And then Washington next week before the All-Star break. But that'll do it for this one. I hope you all liked and enjoyed

listening to this one. Remember to follow my socials, Hunter Hodes, L.O. underscore Panyons for the show's Twitter. The show is on Apple and Spotify and YouTube. And I'll be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday.