Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Los Angeles Kings present another big test for the Pittsburgh Penguins!

Episode Date: October 20, 2022

We're getting closer to the fourth game of the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. In this episode, Hunter starts off by updating the listeners on some practice notes & if Teddy Blueger is getting close to his return. Was he back in a regular jersey during practice? Was he doing regular line rushes or working on the PK? Hunter answers those questions and then brings up what will happen when Blueger returns. He also looks at which goaltender will likely start against the Kings before diving into a preview for that matchup. How much has the Kevin Fiala trade meant to the Kings so far? Is a Kopitar-Danault punch down the middle one of the best in the league? He answers those while also looking at the keys for the Penguins to come away victorious in this one, especially since they lost both games against the Kings last season. Finally, Hunter ends the show with a look ahead to the weekend where the Penguins will start a week-long trip. Just how important is this stretch that's coming up? Which players will likely bounce back during this stretch (starting on Thursday)? All of that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL to learn more. 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.

Good evening, Penguins fans. Happy Wednesday, the day before another big game for this team as they try to balance back from Monday's loss against the Montreal Canadiens. For today's episode, we're going to go over some practice updates. Nothing much to report, but Teddy Bougar herself at practicing. They'll have an update on whether or not he's going to be playing on Thursday or if he could be playing on that massive road trip that they have. Coming after that, we're also going to preview the game against Los Angeles,

go into their lines, look at their numbers for how they've done this, and so far, and we'll also get into the road ahead for the penguins and look at that big road trip that they do have coming up after this game on Thursday. So that's all coming up right after this. You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on podcast network. Your team every day.

Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hohie. you can also follow the shows, Twitter at L.O. Orsville Penguins, and, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So getting into some practice updates since we last, since I spoke with you all, you know, it's very funny to have that episode post at like 1230 because during times on Tuesday, I'm like, don't I have to record right now?

But I'm like, oh, no, I recorded the recap right after. I hope you all enjoy listening to that one. You know, if you like my exes and those, let me know if you didn't. And I need to explain better. You know, also let me know about that as well. Penguins had the day off on Tuesday. They were back at practice on Wednesday. And for the most part, the lines were basically the exact same.

Gensel-Ga-Roseve-Rale. Zorker Malk and Russ, Hyman Carter, Captain, the fourth line is the same. And then defensively, everything is the same too. Blugher was skating with Chabar-R-R-Reedle. So it looks like, as of right now, Teddy Blugher is not going to be playing on Thursday. He's been day-to-day for the last two weeks now.

But, you know, as I told you all about on an episode about a week ago, Blugher spoke to the media, he said that this injury is just not healing the way he thought it was going to, and it's been really frustrating him. And I know some people have been asking me about who's going to come out of the lineup when Bluger's ready to go. And, you know, you won't know what I would do. I would take out Archibald and move Paling to the left wing, put Blugher at center, move McGinn to the right wing because he can play either wing. Maybe you want to move paling to right wing to see how he does there. But, you know, Ryan usually plays on the left. I would feel a lot better about the fourth line with Blueber centering in and then Payling and McGinn to the left and right.

Because I actually thought Paling played pretty well against the Canadians. And it was on a five-on-five rush about a few minutes remaining before Cole Cawfield tied the game. And he split the defenseman going down, had a nice little mini breakaway, wasn't able to score a goal past San Montembo. But those are the kind of rushes that I'm like, okay, you know, maybe there is something there. with paling. So I just haven't seen that kind of burst yet from Archibald. I know it's been a very small sample size so far. But at least I've been impressed with paling a little bit more than Archibald. So that's what I would do, you know, for those that keep asking me about, you know, who comes out of lineup when Bluger is ready to go. I keep paling in and Archibald is the 13th Ford. But I also think, as I've said about 7,000 times on this episode or this podcast, excuse me, they're probably just going to do a rotation if the four group is really healthy. Special teams-wise, power play one is the same. Grosby, Malk and Latang, Gensel, Rust, and then PowerPlay 2.

Carter, Raquel, Zulker, Heinen, and Petrie. You know, I'm not really going to put too much stock into Carter being on the second PowerPlay unit. I think he's fine, especially as an offensive presence. Penalty Kill 1. Ryan Paling, Brock McGinn, Brian Dumlin-Yan-Ruta, P.K.2, Kasparee, Josh, Archibald, P.O., Joseph, Marcus Pederson. So, you know, my big question is these are their two penalty-killing units, right? why was Carter on the ice for that game-winning goal from Kirby Doc in the four-on-three?

Do you trust him a lot more? Say, I don't know, over a Jan Ruta, over a Marcus Pedersen, P.O.J. Casperi Kappenden. Because that was a bit weird. Archibald was another one of the players on the ice. And then Dumlin was the other player on the ice, too, with Carter. So I don't mind, you know, Archibald, he was fine on that play, as I explained. Dumlin, we all know that he didn't look bad.

Well, he looked bad on that play and the game time goal, though. His numbers with Chris Latang this year have actually been pretty good. I think, like, high danger chances. Why is they about scored the opposition, like 13 to 1? And they have like 65% of the expected goals. So I think a lot of that is obviously Latang. But still, you know, the penalty kill configurations, when I see it at practice today, it just doesn't line up with what Mike Sullivan is doing in that kind of, you know,

game-breaking situation, I guess, is how I want to say it. So definitely a little bit weird there. I would have liked to seen, you know, cappinen out there, maybe POJ. I mean, I think Jan Ruta would have been a better bet than Brian Dumlin. I think for Carter, I would rather have McGinn out there because at the time, Petrie was in the box. That was his third penalty that he took.

And yeah, he was not good in that game either. Second penalty, I'll kind of cut him some slack a little bit just because that second penalty was not interference. It was a total crappy call when the penguins were on the power play about halfway through the third period. And it looked like just an even up call. And if you ask me. So take that penalty aside, the other two, he can't take, especially the one in overtime

is, you know, with the penguins carry. Well, I wouldn't say they were carrying the flow of play, but they were going back and forth with Montreal. I know the Canadians were missing some chances, but the penguins, they were also getting playing a chances. The biggest one was Malkin missing just. to the right side of the night. I think it actually glanced off

onto those glove and went to the side. I think if Malkin's able to put that a little bit more inside, I think there was a little bit of a hole there, and he was hopefully going to be able to get the hat trick. Otherwise, you know, that's basically it. When it comes to the full practice updates, again, Mike Sullivan said Ted A Bluger remains day to day. He said he hasn't been fully ruled out for the game on Thursday,

but it's not looking good right now. The last thing I do want to say for this segment, just a little practice segment, as Danny Shari reported, and I think the Penguins tweeted it out, Ricardo Raquel has cut his hair. Yes, this is counting as breaking news for this podcast. I'm sure he's going to grow back out,

but his wonderful flow is no longer with us right now, but give it another month or two, and I am sure it will be back. So again, no line, forward line changes, no defensive line changes. I would expect Tristan Jari to start against the Kings, especially after the Kings came off, that comeback win against the National Predators.

I'm going to get a little bit into that coming up in the next few seconds. So expect the same lineup, same defensive configuration, same forward lines, and Jari this time will be a net over to Smith. I think you'll see Casey start not the game in Columbus. I think they're going to give that to Jari, but they have a back-to-back early next week when they start the West. turn Canada trip. Monday, I believe it's Monday, Tuesday. He'll start one of those two games, if I had to guess. I think they also have one on the weekend. I think that's the Vancouver,

Seattle back to back. I think the first one, it's like Edmonton Calgary, and then they have the other one before they come home next weekend. So I would expect, honestly, Dysmith, to get at least two more starts coming up in this next week here. And, you know, after the way he played against Montreal on Monday, I would continue to get him more starts because he was one of their best players. He continues to play like that. I know everyone's kind of freaking out about the first goal. Sometimes it happens with him. It happens with all goalies at times as well. Crap happens, but he kept them in the game. He made a lot of, you know, dazzling saves, and he deserves to keep starting and to keep giving jarring breaks when they are needed.

So that wraps up this first segment of today's episode. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to go into a full preview for the game against the game. King, some keys to win for the Penguins. Look at their lineup. Look at the Kings underlying numbers and all of that jazz. But before we start talking about that, Benin is your number one source for betting football and the start of the new basketball season. Yes, the NBA got underway on Tuesday. Find all the latest player developments, team matchups, news, podcasts, and end-up analysis on every game. And as always, Belmont remains your continuing to us for all your sports wagering information with live betting and up-to-the-minute scores for every sport out there. It's the fastest

This easiest way, check in on all of your favorite games and events, including MLB, M&A, boxing, and golf. You can head to the website today or use your phone to learn more. That is, but online, where the game starts. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoddes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L-L score Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day.

So getting into the game against the Kings on Thursday, this would be the first of two meetings, between the Penguins and the Kings, they'll play them again. I believe the California trip is, I could probably check that right now. I think it's like in December or something like that. It's a ways away.

I'm just actually checking to make sure here when that is. Actually, no, I apologize. It's enough everywhere. My apologies on that. So long ways away before, play them again. This is a very good Kings team. They came from behind to beat the National Predators on Tuesday night. They were actually down a three to one in that game going into the third periods of the Predators. They also had a two-goal lead. They blew it to the Kings, no score in overtime,

but then Kings were able to win the shootout one to nothing thanks to a Valardi, Gabriel Valardi's shootout goal to lift them Cal Peterson started that game for Los Angeles. And this is a team. They're in win now, though. They had a mini, I guess a mini rebuild, but mainly a retool for the last several years. And then this past year, they finally got back to the playoffs for the first time. Last time was 2017, 2018, and they pushed the Oilers to the brink. They're up three games and two on them. Lost game six at home, went to Edmonton, lost game seven. But that was still progress for them. You know, they could have won that series. But they went out. They said, you know that's not enough and they went and got a very good player in Kevin Fiala and right now

he is on the top line with Ange Copatra and Adrian Kempi. Fiala is I think one of the main pieces that they've been missing. He's a do-it-all player. Can score goals, play-make, can play well in the defensive zone. He was electric in Minnesota last year. He had over 80 points, if I'm not mistaken. Very, very good player. And just a few years ago, not really many people knew who he was.

but I think a lot of people do now. He is a legit, top top, at least second line to a legit top line player. Copa tar, he's not what he used to be, but he's still kicking. Great defensive center can also chip in offensively. He's probably going to be going up against Sidney Crosby for most of his shifts.

I'll be curious to watch that. Adrian Kempbe also a very good player. Trevor Moore, Philip Dono, Victor Arvinson on their second line, did know. Remember, they signed him on free agency last season. Very good two-way center. that was a big signing for the Kings because they needed someone else to be able to take the pressure off Copatar because he can't do it himself. He's getting up there in age.

I mean, he's going to be 40 soon. So I know he's one of the best defensive centers in the league and probably one of the best defensive centers of this generation. But as he got out there in age, I think Rob Blake noticed like, okay, I need to go out and sign a center that is maybe not as good as in, but it's still a really good defensive center. And enter, he'll help to know. He did everything in Montreal. I mean, when he was there, I think, with like Tatar, Gallagher, I think, was on his line. They had one of the best top lines in the league. Defensively, he's outstanding.

And his metrics are through the roof every year. When it comes to defense zone, he can also put the puck in the back of the net. Good playmaker. I mean, if your one-two punch is Kopitar and DeNo, you're doing really well. You know, there's a lot. I mean, there's, how shall I say this? There's not many better one, two punches in the league, I will say than that. Victor Arvidsen, they traded for him from Nashville.

Slow start to last year, but was able to come around a little bit. And I'm curious to see how much more he produces for them this year. Trevor Moore, also pretty decent player. Gabriel Valardi, another young player in their lineup on their third line. Quit and Byfield, the former number two overall pick, finally time to see what he has. Hasn't had a big Antial sample size last year. I think he played a lot last year in the AHA. he's also been banged up at times.

But he's made the team full-time. He is their third-line center. It's time to see what the Kings have in him. Carl Grunstrom, Brendan Lemieux, doesn't really do anything on the fourth line. Blake Lazard and Blake Lazada, then Arthur Calli-Ev. So the fourth line, not really much there,

just like the Penguins, but King's top nine, a very, very deep forward group and a team that I definitely have making the playoffs. This year defensively, Mikey Anderson, who is not a bad play. I wouldn't have him on my top pairing, but he's definitely not bad. Drew Downey, I've thought for a long time that he was very overrated by a lot of hockey pundits, but he had a really good resurgent here last year.

His shot attempts for 60 percentage went way up, scoring chances, high danger percentage. Everything about his game, even in his defensive metrics, which were in the tank for the last several years, they went way up last year before he got hurt. So it was definitely a renaissance season for Dowdy. I'm really curious to see if he can repeat that issue because before that, you know, everyone was you know a lot i mean a lot of people in the analytics community and other people that aren't like in the all up upper i guess echelon of the hockey media we're saying like oh he's kind of washed at this point but last year kind of proved those people including myself very wrong so he's

always a tough player to go up against uh sean dursey's back there sean walker um goaltending wise they have cal peterson and jonathan quick not really sure which one is going to start if i had to guess it's probably going to be quick. And then their injuries right now, Alex Edler, the former Vancouver Canuck, and Alex Ayafalo. Numbers-wise at 5E-5, they only have 47% of the shot attempts per 60 this season.

They have 52% of the expected, actually, no, not 52% of the expected goals. Yeah, actually, you know, they do, sorry. 52% of the actual goals, 47% of the expected goals, 46% of the scoring chances. So their numbers, not where they were last year, but it's also a really small sample size.

But I would, be stunned if they were not way higher. I think the big keys for the penguins in this one, you know, you got to jump on them early. You know, I understand that the Kings just came back from a 3-1 deficit, but, you know,

they're not going to be able to do that every game, especially, you know, if they keep playing like that. I mean, you're going up against better competition. The penguins, you know, I actually want them to jump on them early and have at least a two-go-le leader or one goal league going into a third period because I want to see if they can defend it. They didn't do a good enough job against the Canadians.

It was actually their first loss in 40 years, regular season-wise, when they blew a two-goal lead going into the third period against Montreal. So, I mean, I would love to see them try to defend another lead this time at home. Defending leads was a little bit of an issue last year. So I really hope that penguins are practicing that in practice and just making sure they have the fundamentals. You don't want to turtle like they were against the Canadian because even a team like that. And I know they're pesky. They play like rats.

Marty St. Louis is going to have them competitive every single night. You can't turtle in this league. Unless you're playing Arizona or something like that, it's just, it's not going to work. So definitely that definitely that's, I think, a one big key is if you jump on them early, make sure you're defending well and all about, you know, make sure you're firing a lot of pucks at the net towards Jonathan Quick. You know, he's not as good as he used to. be, but he's still, I think, one of, I wouldn't say one of the better starters, but he's at least

an average starter in this league, if he is indeed in the net. Obviously, you've got to neutralize their top line with Kevin Fiala and Ange Caputar Fiala is going to drive a lot of their offense this year. Copantar, he can still bring it to. Kempai was one of their better goal scores last year. Again, I think Sid is going to be going up against that line. So if you can neutralize that line and then they send out maybe like the Trevor Moore line against Gino's line, I think the Penguins can definitely take advantage. Well, think they can take advantage of that, even though De Noe is one of the better defensive centers in the league with how Malkin is playing to start this season.

I think he can definitely hold his own up against DeNode if that's what Mike Sullivan wants to do. Third line, I think the Penguins have the better line there. Byfield still not fully sold on him, just yet Valardi, Grunstrom. They're not terrible, but I mean, I think with Heinen and Carter and with how Capitinus they've all started the season, I think the Penguins have the edge there. So line matchups, I think the Penguins can definitely break even if not, you know, be a little above 50% with all the numbers. But, you know, it's all about, you know, getting the chances and then, of course, finishing the chances. Special teams battle, I think that's probably my last key that I have.

You know, King's Power Play, it's usually not bad, but, you know, they usually do have a pretty decent penalty kill on the last several years. So those are my main big keys to winning this game. You know, they're very well coached team. Todd McClellan's been doing this for a long time. And this is definitely a matchup that I'm really excited to watch because I think the Kings, you know, they're no longer that old slow team. They can skate with anyone. They got the top six.

They got the depth. Their defense is fine. Jonathan Quick. If he plays the way he did last year in the regular season, they're going to be a tough out, especially if Drew Dowdy doesn't get hurt this year. I think his injury really screwed with him a lot last season when he went down. So that wraps up this full preview of the game against the Kings coming up in the final segment.

we're going to go into the road ahead for the Penguins and why it's definitely going to get a lot more difficult coming up. So sticking around for that coming up after this final commercial break. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Honor Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at L.N, Rscore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So tell me about this Kings game. This is a big road trip coming for the Penguins, a five.

gamer. They go to Columbus on Saturday. Then they have Edmonton Monday, Calgary, Tuesday, Vancouver, Friday, that next Friday, Seattle, that Saturday before they finally come home for Halloween. So they're going to be on the road for a full week. So this is going to be basically five games in eight nights. Only three days off. That's the Sunday when the Steelers play next Wednesday and then next Thursday. So Tuesdays, back to back, again, I think they'll go Jari on Saturday. Edmondson, I think they actually might go Jari just because it's McDavid versus Crosby. Calgary, I think they may go to Smith. And then Vancouver, they'll go jari's.

I think Seattle will go to Smith. At least that's how I think the local irritation is going to go. Then after that, they come home to play Boston. Buffalo has been a tough out so far. They actually just beat the Oilers on Tuesday night. They have Washington after that. Montreal, another three-game road trip. Toronto, I mean, 14 of their first 19 games this season are on the road.

That's ridiculous. I mean, I don't think I've ever really seen a start to the schedule like this for as long as I've been following or covering this team. It's not. So the Penguins, they were good on the road last year. They're going to have to be just as good, if not better, on the road this season two, because they do not play a lot of home games, you know, especially in, And this is funny enough, tomorrow night, it is October 20th. This will be their final game at home in the month of October.

They will only play three games at home in October. And then in November, honestly, you know, there's still plenty of, you know, road games there. I mean, there's, it's a tough schedule. You know, obviously December, they have a massive, I actually know, it's at the end of November. they have a, I believe it's like a, it's like a seven out of eight stretch where they're playing at PBG Pains Arena. So it obviously all balances out. But I just want everyone to be aware just how big the stretch is here coming up with the Penguins. They're going to have to keep, you know,

gaining points, especially on the road. They're playing some really good teams coming up. I love the Western Canada trip. It's easily, I honestly, I think it's better than the California trip, especially now when the teams are really fun and they're usually really good, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver. I know they're not having a good start to this year. They've blown so many two-goal but I always like playing them just because they're fans at their arena are awesome. Seattle, not that good of a team, but they could potentially be a little bit better this season. But, you know, that's mainly the road ahead here for the Penguins. It's, there's a lot coming.

And, you know, I hope you all keep it right here on the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Real quick, players who I think could be X factors in this game against the Kings, really looking for Jeff Petrie to have a big bounce back game, excuse me. he was really good in the first two games, especially against Tampa Bay, where he was moving the puck up, the ice, firing the puck to the net, a lot more not taking stupid penalties. I think he could be a major reason why the Penguins win this game against Los Angeles. Obviously, the top two lines, big X factors too.

And then I'm also looking forward to seeing Crystal Tang bounce back. There's always some weird people that come into my Twitter mentions that say, like, oh, you know, it usually has way more than five to seven bad games per year. And she's like, okay, you know, these people, they're the people that give him all the blame, but they didn't ever give him any of their credit. And, you know, again, my saying is, if you don't think Chris's saying is that good at hockey, I question all of your hockey takes, to be honest with you. But, again, that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

Hope you all enjoyed it, especially the preview against the Kings. We're looking forward to that game. The next episode will be on Thursday evening with a full game recap of that episode. And then Friday, I'll be previewing the game against. Columbus going in the third lines looking at the history with that rivalry. I guess it's kind of a big brother, little brother thing at this point and why the payments have just dominated them over the year. So again, thank you all so much for listening.

And I'll be back with you all on Thursday evening.