Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Penguins just got a GIFT...will they take advantage of it?

Episode Date: April 11, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in the driver's seat! Hunter starts the show by recapping a massive Monday around the NHL as the Penguins are back in control of their playoff destiny with everything to play for., He goes into how the New York Islanders completely no-showed against the Washington Capitals while the Florida Panthers also lost in overtime to the Toronto Maple Leafs. It's all going to come down to...yep, beating the two worst teams in the league! Hunter then previews Tuesday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks, which SHOULD be a gimme game considering how bad the Blackhawks are and how they're going to be playing in this game on virtually no rest. He looks at just how bad their roster is and even compliments them for the tank job that they are pulling off right now for Bedard. Hunter then gives his keys for the Penguins to take care of business before finishing the show with some more good news. Which injured players are likely to come back against the Hawks? Is Drew O'Connor recovering nicely? All of that, plus how it's time to see what this team is made of, is on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HelloFreshSkip trips to the grocery store and count on HelloFresh to make home cooking easy, fun, AND affordable – that’s why it’s America’s #1 meal kit! Go to HelloFresh.com/nhl60 and use code nhl60 for 60% off plus free shipping!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.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.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1-year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORKFanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go to FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable free bets that expire in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Do Yins hear that? Look, yep, there's a knock right there. Penguins are now being invited to the Stanley Cup playoffs, but they have to win a couple of those games. That knock right there, someone's knocking on their door telling them, just got to win these last two games. Penguins got a couple of big gifts tonight. We're going to touch on that to start this Tuesday episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast right after this drop. on Penguins, your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm of course your host, Hunter Hodes. Want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter at Eleanor Sur Penguins, and of course, thank you all so much for making this, your first listen of the day.

We're free and available on all platforms. Today's episode is also brought to you by Thandul, Sportsbook, the official sports book, of Lockdown, make every moment more. You can visit phandal.com slash locked on today to yet started. So what a Monday it was around the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins have received a gift basket from, you guessed it, the Washington freaking capitals. A team that their fans wanted them to lose. Tom Wilson and them said, nope, we're not going to do that.

And they opened up a can of whoopass on the New York Islanders. They did. That game was over within the first 14 minutes, to be honest, the Islanders had nothing for the first 55 minutes of that game. A very stunning no-show from them, especially with everything on the line, did not expect that. I thought if there was going to be a team to lose tonight, it was going to be the Panthers. And they did, but they got a point just did not think the Islanders would play like that with everything on the line. And not just goes to show everyone any given night around this league. Truly, any given night, people.

And now for the Penguins, as I previewed to open the show, there's a knock on the door. You answer it. Someone tells you you got to win two games in row to make the playoffs. There you go. They're playing the Chicago Blackhawks, the league's worst team, and the Columbus Blue Jackets, arguably the worst team in the league as well. They're the two worst teams in hockey, points percentage-wise and points-wise.

The Blackhawks will come into this game on Tuesday. Losers 11 of their last 12. They just finished up their game. I'm recording this at 11.54 p.m. on Monday night. They are not going to get into Pittsburgh until, what, 3 a.m. You have to be the availability of fly here. They're probably not going to get to sleep until like four or something. There are no excuses for the Penguins to lose that game.

And frankly, there are no excuses the Penguins to lose on Thursday in Columbus either. You do not deserve to make the playoffs if you cannot beat two lottery teams, two teams who are gunning for Connor Bedard. But, you know, penguins, they got the help they needed tonight. You know, for the longest time, it almost just seemed like it's not, that fate's not going to be in their hands. You know, the islanders won't lose. The Panthers won't lose.

Well, they got lucky tonight. And they'll have another opportunity here to take matters into their own hands. 120 minutes of Penguins hockey separates themselves from a 17. straight postseason appearance. Nothing less is acceptable. The Islanders, they dropped their game. The Panthers, they played, I thought the Panthers played very well tonight.

I was watching both games at the same time. Elias Samsonov just goalied them. They put up like 40, almost 50 shots on him. The Leafs looked like they were just skating in mud. They looked like they just wanted to start in the playoffs. That was a terrible effort from them. But John Taviris gets the overtime winner. If the Penguins are able to win out,

they would get the wild card one seed if the pamper is losing any fashion on Thursday to the hurricanes and right now it looks like that game will matter to the hurricanes they only have two games left with the devils one point separates themselves from you know the first and second the metro it's all going to come down to what happens tomorrow as well if the hurricanes win and the devils lose the hurricanes will wrap up the metro and they'll have nothing to play for

but if both teams win hurricanes will have something to play for on Thursday they could very well beat the preamp in sunrise. So the Penguins do win their final two games and the Panthers lose in any fashion. It's all it will take any fashion. Penguins will be wild card one and they'll play the winner of the Metropolitan Division, whether that is the Carolina Hurricanes or the New Jersey Devils. And they would have avoided Boston Bruins. So that's what's on the line. But, you know, one game at a time, but wanted to open the show by saying they got a gift tonight. Capitals wrapped up an early Christmas present, said,

here you go to your biggest rival, to their biggest rival, excuse me. And they're like, take it and do what you want with it. Tom Wilson, of all people, sent them to the playoffs with that empty net goal to make it 4-1. And they had another empty goal to make it 5-2 after the Islanders got a quick response. But Tom freaking Wilson, of all people, basically, you know, I shouldn't even say sent the thing once in the playoffs. That was bad.

I'm going to reverse that because that was a real. I'm going to reverse that because that was a really stupid thing to say. Sorry. Tom Wilson, of all people, sent the penguins back into control of their own destiny. Okay. I think I fixed it. I don't want to jinx anything, of course. That would be really bad.

And the Capitals had a tremendous tweet. The Homer meme of him going, Homer Simpson meme of him going into the bush, the Pittsburgh Penguins. And then a Washington Capitals logo emerges. They even put, you're welcome. or whatever, that's perfect. You know, that's what a rivalry is all about right there. But, yeah, they're back in control of their destiny.

It looked like it was not going to be the case. It's up to them. Does this team want playoff hockey in this city for a 17th consecutive year? We're going to find out over these next 72 hours. Round that, give or take. We're going to see what this team is made up. That may sound weird to say, but because, oh, Will Hunter, they're playing the freaking Blackhawks.

They're playing the Columbus Blue Jackets. I don't care. I don't. Do I not need to remind everyone that this team lost to the San Jose sharks on home ice? They lost five out of six games to the Red Wings and the Canadians. They almost lost home to the ducks. Remember that game? They're in the game against the ducks.

Another one of the worst teams in the league. They had to tie the game with 20 seconds left just to send it to overpriced. so that Gensel could win it. And I was, you know, John Gibson played his tail off, but Penguins almost lost that game and got no points. I heard they be today without that. Hoo! They would be up a creek,

have they not gotten even a point out of that game. I especially do. But, you know, 60 minutes, Penguins hockey. Same thing on Thursday. Defend, defend, defend, get good goal-tending, special teams need to show up five on five they've been doing their thing it should not be this hard these two teams you know they are actively tanking that their fans don't even want them to win obviously you can't tell players just to lose games i mean that's just you know you know that's a slap

in the face of them because you know they they get paid to obviously play the sport that they love and this is their living but you know penguins have to seize the moment and coming up after this commercial break, we are going to preview that game against the Blackhawks and what the Penguins need to do to win it. It's really not rocket science, but, you know, it's still worthy of a preview. So let's, before we jump into that, though, we do have to get into Thandall, Grand Slams, no hitters and double plays are back, which means, of course, the MLB season. And there's another place to get in on the MLB action than Fandle, America's number one

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kicking my butt lately. So Penguins Blackhawks, 7.30 p.m. face off, not 7 o'clock. it'll be 730 at PBG Paine Serena the final home game of the 2022-2020 regular season and for the Penguins a must win both these games are must wins it cannot be eliminated if they lose this game but you don't want to lose this game

say the worst happens penguins lose this game of regulation and the Backehawks beat them they will then no longer have control their destiny the Islanders would clinch a playoff spot if they win basically on Wednesday, as with the Panthers. The Sabres are there. They need to win out, plus get some help. Correct me if I'm wrong.

If I got this right, if the Penguins do win tomorrow and the Sabres don't, I think the Sabres are basically cooked at that point. I don't think they have the tiebreakers or any of the teams of further. I think even the Penguins. Yeah, I think so, yeah. Because the Sabers lose. Yeah, because I think regulation wins. I think overtime wins.

I think the Penguins have 31. The Sabers have 29. And yeah, the Sabres would be based in the Islanders and the Panthers already have the tiebreakers. The Sabres, I believe, would be eliminated tomorrow if they lose in any fashion and the Penguins win. I think. I think I read that right. I just want to double. I'm going to double check that during the episode.

But, you know, they're still there. They're fighting. But they need a lot of things to go their way if they want to get in. But say the Penguins do lose a game. And even if the Sabers do lose that game as well to the Devils because it's a back-to-back. All the Islanders and Panthers are, when you want to get in. need to do is win in any fashion on Wednesday, Thursday, and they are in the playoffs. Heck, even for the Panthers, all they would need to do is get a point against the hurricanes

and they would clinch. All the owners need to do is win their game in any fashion against the Canadians, and they too would clinch. So, you know, it's not an elimination game, but it kind of is in some aspects. It's a must win for this team. The Blackhawks come into this game, as arguably the word. team in hockey. They've lost 11 out of 12. This is not a good hockey team. They are literally

Jonathan Taves, Seth Jones, and a bunch of mostly AHL players. Let's go over the lineup. Tyler Johnson, Jonathan Taves, Jason Dickinson, okay, Jason Dickinson's a fine bottom six player. Tyler Johnson, I almost forgot, is still in the league. Anders Bork, Andreas FNus Ewe, Buddy Robinson, whoever the latter player is. Joey Anderson, Uharp, uh,

Kahira, Boris Kachuk, Austin Wagner, Mackenzie Antwistle, and Reese Johnson. Their bottom six is made up like players that I basically don't, most of them, I don't even know who they are. Again, forward-wise, it's Jonathan Taves. That's basically it. Jason Dickinson's an okay bottom-sixter. Andreessen Settina Cue is a good bottom-sixer on the contending team.

Tyler Johnson is not what he used to be, Andres Bork is okay, but he shouldn't be getting top six minutes. that is one of the worst four groups in the league. Defensively, Caleb Jones and Seth Jones is the only big redeeming quality of that defensive core. Wyatt Cajor, Connor Murphy, Andreas England, and Nikita Zaitsev. Goaltending-wise, they started Alex Steylock in this game. On Monday night, they lost to the wild. It will be Peter Morazic, I believe, in that.

And again, this Blackhawks team, it's already midnight. So good morning to you all. They are probably not going to be arriving in Pittsburgh until 233. and probably not even getting to bed until, you know, the local news comes on or something like that. So this is as close to two gimmee points that you can get in the NHL. But we said that last time against the Canadians. Remember, that was a Canadian team that had lost a lot of games in a row. They were blown out the night before against the Colorado Amalanche.

I have not remind you. And I hate doing this, but I have to. it's still on the table. They traveled to Pittsburgh, had to go through customs, got in late, the pain was taking 2-0-0-0-0-lead and just took their foot off the gas,

and they lost 5 to 4 in regulation. Can't do that. I don't care who you're playing against. I don't care if it's the Bruins, the Canadians, or tomorrow night, the Chicago Blackhawks. They are a lousy team, and you need to treat them as such.

Honestly, the more I think about it, you need to look like, to come out there and thinking you are playing, even though you're playing a lousy team, you need to go out there and think like you're playing the hurricanes, the Bruins, something like that. Because even though they're tanking, they would like nothing more than a takeout teams with them.

Washington Capitals tonight, for example, you know, the Islanders are a little bit of a rival to them. They, I'm sure, loved getting a chance to potentially knock them out of the playoffs. So have to show up. You can't just, you know, play five minutes like they did against the Indians and then just stop playing, you know, just can't play it like that.

So, Mike's in this one, full 16 minutes, aggressive four checking. The five-on-five play, I think, should be fine. Peter Marazek has not been good this season. If you can get a few early past him, that would be big. Special teams need to be huge. Blackhawks really don't have a good power play or penalty kill. This season, they're also arguing the worst defensive team in the league. The penguins are going to have their chances.

this is a team coming into this game on three days rest. Again, another no excuse to no show in this game. If the Penguins do fail to make the playoffs and not beat these two teams, there are going to be a lot of major serious changes to this organization in the offseason. I already think there's going to be a decent amount of change, especially if they get in and they lose in the first round of whoever they play. But if they don't and they squander this opportunity, which is slapping them in.

the face to get into the playoffs, you're going to see a lot of big changes. I've said for at least a little while that I expect Mike Sullivan to be back next season no matter what happens. But if they blow this here, I don't even know if he will be back. You know, these two games, if they fail to get in the playoffs and they don't, you know, take care of business, a lot of people lose their jobs off that. I don't care that it's a two game sample. These are two the two worst teams in hockey.

There are no excuses. there's just not so um you know those are the bit you know looking for again the special teams looking for tris and jari i expect him to get the start you ride him these last two games i don't care about case to dismiss at this point he jari is your number one he's played well in his last two starts the thing was about scored the opposition nine to two in their last two games you start their number one gold tender with your season on the one and i want to see that desperation and urgency again. This is game 81 out of 82. You are fighting just to get in. You got to treat this as if it's a game seven. Like your season is on the line. Again, I don't care if they're playing the

Chicago Blackhawks. You treat this like everything is on the line. I expect nothing less than their best effort on Tuesday night. Same thing on Thursday if they went on Tuesday. Nothing less is acceptable when it comes to this time of year and how they just got a gift from one of their biggest, if not their biggest arch rival in the Washington Capitals on Monday. No excuses.

So, you know, I want to see the big guns, maybe, you know, contribute even more. You know, Sid had a big game in Detroit. Would expect to maybe see him carry that over. I took a W on that, even though I also got ratioed for saying that it looked like he was a bit off to start the game. That's why I shouldn't waver

from any of my predictions. on the show, want to see some more depth scoring. Defensively, there could be some additions coming back. Still want to see them play tight defensively. Also, give me a boring third period. The way they played against Detroit, take that and do what you did against the Blackhawks if they have a good lead going into that third period.

If they do, of course. It was boring, it was effective. It was 2016, 2017 Mike Sullivan level defending. That's what I would want to see from the Penguins. So those are my main keys for this one. It's time. Do what you got to do to get in. And we'll see what this team is made up on Tuesday night.

Coming up to end the show, we're going to get into some practice updates. There are some good news. There are some good updates from Penguins practice. Players could be returning to the team on Tuesday. We're going to get into that right after this commercial break. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am, of course, your host, Hunter Hode. me on Twitter, Hunter Hodeys, follow the show's Twitter app, and also

for Panklands. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So Penguins had their practice on Monday, 40-minute practice. And the news, everyone was present and accounted for. Everyone except Drew O'Connor was wearing a full-contact jersey. So Marcus Pedersen, Karek, Kvinukov, and Nick Benino did take full contact. Drew O'Connor was in non-contact. I don't expect him to play on Tuesday. But that means Nick Benino, it looks like, will be returning from his kidney injury. Not a moment too soon. I think he could be a really big asset to their penalty kill. He's a good player in the bottom six. It seems that he's going to be replacing Drew if he's still a bit banged up. But, you know, he's still a player I would want in

this bottom six every time. It'll be more interesting and curious to see if that game has a lot of meeting on Thursday, which I'm sure it will. If Penguins win this game and Drew's ready to play on Thursday, who comes out of the lineup. Is it Dayton Hinen, even though he just scored a very important goal in Detroit? Josh Archibald, you know, I'm not sure. I don't think they would take out Ryan Kaling. Jeff Carter's not coming out of the lineup. You know, be really curious to see the decision there for himself.

And I would guess Hinen, but, you know, right, I mean, I'm a firm believer that Drew O'Connor needs to be in this lineup full time. He's shown that this season. they would take out Grandmonde either. But that's good news. Tremichu Kulikov, he skated in the full capacity. Look like the defense today was Dumlin-Latang. Pedersen, I don't, Peterson, excuse me.

Pechree with Pio-Joseph and Kulukov, Ruda, and then Pedersen was skating with the little extras. So Pedersen might not be ready for the game on Tuesday. Even though he took full contact, he'll probably be at the morning skate. I think myself will probably say he's a game-time decision, but based off the pairings in lines from Monday, I, I don't think Pedersen is going to play in this game. But, you know, we'll see.

If Kulikov and Peterson are both ready to go and Pedersen has a good morning skate and and Sullivan is up to the doctors and stuff, I would guess the pairings would still be Dumlin-Latang. I think they would put Petersen Petry back together. And I think you would probably see Kulikov-Ruda. I don't like it. I think P.O. Joseph deserves to be in the lineup over Kulikov. But I think they would put Kulikov in just because of his defensive impact.

He's been a better defensive defenseman this season. then Pio Joseph has been, Pio has the offense to warrant being in the lineup, but defensively he's given it back a little too much for my liking. I think they just want someone to be a bit more safer on that pairing, and I think that's why they would put Kulukov there. But team looks to be getting healthy.

At the right time, would expect at least Benino and Kulikov to play. Pedersen, TBD, Drew, don't think he's going to be ready to go yet. If he plays before the season ends, maybe it's on Thursday. If they get in the playoffs, I think he would play in the playoffs well. But, you know, not at a moment too soon. Lines, top two lines were the same, you know, the top six at least.

And then Benino was actually just making sure here. He was on the fourth line today with Jeff Carter and Josh Archibald. The third line was Hein and Paling, Granlin. But again, remember, Gensel Cosby, Ross, Sork, Monk, and Raquel, Heinon, Pailing, Gremlin, and Benino, Carter, Archbult. Interesting. I'm glad that they are putting, you know, Carter on that fourth line, giving him, you know,

that kind of sheltering. him. I think Carter has actually played some of his finest hockey of the season. I know it's a very low bar, people. I get it. But baby steps. I will still take the way he's been playing these last few games over his previous 70 plus games. So, yeah, I think that's more of a defensive fourth line. But it's still good on the face off. Dot, you know, can kill penalties, can still do well defensively. You know, Carter can drive at least a little bit of offense as of late Archibald can chip in at some points. I don't really mind that fourth line. I'm really curious about that third line, though, if Hining can continue scoring, paling's been playing well. Grandland, not really too sure about that,

just because he's been a little bit of a disappointment since coming over from Nashville. But, you know, we're finally starting to see what this team can be when it's fully healthy. But two games, Lefjans, it is now or never. 80 games in, two to go. What are the Pittsburgh penguins made of. Every time they've had an opportunity to help themselves this season, no matter the cost, they've failed. They just pooped their pants, basically. You cannot do that this time of year.

You're playing two teams who are tanking. It's now or never. What is this team made of? Do they want to get in? Do they want playoff hockey back year? I'm sure I know what their answer is, but go out and prove it. I don't care how bad these teams are. Again, treat them like they are the best team in the world

and go out there and play 60 minutes every single night. A gift has fallen into their laps. Are you going to take it and say, hell yeah? Are you just going to send it to someone else and say, screw it, I don't want to be in the playoffs. they better hope it's not the latter. That's all I can say. But again, thank you all so much for listening and watching.

I really do appreciate it. I will be at PBG Paine Serena on Tuesday night for the final whole game of the season. Ashley and I will be there. Let's see what they're made of. I've said it about 5,000 times. I'll keep saying it. Show everyone. Let's see it.

Yeah, thank you all so much for listening and watching. I really appreciate it. Like, subscribe to the show on YouTube. Write the show on Apple and Spotify. Let me know your thoughts. And we'll do another one of these on Wednesday, where we will hopefully be talking about a win-in-in-in scenario on Thursday against the Blue Jackets.

I'll talk to you all. That.