Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins get back in the win column over the St. Louis Blues!

Episode Date: March 18, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins dominated yet again, and this time they came away with the win! Hunter starts the show off by touching on how impressive this performance was, considering how good the Blues have been this season. He goes into the numbers and shows how they backed up the eye test with the Penguins peppering Ville Husso all night long. However, he also does warn the Penguins about the one main thing he's concerned about going into the playoffs. He then goes into the shootout and how Bryan Rust became the hero again, while also shouting out Tristan Jarry for his efforts. He's been a completely different player in the shootout as the season has gone on. He also praises Kasperi Kapanen for a great performance and why this is hopefully a step in the right direction, while also complimenting Mike Matheson's efforts yet again. All 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 “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensAthletic 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/NHLNETWORK. 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.

Wow, what a game tonight between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the St. Louis Blues. Pittsburgh gets back in the wind, call him a three to two shootout victory over the blues. I have a full game recap coming up right for you all right after this job going into everything. Because very cappines, great performance, John Marino playing really well. Tristan Jari, Chris LaTang, Mike Matheson, so much more coming up right after this drop. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show, Twitter, hello, Arnold, Squared Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. As I teased off in my intro, what a win by Pittsburgh tonight. That was another dominant performance by the Penguins. I thought for a while there that they were not going to get that extra point.

I'm hell, honestly, in regulation, I thought the blues were going to score on to make it three to two multiple times. Strissan Jari had to bail their asses out on quite a few occasions. This was a big win for Pittsburgh. You know, if they had lost this game, it would have been way worse than the other night in Nashville. That one didn't really irk me that much. I don't really think it should have a lot of other fans as well because, you know,

the penguins, they made a couple of mistakes, but UC Sorrows is just really good. And this one, I know Billy, who's really? so was really good, but the penguin just made a couple really stupid mistakes at times, you know, they have a two-on, one rush going one way, they don't shoot it, and then David Perron comes back, makes it two to one, and then very early in the third period, Marcus Pereson with some very soft defense, blues tie it, and then they get a couple of power plays after that, and they get some pretty good looks. Vladimir Teresenko at even strength also is robbed point-blank by Tristan Jari's pad. You know, I definitely did not think that this was going

to go the penguin's way. in the third period until, of course, they started to push back and get a lot of chances. But, you know, I really liked this performance. They were outskating the blues, basically that entire game. You know, honestly, through those first 40 minutes, it was shaping up to be a 2-0 game going into the third. And the Penguins looked flawless. They were not making any mistakes defensively.

They were cleaning up their own zone really well. Offensally, they were getting plenty of chances. It was just the same as usual. Penguins not finishing on their chances. Right now, according to the same. to J. Fresh's model, excuse me, they are 30th in the NHL in finishing. All their other metrics are top 10 to top five. That is what may kill the penguins in the playoffs for a deep playoff run.

They have to start finishing their chances more. They got a couple of goals tonight, but they easily could have had four or five if they'd actually just shot on some odd man rushes and finish more of their chances on the power play, especially that last power play, where Huso just robbed so many players point-brank. Gensel was robbed. Gino was robbed. Rust was robbed. I'm pretty sure Sib was robbed on there from the doorstep as well. He was playing his tail off on this one. And I said last time I preview, I didn't know if he was going to start tonight, but I said I also wouldn't be surprised because of how good he's been playing. You know, right now, honestly, after this performance, I would start him in the playoffs if I were the Blues. He's been their better goalie this year. Jordan Bennington has not been that. I thought he would start just because this was a big game.

but I totally understand the reasoning for why St. Louis went to Huso. If we look at the underlying numbers tonight, at 5E5, the Penguins had 72% of the shot attempts. They had 72% of the scoring chances, 66% of the high danger chances, 68% of the expected goals, and they were only 500. And actual goals were at 5E5. That goes to show how dominant it was for the Penguins. The only reason why this game went to overtime and a shootout after that was because of Philly Huso. What a year he's having.

As I said last night, basically top 10 in goals, and above expected. And this is a backup. Honestly, going into this year, I had no idea who he was. I think the whole National Hockey League and all the fans right now are quickly learning who this guy is, because that was a great performance from him.

But Brian Russ is able to get that shootout winner. He's now 5 for 5 for his career. I did not know that going into tonight. I thought Steve Mears honestly had that beautiful announcer doing jinx that, you know, so many announcers do, whoa, this guy's two for two on free throws tonight. I wonder what's going to happen here. Oh, Brexit. Oh, Justin Tucker is 15 of 15 for 50 plus field goals this year.

Oh, this is this one because, of course, that's what happened. Oh, you know, and then tonight, Brian Ross, he's three for four for four overall on shootouts for his career. Is he going to make a five for five? I'm like, well, probably not. And of course, he does score because, you know, he's been big game, Brian. this entire year, you know, what a shot that was to going on the glove side on Huso. But, you know, shout out to Tristan, four spectacular saves in the shootout.

They came off some pretty damn good players. Vladimir Teresenko, one of the silkiest players in the NHL, you know, he usually knows how to make it. He usually knows how to deke. It looked like he had Tristan beat block her side, but he was able to block her it away. And I saw Teresenko look back at him. a couple of times. He was like, are you serious right now?

You really just made that save? Saved one on a Riley. I think I found one I think actually went over the net. You know, Jordan Kairu, he's a very silky player himself. You know, just some really great players that the Blues put out there for the shootout that, you know, Tristan just, you know, turned away with ease. And honestly, it was very Mark Andre Fleury-like. Just really cool, calm, collected in the net.

He's playing much more aggressive. in the shootout lately. You know, his struggles in the shootout. You know, I saw this from CK-404 response from a Penguins Twitter. You know, he tweeted this, and I agree with him. You know, it's honestly like it's been three or four years

since Jari struggled in shootouts. Obviously, I know it was earlier in the season that he ended up stinking the joint in them. But, you know, he's just making all these saves very easy right now. You know, again, earlier in the year, his saber sandwich was, you know, around like not even 600 or something. I have to double check what his save percentages now,

but he is not allow out a lot of goals in the showout ever since the first couple weeks, the first month of the season. And when you need your goalie to step up and make the saves in those situations, he did. And that was one of the biggest reasons why the Penguins were able to win on this game. And again, you know, also in regulation too. I know the Blues didn't have a lot of chances. I know back to Natural St. Louis only had six total.

high danger chances, two of them in the third period. But, you know, he was able to save most of them. That's true, I think four out of the six. I remember because the Peron one was basically right in front of the net, and then the Barbacev one was right in the front of the net as well. So I would say, you know, you'd get four for six on those, all the other shots he was able to save with relative ease. So another great performance from him, you know,

we're getting close now to the Stanley Cup playoffs. It's hard to believe we're about six to seven weeks away. He is showing no signs of slowing down right now, knock on wood, to say the least. But this has been a tremendous road trip so far for the Penguins. They've outplayed two very elite teams this week. I think Nashville, you know, I know they're in a wild card spot, but that's a pretty good team, St. Louis, they're second in the Central for a reason. We're trying to get home ice in the first round, whether it's against Minnesota or Nashville.

Of course, I almost forgot about that. And, you know, they have a lot of talent. I love their forward depth. Their defense is not bad either. And if whoso continues that play, honestly, who knows what the Blues can do in the playoffs. I also don't think they're done adding. That's for sure.

So big win. I thought this was one of the best performances of the season for Pittsburgh. And, you know, now they conclude that nine-game stretch, six and two and one versus some of the best teams in the NHL. Honestly, if we do just, you know, that five-game stretch, the penguins just concluded, excuse me, and then add this two game shreds with Nashville and St. Louis. The penguins are actually, so they're four and two and one in their last seven games

against some of the best teams of the league. Six and two and one overall before that, but, you know, that exceeds my expectations, that's for sure. This was, you know, part, a lot of this month was a gauntlet. The rest of this month is still mostly going to be very tough. I know the Penguins have a couple very winnable games coming up, but this was a big, these were big games for the penguins, you know, big tests, and I would say they passed them with relative ease.

There is no doubt this is one of the best teams in hockey after this. But I have a lot more to get to for this game. Coming up in the next segment, Kispera Kappan, John Marino, Mike Matheson, so much more before I get to that. It's that time of year again. It's college basketballs tournament is finally upon us. I hope not all of your brackets are busted. Thankfully, all four of my final four teams are still in

from all the latest odds, contests, and player props. Betonline.net is the number one source for all of your sports betting needs. And info, bet online remains the best spot for all of your sports scores, podcasts and news this season. And it's not just basketball. Byline is your continued source for all of your sports wagering information needs, including live betting and your favorite Vegas casino games. You can head to the website today or use your mobile device

to learn more about the trends and action. That is Bet Online, where the game starts. Welcome back to this episode of the Lock-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Understow Penguins. So let's just start off this segment with Kisbury Kappan.

This is probably the best game. I've seen him play in a while. Probably, I don't know, a month, two months, maybe, hell, maybe even three months. He was flying all over the rink, got some quality chances in all three periods. And the past that he threaded to Mike Matheson for that goal to make it a 2-0 was nothing short of sensational. At least I'm pretty pretty, yeah, I was making sure that was the goal that made it. Two-nothing here.

I feel like I'm, like, messing that up, and I don't want to mess that up. Just making sure here, let's see. Yes, yes, okay, okay, yeah. For a second, I thought the Rubita one made it 2-0, but I had to just double-check my notes and just make sure. on Penguins, all that. Anyways, moving forward, the pass that Captain had cross ice, you know, right off the boards to Matheson and then his blast pass, who so, what a shot that was. He's closing in on double-digit goals this year. This is the best hockey I've ever seen

him play. And I'm sure he would say that as well. This has been quite the performance from him this season. He struggled at times last season. It didn't look like, you know, the Penguins were getting equal value in that whole inquestrade. But the, They are definitely weeping the benefits now. I mean, it's definitely looking like, you know, more of a 50-50 deal, at least this season, compared to last season where it was maybe like, you know, 65, 35, 35, 70, 30, all that. But, you know, great pass by Captain and even better shot there by Matheson. But, you know, I just, I can't say enough about Captain and fortunately.

You know, he could have, you know, filled the net, you know, once or twice. This is a performance that he needs to build off of. And as I said in my Wednesday episode, you know, remember what Jeff Carter did. did after captain missed that breakaway on Tuesday night in Nashville put his hand on his leg tapped him a few times as like hey you know what you're going to break out of this

slump at some point I'm here for you you're going to get through this and tonight this was a step in the right direction again I said on Wednesday you know watch to see if this could really kickstart him a bit and that's exactly what happened in this game I can't be more thrilled that captain had a really good performance

in that game. So just a really good job by him there. And I almost just messed up my mic for some reason. I don't know why my mic was not in front of me. It was a little to the side. I had to put it in front of me here for just a second. But again, you know, just really nice job there. You know, John Marino, he had a couple really nice deeks.

Those were spectacular. You know, he was really controlling play. the offensive zone. I know it was honestly spectacular to watch, to be honest. Defensively, you know, he was great, didn't really allow too much in the defensive zone to the blues. But, you know, there's a couple moments, I think in the second period, you know, he digged around one of the blues forwards, cut right to the neck out a really good high danger chance.

A couple other really nice shots on net. This is another performance that he can definitely build off of you. I thought it was also activating in the offensive zone a lot more than he was. normally does you know i know he's um a bit more you know what's the word i'm looking for here um i guess shy to do it but tonight you know he definitely left everything out on the ice this was another performance that you know i definitely think you know he could build off of for sure so two really good encouraging performances from two players that you know i've definitely been you know i guess the whipping boys more so cap and i think he's been definitely been the whipping boy

for a lot of people in the fan base but you know i think you know there's definitely I think more to give there with him. So really nice game from him to. Chad Riedel, you know, he's able to get another goal this year. I believe that was his third goal of the year of the Penguins. And, you know, bomb from the point, a lot of traffic in front of Huso. Couldn't really see it. I love that he was able to basically point to the heavens after.

You know, I believe his family is from St. Louis. So I'm sure this goal definitely meant a lot to him there. So to see him contribute. And, you know, again, more depth scoring for the Penguins in these wins. You know, it's now been basically a week since Ron Hextall called out the depth in his press conference with about close to a week and a half to go to the deadline. You know, tomorrow we're going to be three days away now from the deadline. There was no moves on Thursday. It's still a little quiet around the deadline.

But, you know, the depth is continuing to step up again with Mike Matheson and Chabro Wiedel tonight. You know, both defensemen getting goals. And then Brian Russ, I know he's able to get the shit out goal. He's one of their top six players. but it's good that Crosby, Malk, and, you know, Russ and Gensel, so they don't have to carry the load at even strength, like we saw, you know, the last several weeks and all that. So that was really impressive to see, you know, the death coming alive there.

I also think, you know, shout out to the Penguins penalty kill. Five for five on Blues Powerplays, and especially at the beginning of the game, that was probably one of the, that was honestly the worst start to a game that I think I've seen watching a game this year. And I think, you know, all of you listeners, that listen to the show, you would probably agree with me on that because, you know, what's saying basically take a penalty right off the open face off.

And then Jeff Carter takes a high sticking penalty. Basically, not even 30 seconds into the game, it felt like. And, oh, great, they have a five on three. The Blues do for about a minute, 35, minute 40. It's like, well, the ping was probably about to go down one-nothing. But the PK stood tall. Brian Doolino had some incredible blocks. Teddy Bluger was awesome on that.

You can really see how much he means. to the P.K. Brian Boyles, Long Beach, was getting in the way with some of these passes, and Trisandari was also standing tall there. I was able to kill off the five on four. That happened after that, too. Just, you know, really impressive stuff from the Penguins' PK. You know, it's really buzzing right now, especially with the return of Teddy. He just, he makes such a huge difference on that PK. You know, I just, I thought the game was maybe going to get away from them there. But after that, Penguins really settled into the game, and they just blew the blues. no pun intended.

They blew them right off the rink that entire game. They doubled them up in shots against scoring chances, shot attempts, all of it. So all and all, very, very impressive performance tonight by the Penguins, to say the least. I have a little more on this game coming up here in the next segment. So stick around for that right after this commercial break. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

Follow the show at L.O. underscore Penguins. This is a cool tweet from Penguins PR that I'm looking at. So Tristan Jari, fourth goaltender in Penguins history to win 30 games in a single season with the team. Tide for third with Matt Murray. Murray did it once. Tom Brazos did it twice, and then, of course, Andre Fleury has done it eight times. Shoot out wise, I'm not really going to comment on it too much, but for the love of God, I know Brian Russ had a nice shot there, but can anyone,

on this team, Deke, I just want to see one. You know, sending Crosby comes in, you know, we always see one or two things. He's just going to come in, we'll slow, shoot it, or he's going to know, maybe do a little bit of a deke go to the backhand. Decides to be a lot more patient on this one, come in, save, and then Chris Lattang does not do his patent, patented, excuse me, you know, forehand backhand move. You know, decides to stick to his forehand there. You know, Jake Ensel, he just missed to hit the crossbar, but it's just like, I know shootouts really don't matter come play off time. It's honestly whatever to me.

But I just want to see some cool moves for the Penguins in there. I know at the end of the day, the Penguins won. But had they lost, I would especially still have this take. That's for sure. One thing I also noticed, too, getting close down to wrapping up the show, Chris LaTang was an absolute menace in this game, especially in overtime, I do not think he came off the ice that last two to two and a half minutes. And honestly, towards the end of that overtime, it looks like he could still play for another five minutes.

The conditioning with this player is off the charts. It looks like he doesn't ever get tired out there. And I know he's one of the hardest conditioned players in the league. Don't get me wrong. I know his junior routines during the offseason or, you know, second to nine. None. But it is crazy how good he is, even when he's played for so long in a game like this. Because a lot of players at that time maybe gas, they need to come off the ice. Nope, not Christine. He's still skating his way up the ice, looking like he's only played three minutes so far, when in reality, he's logged over 20 to 25 minutes of ice time.

That's just him. He was flying in the offensive zone that entire overtime, just crowling the puck. beautifully. Honestly, looking a little like Cindy Crosby, to be honest. This was a masterclass game, I thought, from him a much better performance than what we saw in Tuesday night in Nashville. He always follows up those Dudd performances with some of his best performances of the season. So I am not surprised by that at all. So again, big win. The Penguin State five points ahead of Washington. The capitals are really hot as of late Pittsburgh is. you know, second place right now, the Rangers also lost in regulation tonight.

The Islanders won again. They're six and one and one in their last eight games. They're trying their best to make a run, but Washington keeps winning. So it's just not going to happen there to say the least. I think, you know, looking at my notes and all that, looking at my Twitter, I believe I got everything.

And, oh, here is a cool shootout stat to end the podcast. Per Bob Grove, Tristan Jari has stopped 14 of his last 16 attempts in the shootout. that is how good he's going to know. Those are Mark Andre Fleury-like numbers when he was in his prime here in the city, you know, and he would always go to the shootout. So just really nice stuff from Tristan, obviously, with these shootouts. Penguins, another cool fun fact from Bob.

They've only had two shootouts versus the Blues. They've won them both. The other one came January 24, 2012. Malkin and Chris Kunitz. got the goals in the shootout to win that one. So this was their first shootout against the blues in almost a decade at this point. So Penguins are back in action on Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. They'll be the final time they play Arizona this year.

Do not sleep on Arizona. I will have a full preview on that game coming out for my Friday episode. That is a team that is playing a lot better hockey right now. They have nothing to lose. And they're scoring goals in bunches. And they have a good rookie goaltender who is stealing the show on a lot of next. right now. So that could be a sneaky, good game, I should say, for the Penguins. And, you know, I'm sure Penguins fans are going to fill up that rank in Glendale. The Penguins fans always show up

there in Arizona. And that'll be the Penguins last game before the NHL trade deadline on Monday. We're only a few days away now from that deadline. So again, great performance by the Penguins tonight. I would have been very miffed had they lost. But, you know, the March of the Penguins continues. They are now, they've got points 82 and 83. They are now 18 points up on the blue jackets. Again, both teams have 20 games left in this season. Penguins all but assured to be in the playoffs at this point. It's all about, you know, just continuing to play good hockey and continue to bank points to try and get home ice intentionally even when the Metro. The Penguins are also four points out of the Carolina Hurricanes right now for first place in the Metro.

I think, yeah, again, that covers it. Again, also love what Mike Sullivan has been doing with Evgeny Malgan and City Cross and continue to give them shifts after the blues power plays and again it almost led to a goal on a couple occasions so I definitely want to see Sullivan continuing to do that that's for sure so that will do it for this one I hope you all have a great rest of your Thursday I'll be back on Friday with another episode for this show I will talk to you all then