Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Two MASSIVE games on tap for your Pittsburgh Penguins!

Episode Date: October 28, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins are back in action on Friday night as they're set to take on the Vancouver Canucks! Hunter is here to give yinz the full lowdown on them and why they are NOT to be underestimated. He goes into the elite talent that they have and how they can burn anyone in the blink of an eye. He also looks at how the Penguins can use their rest to their advantage, especially since the Canucks just played on Thursday night. He looks at how well the team has played against them over the years & how that could be a factor heading into this game before touching on the big keys for them to come out victorious. After that, Hunter previews the game on Saturday against the Seatle Kraken as that will be the end of the team's road trip. He looks at how they're basically the West Coast version of the Penguins with how many former penguins there are on it while also making the argument that the Penguins should be favored, despite it being back-to-back. He looks at the keys to taking them down (especially goalies-wise) before ending the show with a fun report about Evgeni Malkin changing his number during the last year of his career.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.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/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.

What's up Penguins fans? Happy Friday, October 28th, the second to last October episode for this podcast right now. If I go on Megaphone, just about 20,000 monthly downloads, basically up 100% compared to last one. It just goes to show what happens when the season gets underway for today's episode. I'm going to have a full preview for the game tonight against the Vancouver Canucks. If you're, you know, you got to stay up. Talking time, 10 o'clock. If you're drinking coffee for that, you guys are just a bunch of babies.

I mean, I'm going to have a nice alcoholic beverage. But if you listen to this podcast, you know, below 21, you know, don't illegally drink and all that stuff. But I'm not having coffee. That's for sure. I'm going to have a beverage for that. And then they'll play late again tomorrow against Seattle. As I aware, I should get a preview on both of those games tonight for the episode.

We'll start with Vancouver and then we'll go over to Seattle. So that's all coming up right after this drop. You're locked on penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. part of the Locked-on Podcast Network, your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the shows Twitter at L.O.N.R.P.P.G.N., and, of course, thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Locked on Penguins podcast. Today's episode is brought to by Bed Online. Van Lions will cover this season with more props,

odds, and lines than ever before. That has been online where the game starts. I have my wonderful little voting sticks. here on my hokey shirt because of the hokey's named me sad boss night but you know with election day next week encourage all of you to go up here and vote i know it's on a presidential election but you know your vote always counts every year when this time comes around that's just my little spiel on that getting into the hockey side of things big game tonight for the penguins against the vancouver canucks out in british columbia again 10 o'clock start time have a beverage ready to go have some

late night snacks order pizza something like that you know it's a friday night got no you got most of you guys that probably listen to this podcast, don't got work tomorrow. Let's just, let's just get ready. You know, my wonderful girlfriend is coming in tomorrow to watch the game and, you know, have some Halloween stuff. So I'm really, really excited about that. But so for tonight's game against Vancouver, Penguins, they've had pretty good success. So I guess the Kinnock's that went to No against them last year, outscored them eight to two. Power play was 30%. Penalty kill 100%. Penguins are also 8 and 3 and 1 in their last 12 games against the Canucks, so they've gone to point in 9 of their last 12 games. They also have wins in six of their last

9s dating back to 2011 at Rogers Arena, which is where the Canucks play. So Penguins, they played very well against the Canucks over the years. Yeah, you know, they had that game in Vancouver last year on the trip. That came, I believe, in November. And the Penguins absolutely blitz them the entire time. That was, I believe, the game where Travis Green got fired after. If it wasn't that one, it was one hosted directly after because he didn't have a job for more than a day or more than a week or something like that. It was one of the games where they looked lackluster and I think everyone knew that a coaching change was coming. In Vancouver, the Canucks, they're flying high at least for one night. They finally got their

first win this season, a five to four win over the Seattle cracking on Thursday night. It was five to three with about a minute. left and then the crack can be able to make it to get it within one. And, you know, the economics never make it easy, but they were able to get that win. They're one in five and two. They probably deserve a little bit of a better fate this season, I would say, is I mean, they've blown a lot of multi-goal leads. They blew one to Washington.

They blew into Philadelphia. I believe they blew one to Minnesota, if I'm not mistaken. This is a team, they have a lot of talent on it. I know they're one in five and two. They've been a mess this year. but you give their good to elite players time and space, they will make you pay every single time. Their top line, as of last night, J.T. Miller, Bo Horvac, Connor Garland.

I thought J.T. Miller got hurt last night, but I'm making sure that he wasn't. I'm just making sure. Actually, no, yeah, he did get hurt in the way. I'm going to go to Rodo Baller here and check it. So, yeah, he actually needed to be help off the ice after blocking a shot in the dying seconds of the team's win. against the Cracken. There's been no update from what I have seen so far on his status. I don't know if he's playing tonight.

If he is, though, you always got to be a count. You always got to, you know, account for him on ice. I think he's their best player. Wish he was still a, wish he was a penguin, but he's always very dangerous. If he's not, they'll slide someone up in his spot. But, you know, Bo Horvatt, great player. Connor Garland, really good player.

Kuzmiko is on their second line to Lias Peterson. Elia McAyev. Peterson is very, or Elias, Peter, actually I should say, just say Peterson, because I'm pretty sure it's Peterson. Well, one of the two. I pronounced it.

I think it's, this is embarrassing. I think it's Patterson, but, you know, if it's the other one, I've said it both ways. He is a very good and dynamic player. Can do it all with the puck on his stick,

good defensively. I really think this is going to be a year where he breaks out a lot more, especially. if he is healthy. Third line, I don't even know who these people are. Dakota Josh, Nils Amin. I don't even know who two thirds of those guys are.

Tanner Pearson, Niels Hoglender. That is a player. I love that the Penguins could have acquired over the offseason. I thought that Carolina was going to get him today in the Ethan Bear trade. Luckily, they only gave, Canucks only gave up a pick to get Ethan Bear. So, I mean, I think the whole Metro dodged a bullet on that. You know, Hugglender, he's been in a lot of trade rumors over the years. Well, over the years, I should say during this offseason, he's a perfect player you can play on the third line.

Just anywhere in the middle six, to be honest. You could probably put him in the top six, and I think he'd be fine, too. The fact that he's playing four or five minutes right now is an absolute joke. But you get to their defense, and, you know, it's a little, it's a bit rough when Quinn Hughes is not playing. He's on IR right now. Brock Bessor is not in their lineup. Travis Dermott's hurt. Tucker Pullman's hurt Curtis Lazzar.

Their defense right now is in shambles. When your top pairing is Oliver Ekman-Larson and Tyler Myers, you have problems. I don't know how much more blunt I have to be. You have legitimate problems if your top pair is Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Tyler Myers. Two players who are way past their primes or underlines of tank a little bit. It's just it's not good enough. Kyle Burroughs, Jack Rothbone, those two players. should probably not be on your second pairing.

And then when you have Luke Shen on your defensive corps, your potential core, excuse me, that's a bad time there. Bois Brodrow got a 600th win with the Canucks against the wreck. Congratulations to him. I think he's one of the better coaches in this league. But, you know, the keys to getting the win over the Canucks tonight. I don't think they're starting Datred Demko last I checked.

So you've got to pepper their backup goaltender here. If I can make sure I have them right. Spencer Martin, barely even know who he is. Penguins should be able to get a good chunk of goals on him But hey, you never know this is totally the situation where he could get like A 45 save shout out like a like a allow one goal on 44 saves or something like that But you know pepper a lot of pucks to the net this is going to be a tired connect team I know they're coming home after playing on the road but they're not going to be fresh penguins

They've been off for three days use that to your advantage Canucks, they're not going to be coming into this game fresh. They just played late last night. It won't even have been 24 hours since they last played when the puck drops. Again, that's a big thing for me. Special teams have to be better, especially the power play. I want the first unit to be better, the last couple of games. Puck moving has been in there.

The zone entries have been absolutely horrendous. Some passes back by Latang and some, I wouldn't say lazy plays by Malki. but some kind of eh plays by him have left a little bit to be desired. And I'm hoping for a much better bounceback game from Sidney Crosby. That's for sure. Injury wise for the Penguins, all three-insured players are not going to play. Jason Zorker was skating a little bit, not going to play Jake Gensel. Was clear for contact.

He said he had to have some stitches in his ear. Doesn't look like he's going to play tonight. He said probably not for tomorrow either. Would guess he's probably back by next week. So the Penguins got a little bit of good injury news there and Teddy Blugher still. He's on the trip, but he's still not allowed to play, I think, for the next week or something like that. So again, get a lot of pucks on net. Special teams battle is going to be very important.

If they can come out with a good start, obviously that's also important. You know, I think those are the big keys for the Pensions doing this game and stop taking periods off. There's no excuses for this one, especially with the Canucks, having played last night, they're going to have a little bit of momentum, but this is also a team that's lost seven out of eight. It's time to break this losing streak and get right back on track. So that wraps up this first segment where we got to preview the game against the Canucks. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to get into a preview of the game against the Seattle. Cracken and take a look at Ben for the season.

But before I get to that, Benin is your number one source for betting football and the start of the new basketball season. You can find all the latest player developments, team matchups, news, podcasts, and in-depth analysis on every game. And as always, Ben-Line remains your continued source for all your sports-raiser information with live-bending and up-to-a-minute scores for every sport out there. It's the fastest and easiest way to check in all your favorite games events, including MLB and a night boxing golf. You can head to the website or use your phone to learn more.

That has been online where the game starts. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. We're going to also follow the shows Twitter at Ellen Horsesco Pinguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into the second game of this back-to-back, which will finish up this week-long road trip for the Penguins.

Of course, it will be against the Seattle Cracken. A team of the Penguins went 1-0-0-1 last year, three out of four points. They beat them in Seattle. They actually crushed them in Seattle. But then they lost an overtime after blowing a third period. I believe Jordan Nebrily scored in that game just because he always scores against them.

Right now, and funny enough, Jordan Eberle is on their top line with Jaden Schwartz and Matthew Baneers. Pretty decent top line, probably. I think on some other teams, it's a good second or third line. But Eberley, you always got to be aware for him. He has killed the Penguins. Ever since he went to the Islanders in both playoff series, he was just a thorn in their side.

I would expect, honestly, if you are a betting person, and I'm not sure how many betting people I have to listen to this show, go on to Fandul, draft Kings, something like that. Heck, you bet online, of course. Go out there and put a bet on an anytime goal score Jordan Everley. If that fails, I'm sorry.

That would be like the one game that he doesn't score against the penguins, but you can sure count that he's going to score tomorrow night at least one goal on Casey to Smith. For their second line, Andre Beirokowski, Alexander Wenberg, and Oliver Bork Strand. Berkowski signed from the Colorado Avalanche, very unique player, someone who has a hell of a shot. Great pass as well and also is decent defensively. Bjork Strand, the Blue Jack is, I don't really know why they traded him.

I know they had to make room for signing L'Ane and also, of course, for Johnny Goodro, but Bjork Strand is a pretty good player. I mean, he can put the puck in the back of the net 20 to 25 times a season. The jackets really didn't get anything of value for him in that trade, which just a pure salary dumb. The Cracken literally got a top six forward for free from them. And no, I'm not kidding. They literally got him for free.

So just a really weird acquisition there, but Seattle will take that. Old friend Jared McCann, Yonie Gordon, Carson, Coulman. Again, I am still and will forever be, but hurt that the penguins did not retain. Jared McCann in the expansion draft. I thought it was just a poor... I don't want to say this.

I think it was just poor asset management. I didn't think they needed to protect Carter. I know they were scared that they could have lost them just because Malk and Cross were going to be out to start the season. They didn't want to lose all their center depth. I totally understand that. But at the end of the day, I don't think anyone is going to take 37-year-old Jeff freaking car.

I think they would have just taken Braynan and T.N. Anyway, if you would have just protected McCann, left Carter out there. especially because McCann can play center. I think they honestly would have taken TANF still. They did that. They actually did the Penguins of favor, and they took that massive contract off their hands in that $3.5 million cap hit,

but the Penguins just weren't able to use that salary count space in a wise way. Hence the Brock began contract right now, and he just has not been playing well. So I will still forever be butt heard about that. He just signed a nice extension. I believe it was five times five. he's going to be worth every penny.

I love watching him play. That release that he has is so beautiful. When he played on the Penguins' top power play when Malcolm was out last season, it was just so good. And I'm like, man, I wish there was going to be room for him on that top power play unit,

but you're not going to replace Gino from that unit, right? You're just, you're not going to do that. So I still miss him. I'm sure you all do as well. Brandon Tanna, old friend, of course, on the fourth line with Morgan. geeky and another old former penguin, Daniel Sprong.

Maybe I would put another anytime goal score in there for Sprong. He's played well against the Penguins over years. I think he actually scored a goal or two when he was with Washington last year against the Penguins before he got traded. So, you know, curious to see what happens with his development. You know, he's been a player. He's bounced around a lot, played in Anaheim, played in Washington after Pittsburgh. You know, obviously he knows now playing in Seattle.

Curious to see how he does. I think overall he's probably just going to be a bottom six player for the rest of an NHL career. At least that's just how I see it. Defensively, Adam Larson with Ben's done, former penguin Jamie Alexiak with another former penguin Justin Schulz, this is just the Pittsburgh Penguins of the West if you are not catching my drift. Seeing Alexiak and Schultz play on a pairing, that's pretty cool.

I think Schultz is kind of washed right now anyway, but Alexiak has always been super underrated if you ask me. I thought he was great when he was with the penguins. I think the only reason why Jim Brotherhood decided to trade him was because he lost a freaking fight to Tom Wilson. I don't understand that, Tim Ferriss with you guys. So that's just me, though. But that's, I mean, that's my opinion.

And then Carson Sousy with William Borgon, that is their bottom defensive group. And then goaltending-wise, Joey Deckord and Martin Jones, both Philip Grubauer and Chris Krieger are on IR. So they have two goalies in net right now who are just not those. The thing is. We'll have to take advantage of that. I mean, even with Casey to Smith, likely being a net against the Cracken,

it should still be the favorite to win this game, just because, again, goaltending-wise, Martin Jones is not it. Joey DeCord, you know, he's not it either. Seattle obviously does have some good forward depth. Wenberg is decent. Bjorkshire can put 20 to 25 in the net each year. Eberle always kills the penguin.

Shaden Schwartz was always underrated in St. Louis. Berakowski had his best season of his career last year in Colorado. I think Seattle is going to be better than, some people think they will be this year. But, you know, I still think that they're not a playoff team. I think they're still a couple of elite players away for being a playoff team. So the keys for the Penguins in this one, you know, just short shifts, you know, short shifts, simple plays, you know, you're going to be tired.

You're playing on a back-to-back after playing in Vancouver on Friday night, you know, Seattle. They're going to be rested for this game, you know. and it's important, you know, to try to come out with the best energy that you have. Pepper Martin Jones, Pepper Joey DeCord, you know, win the special teams. It's kind of similar to what I said about the Canucks, but, you know, again, the Penguins, they should be favored in both of these games. And even though it's not on back-to-back, I still think the Penguins can win both of these games to have a positive winning record

out of this road trip. So that basically wraps up this full preview for the Seattle game. So a little more to get to for this episode of, the Locked on Penguin's podcast. But before I get to that, the numbers don't lie. In the last decade, over 4 million people have chosen Simply Safe home security to protect their home. You don't earn the trust of that many people without doing something right. As SimplySafe, your safety is the only thing that matters. They protect you with cutting it security technology, power by 24-7 professional monitoring agents who always have your back. With 24-7 professional

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You can say 20% on your SimplySafe security system when you sign up for an interactive monitoring plan and get your first one three. Again, that says it's simplysafe.com slash lock on NHL, on there more. There is no safe, like simply safe. 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. You can also follow the shows, Twitter, at L.O.

Undersquemus, and of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So I got this sweet today for Alan Teodor. Thank you for sending me this, Alan. And you said, what are the rumors about Malkin wanting to try to change jersey numbers? Any treat to them? I've seen it mentioned a few times, but not from a reliable source. I did see that as well. I'm wondering if that was from a,

I believe that was from an athletic article where he said he wanted to change his number to 11. And for those that don't know, he wears number 11 in international competitions with Russia. It's played wear them in the Olympics, world championships, all that stuff. So, yeah, this actually came from Rob Rossigan. He's very close with Malkin.

And then he reported that he would like to change his jersey number from 71 to number 11 at some point. Yes, his 71 would be retired in the rafters. They wouldn't just put up number 11 up there in his final season or something like that. But it sounds like Alan, he wants to do it in his final season before he retires. So it's coming from the athletic and Rob Rossi. He spoke to him about it. That would be kind of cool. I know it would be a little bit different seeing Gino, not in number 71.

one, but, you know, sometimes you got to, you know, adapt with the changes. And I think, you know, I got a little used to it when I would watch him and, you know, the World Cup of hockey back in 2016 and, you know, back in, you know, the Olympics in 2014 and number 11 and then, you know, the World Championships when he went against Sid for the gold medal. That was really cool. So it probably would take a little bit of getting used to, but I think at the end of the day, I'm not super worried about it. And I think it would be kind of cool. So again, that's where that's coming from, Alan. I'm glad I was able to bring that up on today's show.

I think other than that, I'm just really excited for these couple of games tonight for the Penguins this weekend for the Penguins. It's a chance to get things right. Again, it was dumb, I think, for some people to overreact to a two-of-two-game losing streak. This team is still four and two-and-one. I expect them to come out firing pretty heavily tonight

against a Canucks team that just played on Thursday night. You know, from reports that I saw, Mike Sullivan was not happy with the team after the game. He was pushing them in practice. According to Josh, he was even screaming at the players during a few drills. I would expect a much better performance from this team tonight. So again, 10 o'clock start time, and then tomorrow, basically the same.

Two more West Coast games, and then the Penguins will return home for some games as well. So that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. As always, I appreciate everyone that listens to the Lockdown Penguins podcast. and I will be back with another episode on Halloween day, October 31st on Monday, to recap both the game against Vancouver and the game against Seattle. Let's hope for your all sake that payments get both wins. And with that, they would be six and two and one

through their first nine games of this season. So again, thank you all so much for listening. As always, I appreciate everyone listening to this show. It's been a great month of October, and I will talk to you all on Halloween. Have a great week. everyone