Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What were some of the best Penguins goals this past season?

Episode Date: July 22, 2023

Happy Friday! Hunter is back with more Penguins content and starts the show by discussing some of the best goals of this past season. Where does Evgeni Malkin's goal against Darcy Kuemper rank? What about his goal against the Calgary Flames in the shootout after he had his 1,000th game against the Chicago Blackhawks recently? Hunter also discusses Sidney Crosby's brilliant goal against the Colorado Avalanche in late March while he was at the Steel Panther show. He showed off once again why he has the best backhand in all of hockey. He also analyzes Crosby's OT winner against the Columbus Blue Jackets late in the season when the Penguins came from four goals down, along with Jake Guentzel's OT winner against the Ducks when it looked like the team was about to lose. After that, Hunter looks at the latest updates on Erik Karlsson courtesy of Rob Rossi and gives his thoughts on the continued stalemate. Finally, Hunter discusses the NHL hopefully returning to the Olympics in 2026 and how it will be the final hurrah for Crosby and Malkin when it comes to winning gold medals.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!FanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to TWO HUNDRED 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.

What are some of the best goals of this past season for the Pittsburgh Penguins? I'll have my answer on that coming up right after this. Your Locked-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 edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes,

and I'll follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. follow the shows, Twitter at Elwharrow, Penguins, and of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list and slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. Happy Friday to everyone out there. We've already made it to the end of July. Soon enough, it's going to be August. Then it will be September, training campbell all around,

and then the season will start right back up in October. This is going to fly by. But still, have a couple, two and a half, two and a half to three months until the season starts. But I figured we could still go back to this past season. even though I know the Penguins missed the playoffs, but we've got to look at some of the top goals of this past season because there were still quite a few of really good goals that the Penguins scored in 2022, 2020, 23.

I'm honestly going to start this as kind of like a mini-series, which I'll continue probably next week and the week after. Today I'm going to give you five to seven of what I think are the best goals of the season for the Penguins, and then I'll continue that again, as I said, next week and the week after my number one. for the best goal of this past season was Evgeny Malkin's goal in late March, March 25th, against the Washington Capitals,

where he stole the puck from Anthony Mantha at the Red Line Center Ice and fired the puck stick side past Darcy Camper to give the Penguins a dramatic 4-3 win with one minute left in regulation. That game had everything. So many twists and turns, it started out a little slow,

Penguins then go up, 1-0, 2-0, and then 3-0-0. They take that 3-0-0. Actually, no, they take the 2-goal lead into the 3-1. They then score a goal in the 3-0 to make a 3-0. You think it's over. Casey DeSmith playing out of his mind, and then in typical penguin's fashion for this past season,

3-1, 3-2, and then 3-3 with only a few minutes left, and we're like, oh, here we go again. This is going to be another catastrophic loss. Nope. And Gunny Malkin steals the puck. Fires it past Kemper has a celebration for the ages. PBG Pance Arena goes absolutely wild. I was in the building for that game.

That felt like a playoff atmosphere, especially in late March when you know the playoffs are right around the corner. There was a ton of Capitals fans there, and they were obviously so upset walking out because the Penguins had basically just ended their season. Think about it. Going into that game, the Penguins were only four points up on the Capitals. had they lost that in regulation or just even lost in overtime,

they would have only been two to three points up on the caps, even though the caps had a game in hand at the time. But with a regulation win, the Penguins were able to effectively eliminate the caps from a late-season surge. They were six points back, and the Penguins had a game in hand. But what a goal and what a moment for the Penguins that season. That was when I was like, okay, there's no way they were missing playoffs.

And then we obviously saw what happened with. the Chicago Blackhawks, but I think to me that's the goal of the season when I look back at it. Another one that really is high on my list was Jake Gensel's overtime winner against the Anaheim Ducks earlier this year. Trevor Zegris, if you remember, came in on a breakaway, looked like he was going to have the goalie beat, decided to pass to the other end of the ice. I don't know why he was doing that. And that sprung Sidney Crosby and Jake Gensel going back the other way.

Crosby to Jake. Jake finishes it past John Gibson, who had a very good game. He was on his A game and now putting on a show in his hometown. And remember, the Penguins were potentially going to lose that game in regulation. They tied that game with less than 30 seconds to go in the third period. Talk about devastating losses. And the Penguins had a ton of them this past season. That one would have been very high on the list. The Penguins played like utter crap in that game.

tied it late in the third and we're able to win it after Trevor Zegro made a very dumb play in overtime. But that's one of the goals of the year, if you ask me. Number three, Crosby's wicked backhander against the Colorado Avalanche in late March. He comes in one on two against the avalanche. I was at the Steel Panther show that night. If you all been listening for the last three months, I was not able to go to that game. And everyone kept making jokes about it and say, oh, you can't watch any more games just because I was at the concert.

and I brought my shirt back and all this stuff is a whole funny thing. But Crosby comes in one on two. Looks like he's going to go inside, fakes that, goes outside, absolutely rolls Sam's Rard. He made him look like a peewee hockey player. And then backhands that one far side pass Alexander Giorgiiv showed off why he has the best backhand in the sport. It was a vintage Crosby goal, one that really got things.

going for the penguins in that game against the avalanche. That was a game that no one really thought the penguins were going to win. Myself included, the Penguins had a back-to-back against Colorado and Dallas that week, if you remember, the Penguins were able to put up, I think, one of, if not, their finest performance of the season. And then they followed that game up with another really good performance against the stars. They just couldn't bring home a result. They couldn't even get it to overtime.

They were close towards the end. And I thought that Penguins played really well in that game. That one against the avalanche, Sid set the tone. What a goal from him, one of the best of this season. And I'll continue with Sydney Crosby for number four, his crazy backhand later on in the season. This came in April, right, as the Penguins were almost in control of their own destiny. This was the game that Crosby got his 1,500 point. And the Penguins were up 1-0 at this point late in the first period after Alex Neelander's goal to open it.

and Crosby steals the puck from Jake Wallman deep in the Red Wings defensive zone and corrals the puck and goes backhand top cheese on Billy Huso. Again, showing off why he has the best backhand in this war. I will never take those kind of goals for granted. I just won't. There's going to be a time when all of you are not seeing this on your televisions or hearing it on the radio or especially seeing it in person. and it's coming sooner than you think.

Cherish these kind of goals because they're not going to be around for much longer. I just, I love that backhand that he has. After that, I have Gino's incredible shootout goal against the Calgary Flames. This came right after his 1000th game against the Chicago Blackhawks in November. This was a very tight game against the flames

at home before Thanksgiving, I believe. one one game going into a shootout. I didn't think the Penguins played that well in the third period. I think they kind of slogged overtime. Got a late power play where they weren't able to score. And then the shootout comes. Jaree has a chance to make the game winning save. Does not.

Penguins don't win it, but then Jari makes the save on, I believe it was Mikhail Backlund, or Michael Backlund, I should say. And Sullivan sends Gino out, does a little bit of a deke, then goes backhand top cheese, throws his stick into the crowd. He has his moment,

and he brought the house down in PPPT Pants Arena. That was absolutely incredible. I think one of the best goals of the season. A couple other ones before we head to break. Chris Lantang's overtime winner against the Florida Panthers at 7-6. Crazy game that I was also in attendance for this season. Back and forth affair.

No goaltending whatsoever between Alex Lyon and Casey. to Smith, they were well below 800. It looked like the Smith couldn't even move when he was allowing goals whenever it was for a second or third period. Heck, the Penguins had to leave late in the third period, and they squandered it before LeTang won it in overtime. That was a tremendous goal. And then Sidney Crosby's winner against the Blue Jackets late in the season after they came

back from four goals down to win that one. The Penguins really had nothing going after that first period. Honestly, they didn't really play that well in the second, but they woke up in a big way in the third and Sid was able to rocket. that one from the right half ball to win it 5'4 in overtime. So those are five to seven, I think, of the best goals of the season. Let me know what your best goals of this past season were for the Penguins. Let me go down in the comments.

You can also send me a DM on social media if you want. I'll have more on that little mini series next week and the week after, most likely, but wanted to start the show off with a pretty fun topic for Friday. coming up in the second segment, we're going to go into some small details regarding the Eric Carlson pursuit from Rob Rossi's article from the athlete. There wasn't too much new news in there, but I do want to discuss a couple of things

that really haven't been reported by much others that were in there. But before we dive into that, we have to discuss Fandul. Take your first wing of betting MLB on Fandul and get 10 times your first spend amount of bonus bets up to $200. That's right. Just bet $20 and you'll weigh in $200. of bonus bets, winner to lose. That's 200. You can spend betting everything from the money line

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lesson slash wash of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So as I teased, heading into the second segment, there wasn't a lot of new news in that Rossi updated article on the Penguins per se for Eric Carlson. But there were a couple of things that I wanted to discuss on the show that I don't think a lot of people out there have been reporting. Number one, he did say that Crosby and Lattang have endorsed acquiring Carlson. That's not surprising. I don't think two-thirds of the franchise player group here. I'll see I'll include it of Gennie Malkin.

Those three are franchise players. They're not just going to be like, oh, yeah, don't go out and get Eric Carlson, who just had 100 points this past season and who won the Norris trophy. Yeah, don't go out and get someone who can really help us offensively. They're not going to say that, people. Cindy Crosby has a lot of respect for him. Crystal Tang, I don't think he's going to get mad per se if Carlson does come in and maybe takes his spot on the top powerplay. He's in his mid-30s now.

Maybe if he was in his mid-20s, mid-to-late 20s, I should say, he'd maybe throw a little bit of a fit. But right now, after all the rings that he's won throughout his career, he's still going to get the top minutes and the top assignments. If Carlson just takes those powerplay minutes, that's going to be fine. But yes, of course, the franchise players are going to endorse Kyle Dubus and Company. going out and getting another generational talent to try and get this team back to being a Stanley Cup contender this upcoming season. They're not just going to say no to that. That's a little ridiculous.

And he does also say that they're working on several scenarios to fit Carlson in. One involves straight up deal with the sharks. Another involves a third team with cap space. And that's where Jeff Petrie comes in because Rob reports that Petrie is not open to playing as far as way as San Jose, which is one reason the penguins have. sought to include a third team in any Carlson deal. I've been using that kind of talk as speculation on my show. I'm glad now that it is being reported by a full-time Penguins reporter.

Petrie's family is from Michigan. I don't think he's going to, you know, and obviously it's been confirmed now, why would he want to go out and play for a San Jose Sharks team that is obviously, A, rebuilding, and B, way far away from where his family is from. So if Petrie is included in this deal, if it even happens, he's going to have to go to another team, whether maybe he goes to his hometown team in Detroit, where his family is, maybe Steve Iversman, you can give him a call, maybe Chicago if they want to take on another contract. They still have plenty of cap space.

It's honestly not that far. It's still Midwest City. I think maybe even a team like, I don't know, I've thrown this around Nashville. That's not way out west. It's down south, a little bit of. obviously in Tennessee, but maybe that could work. I'm just spitballing with teams right now, but it makes sense that he wouldn't want to play in Senazate

because they're rebuilding and they're not going to be good and because the Sharks in the city, of course, is far away from where his family is. So I've been speculating about that, but that's good to see it reported by a Penguins reporter. And then another thing that I found interesting as well that I have discussed on the show before, Rob of course of the Sharks have been interested.

Aidan Marcus Pedersen as part of a deal, However, Dubus has resisted, including Pedersen, and any offers. And I say to that, good. I'm sorry. There are only a couple ways that I don't say yes to trading for Eric Carlson, one of which is trading two first-round picks. I think that's a little ridiculous for someone who is a 33 years old, even though he's coming off one heck of a season, but he's 33,

and there's not too many suitors. Why are you giving up two first-round picks? That makes no sense. And for B, what I'm getting to now, Marcus Pedersen. you trade Pedersen and you get Carlson, sure, the right side of your defensive group is really good. Let's hang, Carlson, Ruda, because I assume Petrie is going on in some capacity, probably to a 13th, as I just discussed. But that left side, you're telling me you would want to go into a season with Ryan Graves on your top pairing, P.O. Joseph playing with Eric Carlson, and Ty Smith playing with Yon Ruda.

I don't think that's wise at all. Your left side is very vulnerable if that were to happen. And also, Pedersen just had the best season of his career. He ranked in the 81st percentile in 5-on-5 offense this past season, in the 87th percentile and 5-on-5 defense this past season. That's courtesy of my boy J. Fresh, Jack, who has great metrics. I love using his stuff. He also ranked in the 97 percentile for penalty killing.

He's a great player to have when you're trying to prevent the other team from scoring a man up. 91st percentile for also primary assist for 60 this past year. I can dive into more of the numbers, but I think that paints the picture pretty well. He had the best season of his career. He cannot be included in that kind of deal. And it's nice seeing Dubis be like, okay, I'm not going to be parting with him. because, again, the Sharks don't have the leverage to be able to actually get Pedersen in a deal. That just, that makes no sense to me.

I don't understand that at all. Dubus also favors at least top-by protection on any first-round picks and is open to conditions. That's not surprising at all. I've discussed that on my show as well, that he would probably have to, you know, have some lottery-protected picks. He's not just going to trade the picks with no protection or conditions or anything like that just because, you know, what if the season goes really badly or something like that. But those were some of the updates that were in the article that haven't been reported elsewhere. Otherwise, it's part for the course.

It's a standoff. No one's really doing anything. We've reached the end of another week. That's just how it is at this time. This is probably going to drag into August. Wouldn't be surprised if this drags into September. Heck, my friends, this honestly might drag into the season. And I'm going to laugh my tail off if Mike Greer does that.

and he keeps Carlson until the trade deadline, and he doesn't get good value for him. I'm going to laugh. It's going to be really funny. But that's the latest on the Eric Carlson situation. I just want to give you all scoop on that, just diving into Rob's article to discuss some of the things that he reported and just to give my analysis on that.

Coming up to end the show, could we see some Olympic hockey back in 2026, and what would that mean for Sydney Crosby and of Guinea-Malkin? I'll have my answer on that coming up right after this. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Locktime Penguins Podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. And to follow me on Twitter at Honorahodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins.

And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. So earlier this week, Greg Waczynski of ESPN, spoke to Marty Walsh, who is the new NHLPA president taking over for Donald Fier, who honestly I don't think did a good job at all. And the two discussed getting back to the Olympics and Walsh even said as such to Wichinsky. He said, my focus is to try and make that happen. I'm working with Commissioner Gary Bettman together with the IHF and hopefully we'll be able to come up with an agreement and move forward.

Remember, the league was supposed to go to the Olympics in 2022, but pulled out, I think it was because of COVID reasons. I understand it in that regard, but we haven't had Olympic hockey now in nine years, almost nine and a half. The rosters are obviously going to look so different, but we need best on best so freaking badly. Remember, this is probably going to be the final time that Sydney Crosby and of Guinea-Malkin get to represent their countries.

if the NHL does get to go to the Olympics. Malkin, he's never won a gold medal at the Olympics. He's won gold medals outside of the Olympics, but he's never won a gold medal at the Olympics. Cindy Crosby obviously has multiple Olympic golds. But this is probably it. At this point in 2026, Crosby's going to be turning 39 that year.

Gino's going to be 40 that year. The next Olympics after that aren't going to be until 2030. They'll be into their early 40s and probably retired by then. So this is it. And it's going to make for some electric hockey, whether Canada plays Russia or whoever Canada plays, honestly, I think these will be some of the best Olympics in terms of best on best in hockey that we have seen in a long, long time. Outside of those two on the Penguins, other members that could be on their respective teams include Jake Gensel with Team USA.

Some people will say he could be an extra. Some people will say he doesn't belong on the team. I think that's ridiculous. But Jake Gensel belongs in that starting lineup. I might be biased, and you can throw a lot of projected lineups out there at me. But with Gensel, he's a perennial 35, 40 goal score. He has the potential to hit 50 this upcoming season. He belongs on that team.

outside of that you have Marcus Pedersen and Ricard Raquel for team Sweden. I think both should be on that team. And then maybe Tristan Jari. When you look at Team Canada's roster, obviously it's going to be so freaking stacked heading into those Olympics because the talent they have is unreal. I mean, Sid's probably going to be the number two center. If I had, I guess, don't make me.

Heck, maybe he could slide down a little bit. That's just how deep Canada is forward-wise. Defensively, they'll also be pretty good. I will mention Chris Lutang could be on there, but he might be an extra. I don't think he'll be in the top six at that point just because Canada is going to be pretty deep on defense. But in goal, that's where they're pretty weak.

And I could see Tristan Jari being on that team if he plays well these next few years. That's where Canada is most vulnerable. You look at their options right now. Carter Hart, Darcy Kemper, Jordan Bennington, Logan Thompson. Not a lot there right now. This position used to be beautiful for Canada. Not anymore.

So I could see Tristan Jari also getting on that team. I also say Crystal Tang as an extra. Sederkel and Pedersen for Team Sweden. Jake Gensel for Team USA. Malkin for Russia. Crosby for Canada. These games are going to be so much freaking fun. And just from someone who obviously has been born and raised in the United States of America,

this is probably going to be the best team USA. that we have seen in my lifetime. You look at the talent that is going to be on this scene. Austin Matthews, Jack Hughes, Matthew Kachuk, Brady Kachuk, Jack Eichol, Charlie McAvoy, Adam Fox, Quinn Hughes, Jacob Slavin. I can go down the list. Jason Robertson, Tage Thompson, Johnny Goodro, Kyle O'Connor. Obviously, I just said Jake Ensel.

in goal, they can start one of Connor Hellebuk or Jake Ottinger. That is a massive advantage over Canada. Again, I know Canada is going to be so deep. But when you look at Team USA, they can actually play with Canada. I don't think this is just going to be where Team USA rolls over and dies

like you saw in 2014. I'll get to that just a second. But that game would be so much fun. from a Russian perspective, they can start any of Ilya Sorokin, Andre Vasselowski, or Igor Shosturkin. It doesn't really matter, to be honest. That's going to be fun to see.

Russia's obviously going to be stacked and forward as well. Defensively, they'll be fine. Team Sweden's going to be really good too. Finland. I've just been waiting for Olympic hockey to come back. And again, I understand why they didn't go in 2022 just because of COVID-related reasons. 2018, though, I'm still mad because Gary Bauer,

Batman and Bill Daly, they hate Olympic hockey, it feels like, for some reason. It just seems like they don't know how to market the game overseas, and it really makes me upset. The NHL has to send its players in 2026. There's really no excuse this time. And we haven't seen Best on Best Overall since 2016 when we really had the Hockey World Cup when I saw the best three-on-three over time of all time. And that's still true to this day, seven years ago.

Team North America versus Team Sweden, electric hockey back and forth. Nathan McKinnon wins it. Goes past Henrik Lundquist and just has a beautiful forehand, backhand move on him. Capped off one heck of a win for Team North America. That's one of the best games I've ever watched. But Olympic hockey just means so much to me personally. I remember exactly where I was. I sadly saw Sydney Crosby break.

everyone's hearts in this country, at least, when he had the golden goal in 2010. I remember I was a sophomore in high school in 2014 when I went up to my English teacher. I was in 10th grade English when the U.S. was playing Canada. And I told her, I asked her at least, if we finished the work for the day, will you put on the game? And she said, yes. So right towards the end of the day, there's still quite a bit of time left in class, I went up and asked and she said, yeah, we can put it on. And so we did. And not to my own horn. I was definitely the high. hockey junkie in the class. I was pacing back and forth, probably looking like a complete moron, to be honest. But a couple of people asking me questions about this stuff, and I was just really

into it at that time. That's one of the last memories I have of watching Olympic hockey just because we haven't seen it and so long. So I can't wait for it to come back. And I really hope it does in 2026 because I want to see of Guinea-Malk and try to win his first Olympic gold. I want to see Sid, try to have another gold medal or add another gold medal. to as where I want to see a team USA can maybe upset Team Canada. The games are going to be so much fun, and it's only going to grow the sport more, not just in the United States, but around the world as well.

But that would do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I really appreciate all of you listening to slash watching this one. I'll be back with another episode for you all on Monday, as we'll continue the three episodes a week for the rest of July, all of August. and in September. So again, thank you all so much for listening to Josh watching.

Really appreciate it. I'll be back with another episode for you all on Monday.