Latest / Seattle Kraken Audio Network / KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Riveting rally in Chicago, and paving the way into Pittsburgh (11/22)

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KRAKEN THIS MORNING: Riveting rally in Chicago, and paving the way into Pittsburgh (11/22) · Seattle Kraken Audio Network

0:00
Speaker 1: It was kind of nice to get it started that way. Obviously,
0:02
Speaker 1: we didn't have too many other opportunities, so when you
0:06
Speaker 1: get a fortunate bounce like that, you got to capitalize
0:09
Speaker 1: the rest of the game, and we were able to
0:10
Speaker 1: do that.
0:10
Speaker 2: Welcome to Kraken this morning, a presentation of the Kraken
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Speaker 2: Audio Network, Ken Sports Radio ninety three point three KJR FM.
0:19
Speaker 2: Here's Mike Benton.
0:20
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what if you love hockey, Nothing boring
0:23
Speaker 1: about how the Kraken came back and beat Chicago two
0:26
Speaker 1: nights ago. Those words from Ty Cartier, who got it
0:29
Speaker 1: started with the first of three goals in the third
0:32
Speaker 1: period en route to their second comeback win, went trailing
0:36
Speaker 1: after two periods. Welcome to a new Kraken this morning.
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Speaker 1: This one coming on a Saturday, November twenty second, and
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Speaker 1: the Kraken taken on the Pittsburgh Penguins in their third
0:46
Speaker 1: game of a four game trip. Only time they'll visit
0:49
Speaker 1: PPG Paynes Arena all season long, and we have all
0:53
Speaker 1: the action for you coming your way four pm Pacific
0:55
Speaker 1: time ever now in Pittsburgh, and I'll join you back
1:00
Speaker 1: at thirty two Bar and Grill for pregame coverage served
1:03
Speaker 1: up by Frost Brewed Corse Light Choose Chill, opening at
1:06
Speaker 1: three thirty pm Pacific time on nine point fifty KJR
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Speaker 1: takeingover flagship covers today and all across the global Credit
1:15
Speaker 1: Union Kraken Audio Network. We're gonna hear it a little
1:18
Speaker 1: bit from head coach Lane Lambert, plus a conversation with
1:21
Speaker 1: Penguin's TV play by play voice Josh Getsoff how the
1:25
Speaker 1: Penguins are turning heads this season with a young team,
1:29
Speaker 1: a new head coach, and still veterans at the top
1:32
Speaker 1: destined for the Hall of Fame. That plus a flashback
1:35
Speaker 1: to the Penguins Hall of Fame weekend involving a prominent
1:39
Speaker 1: member of the Krake In front office where he captured
1:42
Speaker 1: a pair of Stanley Cup Championships. Josh gets off and
1:45
Speaker 1: that conversation coming up in just a bit, flashing back
1:48
Speaker 1: to Game two of the trip in Chicago, the Kraken
1:51
Speaker 1: getting off to a slow start down two nothing after
1:54
Speaker 1: two periods of play and ty Kartsha going on these airwaves,
1:58
Speaker 1: said the Kraken needed to look for more activity toward
2:01
Speaker 1: the front of the net. How soon could they get
2:03
Speaker 1: that goal?
2:04
Speaker 3: Guard hookes it up for the line where it's held
2:06
Speaker 3: in by Monteur Monteur back to the blue line of
2:10
Speaker 3: shot ten scoos Brandon Monteur above. From the blue line,
2:18
Speaker 3: it's redirected out in front and the Seattle cricket are
2:22
Speaker 3: on the board. Oscar Fisker mull Guard will leave the
2:26
Speaker 3: handshake line. That will be his first goal in the
2:30
Speaker 3: National Hockey League.
2:32
Speaker 4: Oscar Fisker moll Guard right in front of Spencer Night
2:36
Speaker 4: and it looks like it may have gone off Kim
2:38
Speaker 4: and then ty Krci Yeah, into the back of the net.
2:42
Speaker 4: But the point there is is that it was a
2:43
Speaker 4: big shot by Montour. A couple levels of screens in front,
2:48
Speaker 4: Oscar Fisker Mollguard's one of them.
2:49
Speaker 5: Ty karch Shad right again below the goal line. Caton
2:52
Speaker 5: takes it away on the left wing side.
2:54
Speaker 2: Kriz lick all over him.
2:56
Speaker 3: Caton up top, Heavin shoots Teco Shane right redirects the
3:07
Speaker 3: puck in in front. Had a Seattle cracking tie the
3:11
Speaker 3: game two two twelve forty seven to play in the third.
3:16
Speaker 4: Well much much with the ty Cartier goals. It's right
3:19
Speaker 4: out in front and he's right in front of Spencer night.
3:22
Speaker 4: He gets as blade out as the riker revenue shot
3:24
Speaker 4: comes and hits the top of his blade, finds the
3:27
Speaker 4: back of the net. This game's tied.
3:29
Speaker 3: It Jason Marshmitt far point Evans walk into the middle
3:33
Speaker 3: back hands it off to Marshmitt.
3:34
Speaker 4: Now Montour takes his turn.
3:36
Speaker 3: Montour left circle, Montur back door to Jayden Swarts on
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Speaker 3: the power play the kids the cracking ay three two
3:48
Speaker 3: lead to eighteen to play.
3:50
Speaker 5: In the third well.
3:51
Speaker 4: It starts with Mason marks from up top of finding
3:53
Speaker 4: Montour jumping down the wall. Montour is thinking shot the
3:56
Speaker 4: whole time, but he sees seventeen on the back door
3:59
Speaker 4: where he loves to hangout. He put it right onto
4:02
Speaker 4: his tape in the back of the net. Crack at
4:04
Speaker 4: three Chicago two.
4:05
Speaker 2: There you have it.
4:06
Speaker 1: Come back complete the cracking, getting three goals all in
4:09
Speaker 1: a span of about roughly five feet around the net
4:12
Speaker 1: as they took down the Chicago Blackhawks three to two.
4:15
Speaker 1: Veterans like Jaden Schwartz helping finished off the job. Brandon
4:19
Speaker 1: Montour involved in the rally, but also the young kids
4:22
Speaker 1: chipping in. Shane Wright game tying goal was his fifth
4:25
Speaker 1: of the season. Berkeley Catton Riker Evans and Oscar Fisker Mulgard,
4:30
Speaker 1: playing in his first ever NHL game, all picked up
4:34
Speaker 1: assist defenseman like Ryan Lindgren breaking up a breakaway by
4:38
Speaker 1: Connor Bdard. Much of that, of course talked about, with
4:41
Speaker 1: Badard earning an abuse of officials penalty and the Kraken
4:44
Speaker 1: subsequently capitalizing on the power play goal, with Joey Decurd
4:49
Speaker 1: also turning in a twenty two save effort. Here's the
4:52
Speaker 1: reaction from crackenhead coach Lane Lambert after the game at
4:56
Speaker 1: United Center that.
4:57
Speaker 6: You saw in your team's game in that third period,
5:00
Speaker 6: in the second period, uh compete and shooting pucks. And
5:04
Speaker 6: I didn't think that we in the first forty minutes.
5:08
Speaker 6: I thought we were slow, to slow to do things.
5:12
Speaker 6: Give our players credit. They got the message, you know,
5:18
Speaker 6: and and took a h took charge and and got
5:22
Speaker 6: the job done. What'd you think of Oscar Fisker Motgard
5:25
Speaker 6: in his debut?
5:25
Speaker 5: I liked him.
5:26
Speaker 6: I thought he was good. I thought he's responsible, you know,
5:29
Speaker 6: and you know it's great to see him get his
5:32
Speaker 6: first NHL point with his family in the stads. Fantastic.
5:36
Speaker 6: What'd you think of Ryan Lincoln's game tonight. Well, he's
5:39
Speaker 6: just all heart all the time, you know, a huge
5:41
Speaker 6: block at the end. You know, that's what he does
5:44
Speaker 6: for us. He you know, he defends hard and then
5:47
Speaker 6: he gives us everything he has.
5:48
Speaker 3: Lane you write her he seems like a penolster guy
5:51
Speaker 3: for shooting.
5:53
Speaker 5: A kidding to puck the stretch the third he scored
5:55
Speaker 5: were just getting the pucks, didn't just in anything.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean that's you know, I just think that,
6:01
Speaker 6: you know, we we continue to talk about it. We
6:04
Speaker 6: didn't have enough shot attempts in the first two periods
6:07
Speaker 6: and you know r D did a way better job
6:11
Speaker 6: in the third period. Riker. You know, it was a
6:13
Speaker 6: great play by Katon to get it to him in
6:15
Speaker 6: the middle and a great screen by Shane Wright.
6:18
Speaker 5: I heard paying her to saying to you that Jane
6:20
Speaker 5: was a treasure. And for your younger guys, what did
6:24
Speaker 5: Jade do for you that.
6:26
Speaker 6: He shows them how the game is played, how the
6:28
Speaker 6: game is supposed to be played, the importance of the
6:31
Speaker 6: little details and winning battles and hard areas. Great goal
6:36
Speaker 6: by him to you know, to cap off come back.
6:38
Speaker 5: Along those lines. The goals weren't always pretty, but they
6:41
Speaker 5: don't have to be.
6:42
Speaker 6: Doing No, they don't. And you know we you know,
6:46
Speaker 6: we're we're a team that has to shoot and get
6:50
Speaker 6: so so called greasy goals and we did. And you
6:53
Speaker 6: know that's the NHL right now anyways. You know there's
6:56
Speaker 6: there's some nice goals, yes, but there's a lot of
6:58
Speaker 6: goals that are scored just like that. Would you think
7:00
Speaker 6: of that third line combination with Freddie Berkeley, Shane there
7:03
Speaker 6: and how they kind of went. I thought they played well.
7:05
Speaker 6: I thought Shane was good tonight. I thought he was skating.
7:09
Speaker 6: I thought he was hard on tucks. Berkeley is uh
7:13
Speaker 6: is getting better every game. He's got a lot of talent.
7:16
Speaker 6: I thought Freddy played well as well. So I think
7:18
Speaker 6: the line was good. You know, you know, I'll see
7:23
Speaker 6: where we go from here, but it was good luck.
7:25
Speaker 1: All right, Getting too gay matters here as far as
7:27
Speaker 1: we look at the other side right now And joined
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Speaker 1: by Josh gets Off, our friend here of this drop.
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Speaker 1: He is a TV voice for the Pittsburgh Penguins on
7:34
Speaker 1: Sports Net Pittsburgh, joining us once again here for cracking
7:38
Speaker 1: this morning. Josh, great to hear from you. I hope
7:40
Speaker 1: you're holding up well, my friend. I realized that, you know,
7:43
Speaker 1: you went through a pretty challenging moment last month with health,
7:47
Speaker 1: but Howard matters holding up here for you these days.
7:51
Speaker 5: Yeah, Mike, great talking to you. Good to be back
7:54
Speaker 5: with you. I always enjoy our chats before the pens
7:56
Speaker 5: and crack and get it on. But yeah, I'm feeling great.
8:00
Speaker 5: I see. I felt, you know, pretty much great since
8:03
Speaker 5: the incident last month at Anaheim. Essentially the lesson that
8:09
Speaker 5: I would pass along to anybody who, uh not even
8:12
Speaker 5: the broadcasting world, just essentially stay hydrated and take care
8:15
Speaker 5: of your body when you travel because it can catch
8:18
Speaker 5: up to you without even realizing. And that's that's what
8:21
Speaker 5: happened to me. So, uh, you know, grateful that I
8:23
Speaker 5: was in really great hands out there between Penguins and
8:27
Speaker 5: Duck's medical staff and then the crew and U c
8:31
Speaker 5: I and Irvine. Was was unbelievable. So yeah, it was,
8:35
Speaker 5: it was. I was lucky to be where I was,
8:37
Speaker 5: but glad to put it past me.
8:39
Speaker 6: Man.
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Speaker 1: Water is so much a thing where we take for
8:42
Speaker 1: granted here, but it's so important, especially for us these days.
8:45
Speaker 1: But I'm glad to hear that you're doing all right.
8:48
Speaker 1: And many of us were certainly in your corner every
8:51
Speaker 1: step of the way here and uh, you know, before
8:53
Speaker 1: I jump into the hockey matters here, I mean you're
8:55
Speaker 1: you're a fit guy at age thirty seven. I mean me,
8:57
Speaker 1: I I love my workouts. I I do would at home.
9:00
Speaker 1: I go to a local gym Clickway Athletics out here,
9:03
Speaker 1: who we have a great partnership with. But I mean,
9:05
Speaker 1: what's your go to as far as sustaining yourself here
9:08
Speaker 1: for a long season.
9:11
Speaker 5: I yeah, I love I love cardio. I'm a big
9:15
Speaker 5: biker in the summers. I really I cycle a ton.
9:17
Speaker 5: I lost, you know, hundreds of miles on my bike
9:21
Speaker 5: outside of Pittsburgh. It's just something I like to do
9:23
Speaker 5: to get outside and you can really disconnect and get
9:26
Speaker 5: on these long trails and just be out, you know,
9:29
Speaker 5: kind of in the wilderness in the woods, and Pittsburgh
9:31
Speaker 5: has a bunch of trails that can take you up
9:34
Speaker 5: into the you know, Western Pennsylvania mountains and stuff like that.
9:37
Speaker 5: It's it's really cool. So in season it's the same
9:40
Speaker 5: kind of thing. I mean, it's slightly more boring because
9:44
Speaker 5: you're on a stationary bike. But if you can find
9:47
Speaker 5: a good show or you know, link up a peloton
9:49
Speaker 5: or something like that. I find myself really, you know,
9:53
Speaker 5: gravitated to those kinds of things. But the treadmill to
9:56
Speaker 5: put it on an inclined same deal, find a show
9:59
Speaker 5: I don't like for that much. So I'll just do
10:01
Speaker 5: like a heavy inclined walk for an extended period of time,
10:04
Speaker 5: and you know, then other than that just waits when
10:08
Speaker 5: when I want to mix it in. But I definitely
10:10
Speaker 5: try to get in the gym, especially when we're traveling,
10:12
Speaker 5: trying to get in the gym, you know, four days
10:14
Speaker 5: a week or so and the rest just you know,
10:18
Speaker 5: get those steps in and stay on top of it.
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Speaker 1: Well, you dropped something I thought that was important. Because
10:23
Speaker 1: of how much you love to bike. We have to
10:26
Speaker 1: get you out at some point this next summer here
10:29
Speaker 1: to this area in the Pacific Northwest, in the great outdoors.
10:33
Speaker 1: Maybe I could join you and we do another dueling
10:35
Speaker 1: game day question of the Day thing for Instagram.
10:37
Speaker 5: Sound good, that sounds awesome. That'd be the most extreme
10:40
Speaker 5: one but I've ever done.
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Speaker 1: So I mean that it knows no bounds, and we're
10:44
Speaker 1: always about tackling new horizons here. But onto the hockey
10:47
Speaker 1: side of things, The Penguins had a magical, memorable trip
10:51
Speaker 1: overseas out to Sweden. The experience, how do you crystallize it?
10:57
Speaker 1: And at this point of the year as well, how
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Speaker 1: close are we to call in the Penguins now for real?
11:03
Speaker 5: Josh, Well, I'll answer your first part. First question first,
11:06
Speaker 5: that the Sweden trip was. I didn't know really what
11:09
Speaker 5: to expect, Mike, like, we went out there. I knew
11:12
Speaker 5: we were calling the Penguins game and also calling it
11:14
Speaker 5: for the World feed, which I was excited about that opportunity.
11:17
Speaker 5: But I had never been to Stockholm, I'd never been
11:21
Speaker 5: to Sweden, never been to Scandinavia, so I was I
11:26
Speaker 5: was eager to see what it was all about. And
11:27
Speaker 5: what I can tell you is it was beautiful. It
11:30
Speaker 5: was incredible. The people were awesome, the food was incredible,
11:34
Speaker 5: the scenery and the history was remarkable. Honestly, being able
11:38
Speaker 5: to walk around and uh do some of the museums
11:41
Speaker 5: in some of the downtime, tried to really just do
11:44
Speaker 5: as much as I could, because, let's be real, how
11:47
Speaker 5: are we ever, or how do you know if you're
11:48
Speaker 5: ever going to be at back in a situation like that?
11:52
Speaker 5: And it was it was just awesome. I will say
11:54
Speaker 5: that one thing that dawned on me and I've I've
11:57
Speaker 5: been lucky enough to go to Europe once prior in
11:59
Speaker 5: my life, sorry two times prior in my life. But
12:02
Speaker 5: the thing that dawns on you when you're over there
12:05
Speaker 5: is we have so much history in the United States,
12:07
Speaker 5: but it's such a baby book of history compared to
12:11
Speaker 5: stuff in Europe. You know, going into buildings that were
12:14
Speaker 5: building the fifteen hundreds, seeing you know, Viking warships that
12:19
Speaker 5: were unearthed from the Baltic Sea in sixteen hundred, it's cool.
12:23
Speaker 5: It kind of puts things in perspective. And you know,
12:26
Speaker 5: the people there were so eager and frondly to show
12:28
Speaker 5: us their culture. And I can't say enough good things.
12:32
Speaker 5: It was awesome. But as far as the Penguins are concerned,
12:35
Speaker 5: you know, they get three out of four points there
12:38
Speaker 5: after playing, by their own emission, a pretty bad game.
12:41
Speaker 5: In the first of the two games against the predators
12:44
Speaker 5: there in Sweden, they get three out of four points,
12:46
Speaker 5: and I think, honestly, to answer your question about are
12:49
Speaker 5: they for real, I do think they are because they're
12:53
Speaker 5: playing a style of game that's sustainable. They roll four lines,
12:57
Speaker 5: they have great depth. As far as the scoring is concerned,
13:00
Speaker 5: They've gotten extremely good goaltending, seemingly regardless of who's been
13:04
Speaker 5: in and that has been a welcome change of pace
13:07
Speaker 5: from the last few years, where you know, between Tristan, Jarry,
13:11
Speaker 5: Alex and Delkovich, the All Bloomquist, whoever else you want
13:14
Speaker 5: to throw in there, it just simply hasn't been good
13:16
Speaker 5: enough to the Penguins when they needed those stops and games,
13:19
Speaker 5: and it's it's been a different story this year. And
13:22
Speaker 5: the three goals that have played, she lost, Jari and
13:25
Speaker 5: Urasha all deserved time marks for that. But you know,
13:29
Speaker 5: they're really banged up right now. This this break they're
13:32
Speaker 5: on where they have played two games in twelve days
13:34
Speaker 5: around the Sweden s trip is huge for them because they're
13:37
Speaker 5: mission seven regulars, including Jari and Ricard Raquel, and I
13:42
Speaker 5: would not expect either of those guys to be back
13:44
Speaker 5: Saturday night. But they've managed to tread one or find
13:48
Speaker 5: their way to get points and play really well in
13:50
Speaker 5: the team concept, so I think it's sustainable. The only
13:54
Speaker 5: problem is my when you look at the standings, even
13:56
Speaker 5: if you dropped two in a row, you could dip
13:58
Speaker 5: pretty quickly, Oh yeah, so they're hanging on, but they're
14:02
Speaker 5: in the mix, that's for sure.
14:03
Speaker 1: That's the crazy part about all of this is there's
14:06
Speaker 1: so much parody, and unless your name is a Colorado
14:08
Speaker 1: Avalanche or the Calgary Flames, there is still a lot
14:12
Speaker 1: of musical chairs going on right now in this league,
14:15
Speaker 1: and things can certainly change in a heartbeat. I want
14:18
Speaker 1: to ask you about a young kid named Benjamin Kendall,
14:22
Speaker 1: picked in the first round, still here at eighteen years
14:25
Speaker 1: of age at the NHL level, and the only guy
14:27
Speaker 1: who has played more games than him in his draft
14:30
Speaker 1: class is Matthew Schaeffer. What's ben kindall all about? How
14:35
Speaker 1: valuable has he been this season? And what's his future?
14:38
Speaker 5: Well, he is an impressive young man. Let me first
14:41
Speaker 5: start with that. This is a kid that you mentioned,
14:43
Speaker 5: eighteen years old. He gets picked eleventh overall by the Penguins,
14:47
Speaker 5: and I'm not going to pretend, Mike, there's a lot
14:49
Speaker 5: of people who love to have revisionist history and say
14:52
Speaker 5: they knew that he could pop and all this kind
14:54
Speaker 5: of stuff. I had no idea who Ben Kendall was
14:57
Speaker 5: when the Penguins drafted him. We had read a bunch
15:00
Speaker 5: about the prospects. It was a rare situation where the
15:03
Speaker 5: Penns had a couple first round picks. You know, think
15:06
Speaker 5: about from our perspective, a team and an organization that
15:09
Speaker 5: had no first round picks for most of the recent drafts,
15:13
Speaker 5: they have multiple and this one was exciting. But you're
15:15
Speaker 5: reading about different guys and you're trying to find connections
15:19
Speaker 5: and fits within the Penguins front office and their management
15:22
Speaker 5: group into how guys in certain leagues they draw it
15:25
Speaker 5: to them. So Ben Kindall was not really on the
15:28
Speaker 5: radar for a lot of us in the media, but
15:30
Speaker 5: what I can tell you is he was very much
15:32
Speaker 5: on the radar for Kyle Dubas and West Park, the
15:36
Speaker 5: director of player developed or player personnel for the Penguins
15:39
Speaker 5: who do this, brought over with him from Toronto with
15:41
Speaker 5: his time in the Maple Leafs. Basically, they had Kindle
15:46
Speaker 5: as a top five player in this draft, so when
15:48
Speaker 5: he came down to number eleven, they were taking him
15:51
Speaker 5: and there was no question about it. Kindall's not the
15:55
Speaker 5: biggest guy. He's not going to blow you away with
15:57
Speaker 5: it strong, and he is so smart, probably best exemplified
16:03
Speaker 5: by the fact that he's had some time to play
16:05
Speaker 5: with Sidney Crosby, but where you're gonna see him, provided
16:08
Speaker 5: there's no injury prior to this game against the Crack
16:11
Speaker 5: and on Saturdays Penguins of course, of the Duke played
16:13
Speaker 5: Friday night against Minnesota where you're gonna see him as
16:17
Speaker 5: in the third line center position. And that's been the
16:19
Speaker 5: best version of ben kindall this year that the Penguins
16:22
Speaker 5: have seen, because he's a natural centerman and he's been
16:27
Speaker 5: able to drive offense and so in time and possession
16:31
Speaker 5: with the third line and getting some really really beneficial
16:34
Speaker 5: matchups because when you have Sidney Crosby and if Denny
16:36
Speaker 5: Malkin going the way they are on your top two lines,
16:39
Speaker 5: that third line is gonna get some some situations where
16:42
Speaker 5: they can take advantage of. And to his credit, he
16:44
Speaker 5: has so I think you'll see that's a really smart player.
16:48
Speaker 5: He makes a lot of nice little plays that are
16:50
Speaker 5: above his age range. I think I don't think he's
16:53
Speaker 5: plaiting the call their conversation, but you mentioned the game's
16:56
Speaker 5: played like he's sticking around. He's not going anywhere this year,
17:00
Speaker 5: going to play this year in Pittsburgh, and he's shown
17:02
Speaker 5: himself to be a real fine by do this in
17:07
Speaker 5: Clark and the group here in Pittsburgh during this pass
17:11
Speaker 5: dude's draft.
17:12
Speaker 1: It's just crazy because when he was born Sydney, Crosby
17:15
Speaker 1: was already in his second season as an NHL forward.
17:19
Speaker 1: Here he is now at age thirty eight. If Guinny
17:21
Speaker 1: Malkin's at age thirty nine, and we're talking about maybe
17:25
Speaker 1: a passing of the torch here very very soon for
17:28
Speaker 1: this Penguins franchise. For as good as this team is
17:31
Speaker 1: playing right now, what's the vision this season for a
17:34
Speaker 1: couple of veterans and future Hall of famers in Crosby
17:37
Speaker 1: and Malkin.
17:38
Speaker 5: Well, what I can tell you is what they've told
17:41
Speaker 5: me and what we've heard is that these two guys
17:44
Speaker 5: they understand the frustration and honestly the desire by those
17:48
Speaker 5: outside of Pittsburgh to have them playing in the playoffs.
17:51
Speaker 5: If they're not going to make it, hey, like, why
17:53
Speaker 5: wouldn't you, Right, these are two of the greatest players
17:55
Speaker 5: in the history of hockey. You know, in Crosby's case,
17:57
Speaker 5: he could make the argument with what he's checking off wise,
18:00
Speaker 5: that he could be a top five player of all
18:02
Speaker 5: time when it's when it's all said and done. But
18:06
Speaker 5: I think these these guys understand that the last couple
18:10
Speaker 5: of years have been difficult for them. They've been difficult
18:13
Speaker 5: for the Penguins, and when you don't win, like Sidney
18:16
Speaker 5: Crosby said this summer in a couple of different interviews,
18:18
Speaker 5: then that's when these questions start to pop up. And
18:21
Speaker 5: you know, I think the one thing I will say
18:23
Speaker 5: is the way this season has started and you still
18:25
Speaker 5: you know, you're barely at the quarter pole right now,
18:27
Speaker 5: as you know, Mike, But the way this season has started,
18:31
Speaker 5: it's quieted a lot of those conversations. I think if
18:35
Speaker 5: the Penguins had the record and reverse of what they
18:37
Speaker 5: have right now, like as many losses as they do wins,
18:41
Speaker 5: then perhaps there'd be a little bit more noise and
18:44
Speaker 5: a little bit more traction to those conversations, at least
18:47
Speaker 5: like from the external perspective. But you're not hearing anything
18:51
Speaker 5: right now, and I think the Penguins understand that. You know,
18:55
Speaker 5: they're in a situation where they're playing pretty well. These
18:58
Speaker 5: two guys are so key, such key cogs, they should say,
19:02
Speaker 5: and have been for so long, and neither of them
19:05
Speaker 5: want to leave. That's the other aspect of it. So
19:08
Speaker 5: they're playing like that right now, which is encouraging for
19:11
Speaker 5: a lot of reasons. So I still would be floored
19:15
Speaker 5: if either of those guys played in a different jersey
19:17
Speaker 5: other than the Penguins in their NHL career, and I
19:21
Speaker 5: don't expect that to change this season.
19:23
Speaker 1: Although Tristan Jerry's heart, he's been playing better. Archer, she
19:27
Speaker 1: loves new to the fold here, He's grabbed the most starts.
19:30
Speaker 1: He's playing great overall. Why is Peingma's goaltending better this year?
19:36
Speaker 5: It's a good question. I think you know, the team
19:38
Speaker 5: is definitely defending better in front of them. I think
19:41
Speaker 5: it's a it's a full group effort for that. But
19:44
Speaker 5: the other side of it is, I just think these
19:47
Speaker 5: guys have really bought into the plan that's been laid
19:50
Speaker 5: out for them by Andy Kyoto, the goaling coach, and
19:55
Speaker 5: Dan Mues, the head coach of this team, in the
19:57
Speaker 5: sense of there is no number one here, and sometimes
20:01
Speaker 5: that's an ego check to guys, and they don't know
20:03
Speaker 5: how to handle not getting to start every night, or
20:05
Speaker 5: not knowing when you know that they're going to get
20:08
Speaker 5: a run of five or six games. The aspect here
20:11
Speaker 5: is these guys know when they're gonna play, and I
20:13
Speaker 5: think that's gone a long way mentally for them to
20:15
Speaker 5: be locked in and ready, Like you're probably gonna see
20:18
Speaker 5: Sergai Mihrashov on Saturday night unless Tristan Jari is healthy
20:22
Speaker 5: and he has been skating. But I just find it
20:24
Speaker 5: hard to believe you jump in in that game on
20:27
Speaker 5: Saturday night. The Kraken are probably gonna see Sergai Mirrashop
20:30
Speaker 5: because if this rotation continues, then Arthur Sheilobs will start
20:33
Speaker 5: against Minnesota on Friday, and that's really how it's constance.
20:38
Speaker 5: Opening Night. There was one stretch of two games this
20:41
Speaker 5: year where Arthur she Lobs played back to back games.
20:44
Speaker 5: It was against Washington and New Jersey a couple weeks
20:47
Speaker 5: back when they had recalled Sergei Mirrashot from the American
20:50
Speaker 5: League with Jari hurt. But that consistency, I think has
20:54
Speaker 5: allowed these guys, even though they're not playing every game,
20:57
Speaker 5: to feel the rhythm almost like they are like you
20:59
Speaker 5: know when your next starts coming, you know who you're
21:01
Speaker 5: starting against. You're able to be totally prepared and focus
21:05
Speaker 5: on that game and not anything more than that, and
21:08
Speaker 5: it's worked. I mean, she Lobs has been exceptional, Jari
21:11
Speaker 5: was off to the best start that he's had in
21:13
Speaker 5: a long time here, and Murrashov looks like the real deal.
21:16
Speaker 5: So the Penguins who have gone from a team you know,
21:19
Speaker 5: there was a lot of question about goaltending suddenly have
21:21
Speaker 5: almost too much of it when you trickle it down
21:24
Speaker 5: to the Ahl level as well, with Joel Bloomquist back
21:28
Speaker 5: and healthy, and Philip Larson's another guy they really like too,
21:31
Speaker 5: So they have an embarrassment of riches right now, right
21:35
Speaker 5: now being the operative part of that sentence. But I
21:39
Speaker 5: do think that it's been it's been a big booy
21:42
Speaker 5: from the rotation. You know that that has helped things
21:45
Speaker 5: steady and helped guys kind of settle into knowing what
21:48
Speaker 5: they need to do to make this team be successful.
21:51
Speaker 1: Hey, Josh, finally a lot of us here in this
21:53
Speaker 1: area around the Puges Sound and a lot of joy
21:55
Speaker 1: seeing Ron Francis get his enshrinment here for the Penguins
21:59
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame. Just go back and tell us more
22:01
Speaker 1: of what you enjoyed about that evening scene, Ron, back
22:04
Speaker 1: of the building with so many familiar faces.
22:07
Speaker 5: Yeah, well, I'll tell you what you guys know better
22:08
Speaker 5: than me, but holy smokes, aside from the gray hair,
22:11
Speaker 5: he looks exactly the same. He's unaged. It is face.
22:17
Speaker 5: I wish I could have that kind of DNA to
22:19
Speaker 5: do that. As I get older, I don't feel like
22:21
Speaker 5: I'm gonna have as much luck. But he is obviously,
22:25
Speaker 5: you know, this is a guy that it's kind of funny.
22:28
Speaker 5: I feel like is so underrated, right, Like we think
22:31
Speaker 5: about his career and statistically the points, Like when Sidney
22:35
Speaker 5: Crosby hit seventeen hundred points a couple of weeks back,
22:38
Speaker 5: we ran down on our broadcast and nine other guys
22:41
Speaker 5: in NHL history that had hit it, and one of
22:43
Speaker 5: them is Francis. Like this, this is a guy that
22:47
Speaker 5: is as the lead of a point producer and was
22:49
Speaker 5: such a skilled centerman for some of those great Penguins teams.
22:53
Speaker 5: And not just the Penguins, I mean you think about
22:55
Speaker 5: the other teams he played for. He led Carolina to
22:57
Speaker 5: the final, Yeah, you know he had run there with
23:00
Speaker 5: obviously he was with Hartford as well, Like he's he's
23:04
Speaker 5: he's an incredible player and was well deserved for that
23:08
Speaker 5: Hall of fame not but that the coolest part about
23:10
Speaker 5: it was, you know, Penguins are an organization obviously have
23:14
Speaker 5: the name recognition, they have the history, and they have
23:16
Speaker 5: the star power. And they really brought this Hall of
23:19
Speaker 5: Fame thing back this year. I mean it's it's been
23:21
Speaker 5: in existence, but they haven't named a class to it
23:24
Speaker 5: since twenty thirteen. And it was Kyle Dubis who really
23:29
Speaker 5: leaned into it and said, this is, you know, a
23:31
Speaker 5: proud organization and we need to you need to recognize
23:34
Speaker 5: our past. And even though a lot of the obvious
23:36
Speaker 5: names have already been enshrined to it, there's still a
23:39
Speaker 5: few that deserve their moment. And so this started that
23:42
Speaker 5: there's gonna be a whole new class next year that
23:44
Speaker 5: they announced it's gonna have. You know, Chris Kunitz is
23:47
Speaker 5: in it. I can't remember who else off the top
23:50
Speaker 5: of my head, but there's a few other guys that
23:51
Speaker 5: are going to go in next year. But there's you know,
23:55
Speaker 5: they they didn't honor to Mike Lang and had a
23:58
Speaker 5: whole little area in the Hall of Fame and that's
24:00
Speaker 5: dedicated to him and his set up, his legendary set
24:04
Speaker 5: up with the briefcase and the you know, note sheet
24:07
Speaker 5: and the ballpoint ten and of course they have the
24:09
Speaker 5: pack of cigarettes and the jackets two came as any detail,
24:13
Speaker 5: but listen, like, it just was really cool to be
24:16
Speaker 5: around those guys and you think about the people that
24:19
Speaker 5: were here that night. I mean, Kevin Stevens during his
24:23
Speaker 5: heyday was arguably the best power forward hockey and certainly
24:27
Speaker 5: one of the best in Penguin's history. And obviously we
24:31
Speaker 5: just talked about Ron Francis, but then he had Scottie
24:33
Speaker 5: Bowman here is just a living legend. And Eddie Johnston,
24:37
Speaker 5: who is the one. You know, he's famous in Pittsburgh
24:40
Speaker 5: for being the guy who led the tank job to
24:43
Speaker 5: drafting Mario, but he also was then the guy who
24:46
Speaker 5: was the GM for all those subsequent years that led
24:48
Speaker 5: up to Craig Patrick taking over and the team winning
24:51
Speaker 5: back to back Cups in ninety one and ninety two.
24:53
Speaker 5: And let's not forget he also before he came to
24:55
Speaker 5: Pittsburgh was a pretty darn good goaltender for the Boston
24:58
Speaker 5: Bruins and their Stanley Cup fronts. So yeah, it was
25:02
Speaker 5: just it was really cool to see all those guys
25:04
Speaker 5: and be around them, have the opportunity to interact with them,
25:09
Speaker 5: and you know, see how much it meant to them
25:12
Speaker 5: to look back on a moment in their career. For some,
25:14
Speaker 5: you know, a smaller blip than others, like Scottie Bowman.
25:17
Speaker 5: Most people don't think of him with the Penguins, but
25:20
Speaker 5: he needs a lot of people here for what he
25:22
Speaker 5: did in ninety one and ninety two, in ninety three
25:25
Speaker 5: for that matter. I know the team lost in the playoffs,
25:27
Speaker 5: but they won the President's Trophy with him as the
25:29
Speaker 5: head coach. So I just think those guys, their their
25:33
Speaker 5: contributions are immeasurable and it's going to be cool to
25:36
Speaker 5: see that Hall of Fame just reignite and develop here
25:39
Speaker 5: over the coming years.
25:40
Speaker 1: What a who's who class that got in here this year,
25:43
Speaker 1: a big part of a golden era of Penguins. HOKEI, Josh,
25:47
Speaker 1: you had a front row seat here to all of this,
25:48
Speaker 1: certainly a privileged and hey, privilege here to have you
25:51
Speaker 1: join us here as well. But end of you for
25:53
Speaker 1: back to back beginning of it here for the crack inside. Josh,
25:57
Speaker 1: thanks so much. I have a great show and looking
25:59
Speaker 1: forward to this you very very soon around here.
26:01
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think we're out there in mid January. KS,
26:04
Speaker 5: So I look forward to seeing you at that one circle.
26:06
Speaker 5: Will always enjoy coming back to Seattle, but great talking
26:09
Speaker 5: to you and I enjoy the game.
26:10
Speaker 1: Big thanks, Josh, appreciate you for joining us here. The
26:13
Speaker 1: Penguins now back after the NHL Global Series in Sweden,
26:17
Speaker 1: and they will be finishing off a back to back
26:20
Speaker 1: after a decisive five nothing loss last evening to the
26:24
Speaker 1: Minnesota Wild. The Kracking trying to improve in an all
26:27
Speaker 1: time record of six and two head ahead against Pittsburgh
26:30
Speaker 1: and three and one all time at PPG paint Serena.
26:34
Speaker 1: A couple of milestones the Kraken closing in on with
26:37
Speaker 1: Jamie Alexiak just getting past his seven hundredth career NHL game,
26:41
Speaker 1: Vince Dunn needs two more points to reach three hundred
26:45
Speaker 1: for his NHL career. Mason Marchman also two points away
26:49
Speaker 1: from reaching a milestone, that being two hundred points in
26:53
Speaker 1: his NHL career. Not to mention, of course, this game's
26:56
Speaker 1: got plenty of crossover as far as these two teams
26:59
Speaker 1: Jared McKay and Jamie Alexiak Freddie Gaudreaux. Of course, one's
27:02
Speaker 1: playing for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray unfortunately missing this trip. Of course,
27:06
Speaker 1: he's on injured reserve. With more connections upstairs Crack and
27:10
Speaker 1: GM Jason botterrel working previously in the Penguins front office
27:14
Speaker 1: from two thousand and seven to twenty seventeen, and of
27:18
Speaker 1: course there's Ron Francis, the Krack and President of Hockey Operations,
27:22
Speaker 1: newly inducted into the Penguins Hall of Fame, a place
27:25
Speaker 1: where he won a pair of Stanley Cup Championships in
27:28
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety one and nineteen ninety two in back to
27:32
Speaker 1: back fashion. We got a lot to cover as the
27:35
Speaker 1: Kraken trying to get their record above five hundred on
27:38
Speaker 1: the road and get two out of three on this
27:40
Speaker 1: road trip facing Pittsburgh. It's gonna go down to four
27:43
Speaker 1: pm Pacific time today from PPG Paints Arena airtime coverage
27:47
Speaker 1: of three point thirty and we certainly hope that you
27:49
Speaker 1: can join us here for the first game of a
27:52
Speaker 1: back to back with the Kraken on Long Island tomorrow
27:55
Speaker 1: to wrap up the road trip against the Islanders. Big
27:59
Speaker 1: thank you again to Josh guest Zot for joining us
28:01
Speaker 1: after Kracking this morning. I'm Mike Benton. Enjoy the game, You're.
28:04
Speaker 2: Home for the kracking. Sports Radio ninety three point three
28:08
Speaker 2: k j R FM