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First Call: Penguins don't need wingers, Flyers heat up, Super not super

Tim Benz
| Tuesday, February 5, 2019 9:33 a.m.
In today's "First Call," Jim Rutherford may not be in the market for any wings at the trade deadline. The Flyers are heating up. Super Bowl ratings weren't super.

GMJR on hold

Pittsburgh Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford was on 105.9 The X on Monday. He said that acquiring a winger before the Feb. 25 trade deadline "shouldn't be necessary."

Rutherford insists that after trading Derick Brassard to Florida for Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann, the team will be deep enough up front. He says that theory will become evident when the Penguins get Evgeni Malkin and Zach Aston-Reese back from injury.

"Once we're 100 percent healthy, we should have 12 forwards that can move up and down the lineup," Rutherford told Mark Madden. "If you pointed out a winger and the deal was right, you don't walk away from it. It's not something that I'm making calls for every day to see what's out there."

Rutherford added that many wingers who would be worth acquiring would probably come with the price tag of a first-round pick going out the door in exchange, and he doesn't want to trade the team's first-round pick this year.

Hart is hot

Don't look now. But the Philadelphia Flyers are on fire. They have won eight in a row.

Their 20-year-old goalie Carter Hart has had a lot to do with that. He's won seven straight starts.

This save Monday night against Vancouver may have been his best so far.

Carter Hart can have my firstborn pic.twitter.com/x4l8sKjtyo

— aclee_ clips (@aclee_clips) February 5, 2019

That was Nikolay Goldobin who got robbed. Hart made 41 saves along the way and the Flyers won 4-1.

No points=no ratings

Either no one wanted to see the New England Patriots win again. Or everyone just wants to see points.

Because the Super Bowl TV ratings weren't good .

According to figures from Nielsen posted at ESPN.com, "Super Bowl LIII drew the smallest television audience in more than a decade."

It looks like that New Orleans boycott worked. Author Kevin Seifert went on to write, "Viewership was especially low in New Orleans, where only 26.1 percent of the market tuned into the game, according to Nielsen's overnight numbers — by far the lowest since New Orleans became a metered ratings market in 1998."

New Orleans is usually one of the higher rated Super Bowl markets.

Do it all

We have seen Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes play plenty of football.

We know he's got a good golf swing .

Now, how about a little basketball?

You thought Patrick Mahomes was just the NFL MVP? ?

(via @Faiz_Jiwani, @kheuzil) pic.twitter.com/MQpeMXLKZh

— ESPN (@espn) February 5, 2019

Any eligibility left, Pat? Can Jeff Capel use a transfer for next year?

Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@tribweb.com or via Twitter @TimBenzPGH. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.


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