Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Abysmal start dooms the Penguins in New Jersey

Episode Date: March 20, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins didn't play well against the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night and that's where Hunter starts Wednesday's episode. He's solo for the episode since Pat had to undergo surgery and starts the show with how bad of a start the Penguins have and rants about Ryan Graves again. Is there a way for the Penguins to bring him back for next season? How has it gotten this bad so fast? He analyzes how he got burned once again to start the game and what he needs to improve on. He then praises Sidney Crosby for at least doing what he can do to try and get the Penguins back in it and how his point-per-game streak is still intact. Finally, Hunter gives his pick for Warrior Helmet Wednesday, along with Pat's for this Wednesday.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!eBay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit at eBayMotos.com. Let’s ride. eBay Guaranteed Fit only available to US customers. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply.IndeedIndeed knows when you’re growing your own business, you have to make every dollar count. Visit Indeed.com/LOCKEDON to start hiring now. RobinhoodRobinhood has the only IRA that gives you a 3% boost on every dollar you contribute when you subscribe to Robinhood Gold. Now through April 30th, Robinhood is even boosting every single dollar you transfer in from other retirement accounts with a 3% match. Available to U.S. customers in good standing. Robinhood Financial LLC (member SIPC), is a registered broker dealer.SleeperDownload the Sleeper App and use promo code LOCKEDONNHL to get up to a $100 match on your first deposit. Terms and conditions apply. See Sleeper’s Terms of Use for details.GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase.FanDuelNew customers, join today and you’ll get TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS in BONUS BETS if your first bet of FIVE DOLLARS or more wins. Visit FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON to get started. FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires 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) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Penguins got what they deserved against the Devils on Tuesday night, and I'm going to discuss why, right after this. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Hunter Hodes.

You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. and normally this is where I would bring on my co-toast Patrick Dan. But Pat, he is not on today's episode. He just had his wisdom teeth taken out. So he is down bad, at least for today. We're hoping he's going to be back for the Thursday episode and especially the Friday episode. But for today, you're just getting me.

But of course, you can follow Pat on Twitter at Center for Wet. And you can follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Arnswear Penguins, of course, thank you all so much for making this. Your first listen slash watch today. We are freeing available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Game. Time down the game time app, crane account, and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. So let's jump right into it, Devil's Five, Penguins 2 in a game that the penguins really deserve to lose, especially with the way they started.

I hated that start. Those first two to three minutes, honestly, those first 30 seconds, I kind of felt like, okay, this looks like a typical penguin start in Newark, considering their history there. They have a sub 500 record in Newark. they usually never play well at the Rock at the Prudential Center, at least in Newark. And the Devils hit a post 30 seconds in. And again, right from that point, I knew this was probably going to be a very long night for the Penguins. And it all got started pretty poorly, a little over five minutes into the first period, where Dawson Mercer absolutely obliterated Ryan Graves coming into the Penguins defensive zone.

And I've watched that goal back several times now at this point. And I can't understand what the heck Graves was doing as Mercer was coming in. He gave him such a massive cushion as Mercer was bringing the puck into the Penguin's own zone. And then Graves was caught flat footed because he wasn't doing anything. The gap control I saw there, that's stuff you see in Pat's Beerley games, legitimately. That is not sound gap control for an NHL defenseman. It looks like someone who has absolutely no confidence. And I mean, he hasn't had any confidence all year just because Graves has been so bad.

And again, it's gotten to the point where I just don't know how you even bring him back next year at this point. I know it's way easier said than done. The contract is really long. He makes a lot of money. And, you know, the buyout would not obviously be good to say the least. But I just don't know how you move forward. with this player. I understand that this is by far the worst season of his career, but how much is he truly going to improve next year overall? I just don't see it. And he drags down basically everyone he

plays with on a nightly basis. For example, he's been getting minutes lately with Eric Carlson, right? And I don't know why Mike Sullivan continues to do that. You look at the data with Graves and Carlson together. Seven goals for, 12 goals against. But when Eric Carlson is on the ice without Ryan Graves as his defensive partner, 52 goals for 41 goals against. That's almost a 20% difference in terms of goals for percent. I'm not even getting into expected goals, high danger chances, scoring chances, shot attempts per 60. I'm just looking at actual goals for versus goals against. It does get a little bit better if Graves plays with Letang, 17 goals for, 14 goals against it, they're together. And then when Latang is on the ice without Graves as his partner, 46 goals,

four, 45 goals again. So it's a little bit better. But then when you go outside of the goals four and you look at scoring chances, high danger chances in Sean attempts per 60 minutes, Latang has higher numbers without Graves as his partner compared to Graves being his partner. He just doesn't fully work with either of the Penguins' top two defensemen, especially Eric Carlson. Now again, if you want to argue that he works at least better with Lettang, I will give that to you in terms of goals for because it's a lot better than his work with Carlson. And overall, if you stack the numbers together, even though Latang has better numbers away from Graves, Carlson's numbers away from Graves are that much better as well.

But overall, he just doesn't fully work with any of the top two defensemen on this team. And it's killing them on a nightly basis. This is why, again, I said this so many times throughout this season, they need another bona fide top four defensemen on this team for next season. They really have no choice in the matter but to go out and get one. How they do that, free agency, trade, the trade market is probably going to be the way to go, but you cannot have him playing top four minutes next to Eric Carlson or Chris LaTang for next season, just because he really hasn't been a fit for either.

of them this season. He obviously drags down one player more than the other, but in a perfect world, he should be on the bottom pairing. But you look at that bottom pairing right now with Ludwig and P.O. Joseph, their numbers together have actually not been terrible. They're above water and shot attempts, scoring chances, goals for high danger chances, all that good stuff. So I understand why Mike Selvin doesn't want to break up that pairing and move one of those two guys up to play with Chris Lettang, but you still need to get graves away from Carlson. If you want to put Graves with Letang for, I guess, the final 14 games of the season, just because this season is shocked at this point,

okay, whatever, you can figure out more of a long-term solution once the all-season gets underway. But you can't keep playing Graves and Carlson together. They are a massive disaster when they are on the ice together. And as the data shows, and as you can watch with your own eyes, Carlson plays a lot better when Graves is not his defensive partner. And one last thing on Ryan Graves, they just missed the eval. I mean, I said this several weeks ago with Pat on the show as well. They just didn't, they're not getting the return on investment.

And you know what? Sometimes that happens. But I just think they totally whiffed on the evaluation of this player, gave him way too much money, gave him way too much term. And I just don't think this is going to improve in the second, third, even fourth year of this contract. This isn't a Paul Martin or Sergey Gonchar situation or whatever. other situation you want to put out there.

Neither of those players were as bad in their first year as Ryan Graves has been this year. So I wanted to take time out of the first segment to really discuss his play last night just because it keeps getting worse. And this is a problem that is not going to be going away handing the all season unless they figure out a way to get out of that contract. Because right now, to me, again, I feel like they have no choice in the matter. They have to figure out somehow, some way to get out of this because I just don't see it improving that much for the rest of this contract. As for other stuff regarding this game, you know, the first period,

the devil's speed just gives the penguins so much trouble. I said it on the preview during the Tuesday episode with Pat. This is a matchup of the penguins have just not been able to win over the last couple of years. Even from the opening ship, the devils were taking it to the penguins. And this has been a devil's team that started really slow throughout the season. But nope, not when the penguins come to town. And it was a bit unfortunate to see the penguins start this way because of the way they started their previous two games. They come out really well against the Rangers and then especially even better against the Red Wings on Sunday.

You're like, okay, if you can keep putting together some decent starts, maybe somehow, some way you can climb a little further back in the race. But no, once you started the way you did and the devils were getting chance, after chance before Mercer put the puck in the back in the net at about the five, five and a half minute mark of the first period. All that went to poof. It's just, it's not good enough, especially when they know that their season is very much on life support.

You cannot come out flat like that against a team that is only one point behind you in the standings. And I thought the first period overall was just not good from the penguins. I like the way the penguins pushed back in the second. period, especially. I thought they were taking it to the Devils a little bit more in that period. Nice seeing Marcus Pedersen get another goal and what a rocket that was, by the way, really nice shot past Jake Allen and then also beautiful no look pass from Michael Bunzing. Love that, by the way. But after that, Evgeny Malcon takes that really ill-advised penalty. You just, you can't do that in that moment in a tie game. I know the devil's powerplay

hasn't been one of the best powerplay units this year. And I know the Penguins penalty kill has been one of the better units in the league, but you still can't take that penalty in that situation when you're carrying play, you just tie the game and you're looking for that next goal. Just not a good penalty to take. Devils make them pay, and they don't surrender the lead for the rest of the night.

They're trailing two to one, heading into the third, the Penguins, that is, and that was a kiss of death because the Penguins really didn't have much to offer in the third period. I understand Jake Allen played really well in this game, and yes, this is another game, for the penguins going up against a sub-900 goaltender where he plays out of his mind.

But you know what? You got tip your cap to those goalies sometimes. Jake Allen was amazing in this game. Even though Crosby and his line were cooking the devils that felt like every time they were out there, Alan was there to make the saves. His save with the stick in the first period on Crosby was absolutely unbelievable. And then Pedersen followed that up. And that shot hit the knob of Allen's stick.

Two great saves in row. than even in the second period when Crosby's line was continuing to feast in the offensive zone, Alan was just right there to make a save. It felt like it was only a matter of time before Cid's line was going to strike. And that line did. It was just at a point where it didn't really matter anymore, to be honest. But still, not a good enough effort overall. But that's not all I'm going to discuss for this game.

Coming up in the second segment, we're going to get into Trishon Jari's performance from this game. And yes, how Sidney Crosby continues. continued to be on pace for a point per game season. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about eBay Motors. Passion, drive, and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or die alive. eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle

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and bring home that wind. Keep your ride or die live at eBaymotors.com eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guarantee Fit is only available to you as customers. All right. We're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

No, Patrick Damp is not on this episode, but he will be back, my host that is, hopefully on Thursday. But if not Thursday, definitely on Friday as he recovers from getting his wisdom teeth taken out. But let's dive into more about this game against the Devils. And let's start again with Tristan Jari. I will again say that for most of this season,

Jari has been really good, especially in the first half of the year. He was one of the biggest reasons why the Penguins were in the playoff race. But I will say over these last couple of weeks, his play is definitely dipped a little bit. And that's, I think, being a bit nice. Only 868 in this game against the Devils. And I know the Penguins defensively were an absolute wreck in their own zone. But Jari was out to lunch quite often.

He was kind of flopping around in his net like a fish, way out of position, not being aggressive enough, just not good enough overall from the Penguin starting netminder. And I understand why you want to start him in this type of game. your seasons on life support, you want to go to your number one guy who's making over $5 million to try to keep your season going. But he wasn't able to answer the bell. And this is another start over these last couple of weeks where he hasn't been good enough. Honestly, in the month of March, I feel like Jari has been more bad than good.

And overall, in this month, 8,76, 8,7,000, 4.31 goals against average per game. Not good enough in the slightest. You start the month of March against Calgary, 800 say percentage. You have the game against Washington, 818 say percentage, though I know the Penguins really didn't show up in that game. In Edmonton, 905, say percentage. So that's, you know, okay. 906 against the Sharks, that's okay, but against the Rangers, 739 against the Devils, 868.

You did have his games against Columbus in there as well where I thought he was pretty solid. But for the most part, in the month of March, Jari has not been good enough. and it's unacceptable for someone who is making over $5 million for season. They keep saying, oh, we're in the race, oh, we're in the race. But you need your number one goaltender to be giving you, excuse me, better goaltending than 876. That's not going to win you most games in a month when you are trying to chase down teams who are in front of you.

You compare that same percentage to other months. You know, for example, February, he was 907. And then you have January, he was 904. So, you know, fine months, I would say. You add December. He was 909. November, 932. October, you know, he was kind of okay in that month.

893 towards the end. He had a little bit of a rough start. But November and December, especially, those were by far his two best months of the season. He's able to continue it a little bit in January and February. But the month of March, by far his worst month of the month. the season and it stinks because that's when the penguins have really needed him this season. As the penguins have been trying to get back into the race, they haven't been able to just because their goal tending has been falling flat in games.

And also Alex Hedilkitt. She started out the season Red Hot as well, but his play has also dipped a little bit down the stretch here. And that was always one of my biggest concerns overall with this team was because how long was that type of elite goal tending going to hold up. They were top five for a good chunk of the season, the Penguins, that is, in all situations, say percentage. But my biggest question continued to be,

how long was that going to continue? Because I don't think that was going to be the case for full season. Sure enough, that has occurred, and Jarrett and Adelkevich have kind of fallen a bit flat over the last several weeks. And I know this Penguins team is not the greatest defensive team, but their goalies have still left a little bit to be desired, especially Tristan Jari in the month of March.

And, you know, he's been fully healthy this season. Injuries have not really been an excuse, but I think he's been starting to wear down a little bit as, you know, we dive deeper and deeper into March. And so I think he'll have to work on that heading into next season if he's a starting netminder. And I assume he's going to. I don't think the Penguins are going to trade him during this offseason overall.

Outside of that, Sidney Crosby was a man possessed in this game once again. He got his point. and that's all I cared about from this game. I know the Penguins lost, but as long as Crosby got his point to continue to hopefully get him the point per game season to extend his streak, that's a win in my book, my friends,

but I thought he was a menace all night long. His line was actually one of the Penguins' best lines in this one. One goal for, one goal against. When they were on ice, the Penguins had nearly 56% of the expected goals, 50% of the scoring chances. It's funny, their best line overall, data-wise was the bunting Malkin Raquel line, which had 55% of the shot attempts, 50% of the

expected goals, 64% of the scoring chances. So in terms of scoring chances and shot attempts, by far the Gino line was the best, but we're talking expected goals, I would take the Crosby line for that because they felt like they were more threatening every time they were in the zone. And I continue to be impressed by Michael Buncing as well. That's another game added to the sample size with the Penguins. And as I discussed to over, open the show. That no look pass between his skates was a thing of beauty. I mean, I'd like to think that he knew Pedersen was going to be there. He probably didn't. But it was still really nice to see overall. And he continues to get more comfortable with the Penguins as each

game goes on. And I'm legitimately excited about him heading into next season. I don't really think there's anything else to discuss when it comes to this game against the devils. it's just really unfortunate that penguins were able to play like this with their season, continue to be on life support against the team that has really struggled as of late. Heading into this game, the Devils had lost two in a row in seven of their last 10 games. They start slow all the time. The Penguins were not able to jump all over them to start, and they just weren't ready for this game as a whole.

And it's annoying because they were great against the Red Wings. They were all over the Red Wings on Sunday. They were all over the Rangers to start before the Rangers punched back a couple of times. But what I liked in that game against the Rangers was that the penguins were able to strike back multiple times. The penguins were never able to do that in this game against the Devils. And they just continue to struggle against them. That's now seven straight losses against the Devils, whether it's in Newark where the Penguins almost never win,

or it's at PPG-Paints arena. And it doesn't even matter if Lindy Roth is the head coach or if Travis Green is the interim head coach. And I don't expect Travis Green to be the full-time head coach. coach at the end of the season. I think they're going to hire someone else, what the Penguins do, decide to part ways with Mike Sullivan. I could definitely see the devil's hiring him there. But again, not good enough by this team as a whole.

And it's not going to get any easier, my friends. They go to Dallas at the end of this week to take on one of the best teams in the Western Conference. And they go to Denver to take on, I think, the best team in the Western Conference overall, the Colorado Avalanche, who I think could be considered one of, if not the top favorite to win the Stanley Cup right now. So, yeah, this road trip is only going to get tougher for the Penguins as a whole. But that will do it for the second segment.

Coming up to end the show, it's Wednesday. You all know what that means. It's Warrior Helmet Wednesday time. I think Pat and I have the same pick. I actually had him text me his pick before I started recording. So we're going to give our picks to end the show right after this. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about game time. You shouldn't have to worry we're going to buy tickets to your next big event.

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create an account and use code locked on for $20 off your first purchase. Terms Apply. Again, crane account and redeem code locked on for $20 off. Download game time today. Last minute tickets, lowest price guarantee. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am one of your host, Hunter Hodes. Of course, you can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

coming to you all solo for this episode. Hopefully this is the only solo episode that I have to do this week and that Pat will be back on Thursday, but we'll have to see how he's feeling heading into tomorrow and then hopefully on Friday as well. But to end the show, it's Warrior Helmet time. I texted Pat before I started recording this episode to get his pick for the Warrior Helmet.

And sure enough, he had the same exact player that I had in mind for the Warrior Helmet. And that player is none other than Dalai Pustin. I think we both could have eased given this to Sidney Crosby with the way that he has woken up over the last week. But with how many times we've given the Warrior Helmet to Cid this season, I felt like it was only fair to give it to someone else, someone who has really been improving as the season has gone on. And that very much is Dalritory Pusin. I'll admit, I wasn't that high on him during

his first stint with the Penguins. I thought he still had a bit more room to grow as a player. That's why I felt like I was more okay with him going down to Wilkesbury to fine-tune his game a little bit. But once he came back from Wilkesbury, he has become a completely different player and is easily the best of all the players that have played down in Wilkesbury this season. This kid is the real deal and he is a legit, bona fide NHL player. He should never be sent down to Wilkesbury ever again. And the way that he has played over the last week has been awesome. He gets the goal against the Rangers to cut the deficit to six to four. in the third period.

Try to get the penguins at least a little bit back into that game. And then he gets a beautiful goal against the Red Wings this past week and a rocket of a wrist shot about 10 to 15 feet out from Alex Line, the Red Wings Netminder. And again, he just continues to play at another level right now. We all know how good he's been as a playmaker in the NHL he's starting his second stint this season. He's also been pretty solid away from the puck as well.

But he has one of the better shots. on this team, whether it's a slap shot, one-time or wrist shot, whatever, you want to put in there for him. And he needs to keep using it to his advantage because I truly think he is one of the best releases on this team. And outside of the city, who again, that's the easy choice for the Royal Helmet. I think Pustin has been the Penguins best player over the last week and has been trying to do everything in his power to keep the Penguins somehow alive or have their season on life support, whatever you want to call it. at this point in the season as we're into the end of March at this point.

I really like the fit that he's had on the line with Lars Eller and Riley Smith. It's nice that the penguins have found at least a semblance of a third line to end the season. I wish that they had went to this line a little earlier on this in the season, but I'm at least glad that they have a decent third line right now, even though it's more than likely too little too late for this team. But he easily gets my vote for the Warrior Helmet, and he definitely gets Pat's vote as well.

outside of that, there really isn't too much else to discuss when it comes to the Penguins Devils game. They got what they deserved at the end of the day, my friends. They didn't come out strong. They got burned five and a half minutes in. They had played a mostly really bad first period. They were able to get back in the game in the second, get that goal for Marcus Pedersen, who continues his very stellar season overall. But after Gino takes that penalty, it was just downhill from there. And you're not going to play like that and win most games in the NHL overall. just not good enough from the penguins once again. And I know they've been kind of there in quotation marks when it comes to the playoff race.

And I know no one even in front of them has really wanted to take charge and get that final wildcard spot in the Eastern Conference. But at this point, it's not going to be the Penguins. They're going to have to somehow go on a massive streak if they even want to get back into the race a lot more. And it's not going to happen at this point. So with only a handful games left, just root for Sidney Crosby to continue his point for game streak. And if the Penguins get some draft lottery luck, we'll be here to discuss that as well. But at this point for this team, too little too late, when you have an opportunity to beat a team that you're really close within the standings and potentially get two regulation points, you got to do it. And the Penguins weren't able to do it in this one.

And it's not going to get any easier the rest of this week. They go play Dallas, a star's team that is one of the best team. teams in the Western Conference. And then they go to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanchew. I think are the best team in the Western Conference and who I think right now are the team to be in the NHL. If they get Gabriel Landisog back in the playoffs, whether that's the first or second round, good luck to whoever plays them.

I think that is my top threat to win this Stanley Cup right now. And those two games, both on the road for the Penguins. So again, does not get any easier at all. But that will do it for this episode. thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Hopefully, Pat will be back with me on Thursday to get you all set for that game in Dallas and get to all the other news surrounding the Pittsburgh Penguins as well. If not, I'll be back solo for an episode for you all on Thursday,

and then Friday we'll again get you more set for that game against Dallas and then the game against the avalanche this upcoming weekend as well. Either way, we'll have two more episodes for you all this week, and then we'll have an episode next week to break down that game. against the avalanche but thank you all so much for tuning in we really appreciate it i'll be back and hopefully pat be back on thursday for another episode of the show until then we'll talk soon