Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Can Casey DeSmith continue to give the Pittsburgh Penguins this kind of goaltending?

Episode Date: April 21, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins got back into the win column on Thursday night as they took down the Boston Bruins, 4-0! Hunter starts out the show by diving into Jake Guentzel's historic night and how he continues to defy expectations year after year. He starts with his opening goal and how he sent Charlie Coyle to another dimension with the move that he pulled on him. It was a goal that showcased what Guentzel can do when he was the puck on his stick. He then touches on Casey DeSmith's performance and how this could be a big building block for him. Hunter looks at how the Penguins can win consistently in the playoffs if he can be this good (I know, it's A LOT to ask) but they do have the forward depth and the depth on defense to do it. Hunter also looks at the underlying numbers and argues that the Penguins still played fairly well, despite allowing 52 shots. Jason Zucker also found the scoresheet as he got his eighth goal of the season. If he keeps this up, can he also change the course of the Penguins heading into the playoffs? Hunter ponders that point before diving into the listener takeaways to end the show.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HelloFreshGo to HelloFresh.com/lockedon16 and use code lockedon16 for up to 16 free meals AND 3 free gifts.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Shady RaysEXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR LISTENERS, HEAD TO SHADYRAYS.COM AND USE CODE LOCKEDON TO GET FIFTY PERCENT OFF TWO OR MORE PAIRS OF POLARIZED SUNGLASSES.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, it turns out when a team gets a four-day break, it's almost like, wow, they come out more refreshed and they get a win. Well, that's exactly what happened tonight with the Pittsburgh Penguins, a 4-0 shutout win against the Boston Rooms. I have a full game recap coming up for you all right after this job. We're obviously going to get into Jake Gensel's hat trick, him hitting 40 goals. Casey DeSmith's really encouraging start. Jason Zulker getting on the score sheet, Y. 52 shots seems like a lot. but if you dive deep into the underlying numbers,

it's honestly not as bad as it looks. All of that, plus so much more coming up for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another episode

of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. Arnold's Square Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this year first list end of the day. So the Pittsburgh Penguins, as I said in my intro, they shut out the Boston Bruins Sport and nothing. They win the season series, two out of three.

They get a split in this very, almost this week-long home-and-home series, and the Penguins are now rightly in third place in Metropolitan Division. They have a two-point lead on the Capitals, though technically it is three. the penguins have the tiebreaker, 41 regulation overtime wins. The capital's up 38. That's probably, they're probably not going to be tied after that,

unless the Penguins, you know, they lose a bunch of these games. And Washington basically just wins out with their final five games. The Penguins schedule now is very favorable to, I think, clinch the number three spot in the Metro. You know, they have, obviously Philadelphia, Detroit this weekend, then Edmonton and then Columbus. But, you know, always I'm here to talk about the game tonight.

let's start with Jake Ansel. Just what a player. He is worth every penny on the contract that he has. It's honestly crazy that he only makes $6 million a year. If he would have hit the open market right now, he would probably make close to eight. Definitely would be well over seven, definitely I think over $7.5, at least in my opinion.

He's one of the five best pure goals scores in the NHL. He is the first player in the Sid Gino era, outside of those two to have multiple 40 plus goal seasons for the Penguins. So congratulations to him. He is such a special talent. What a find he was in the third round. The 2013 NHL draft, it's hard to believe that. A player from the Penguins pipeline is this good.

Because usually, you know, the Penguins prospect pool, it's not been good during the Cigino era. You know, just what a find Jake has been. and, you know, the goals tonight, excuse me, outside of the empty net one, that's just, you know, that's whatever. That first one was so beautiful. I mean, outside, inside, goes five whole on Jeremy Swam, and he made Charlie Coyle look like a peewee hockey player. They basically sent his corpse to another dimension. Just he had no chance of defending Jake on that.

Obviously, a great pass by Sidney Crosby to spring Jake. but the way that Gensel was able to score so many different goals in the league just goes to show how great of a player he is. He can score from in-tight. He can score on semi-breakaways. He can score from outside. Anywhere in the offensive zone, you have to beware of him because he'll make you pay. Even if it's a split second that he has, it's in the back of the net.

It's crazy that, you know, just teams really, you know, I know they have to go out of their way to game plan for both Evgeny Malkin and Sidney Crosby and Crystal Tang, but, you know, Jake should be and is rightfully in that group. He is that good of a player. He is so crucial to this team's success. And, you know, for those that have outset it so many times that he's the product of Sidney Crosby and all this other nonsense, you know, just watch him when he's away from Crosby because he has the same underlying numbers with it.

Gini Malkin and any other player, and he does with it. So just what a talent, what a season. Hopefully he'll be able to score a couple of goals in the playoffs, so I don't have to hear these stupid takes that, well, he should be traded going into next season. And, you know, he's not as physical and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. You know, some of these, remember people had him, you know, being shipped out for Matthew Kachuk of the Calgary Flames,

which would have been stupid. You know, I like Kachuk as a player, but, you know, if you're trading Jake Ensel to get him, you're losing that trade 100 out of 100 times, to say the least. So what a great game from him. I'm so happy that he's able to hit 40 goals again. He's honestly been robbed. He's got a couple of other seasons.

Remember, you know, he was going to hit 40. I believe this was, he got injured on New Year's Eve. I believe that was the 20, that was the shortened season, 2019, 20, had about 20, I think, I was there for that game, and I want to say he had about 23 goals at the time. He was on pace to go close to 50, I think, and that's when he shattered his collarbones, able to return after return to play, but was robbed of that. And then last year of the shortened season, he wasn't able to hit 40.

If that's an 82 game season, he also probably hits 40 there. So the fact that he already has two 40-plus goal seasons in his career since 2017, and the fact that it could be a lot more goes to show how great of a player he. So shout out to him. Another great game for him in a time where the penguins desperately needed him. They were coming off a four-day break. They needed to show something in this game. They don't want to get rolled over by another really good team.

And the penguins, you know, led by him tonight, you know, did exactly that. And they show that they are still one of the really good teams in the NHL. And again, it was all led by Jake Gensel. So shout out to him. He did a great job. And I also will, for this first segment, shout out Casey DeSmith. I tweeted this.

For those that don't follow me on Twitter, I'll say it here too. If the Penguins can get this level of goaltending from Casey to Smith in the playoffs is a tall task because this is a one-game sample size, and they're probably not going to face 50 plus shots in most playoff games. But if they do or if they maybe face something similar and DeSmith plays this good, they can win a playoff series or win playoff games.

until Tristan Jari is ready to come back. I 100% believe that. He was locked in like hell tonight. That was the best start. I think I've seen him have all season on a night that, you know, he needed to show the fan base that he can be the guy if needed for a few games, if not a series, because, of course, you know, Tristan has that broken bone in his phone. He's the number one goal tender when he's healthy,

but you still need a reliable number two that can come in here and win games. And, you know, he played very well. belt tonight against a Bruins team that, you know, they had one two in a row coming into this. They just took down the St. Louis Blues 3 to 2 on Tuesday night to end their nine game winning streak. Obviously, before they took down the Penguins in Boston. But, you know, we got to see this consistency from him down the stretch. And, you know, ever since that time in January where he was really bad, I have this stat here from Mike DeFib. I'm looking at my MacBook right now. In Casey DeSmith's first nine outings, 886 save percentage, 3.6 goals against average was

negative in goals saved above expected. Since then, in 14 starts, 922 save percentage, 2.25 goals against average, two shutouts in that span. He's also positive in goals saved above expected. That is much better. And again, the penguins can win with that level of goaltending. It's all a matter of can that version, what we've seen mostly lately from Casey to Smith, can that version of him show up against one of the three best teams in the Eastern Conference in the Florida Panthers, in the New York Rangers, and the Carolina Hurricanes? That is my main question for this team because this team right now, you know, they're about to hopefully be fully healthy at Ford and defense for the first time all

season. We're going to wait an update on Jeff Carter. He came back into the game, but then left with a nagging injury. Mike Sullivan says he's being evaluated. Who knows if he's going to play. this weekend. If he doesn't and doesn't play into the playoffs, he basically has almost two weeks to heal. Well, a week and a half. So if he's out, that's not the worst thing.

But again, you know, that is, I think, what's most important here, they have the forwards, they have the defense. Again, it all comes down to goaltending. They can get at least average to a little bit above average goaltending. They should be fine in a series. If not, and they get the goaltending that they've gotten the last few seasons in the playoffs, they will be one and done yet again. That's what comes down to it to me.

This was a big step in the right direction for me, at least with Casey to Smith, and he played his tail off tonight to say, so shout out to him. He's going to get one of the starts next week, and let's see if he can build off that. Again, he plays this way in the playoffs. The Penguins can win a lot of games with these kind of performances.

Just really nice job. Coming up in the next segment, we're going to get into the game as a whole, and why, even though the Bruins, had 52 shots, I didn't feel like they overall controlled the pace of the game. We're going to dive into the underlying numbers a little bit from the natural stratrix. Also going to some more individual performances that I thought really stood out to me tonight too. But before we get to that, let's get to Shady Ray's.

It's an independent sunglasses company that gives you the features of $200 sunglasses for a fraction of the price. That means polarized lenses, well-constructed durable frames, and premium high-end finishes. Also something you won't find anywhere else is Shady Ray's insane protection. program. Shady Raise includes lost and broken protection on every single pair. They will send you a brand new pair if you lose them no matter what happens. Give them a try and even if you don't love them, you'll pay nothing. It's as simple as that. Plus 10 meals are donated to fight hunger in America when you shop with Shady Raise exclusively for our listeners. You can head to ShadyRase.com and use code locked on to get 50% off two or more pairs of polarized sunglasses. That's code locked on

for their best deal of the season. 50% off two or more pairs of Shady raised sunglasses backed by over 150,000 five-star reviews. All right, I'm back in on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L-NorSquare Penguins. So let's get to the underlying numbers as a whole here. So shot attempts-wise, the Penguins were badly out attempted.

The Bruins said 60% of those. Now, let's get this as those scoring chances. It's a little bit, well, it's kind of similar there. The Bruins at 60% of the overall swing chance to 5B.5. But if you go to high danger, the Bruins only led 9 to 8 in that category. So the 52 shots that they had, mainly only 9 of them were of the high danger variety. The Penguins did a very nice job of keeping them to the edges of the ice, you know, the medium danger chances. Heck, a lot of the chances were low danger as well.

I was really impressed with how the penguins played defensively in this game. Again, you know, 52 shots. It's not the greatest. Trust me, you know, usually you will lose if you give up 52 shots. But I thought overall when the penguins were playing, you know, defensively around Casey to Smith, they gave him shots, you know, to make the saves. And hopefully my dog is not going to whine here. Donnie, it's okay, buddy.

You know, you can go to bed while I'm recording here. I just took him out, too. So I have no idea why this puppy of mine. is wanting go on buddy you have your bone in there you got your food it's okay i'm gonna keep that on the recording because you know he's puppies there's something else um you know you go to the expected goals as well the bruin's had 57% of the expected goals but you know overall um in terms of 1 2 3 4 2.45 expected goals score um you know with 52 shots that's not fully that good um at least in my opinion um penguins they had 1.8 expected goals for they were to score 4

Well, they were able to score three. High value five, excuse me, all situations-wise, the Bruins had 58% of the shot attempts for, 57% of scoring chances only led in high danger 12 to 11. They had three expected goals for. Penguins had three expected goals for all situations. So 50-50 with that, 50-50 with high danger. This was, you know, some of the score effects were a little too far out there,

but, you know, some of the eye tests, I think, backed up, you know, some of these numbers where the penguins did a nice job defensively. and they were able to limit the Bruins to a lot of not so good looks, at least in my opinion. I have no idea why the dog is winding over here. But, yeah, I mean, again, I really do think the penguins played very well defensively there. And again, this was a game that I just thought the penguins really needed. Again, I've said this probably a lot of times on this show already. You know, they had this four-day break.

Two were off days, two practice days. need to come out and honestly just send a message that they are still one of the better teams in the league. And I thought they did that tonight by beating a Boston team that, you know, I think can give other playoff teams problems. I mean, at least that that's my opinion on how I see it. You know, other performances that are really like Siddy Crosby, he was an animal on the ice, the power play especially. That one power play in the first period. They basically did everything except score on that. It was probably one of their best power plays of the year. And the fact that I didn't even have the beginning of Malkin is something else as

well. The passes were crisp, just a lot of amazing shot blocks as well from Derek Ford. I believe he had like three to four on Sidney Crosdy, which is very rare when Sid gets a lot of his shots blocked and I think Sid even gave him a stick tap after to say, hey, man, you know, those those were nice, maybe don't do those again. But, you know, Swainman had to make some really nice saves on that powerplay. You know, if the penguins can continue to have power plays like that, it's not going to be long until the damn bursts. At least that's just, that's how I see it. So the special teams tonight, that definitely, I think, played a factor as well. Penalty kill, especially in the third period, the Penguins did a very nice job on the penalty kill to kill off

those two consecutive Boston power plays. All right, Fannie. Come on, bud, bud. It's night night time. And I had to pause the recording to take him out, goes to the bathroom, still winds in his crate. So I really have no idea what it's going on here. Let me know if you all can hopefully, hopefully you don't have to hear him whine.

While you are listening to this show, I'm just going to have, I guess, a little bit of fun with it. So overall, I thought defensively tonight, Brian Dumlin, a bit of a better performance. I think, you know, he, especially, I think, needed some time off, you know, even though he's not going to be scratched. I don't think here down the stretch, I needed to see something from him tonight. And I thought I did. You know, he made some good decisions with the puck. I also got a couple of nice scoring chances.

I want to see more from him in that regard moving forward. Chris LaTang was one of the best players on the ice night. I still cannot believe that people can sit here and tell me or tell other people on the fan base and all that, that he is dog water in that crowd. I mean, the play that he had on Jake Gensel's second goal to get the puck off off the ice and then just do a nice little curl and drag cross-ice pass Jake Gensel just no chance for Jeremy Swamen on that one and he just you know again Tanger made a lot of the Bruins defenders look really silly on that on that play so just a really nice job I thought from Chris Letang and oh yeah I did I did want to shout out Ricard Raquel he continues to look more and more comfortable on the top line with Cindy Crosby and Jake Gensel.

Watch some of the plays that he's making with his stick. Just making some amazing passes defensively. He's also playing much better, getting some great chances on that. I mean, I liked the trade at the time. I didn't think I would like it this much. I mean, he is blowing my expectations away. Disabilities. I am very happy with how Ricardo Raquel is playing.

And overall, again, this was just a great team win for the Penguins. Third place in the Metropolitan Division, they are not going to start on home ice. The Rangers and the Hurricanes have clinched the top two seeds in the Metropolitan Division. So, you know, it's all a matter of at this point. You know, with the final week, who are the Penguins going to play in the Stanley Cup playoffs? Coming up in the final segment, we're going to get to your listener takeaways before we have on Friday's episode, which will be a full game preview for Detroit and Philadelphia. Before we get to that, though,

Benonline.net is your number one source for all your betting stats and sports info. Find all the latest sports developments, league reviews, and news, including this year's basketball playoffs and the start of the major league baseball season. Benline is your continued source for all of your sports waging info from live betting to playoffs, e-sports, and more. You can hedge the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. That is Ben Online, where the game starts. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Honour Hodes. You want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow this show's Twitter at El Orange for Penguins. So we did get a couple postgame takeaways on the Lockdown Penguins Twitter account. I'm going to read them for you all right here. Alan Teodor says, hats off to Casey to shut out, and Jake Gensel. It's a good night to wear my 59 jersey to the game. I couldn't ask for a better game to bring my scout troop to. If the Penguins can do that more, I think they will do well.

Yeah, I mean, you have been nail on the head there, Alan. Casey Smith, easily his best start of his season. I think that's hopefully going to start to grow some more confidence within the fan base. Hopefully me included as I cover the team, you know, I still think I have some doubts if he can can do this on a consistent basis. But this is a good step towards proving me wrong to say the least. I really enjoyed his game tonight. Jackson Hollister says, I thought there's a perfect performance all around.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that was a full 60-minute effort. Honestly, Jackson, outside of a few moments in the second period, I would agree with that. I thought the Penguins, they passed the vibe check, those first five minutes of the first period. you know, they were, they had their legs, to say the least, you know, again, they badly needed those four days off. You know, overall, even after the first five minutes, that opening 20 minutes was one of the best periods I've seen them play.

And probably a couple weeks, in my opinion, the second period, the first five, 10 minutes looked like they were losing control. The game case, and Smith had to come up with a couple of huge saves. Then Jason Zucker is able to get his eighth goal of the year. I can't believe I almost forgot about that goal. And so now, if he continues to play at this level, you know, that's,

another that's a big X factor for the playoffs and he makes them just that much more dangerous if of course the penguins goal tending is at least average to a bit above average um but i drew lee jackson even once that zucker goal was scored and then once jake was able to make it three nothing um you know the penguins just they really took control of the game right after that in the third period the bruin's had a couple of surges but the penguins again did a really nice job of limiting the high danger chances so that Boston really couldn't have much. He goes, I know the Bruins got 52 shots, but none were great looks, and DeSmith saved every single one.

Dispins is looking good, and the had to cap off another 40 goal season for Jake Gensel. Yeah, you again, you and Alan hit the nail on the head there. DeSmith, great, Jake Gensel, another great performance. And, yeah, I mean, this was, I think, a very complete game by the Penguins, even though they out-out shot, they out-out attempted. And, you know, the Bruins had a couple big surges, especially to start the second period. They were outsturing the Penguins 10-1, but the Penguins didn't blink.

they kind of channel their inner 2017 there and, you know, got the second goal, able to get the third goal. The game was basically over going in to the third period. I got another reaction here. S-N-ZZZZ says, don't sleep on Casey, have a little hope in the guy. I know he started this season bad, but he has made up for in the last few games. He has started. And, you know, I do agree with that.

You know, I want him to prove me wrong. I want him to prove the fan base wrong. I'm just, you know, I'm just, I'm nervous, you know, just because the goal thinning, I think, has really played the Penguins these last couple of years to say the least. But, you know, again, this was a big step in the right direction. Great win by Pittsburgh tonight. They're at 99 points. They'll be back in action on Saturday, 1230 at Little Caesar's Arena against the Detroit Red Wings. They will be without Dylan Larkin. They're leading point producer. And of course, the Penguins just blew out the Red Wings a few weeks

ago. They beat them 11 to 2 back in Pittsburgh. You know, this team, you know, I know they're playing two really bad teams this weekend, but these teams are not going to roll over and die. They're going to try to play spoiler as much as they can. They're going to bring their A game. and the Penguins are going to have to bring their A games as well. The Penguins are also welcome back of Guinea Malkin. He has served his four game suspension. I'm sure he will practice tomorrow, and he will be in the lineup on Saturday

and for these final four games, assuming you knock on wood here, that there is no injury for Evgeny Malkin. Jeff Carter's status, I'll update you all when I get one, but he still looks like it's nursing a lower body injury, no other update from Mike Sullivan. So that'll do it for this episode,

we'll welcome Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode on Friday to preview both of these weekend games for the Penguins and a couple of other things as well. So again, thank you so much for listening and I will talk to you all on Friday.