Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Despite the loss, the Penguins can still take some positives away from it!

Starting point is 00:00:00 Pittsburgh Penguins dropped a very tough one on Thursday night, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals. And yes, their shootout struggles continued in this one as they have been awful in shootouts for the last couple of years. I'm going to tell you why they lost this one in a shootout coming up right after this drop. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:00:50 I'm your host. Hunter Odees, want to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at Hunter Hodes. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by Fandall, the official sports book sponsor of Lockdown. Make every moment more. You can visit Fanduil.com slash Lockdown today to get started.

Starting point is 00:01:10 This episode was supposed to be posted to you all on Thursday night. I had it all recorded, and once I was ready to download it, Restream just totally ate my episode. It has never done that before. I think it was site-wide. This just goes to show that we're going to be moving to Streamyard very soon. Talk to my channel manager. I think we're going to expedite that process and get me there.

Starting point is 00:01:33 You're a little quicker than some of the other hosts. That's just not acceptable. I was supposed to have that episode for you all last night. It's going to be coming out Friday afternoon now, and I'm hoping to have another episode for you all. Friday evening or Saturday morning where we'll preview the game against the sharks, the Penguins last game before the All-Star break. So double trouble coming up for you all.

Starting point is 00:01:52 Again, really apologize about that. That's not my fault. I had the episode all ready to go, had my description typed out, and be ashamed of shot to cock it. But anyways, I'm getting into this. So Capitals 3, Penguins 2, they get the point, a much deserved point, I think. Played fine in overtime, but the shootout, they struggled the last couple of seasons. they just were not able to do enough here.

Starting point is 00:02:15 And they lost a shootout. I'll get to the Evgeny and Kuznet something in just a second because I have my thoughts on that. But they lost this as soon as they sent both Cindy Crosby and Vagny Malkin over the boards after what Ricardo Raquel just did. And you may seem, it may seem like that's a bit harsh, but Crosby is two for his last nine in shouts.

Starting point is 00:02:36 Malkin is one for his last night. I get it. Their overall percentages, I think, for their career, 30, 35%. something in that range, right? But lately, they look like they could not give less than two craps about the shootout. Honestly, I wish I hated something the way it looks like Crosby and Malk and hate participating in shootouts.

Starting point is 00:02:58 And I get it. They've been doing this for the last 15 plus years. They've won a lot of games in it. They probably don't like it. They would probably prefer three on three or more over time. But you've got to give a little bit of better effort with that. Ricard Raquel starts off the shoe. after Dismuth-Stone's T.J. O'Shee, which is stunning in itself because

Starting point is 00:03:17 O'She's arguably the greatest shootout player in the history. He's arguably the greatest shootout player this sport has ever seen, 50% shooting percentage and just going to save it. Ricardo Raquel comes in and goes backhand, forehand on Darcy Kemper. But after that, you know, Kuznetsov scores. Again, I'll get to that in a second. But Crosby comes in, does a little bit of stick handling, but then just tries to go five and he's just coming down the middle of the seam,

Starting point is 00:03:44 not really doing anything. It's like, buddy, mega deke there. Like, we've seen him go backhand forehand or forehand backhand, but a lot of times now he's just coming down, not with a care in the world, basically, and he's just trying to rip it five hole. And it's like, it's the same movement.

Starting point is 00:04:01 It's no wonder a goalie literally just has to stand there. You don't even have to force the goalie to move when Sid comes down because Crosby's not doing anything, you know, to put the fear of God into a, goalie. And then the same thing kind of happens with Malkin. He comes down the middle, doesn't do a lot of sick handling, you know, comes in 10, 15 feet out, fires the puck wide.

Starting point is 00:04:21 He doesn't even get a shot on net in that situation. And it's like, I'm sorry. That is unacceptable. You are two sure fire hall of gamers. One of you is a top five player in the history of this sport. The other one is probably a top 20 to top 30 player to ever play this sport. And the fact that, you know, that's the kind of effort that you're seeing in shootouts. it's just brutal.

Starting point is 00:04:42 And, you know, I'm not, you know, pissed off that they lost this game. I don't think any of you all should be pissed off either. You know, they got the point and they play well for the most part. But, you know, when that extra point is on the line, just show me a little bit more effort there. You know, and if that's the way that's going to keep happening, I would just do something like, you know, Raquel and then Gensel or Latang or something. At least those three players are willing to make moves and not just do the same thing every single time. I mean, for God's sake, the capitals didn't even use Alex O'Betchkin in the shootout last night. He was the top three just because, you know, Kuznetsov does his thing.

Starting point is 00:05:19 Backstron also had a really nice shot and they have O'Shea. You know, they don't even need to use the greatest goal score this sport has ever seen. And I feel like the Penguins, it could be the same thing with Crosby, where they don't need to use one of the top five greatest players this sport has ever seen. You have other players there who have been better in shootouts over the last couple of years. I mean, Rakel's been two for two this season. I think Rust overall for his career is five for six. Benzel, his percentage is decently high.

Starting point is 00:05:49 Let's hang has his forehand, backhand, top cheese. You know, use those players. At this point, they give you a better shot at winning this game than Crosby and Malken do, just because they're not doing anything when it comes to the shootout. And I understand, shootout stink. I'm tired of them. I would much rather have a longer three-on-three session or maybe you can switch to four on four

Starting point is 00:06:12 for five more minutes to see if you get a winner. But, you know, that's the way the league is now where there are still shootouts. That's how I see the main reason why the penguin's lost I wanted a shoot-out. I will now get to the elephant in the room to wrap up this thing. What of Genni Kuznetsov does with his shootout move,

Starting point is 00:06:31 it's garbage, it's trash, it literally is the biggest giant FU to a shootout. I think that move should be banned And, you know, people are maybe people are going to say to me after hearing this, oh, well, Hunter, you're just a hater, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. No, if you think that, I don't think you truly know me because I get PTSD when I see that, going back to my days of playing online versus shootouts in EA sports NHL. It is a move that bad players using that game to get cheap goals.

Starting point is 00:07:02 That is what I've been against all this doing. And I'm not saying he's a bad player. I think he's one of the best players on their team. He's one of the best players in the league. But, you know, it's a move that should probably be banned. It's unfair to goalies. I'm sorry, it is. There is no way a goalie can save that shot.

Starting point is 00:07:20 He's barely even gliding forward. I understand that, you know, it's, it's kind of, I don't want to say it. You know, it's, you're kind of like walking a fine line with it, but, you know, it's just, it's not right. I just, I know Patrick Kane kind of does the same thing, but even Kane at least goes a little bit faster. But just with Kuznetsov, he's just coming in so slow and even slower and even slower. And it's like, like Gary Bettman, like that should not be allowed in shootouts again. You know, I just get PTSD when I see it. I think it's total crap.

Starting point is 00:07:58 You know, I'm probably going to sound again, like the biggest old man yells at Cloud here. I'd hardly ever have that kind of take, but man, is it awful? It just, you know, it's so bad. And I will say this, you know, if he keeps doing it and he keeps working, maybe that will get the league to either ban it or get rid of shootouts overall because it's literally just a cheap gimmick that is a sure goal. So those are my thoughts on that, just not a fan of it. I have not been a fan of it going back the last six, seven years.

Starting point is 00:08:31 No, probably even longer than that. You know, just because Kuznet stuff started doing it doesn't mean I just randomly started hating it. No, I've hated that, you know, going back to my days playing EA sports and H&H all my Xbox and stuff. Now I'm on PC, of course. But yeah, that wraps up. This first segment about shootouts. Now, coming up in the second segment, Casey DeSmith had a great performance. Do I think this is going to be the norm for him going forward or are we going to see some more inconsistencies from him?

Starting point is 00:08:59 That is coming up right after this break. but before we get to that, if I can get my wonderful Fandul promo right here, the NFL playoffs are here with the conference championships this weekend. We're really excited about our new sports betting partner for Locked On because they're the number one sports book in America, Fandle. And if you're new to Fandu, that's even better. They have so many great features that make betting on sports fun and easy. New customers join today to get started with $150 in free bets guaranteed

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Starting point is 00:09:54 Place your first $5 bet to get $1 and $50 in free bets, win or lose at fandu. dot com slash locked on make every moment more with fan duel the official sports book partner of the n a nm of the nfll and the nifl and the nifl and the niflop of the podcast i am your host hondon hoddy's and follow me on twitter at hundra hoddy's and of course thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day so casey to smith last night bounced back in a big way for the penguins i'd not like that second goal that he gave up i understand it was deflected to a little bit by Brock McGinn, but I still think he probably should have

Starting point is 00:10:35 have that save from 30 to 35 feet out on Marcus Johansson. Otherwise, he was solid. I don't really like the people that were nitpicking in the shootout on the Kuznetsov and the Baxter ones. Again, the Kuznetzab one, he scores on that move every time. And then Baxter, that was just a really nice shot. Maybe you can get on him for looking a little smaller in the net, not being as aggressive, but, you know,

Starting point is 00:10:57 Nicholas Baxterum is one of the greatest players of this generation. He's going to do that to a lot of goalies. So I'm not really super concerned about that. He made a nice stop on T.J.O. It's not his fault that Crosby and Malkin decided to have two of the worst shootout attempts I've ever seen them have. But in the first period, especially for DeSmith, he was a rock. Penguins route shot 22 to 8 in that period. Very unacceptable.

Starting point is 00:11:20 You cannot give up 22 shots. I don't care who it's against. That's the most shots they've given up to the Capitals in at least a decade. Come out 21 saves for DeSiff in that period. He saved their butts and allowed the Penguins to have a more. much better second period where they tied the game and then a much better third period where they able to get him at least one point. But his movement looked to be a lot better.

Starting point is 00:11:41 He actually looked like he was fully trying in this one unlike on Tuesday night where, again, I'm sure he was trying, but, you know, when you're watching it, you know, at the arena or on TV, it definitely didn't get off that vibe. But for this one, this was a much better performance. And again, you know, this is just who Casey to sniff is. ends, you know, he's a 904 goalie on this season. League average is 905. It's Jackal and the High.

Starting point is 00:12:07 You're going to have games like he had against the Panthers where he was just absolutely awful, but then you're going to have games like this against the Capitals where, you know, he looks like, I don't know, at best, a 1B goalie, something like that. He was very good for the Penguins in this game. Even though for a school, that's Ovechkin. Brian Paling, I think could have done a little bit better. I don't really think he should have gone over to try to guard Connor Sherry, one the greatest score of all time is in his office,

Starting point is 00:12:32 but that's a discussion for another day. But especially when the penguins were pushing in the second, third periods, he was still able to make a couple of very big saves for them. He was a rock for them in this game. If you can continue to have performances like these until Trish and Jari comes back, that is going to be a big deal for this team. You get any points that you can while Jari is out. They have one more game before the All-Star break.

Starting point is 00:12:56 We'll have to see if Tristan is back. after that by week and after the All-Star break. But, you know, I will gladly take that performance from DeSmith any day of the week, especially after the way he looked against Florida. Longed June 9. Again, I don't think that second goal was the best one. Even if it was deflected, even if it wasn't deflected, he should have had it. I know it was deflected a little bit.

Starting point is 00:13:16 I think with McGinn, if you're not able to get your stick in the lane there, just don't even put it there. DeSmith probably would have had that I think if it wasn't deflected, but even with that many, many, mini, mini deflection. still think it's pretty far out where you should have it. But, you know, I thought he was excellent, especially in overtime when the Capitals also had that four on three, kind of a phantom penalty on Evgeny Malkin. It looked like in real time, it was a dive by T.J.O.Shi,

Starting point is 00:13:40 and he's no stranger to diving, by the way. He's dove a few times throughout his career, and, you know, that's a discussion for another day. But, you know, going back watching it, looks like there was a little bit of contact, but it wasn't really enough. have to call a penalty there, especially after Lars Eller kind of mug Sydney Crosby in overtime. Probably not. But on that four on three, the PKK were really good, but also DeSmiths made some dazzling saves.

Starting point is 00:14:06 So overall, great performance from him. And, you know, will he be able to carry that over to the game on Saturday against the sharks? That's another big thing that I'm looking at in this one. And, you know, I don't know if this is going to be the norm for him, but if he can just play, you know, even close to this and the rest of this starts this, season, Penguins should be fine, especially if Tristan Jari is able to come back after the All-Weak and the All-Star break. You know, I listened to 32 thoughts this morning with Jeff Merrick and Elliot Freeman, and they were talking about the Penguin's goal situation, and Freeman said he made a couple of calls and spoke

Starting point is 00:14:45 to a manager and said, you know, this person told Freeman, like, I don't know how you can go into the playoffs with the same tandem again and have Ron Hextall be like, how do you sell this? to everyone. And especially if it doesn't work out again, Freeman was basically saying, you know, everyone was going to be saying to you, why didn't you fix this problem? And, you know, that's a very valid point.

Starting point is 00:15:07 You have another, you have your starter hurt again. This is basically his third injury in the last seven, eight months. You have Casey DeSmith, who is very inconsistent as an NHL goal tender. And, you know, could he get hurt before the playoffs again? Who knows? But they had an opportunity to, you know, change. it over the off season, maybe go out and get a 1B backup to help Tristan, but they decided to roll back this tandem. And I don't think it's a criticism that gets talked about enough when it

Starting point is 00:15:36 comes. I mean, this is what? The third straight year that they've run back this tandem with no changes? Smirski. And if this happens again where they don't get good goaltending in the playoffs, Pekstall is going to get deserved to get shoot out for it. Definitely a little bit. But, you know, in terms of moving forward to Smith, I'm hoping that he can just be at least leak average play close to this level. If he can play at this level in all this starts, obviously that would be huge. I don't expect it just because he's inconsistent. Jackal and Hyde.

Starting point is 00:16:04 But in this one, he was a major reason why the penguins got this point. And, you know, I would expect him to get a start on Saturday against the sharks. So that'll do it for this second segment. Coming up to end the show, fourth line is really cooking right now. I'm going to tell you why it's been really cooking. But here the last couple of games and why it could get even better. Once Josh Archibald comes back, that's all coming up right after this commercial break. All right, I'm back in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast.

Starting point is 00:16:35 I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at Elinor Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So the fourth line, oh, it's cooking, and we are eaten with that. The fourth line last night was absolutely spectacular, Hining and O'Connor when they were on the ice, the Penguins at 60% of the shot of one goal for, no goals against, of course, that goes to Dayton Hinen. He got his second goal and has been a game.

Starting point is 00:17:03 The Penguins also had 72% of the expected goals. What line was on the eye, 60% of the scoring chances, and then one high-danger chance for, one high-danger chance against. This is the second consecutive game. This line has been well above 60-70% and expected goals. Actually, on Tuesday, it was above 80, almost around 90%. In terms of the prospective goals on this line has been awesome, to say the least. I'm glad that the Penguins, they're figuring out that they have,

Starting point is 00:17:27 a decent fourth line. Ryan Kaling has been playing better hockey since coming back. Didn't really like what he did on the PK. Just thought it was kind of weak with Sherry. I just don't think there's any need to cheat over there when you have the greatest school score. I'm a all the time there. But, you know, he's foretaking aggressively at 5E5. Like that, Heinen is finally going to the Netmore, cleaning up some garbage.

Starting point is 00:17:47 You know, he wasn't doing that a lot prior to these last couple of games. You know, contributed him not really scoring a goal since October when he had a few against the Columbus Blue Jackets. But noticing that he's doing that more, Drew O'Connor has been a forechecking machine. These last couple games, I am really liking what I am seeing from Drew O'Connor right now. I think it's going to be really hard for the penguins to take him out of the lineup, especially when Josh Archibald returns, you know, do you take out Hinen even though he's on a hot streak, paling?

Starting point is 00:18:17 You know, it's a very intriguing question. I don't envy Mike Sullivan when it comes to that. And this is a line that, you know, he's deploying them out there offensively and defensively. he's also deploying them late in third periods, even when they're down one or even when the game is tied or something. You know, he's not just going to his top six in those situations. He's actually putting out the fourth line. And I love it.

Starting point is 00:18:38 No. They definitely have that line figured out. And I think it's only going to get better if they decided, even if they just scratch, scratch one of those dudes. And again, I don't envy Mike Sullivan. When Archibald comes back, Archibald is, you know, he is the score on that fourth line, had four goals prior to going down. he's missed the last 16-17 games.

Starting point is 00:18:58 He's played well this year. And he's also a foreshacking menace for this team. He gets to a lot of loose pucks, throws his body around, really think that's going to help turn the fourth line into, I think, one of the better fourth lines in the league. So I'm glad that they've had this figured out. It's great that they factor into three goals in the last two games.

Starting point is 00:19:18 That is huge for me. Again, they're starting in the defensive zone at times, starting even in the offensive zone at times. I'm liking that Mike Sullivan is finally deciding to trust them more and getting them more minutes. You know, O'Connor again, I think he's one of their 12 best boards when this team is healthy. Don't know if Mike Sullivan's going to see it that way.

Starting point is 00:19:35 They have some roster moves to make all that stuff in Heinen. You know, he's as always a very streaky player. That's just how he is as a player. But, you know, if he can contribute, you know, every once in a while and not just go three months without scoring, that's going to be a big help as well. So really, you know, shout out to. to the fourth line yet again.

Starting point is 00:19:55 You know, those are the reasons why I see them cooking right now. And, no, I'm really looking forward to them doing some more of that. Going forward, you know, the third line, we all know how bad it is. That's the line they really got to get fixed here. You know, funny enough, the third line last night when they were on ice, they had 65% of the shot attempts, but only 49% of the expected goals. 57% the swing chances, one one in terms of high danger chances. but, you know, overall, these last, you know, these last handful of games,

Starting point is 00:20:27 it has not been good enough. You know, if you look at McGavin and Carter together this season, they play 45 games together. 301 minutes of ice time. When they've been on the ice together, the Penguins only had 43% of the shot of Thames. Eight goals for, 14 goals against, 42% expected goals rate. That's garbage. Has to change. Doesn't help that Carter only has four goals this year.

Starting point is 00:20:49 Brock McGinn has not scored a goal in. in his last 15 games now. Ted Lugar only has one goal this season and if they weren't for that game against Philadelphia where he had a multi-point game, he'd be on pace for only 10 points this season. It's not good enough. Sorry. And that's the player who's playing third line center right now.

Starting point is 00:21:08 They have to change that up going forward. That line is killing them on a nightly basis. There's just nothing working with that third line. Fourth line, it's cooking. They have a top six that's really good, but got to figure out that middle line. If you can't figure that out, this team is not going to go anywhere

Starting point is 00:21:25 in terms of a deep playoff run this season. So I wanted to really touch on that as well. Other news and nocy items from this game, I thought the Penguins played a really crappy first 20 minutes. Got shot 22-8 to Smith had to bail you out. They gave up, I think, 10 shots on power plays to the Capitals. It's not good enough, especially when they don't even have Tom Wilson or John Carlson out there. Sorry, it's unacceptable.

Starting point is 00:21:51 The PK needs to be a lot better going forward. Second period, they push back. Capitals were on their heels. I think they held the Capitals to only five or six shots that period. Third period, the Capitals pushed a little bit harder, but I still thought the Penguins of the better of the play. Overtime had a little bit of the Phantom call. I understand kind of why they called it,

Starting point is 00:22:10 but I also didn't really see that much contact there. I kind of thought O'Shea and Nullished a little bit. But I thought the Penguins for the most were fine, excuse me in overtime they had the better of the chances outside of that four on three power play that the capitals had but you know they were able to get the point they stole three games a hand despite being one point behind the caps and they have the better points percentage go to the so all and all things are okay in penguin land take that point there's still a couple guys that are injured you should be able to get two points on saturday against a really bad sharks team despite

Starting point is 00:22:42 Eric Carlson, I'm having one heck of beer. Going to try to have a preview with J.D. Young of Locked On Sharks on Friday evening for you all, or maybe he posts on Saturday morning. Either way, I am going to have a preview for that game either later today or I'm going to post that Saturday morning for you all. But again, I think that does it for this episode. Shout out to Brian Russ for his 300th career at NHL Point. Nice job to get that goal there.

Starting point is 00:23:07 Definitely fooled Kemper. I think a little bit. It looked like he saw it coming. I don't think I have anything else when it comes to on this game's typical pen's caps. A lot of fun to watch. And these teams will play one more time. And I'm in mid to late March in Pittsburgh. So again, thank you so much for listening.

Starting point is 00:23:28 I really, really appreciate it. I'll be back on another episode later today for you all, as we'll preview the game against the sharks and how the Penguins of ABA can hopefully get too much into points in that one, heading into their biweek and then heading into also the All-Star rating. So again, thank you all so much for this. I will talk with you all very soon.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Despite the loss, the Penguins can still take some positives away from it!

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