Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Does someone want to tell me what the heck that was?

Episode Date: April 5, 2023

How...how is that the kind of performance that the Pittsburgh Penguins put out with everything on the line? Hunter starts the show trying his best to answer that question as the Penguins no-showed one of their most important games of the season on Tuesday night. They were done for at the drop of the puck as they looked a step slow. Right out of the gate, that was all it took. He discusses how the Devils' speed was giving them fits and why they made poor decisions with the puck whenever they got it. You simply cannot play like that when you're in a playoff race, especially when you have a game in hand on a team in front of you in the standings. After that, Hunter looks at how Hextall's fingerprints continue to be all over this roster with how Mikael Granlund and especially Jeff Petry looked. He analyzes how Petry played some atrocious defense throughout the game and why he made a terrible pinch that led to Dawson Mercer's first goal of the game. He then still wonders what Hextall saw in Granlund as he struggled at both ends of the ice and po0nders at how good this team could be if it actually had depth since the Penguins now have SIX different 20-goal scorers this season. Finally, Hunter looks ahead to the final four games for the Penguins, Islanders, and Panthers, and argues that every game now is a must-win, especially with their schedules.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase.ebay MotorsFor parts that fit, head to eBay Motors and look for the green check. Stay in the game with eBay Guaranteed Fit. eBay Motors dot com. Let’s ride. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKEDON15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order.Athletic GreensTo make it easy, Athletic 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/NHLNETWORKFanDuelMake Every Moment More. Don’t miss the chance to get your No Sweat First Bet up to ONE THOUSAND DOLLARS in Bonus Bets when you go FanDuel.com/LOCKEDON.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) 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.

Is anyone surprised at this point? No, seriously. Like, is anyone surprised that in one of, actually the biggest game of the season today, the Penguins just totally no-showed it, and now they're out of the playoff spot. I wish I was a little bit surprised, but I'm not. You know, they've been Jekyll and Hyde all season and, you know, four games left. They're out of the playhouse spot. We're going to dive into this humiliating, embarrassing loss to New Jersey Devils

right after this drop, we have a lot to get into, especially when it comes to the effort and the defensive play from this game. It's all 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 Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, at LORS or Penguins. and of course thank you all so much for making this your first listening today's episode is brought to you by game time you can download the game time app create an account and use code locked on NHL for 20 percent 20 dollars off your first purchase so devils five penguins won and ugh that's probably the best way i can describe this game ugh just yuck a humiliating embarrassing pathetic loss by the black and gold, coupled with a Panthers win over the Sabres in regulation.

Now they have no games in hand. They're one point behind both the New York Islanders and the four Panthers. Going into the final four games of the regular season, they will play again on Thursday. So the final week of this season, I should say, wow. This was their biggest game of this season. And the Penguins came out like it was a preseason game in late September. What the hell was that? And I understand the New Jersey Devils are one of the best teams in hockey.

They're young, they're fast, they're hungry, they have star talent, they got depth, they got good defense. V Tech Van Check has really transformed himself into a good goaltender after he struggled in Washington. Not taking anything away from them. They're going to be a tough out in the playoffs, whether they play Carolina or, you know, the first wild card spot, or whether they play the Rangers. the rangers is probably their top matchup right now. But Penguins didn't show anything resembling even a fight in this game. You could tell from the opening shift that they were not ready to play. Not even in the slightest.

First shift, they're being sluggish, giving up a scoring chance. Next shift after that, same thing. Next after that, after that, same thing. It was a miracle this game was scoreless until about the nine minute mark. of the first period when Dougie Hamilton got played his 20-first goal of the season. I believe that's the first time a devil's defenseman has ever scored 20 goals in a single season for them in their history. So congratulations to Dougie. He's been a great player for them.

But wow, that's the way you're starting out a game that is of the utmost importance to you say anything. It looks like, you know, I'm not going to say they don't care because I obviously think every player cares. But effort-wise, it looked like many of them want to be there. And at this time of year, or April 4th, the weather is gorgeous. You can tell the playoffs are coming just based on the weather today in the Steel City, 70 degrees sunny. It's going to be 80 tomorrow in sunny, a little bit of storms later in the day, I think. And this is how they're playing. It's ridiculous.

It's absolutely ridiculous. And then the payments give up another goal on a two on one. One, because Jeff Petrie had a ridiculously awfully time pinch. Cannot do that situation where the puck is and how the devils have burdened the penguins numerous times in these past four to five matchups because of how much faster they are. And Petrie decided to pinch there, gives up a 2-1-1. P.O. Joseph makes the wrong lead.

It's kind of playing that like a center, not a defenseman. I don't really know what he was doing there. And Dawson Mercer has an easy tap and they get to nothing. Honestly, from then on, the game was basically. basically over. You weren't playing the Detroit Red Wings a little Caesar Reno where you could score three goals in the matter of a few minutes. Even though they lost that game,

at least they were able to battle back. That was not in the cards for this one. And then, excuse me, the second period comes. You know, Jake Gensel for some reason is not shooting the puck when he has a prime scoring chance. He's deferring to

Crosby there when he has 35 goals this season. I'm not really sure what he was doing. You take a power, you take a penalty, you're down 2-0. You're probably about to kill it off. And then Jeff Petrie sells the buck out of play. You have to kill off a power play for 28 more seconds. They can't even do that.

3-0. It's all over. Just inexcusable hockey from virtually every player on this team. I got people in my mention saying, like, oh, well, Hunter, how did Chris LaTang look tonight? Because I said he's the best defense for the franchise history. And I'm like, why is that people's go-to? like we're just going to single out someone when the whole team played like as the kids like to say dog water team played like crap i don't think other than maybe drew o'connor nicely pro scorer

other than maybe those two virtually everyone on this team played like crap they all look like they didn't even want to be there goaltending stunk special teams were bad five on plot five play stunk you know you know you name it. That was a classic game where they were outclass in every way possible. They were lucky. They probably didn't lose like 8 to 1 or something. This was a team that literally gave up late in that third period. Three separate odd man rushes on the power play when it was 5'1. How is that even possible?

I don't even know what Tar Reardon is doing for the power play. I was on board for him with the extension with Mike Volucci because I thought they were going to improve some stuff with the special team. teams, wow, I will take the L on that because both units have been terrible this season. I wouldn't mind if they do decide to ring Mike Sullivan back after this season, and I think I'm leaning towards that they will, they better be looking for new assistant coaches, I think. I know they just sign them to do extensions, but you've got to make some changes there. That is one part as a head coach where you can make a difference, you know, is like one part of being a head coach that you can make a difference is the hiring of your assistant coaches

because they handle like, you know, the forwards and the defense and the special teams and stuff, Mike Sullivan has failed with these two hires. You know, Tar Reardon, you know, he has been an accomplished coach during his career, but, you know, his power plays do not work with this team. Mike Volucci, he, you know, he's interviewed for a couple of NHL head coaching jobs. His penalty kill and his work with the forwards, you know, hasn't worked as season. Outside the top six. Everyone in there scoring 20 goals.

But those players were scoring 20 goals well before he. came along. So, yeah, I mean, they got their butts walked. And you want to look at some numbers at 5V-5 tonight? Just because, I mean, I like pain. Devils had 53% of the shot attempts. They had 63% of the scoring chances. 60% of the expected goals,

63% of these scoring chances. If you go to all situations, they have 55% of the shot attempts. 66% of the scoring chances, they actually doubled them up in that. 69% of the high danger chances, 63% of the expected goals. Penguins no-showed in the worst way possible. I'm sorry, with your backs, they're not fully against the wall,

but going into tonight with everything on the line, that's how you play. Where is the message being lost? Even the top players were terrible. I just, what was that you can't be playing like that this late in the season

they expect to make the playoffs or if you get in expect to even make any noise in the playoffs Jesse Marshall said it last week and I agree with him now if they get in do you guys see them winning a game

two maybe see them somehow squeaking one out if Triton Jari has the game of his life but they're just going to get eight alive by whoever they play if they get in I'd rather of course see them get in, you know, more content for the show, more good content for you all.

And they're not going to have a shot at Connor Mardard. So there's that, that would also sting for them not to get in. But man, I understand the Penguins have struggled against this team a lot this season and going back to last season. But it is unacceptable to you play like that in game 78 out of 82 with everything on the line. They got out of class in every way possible. It's very concerning to me. Very, very concerning.

That wraps up this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to begin to how, you know, just how much Ron Hextall's footprints are all over this roster as a lot of his acquisitions really stood out tonight and not in a good way. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that,

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All right, I'm back here on this episode. of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I am your host, Honor Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, and I want to ask our Penguins, and of course, thank you all so much for making this your first of the day. Let's get into this topic and how tonight, just, you know, a lot, like, just a lot of the, you know, acquisitions that Hextall has made over the past year, year and a half, I don't know, last couple of months, they were on display tonight and not in a good way.

I continue to be flabbergasted as to how the Penguins gave up a second round pick for Mikhail Granlin. I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here. I promise you guys. I fully promise. Not trying to fully pick on him. I don't dislike him as a player. As a person, it is not his fault. This is Squareland and the general manager.

It was nice to see Granlin actually shoot the pup once night because he hit the post. I think a few other times that probably goes in. I'm glad to see him actually shoot it every once in a while. Otherwise, though, it was another really rough night for him. His defensive work on a couple of the goals was really shoddy. And, you know, he's never been a good defensive forward in this league, you know, in terms of, you know, Jayfresh's player chart. 97 and 98% of his peers rank higher defensively than him.

So that's never been his forte. But I didn't think it would be this freaking bad when he came over national. He has no defensive awareness at all. And it's still very puzzling to me. that Mike Sullivan puts him on the penalty kill game after game after game. Jeff Petrie, he's not living up to that cap hit. I understand some of the metrics are more favorable to him. I've gone on the athletic.

I've seen Dom LaChuSuiskin's chart for him. It's actually not terrible. But there's definitely a difference between that and the eye test. Because my eye test is telling me something completely different. My eyes are telling me that he's just playing like crap. But yet when I look at the number, which again, I do use them and I do trust them. You know, it's almost like, well, he's actually not that bad.

I think the answer kind of lies a little bit in the middle. But tonight, he really struggled. Excuse me, just not good enough at all. That pinch that he had that led to the second goal in the first period was one of the worst decisions. I think I've ever seen him make as a defenseman. There's no reason to pinch there. You're not going to be getting the puck.

All you had to do was pullback. escape backwards. They don't score there. It's only one nothing at that point. With how the game was going, they probably don't win anyway. But, you know, with how the rest of the goals went, you know, the devils would have had to find other ways to score. You know, I don't know if Dawson Mercer even gets a hat trick in this game. Yeah, almost forgot about that. Yeah, Dawson Mercer had a hat-trick people in case anyone forgot. So there's a really rough game for him. I honestly think his season has just been really up and down. I think more downs than ups. He's still signed for a couple more years, 6.25 million.

You know, it's not looking like a good trade right now. And I will take the L on that as well. If you have been listening to the show since the summer, I said, I think the penguins were going to get a net positive out of this because I think he could bring more offense to the table than Marino. I think he could bring more defensive awareness than Marino did. I thought he was an upgrade over him on the second pairing. Hmm.

It's kind of been a little bit of a wash at best in terms of Marie over for Petrie. I know Reno is traded it for Ty Smith, but in terms of replacing Marino, it is Petri on that spot. Just kind of been a wash if you ask me. I would love to see what this team would look like with Mike Matheson right now, that's for sure. But that's a trade that not looking too shabby right now. It's definitely, I think, a little bit of an L, and not like a massive one like some of these other ones. But I'm just not a big fan of it right now. I think that just goes to show, you know, how bad Hextall is that, you know, player evaluations, you know, and all that.

And his front office. And, yeah, I think there's a lot of neptom, neptism, excuse me, in the Penguins front office with how, you know, just a bunch of Hextal's hiring his best friends and the best friends are hiring their children to run the show. I don't know if really anyone there knows how to evaluate proper talent. And it's one reason I'm really hoping that this ownership group makes a change when this disastrous tire fire of the season comes to an end. But, you know, those two players tonight really just not playing well at all to major acquisitions from Hextall. And, yeah, I mean, Jeff Carter, he didn't really do anything tonight. That's kind of been part for the course for most of the season. and his fingerprints are all over this roster.

He has sent this team, that is, to its grave. He is the main reason why this is at right now. I send this on my Twitter, I'll say it now. With Brian Russ Gold tonight, he keeps staying hot. Penguins have 620 goals scores. And I have a staff for you all when it comes to that. The Penguins 620 goal scores.

It's the most they've had in a single season since, since, I'll tell you. 1995, 1996, which was the highest scoring team in Penguins history. Per Boggrove, Mario had 69 that year, Yager had 62, Peter Nev did, had 45, Sandstrom had 35, Ron Francis at 27, Simolensky had 24. Yep. Yep, yep, yep, yep. Six-20 goal scores. First time since 1995-96. I'm making sure, yeah, Peter Nedved, Jesus Christ. If I mispronounce that guy's name, if I mispronounced his name,

you all have the permission to take over the show because that would have been really embarrassing. Sometimes I get screwed up easy names on this show, which is ridiculous. But, yeah, if you told me that this team would have 620 goals scores by game 78 of the season, I would have said they probably would have 100 points. They wouldn't be out of a playoff spot with only four games to go. That's just how bad things have gone for this team this season. It's pathetic. So, yeah.

In other words, you all can only hope that we get, you know, that this team, excuse me, I shouldn't say, I cannot say we, I'm not part of the team. I cover the team. You know, I think everyone you can only hope that this team in this ownership group knows what the true problems are and they fix them during this off-season.

But that's my segment on just how Ron Hextall's latest roster acquisitions continue to be absolute and utter duds coming up in the final segment. We're going to get into the schedules for the final four games. of the three teams really in the race and who really has the edge if you ask me now before we touch on that we do have to discuss bill bar if you're looking for a delicious tree but don't want all that fat and calories then you got to try a bill bar what makes bill bar so good well for starters

they're covered in 100% real chocolate and that's right real chocolate and they come in unbelievable flavors like trow peanut brownie and coconut almond i'm not sure how bill does if these bars tastes like a candy bar while maintaining amazing macros. And what's even better is that they are healthy. They only have 130 calories and 4 grams of sugar with a whopping 17 grams of protein. And now you don't need to weigh around and get a box. You know, for years we've been talked about ordering your built bars at build.com. But now you can get them at Walmart or Sam's Club. Just go there. Ask for cookies and cream, double chocolate or coconut puffs or even brownie batter and churro. You can thank me later when it comes to both of those. All right, I'm back in

this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I want to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes follow the show's Twitter. And LerSorp payments. You know, Mike Sullivan is just saying whatever to the media. It's just the same. So it boils down to details.

You've got to make better decisions. Yeah. I've been hearing that for 70s, 78 games now, Mike. I don't think these players are going to change, you know, unless, you know, big changes are made this all season. No, not to the core players, but to the supporting cast. So four games left. It's still basically a three-team race with Buffalo's long.

That puts a damper on their playoff hopes. They have a tough schedule here down the stretch. They're five points back to the Penguins still. Red Wings won, but they're kind of out of it at this one. Washington just got eliminated. Ottawa just lost again. They got a point, though, but they're basically cooked. Looking at the other two teams in front of the Penguins.

Islanders have four games left. They have the lightning on tomorrow night. If they lose that, that opens up the door for the Penguins to have their control their own destiny. That would be big if the lightning could have up on the Penguins. But after that, the islanders have Flyers, the Canadians, and the Capitals. Three teams that they should be able to beat. For the Panthers, they have the Maple Leafs and the Hurricanes,

but they might be doing some classic load management, which means resting some players since they are already in playoffs. And that's actually been the Leafs. They're locked into a playoff matchup versus the Tampa Bay Lightning. They just have to decide who's going to get home ice. They also have the Ottawa Senators and the Washington County. So a couple of times in there if the hurricanes and the leaves don't rest players, but I assume they will because those are their final two games of the season.

And then for the Penguins, Minnesota on Thursday, Detroit Saturday, Chicago Tuesday, and Columbus on Thursday. Penguins have to win these next four games. I think if you win these next four, they'll be feeling pretty good. Three, I think it's going to be a coin flip, though. you really can't afford to drop any of these games. That game on Thursday is basically a must win now. And I had a feeling, you know, I said coming into this week, you know, you win both these games,

that would be awesome. But I did say a split would also be fine, assuming you win those final three games against teams, I think that you should be expected to be. Obviously, you know, that you can't expect to beat anyone, you know, just when you feel like it, you know, any team can meet anyone in any given day. But those are still games if you want to if you are a playoff team, those final three games, you should be able to win against those three teams. But that just puts more pressure on you now to win against the wild on Thursday,

a team that is battling for first place in the Central Division. They don't even have Carrillo Caprice off right now. That is going to be a very tough game for the Penguins to win. But they need to show that they can rise up to the occasion. You're at home. The fans are going to be behind you. You cannot have another no-show like that. If they're able to get some help on Wednesday from the lightning

and then maybe get some help on Thursday from the senators because I think the senators travel down to Florida take on the Panthers, that would obviously be big. You can't rely on that. They have no choice to because they don't control their own destiny anymore. They lost that privilege tonight, at least for right now, since they have no more games in hand on any of these two teams. Games in hand only count if you win them.

And the Penguins did not do that at all, not even close. They have not won any of their games in hand all season. You've watched it play out right now. So puts even more pressure on them going into this game on Thursday. I'll have full preview for that game on Wednesday and also have some practice notes. Hopefully they'll be able to get Marcus Pedersen back here sooner or other than later. He is really the only true defense on this team that can actually play defense. Chris Let's hang.

He obviously, he's a very good defenseman, but I would say the defensive part of his game doesn't even stuck up to Marcus Pedersons. And I don't even think that's a hot take. I'm not even trying to diss them. I just think Pedersen's a better player in his own zone. But, yeah, they probably need to win all four of these games. Three, it's a coin flip.

You don't want to have it rely on that. There's also reality here, Yins. They win these next four games. Islanders in the United States. the Panthers win those next four games, they're all out of the, the penguin, who's out of the playoffs? Penguins, yep, they don't control their own destiny right now. So they're going to have to win out and hope that one of these two teams of her

in them drops the game along the way. But it's not looking good right now. They're going to have to, you know, straddle something together here because what I saw tonight was pathetic. that did not look like a playoff team that looked like a lottery team that was men against boys out there not acceptable in the slightest i want to see a much better performance from this team on thursday but that would do it for this episode of the long time hanguins podcast really appreciate all of you listening to this one again if i had mispronounce peter ned ved's name wrong um i probably

was going to um well probably fired from the show i think i probably had so many comments on the YouTube page and stuff and just in my DMs. Hunter, what the heck? But no, you know, I had to make sure I got, no. I tried to make sure I get every name right. I better make sure I get that one right because, you know, you play for this team for more than one season, obviously. But again, thank you all so much for this thing.

Really, really, really appreciate it and watching, of course. I'll be back with another episode for you all on Wednesday where I'll, you know, be a little more, hopefully, optimistic and positive. Talk to you all that. Thank you.