Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Has Tristan Jarry's redemption started?

Episode Date: October 20, 2021

Well, it wasn't the Penguins' night but that doesn't mean there weren't a lot of positives to take out of this game. Hunter first touches on Tristan Jarry and how great he's been to start the season. He explains why it's okay to be objective about him despite his recent playoff failure and how he's been the team's best player to start the season. He also goes into the Teddy Blueger line as they had a night to remember, plus how John Marino looks like a different player. What has changed for him? He also dives into his numbers with Pettersson. Also touched on: Matheson's tough debut, Kapanen's struggles, Kris Letang playing like a top 5 defenseman, and Mike Lange's amazing ceremony.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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.Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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.

Your Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hey, y'all. Welcome back to a Tuesday evening episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes.

Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. Today's episode is brought to you by Rock Auto. Amazing selection, Rive, Low Prices, all the parts you cover ever need. You can visit rock auto.com and tell them locked on sent you. So it definitely was not the Penguins night tonight,

even though I thought they played a pretty good game. They lose two to one in a shootout to the Dallas Stars and was easily the most boring game of the season to date, even though they only played in four games. But that's what playing Dallas will do to you. They're now two and O and two. And we'll be off for the next few days. If you have any weekday plans this week,

you can keep them because the Penguins do not play again until Saturday evening. against the Toronto, Maple Leafs, that game will be on NHL Network and all the regional coverage. I think the biggest storyline from this game, because, you know, I keep doing this with my episodes. I always want to go over the biggest storylines after a game. My biggest one, Tristan Jari's play. Again, he was fantastic in this game. And I got to be objective.

I think he has been their best player through four games. I mean, I didn't expect to see it, especially after what happened in the Stanley Cup. playoffs and you know I understand that some fans maybe are I guess more pessimistic on him and it's valid you know he played bad in the playoffs a lot of people just expected him to wilt play bad but he's been anything but that to start the season I mean in the last game that he played saved almost three goals above expected but you know tonight he again was looking more bigger in the net and that's one of the things that I have noticed about his game this season you He's challenging shooters a lot more like you saw tonight.

His lateral movement is also much better. You know, I remember that save. I think it was in the third period, I want to say. I feel like with about four to five minutes left, Miro Haskinen has this beautiful pass, cross-ice, and Jari just gets out there with ease, makes a kick save. It's like, you know, if that were in the playoffs or last season, he probably would have let that in,

but it just goes to show that he's really worked on his lateral movement over the off season. His glove hand in quotation marks has been fine. And he's just, the biggest thing is he's giving this team a chance on a nightly basis, which is something that we didn't see happen all of last season. Well, I shouldn't say all of last season. There was a few stretches where he played some good hockey, but in some other stretches, he was not that good. And then obviously, especially in the playoffs, he was terrible.

But so far, the redemption story with Jari is on. I understand that he can't make up for that playoff series. just yet, we'll have to see how he plays in the playoffs when I think Pittsburgh and Netanylian makes it towards the end of the regular season. But right now, it is fine to praise him for how he is playing. He has been their team's best player, in my opinion. And again, tonight, his goal saved above expected was really well. 1.66. It's a bit of a step down from where he was in the last game. But this was still a very good performance, I thought, from Tristan Jarn. So that was one of the things I wanted to kick off this podcast with. And also,

kudos to everyone that was at that game for giving him the jari jari chant goalies feed off that kind of stuff and I think it made him play better and better as the game went on I know in the shootout it probably wasn't his best effort he made one nice save but then the second one nice move and then the third one I mean that's just a disgusting backhand from Alex Radhulov I mean I don't think any goalie in the league is going to be saving that so I'm not going to really fault him too much for the shootout he gave his team a chance to win for this game overall. I mean, especially in overtime, I made a couple sprawling saves. I think the one on Sagan was phenomenal. I know Rajalv hit the post on another, but Latang had a great

defensive play. It still led to a scoring chance, and then Yajari was right there. I mean, he was just making save after save for Pittsburgh tonight. I know I'm probably repeating myself a lot, but I just can't stress enough how good he was in this game and how great he has been to start this season. One of my other biggest takeaways from this game. I just mentioned his name about 15 seconds ago. Chris Let's hang is on another planet right now. He's playing like a top five

defenseman in the NHL. Just his sprawling defensive play in that overtime to knock the puck away and to send it away for a little bit before the stars came back in the offensive zone with a scoring chance which is nothing short of spectacular. He walked a few stars defenders

on a shift in the offensive zone. It looked like he was going to channel that goal that he had a couple of years ago where he walked the entire stars team and then scored a beautiful goal I think it was five hole I want to say it was on Houdobin was in the net but I'm not really

I can't remember which goal he was in the net but he walked the entire team try to do it again tonight and then there's another instance where he was walking the blue line like it was no one's business he is off to a magnificent start this season he played I think a three minute shift in that overtime and he just he comes to the bench

doesn't even put his head down and he just comes right back out for another shift about 45 seconds to a minute later. That's just how Latang is. He's one of the most conditioned players in the league. It's almost like he never gets tired, but I thought it was a great performance from him. And if he plays like that for a full 82 game season,

you will see him get some Norris love. Just bank on that. I really liked his performance tonight. Another big storyline. Again, John Marino, this is now four points in four games, and who is he playing with? Oh, Marcus Ponce.

Pedersen, someone who I have been hyping up a lot during the off season and to start the regular season for this team, they work together. That is just how it is. And you look at their numbers in the defensive zone tonight. This comes from Monique Puck. They were on the ice for 15 shot attempts for and six shot attempts against. I mean, that is really freaking good. And no, I understand that they're not a defensive specialist pairing, especially with what

you saw from Marino tonight. I loved that little play that he did. in the offensive zone, you know, he kind of just dumps the puck in a little bit, but doesn't go back to the point, right? Brock McGinn is able to get a pass from the other side of the point, and then one times it, Holpey makes a save, but then Marino is parked right in the slot. He sees the scoring opportunity and then buries it top cheese over Holpey. That is a very smart and a little bit of a veteran play, I think, for Marino. I mean, I can't even really call him a veteran just because it's his third season in the league. but I really enjoyed watching Marino do that there

and hopefully that can unlock more of his offensive ability. This isn't just because we haven't really seen a lot of offense to date with Marino. You usually only see him making good plays in the defensive zone, but right there he was very comfortable staying down low a little bit. He knew that his partner was covering for him at the point. So he was able to read the play, see McGinn shoot it into Holpey's pad, and then corral the rebound and go chop cheese. hope he had no chance on that.

So I really wanted to point out that play. And again, just point to how great Marino has been this season. Again, four points in four games. And digging a little deeper, he was on the ice for 10 unblocked shot attempts for, five unblocked shot attempts against, and then seven actual shots on goal four, and then four shots on goal against. Pedersen-Marino pairing, 57.9% of the expected goals in this game,

71.4% of the shot attempts. it was just a sensational performance from both of those players, and I really can't wait to see them keep playing more as the season progresses. One of the things I was happy about with Mike Sullivan coming into this game was that he was going to keep Matheson with Ruido. It makes the most sense. You don't need to go back to Matheson, Marino, appearing that we know does not work. If you look at the underlying numbers, it was around 40% of the expected goals last season,

42% of the shot attempts. Now, this season, you're seeing what Marino can do away from him. And again, the evidence point, to that he is a lot better away from Matheson than he is playing with Matteson. And, you know, the numbers that I just threw at you all prove that. So great performance from him. Marcus Pedersen continues to kill it as well. He's another player that some people need to cool it with.

I saw way too many takes a solid season that, you know, he should be the player that the penguins move out. He's not physical enough. He can't do as much with the puck, yet he's one of the team's best defensive defenseman and is playing well in the offensive zone as well. So I wanted to point out Pedersen a little bit, as well as Marino for one of my biggest storylines or takeaways from this game. Now, that said, there is a whole lot more to get to coming up in the next segment, including the Teddy Blue Girl line, which was just phenomenal tonight.

I'm going to get into some of the stats that we saw from them from this game, and a whole lot more coming up in the next segment. But before we do that, Bet Online is back and better than ever. There's a new web interface for the start of the NBA season and more props. odds and lines than ever before. Betonline remains your number one spot for all the basketball and football action this season. You can head to the new updated desktop or mobile website to send up today and receive your 50% off welcome bonus on your first deposit.

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You can learn more at directtv.com. That is directtiv.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hooties. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So I wanted to get into the line that I'm sure that most of you saw tonight was buzzing.

You know, that Teddy Bluger, Zach Aston-Rees, Brock McGinn line, which looks even better than the Aston-Rees-Bluger Tannav line from last season, at least through four games thus far. I mean, they are just a menace at this point. So if I go to MoneyPuck and I look at their stats, which is just, it's ridiculous. I just, I got to get into these. So, okay, for some reason,

Money Puck is just being stupid. Okay, I'm on natural stat trick right now. So they played 15 minutes at 5E5 tonight. They were on the ice for 84% of the shot attempts. If you scroll over to the expected goals for, 0.7.1.8, expected goals for, 0.05 of the expected goals against. They were not giving up anything the other way,

but they were sure on the ice for a lot of chances. if you go to their scoring chances for a percentage, 81.8% of the scoring chances. High danger chances for 100% of those. They did not get up a single high danger chance the other way. And then their expected goals for percentage, 93.9%. I mean, that is probably one of the best numbers from a line that I have ever seen while watching this team.

I mean, that is disgusting in every way possible and goes just so that this line is going to be never. this season. I mean, Teddy Bluger especially did some ridiculous work, and it's time that people start giving him the respect that he deserves. When he was on the ice overall, just him, not his line as a whole. 21 shot attempts for, three shot attempts against, 95% control the expected goals, plus 63% relative to teammates. The last two come from Jesse Marshall's Twitter page. Is that good? Yes, I would say that is very, very good. He was one of the more underrated centers in this league, especially defensively.

And again, he needs to start getting the respect that he deserves because he was everywhere tonight. I mean, the goal that Pittsburgh scored was because of the Bluger line was on the ice. I mean, I think they pinned the stars' top line of Sagan, Ben, and Radulov down there for 90 minutes, and they were just cycling like it was no one's business. I don't really think the top line for Dallas could move at all. And Pittsburgh made sure to make them pay with that. That's, I think, going to be a line that Mike Sullivan uses a lot this season.

And not even just as a defensive line that can go out there and shut down the top competition. He is going to throw that line out there against anyone he wants. And he is going to expect them to get the majority of the chances like they did tonight. I mean, a lot of the responsibilities for this game were up against Ben Sagan and Radulov. And they owned that matchup. I mean, you probably don't want them out there that much against, you know, Marshawn Bergeron Posternak. but to see how they did tonight against three pretty damn good players in this league, that's very encouraging.

I think this is going to be one of the better bottom six lines that you'll see for the initial season. So I wanted to point that out as a line that was just nasty tonight going through some of the other lines. The O'Connor-Boyle-Simone line was really good as well. They were on the ice for 70% of the shot at Thames. 66% of the scoring chances for, but it was only a 2-1 ratio. So that's kind of a little bit of a small sample size, not really, lot of high danger chances, but they were driving offense when they did play.

I know it was only eight minutes, but again, I liked what I saw from Simone tonight, especially. He made some really nice passes that looked like they were going to turn into goals, but Holpe just had other business, I guess. And, you know, speaking of Holpey, what a game he had. I mean, this has been a goaltender that

has been pretty washed, I would say, the last three seasons. I think last year with Vancouver was around 895, 896, the year before that was only around 9-0.9. 901, 902, but tonight he played like the goal that we saw from all those years with the capitals. And I have to say, for all these people that were at the game, these weird yinzers doing the Holti chant when it was a one-to-one game, I don't really know what all your problems are. My only question I have for you people is, why?

I mean, why are you doing this in a tied game when there hadn't been a goal scored since the orly portions of the second period? I get it. He used to play for the capitals. but that stuff only works when you light up the goalie like a Christmas tree. Like if you're going to do it, you know, do it when you light up five on Henrik Lundquist like they did in the 2016 series game five there. Or, you know, if you put up four to five on Holpey, you can do it there. But, you know, to do it in a game like this where only one goal was scored, and I'm saying this for any goalie that walks in here and the Penguins fan base decides to do that.

It makes no sense and it honestly just makes the fan base look. Or, you know, that portion of the fan base, I should say, embarrassing because I did see a lot of people on Penguin's Twitter complaining about it, you know, myself included. I just, I don't really care for that kind of stuff. So, again, it's only really funny when you light up a goalie for four to five goals or something like that. But again, you know, back to what I was saying, Dominic Simone, I thought had a really good game. Danton, you know, the 82 goals dream is out. You know, we are not going to see 82 goals and 82 games for Dan Hinen. But, you know, maybe we could see 81 goals and 82 games just because, you know, that's, you know, that's, you know,

is still on the table as of right now. Drew O'Connor looks like he still belongs, another stellar performance I thought from him. I mean, I'm also going to say this as well. This is the second consecutive game. I know I touched on this on my episode yesterday. Kasporee Cappin needs to wake the hell up. I don't know what's going on with him right now. I don't think he's hurt. There's really been no injury that's been reported or anything like that, but it doesn't look like that he has his confidence while he's playing. I mean, he looks blazing fast still, but I don't think he's shooting enough as he did. Last year, I know his season in 2020, 2021 was built by his high shooting percentage,

but you're starting to see what it could look like if his shooting percentage goes back down to where it normally has been throughout his career, which is, you know, 10, 11, 12%, you know, when someone shoots 16% and they haven't done that for most of their career, you know, it's usually going to be an outlier. And I think that's what we might be seeing right now. but that said, I know there is a higher level to Kaepinandin's game. Just he's not finishing his chances. His passing's been a little bit off.

Even his defensive play, I think, is a bit off as well. So I don't know if it's just because he's playing with Evan Mariguez on a nightly basis. He still has Jason Zooker next to him. But for someone who was lauded as a training camp hero or, you know, one of the best players in preseason, he needs to start backing that up in a big way right now because I am not impressed. with how he's playing. I think he has been one of the more disappointing players to start this season, so we'll have

to see if he can step it up when the team plays in the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Finally, I did want to touch on Mike Matheson. He was kind of getting walked on a nightly basis tonight. I think there was one in particular to where he was one-on-one with Radulov and he just made Matheson look like

a pee-wee player, to be honest. He was lucky that Jari was back there to make a big save on just a little bit of a mini-breakaway. And it is funny. I have noticed this a lot when I watch games, you know, when I live tweet, I'm on both a Locked on Penguin's Twitter account on my Twitter account. The same people that criticize Latang for the mistakes that he makes, they'll give Matheson a pass for whatever reason. I think the only thing I could think of was because they hate Latang for no reason at all. But, you know,

again, Matheson makes those same mistakes. There's crickets on him. Yeah, Crystal Tang does the same thing. Not nearly as often as Matheson does it. And then he's just buried beyond buried by so many people in the fan base, heck even some people in the local media that cover the team. So I don't understand that. I think there needs to be more of being objective when it comes to this player. I understand that he exceeded some expectations last season, but in his first game tonight definitely wasn't that good. I think, you know, to say the least, Freeman has been better than Matheson this year.

You know, Friedman has also played in more games at this point. But that'll do it for this segment of the Lockdown Penguins podcast for Tuesday evening, Coming up in the next segment, we're going to get to your listener takeaways and see if I agree with what you saw. We're also giving you a little bit of a shout out to Mike Lang. But before we do get to that, why should you choose to spend 30%, heck even 50% or 100% more for the same parts from a chain store or car dealership? You can save time and a lot of money when using Rock Auto, their family business, serving your own yourself for over 20 years. The prices are reliably low for every customer. They have everything you can need from brake parts, tail lamps, motor oil, and even new carpet.

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Follow this show's Twitter at L. Oner Square Penguins. So just a few post-game takeaways. I know I posted these a bit late, but I wanted to get the episode in as soon as I could. Jackson Hollister says, I thought Jari played very well. That's got to be great for his confidence. I loved hearing the fans chant his name after a big save. Yeah, absolutely Jackson. I touched on that very early on in this episode.

He was sensational tonight, and his confidence is sky high right now. Obviously, you're not going to. have a playoff redemption in four games. He's going to have to continue this for the rest of the season and then especially in the playoffs. But I'm rooting for him. I think if you're not rooting for him, you should probably just stop being a fan, at least in my opinion. I will eat crow when I'm wrong. And so far, I have definitely been wrong about Jari through his first three starts of the season. He has exceeded my expectations and a whole lot more, but still. There's 78 more games left. Let's see how he does for the rest of the season. Alan Codor, echoes Jackson a little bit. Jari was great.

I think the pens need some more quality chances or more shooting at times. I had a feeling the penguins were going to lose as the game went on, but I still don't think they were awful great but frustrating game to go to. Yeah, honestly, Ellen, I thought they played fine. I mean, I think people are clouded by the stars just playing a really boring game. That's just how the stars are. I mean, I tweeted Mad Chat of the, well, I should say his show and any show of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports about how the stars are the Islanders of the West, and they basically played like it tonight.

You know, they just, they suffocate you. There's no room out there. They play a very defensive-minded game. And they kind of just bore the game down, and it's like watching your water boil for pasta. But that's what you're going to get when you play the stars. I mean, luckily they'll only play them one more time for the season. So I think that definitely clouds some judgment. But overall, if you look at the underlying numbers, just because the game was at 5E5.

And yeah, that's another thing. I have no idea why the refs decided to not call any penalties tonight. I probably counted at least five to six obvious infractions. and the refs were like, no, we're just not going to call it. So what a great league the NHL is here. Penguins had 57.6% of the shot attempts tonight. High danger, it was about 50-50, well, 8 to 7 in favor of the stars. The expected goals for was pretty even as well.

1.5 for the Penguins, 1.6 for the stars. 48% of the expected goals. Dallas had 51.7. So it was a fairly even game for the most part. I don't really think they were awful at all. I definitely kind of understand it was frustrating for you to be there I mean you're watching a team

just bore a game down to the highest degree and I loved watching that third period especially man because it was almost like they had a gentleman's agreement hey we're gonna play like this third period like we're bored so let's just give each other a point and see what happens in overtime and a shootout and that's basically exactly what happened they were just like hey we're from two different conferences

let's just give each other a point and then see what happens so I thought I had to point that out but again now on great observations there. Gilbert the Goat says, what a game from Jari. I think he's looking confident again. Kappan has struggled these first four games. The puck is bouncing off his stick and all the time and he's not hitting the net. Yeah, again, man, I just touched on that as well.

I don't really understand what's going off on with him. He's definitely not having his scoring touch and, you know, his skating's been good, but just the rest of his game is not there. He also ends it with six out of points without Sid Gino and Russ is great. Could have won all four, but you take that all day. And that's exactly how I'm going to end this episode, Nick. I saw a lot of people saying, oh my God, this team's going to be one in three after the first four games. They're going to be 0 and 4.

Heck, if Sid missed is 5 or 6. They're going to be 1 in 5. They're going to be 0 in 6. The team is 2 and 0 in 2 to start the season, and they have 6 out of a possible 8 points. I would have taken that if the team was fully healthy. And you're damn right, I'm going to take it when their two big guns are out as well as Brian Russ. So this is basically a dream start for the Penguins. They're getting good goal tending.

The top players are stepping out. their depth is playing good and you're getting positive contributions from players who really were not as good as they were from last season but i think that's where i'm going to end this episode of the lockdown hanguins podcast oh yes one more thing um congratulations to mike lang the best hockey announcer to ever do it um it honestly brought a tear to my eye seeing that video celebration on the jumbo tron and you know it almost looked like a little bit of livae when he was controlling the crowd there like freddie mercury did back in 1985.

And I think it even brought him to tears. I loved seeing Afghanistan Malcon legitimately bring Lang a milkshake just because of his iconic make me a milkshake call that he has for him. It was just an awesome moment on Penguin's Twitter. And again, it's crazy how that, you know, so many different generations of Penguins fans have grown up with him, you know, especially, you know, with my generation, I'm only 23. I'll be 24 in four weeks. And I know, I listen to him growing up.

up, you know, people that grew up in the late 80s and early 90s with Mario Lemieux grew up watching him and even before that as well. So congratulations to Mike Lang, the greatest to ever do it. And he will forever be a part of Penguin's history. So that is how I will end this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I know it's not the result that we all wanted, but you're 2 and 0 in 2, 3,4 games. You're right at the top of the Metropolitan Division or close to it. You take that any time you can get. And I think there is a chance that Cindy Crosby will play on Saturday. We'll have to see if he gets a full practice in for the rest of the week. So yeah, teams off until then, but that doesn't mean the content is going to stop.

I'm going to have daily episodes from Wednesday through Friday for you all. So stick around for that, and I hope you all have a great rest of your evening.