Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - How did the Penguins win that game?!?!

Episode Date: February 8, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins, somehow, someway found a way to win that hockey game on Tuesday night. Hunter starts the show by going over the main reasons as to why they won and it all starts with Casey DeSmith. He turned in his finest performance of the season and was able to make some massive saves in key situations to keep them in it until Bryan Rust struck with less than four minutes remaining. He also credits the penalty kill as that unit killed off four straight penalties, including the one in overtime when it looked impossible. He also loved the effort they gave in the third period and wonders where that was in the first two periods of this game. After that, he shouts out Ryan Poehling for a very underrated play that he made directly after killing the penalty, which led to the OT winner. Hunter also loved that Mike Sullivan decided to flip Rakell and Rust and looks at how both players complement each line that they're on fairly well. Of course, he does have to add that the third line was once again non-existent and that continues to be a problem as the trade deadline gets closer. Hunter even speculates that Sullivan could be icing Carter in bad situations on purpose to get Ron Hextall to wake up a little bit. Finally, Hunter ends the show by arguing how this was a season-saving win as the standings continue to get tighter.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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. Place your first FIVE DOLLAR bet to get ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in Free Bets – win or lose! Visit Fanduel.com/LockedOn today to get startedFANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as non-withdrawable 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.

Can you all believe that the Pittsburgh Penguins won that game on Tuesday night? I sure as hell can't. That's for sure. But to start this episode, I am going to tell you why exactly they won this game and absolutely stole two points against defending Stanley Cup champions. That'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 to a late Tuesday night episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am, of course, your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter at Anwar Penguins. And of course, thank you so much for making this your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by FanDwell Sportsbook, the official sportsbook of Lockdown. Make every moment more, visit fandua.com slash locked on today to get started.

Penguins 2, Avalanche 1, somehow, some, freaking way this team walked away with two points against all odds. Less than four minutes left, you're thinking, oh, here we go again. They're going to squander another massive two points. The islanders are kicking butt against the cracking. The sabres are right on their tail. Oh, they're going to be out of a playout spot. Penguin said, not so fast, my friends, as the legendary league corso on college game day says,

Brian Russ gets a tying goal with 338 left. Chris, let's hang, wins it a little over halfway into overtime when it looked like they were going to lose after that. No goal was actually the correct call. Get into that a little later. And voila, voila, what do you know? Penguins got collect points 58 and 59 to stay in a playoff spot. And they are now just one point behind the Washington Capitals with three games in hand on them. And they are also tied with the Islanders for the final playoff spot.

But they have a tiebreaker because they have four. four games in hand on them. Just what a game from this team. And they won this game because of the way they played in the third period, and especially Casey to Smith. What a performance from the Penguins' Backed-Out goaltender. Let's give him a round of applause for that one. 970, save percentage are a little bit over.

41 saves on 42 shots, excuse me, spectacular stuff. that he made in overtime, went off his noggin. I believe that was on Rantanin. Just out of this world stuff. The save that he made on JT. Confer late in the third period before Brian Russ tied it. When it was on an odd man rush, saves that he made on McKinnon, not Lannis Farrantan, Natchewski, McCar. I can name so many others.

He was a rock for this team tonight. They finally had a good game where they got the goal 10. easily, excuse me, his best start of the season, not even close, in my opinion. If he is even just average tonight, penguins are blown out. And I was saying this in the first period. Like, how was this scoreless going into the intermission

because they were being so brutally outplayed Casey Smith? You know, when they needed him the most, he was there for them. And this was not the goal, the same goalie. I recognized when he gave up six goals to the four panthers, what, just a couple of weeks ago before the All-Star break when he looked like he couldn't even stop a beach ball. Tonight he was played like a Vesno Trophy goal tender.

And I know he's up and down, but just a great job by him yet again just when they need him most. And despise some time for Tristan Jari. I would like to think he's going to be coming back this weekend. He was there at the morning skate on Tuesday. If he can get a full practice or two in before the California road trip, I would like to think that he's going to be good to go for the game on Friday or Saturday.

But, you know, man, just beautiful stuff from DeSmith tonight. Shout out to him. Another big reason why they won. Jason Zulker, when the team needs him the most, he is their most consistent winger again. Watch that forecheck that he did before that goal from Russ. I thought it was originally Malkins, but it was Russ. He just went through two Avalanche plays. gets the shot just over Frantzos, goes wind of the net, but he's scrambling.

Malkin's able to just bank it, Russ is able to touch it. It's a little bit of a fluky goal, but go back and watch that forecheck there. It's Jason Zucker again, just being in the right place at the right time, and also just doing a great job foreshacking and splitting the defense in that situation. He has been there time and time again for the Penguins this season. He did not disappoint. And also the penalty kill. What a performance all night long by that unit going up against one of, you know, the premier

power plays in the league. I know this team does not have Gabriel Landisog out there, who is one of the best, I think, pure playmakers in the league. But you still got Nathan McKinnon, who was incredible, top three player in the league, in my opinion. Kill McCar, who I think is the best defenseman in hockey. And I don't really think it's particularly close. You have Miko Ranton.

you know you have Valerie and Chuskin. Just world-class players right there. You can put whoever else you want. As a fifth guy, Devon Taze if you want to, he is awesome too. And the fact that the Penguins were able to kill off, you know, four straight penalties, especially the one in overtime. And do it with such ease was amazing. And I love the play that Ryan Paley made after the PK.

I'm going to get to that in the second segment. But, you know, they're able to sell out, blocks some shots. They were able to deny a lot of zone entries. Just spectacular work from the peak. I thought Teddy Bluger had his best game as a penalty killer in quite some time tonight. Josh Archibald came back, was really good on PK as well. But a job well done by the unit, a unit that had been struggled a little bit, going into the All-Star break, had been a little bit up and down, came into this game,

ninth in the NHL. But when they needed them the most tonight, it was absolutely. spectacular. Those are the main reasons, I think, why they won this game. Yeah, did they get a little bit of luck? Sure. Is hockey a random sport? Absolutely. But you know what? This team got the result. They badly needed it. That was a season saving win for your Pittsburgh payments. They lose that game in that manner. And, you know, if they lose one nothing, you know, they get passed in the playoffs. it puts even more pressure on them to go on this road trip and to either come out of it with the winning record or sweep it because, you know, well, sweep it at least for the California teams.

Because you play the ducks who stink. The sharks are not good even though they just beat them. The Kings are not bad. That's going to be a tough game. But, you know, if you can come out of this now this week, three and wine overall going into that game against the Islanders next Friday, which is a massive game before they play the Devils the next night, And then they play the Islanders again at home.

You know, you've got to be banking those points. And Penguins were able to do that tonight. And I know the avalanche have not played that well this year, but they're finally starting to get healthy, you know, goaltending, PK ability, and, you know, just a little bit of luck. And the Penguins were able to come out on the right side of this one, especially when they really took it to the avalanche in the third period. You know, that's when this game, I think, really turned third period overall.

the Penguins had 72% of the shot attempts at 5-on-5, 68% of scoring chances. High danger was about 50-50. Penguins also had 57% of the expected goals in that third period after getting just walked for the first two periods. And honestly, for the game, that third period really put that in the Penguins' favor in terms of shot attempts at Corsi, 56% of the shot attempts belonged to the Penguins. Scoring chances, they had 53% of those, but they got walked at high danger, 17-9. Expected goals, though, about 50-50.

It's just, you know, that third period in overtime, after the adage had that power play, really good stuff by the Penguins. And I think those were the main reasons why they won this game. Coming up in the second segment, I'm going to get into why Ryan Haley made a very underrated play. As soon as that penalty expired in overtime, I'm going to tell you why he did. You know, I'm going to tell you why it was such a great play. But first, first, let's get into Fandul. because, of course, the Super Bowl is coming up this Sunday. This year, the only app you knew at your Super Bowl party is FanDul,

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of Lockdown. All right, I'm back here in this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hoddes. Remember, follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show, Twitter, L or so penguins. And, of course, thank you so much for making this your first listen of the day.

So, Ryan Palin continues to impress, especially now that Josh Archwald is back. That's big for him and that line. Do you all notice what he did after they killed that penalty in overtime? I thought that game was over as soon as Malkin took that super penalty.

I will still stand by a bit my tweet that they are so clueless when it comes to playing in overtime. I do not understand it. You know, just took a really dumb penalty there. And he's lucky he didn't pay for it. But Ryan Peeling gets the puck. They get back to four on four. Look what he does. Look to the bench.

There's a little bit of a little, like for those that are watching on YouTube, he just does a little check, sees that a player is coming on, goes to the left side, goes around the net, buys the time for the reinforcement. to come on the ice. He didn't just dump it because he had been on the ice for a while. He had been on the ice, I think, for the last 40, 45 seconds and something like that to kill off the rest of that penalty.

And a lot of players in a situation will just dump it, give the puck back. It's four on four. It's not as dangerous as three on three. But not paling. He goes around the left side, goes around the net, gets it to one of the four players that gets off. And then boom, oh, gets on, excuse me, boom. It's a shooting gallery in front of the net.

Crosby's able to draw the penalty. He gets it to Lilletton. who fires it into the net for the game winner, chronicle that, everyone, by the way, and I think Mike Sullivan also chronicled it as well, based on his score. I'll get to that in just a second. But that is a veteran move by paling,

just a really heads-up play by him. You know, because, again, if he dumps the puck there, you know, who knows what happens in the rest of an oversight, you know, for all we know, the avalanche win that game or, if I don't know this game goes to a shootout. In the Penguins, we all know how bad they struggled in shootouts for the last couple of seasons with how they look like they don't even try.

trying them, then maybe losing that. So, really nice heads-up play by Paling there. You know, he's been really good, I think, since coming back from the injury, looking like a really solid forward-linked drivener. But the scene, you know, he had that goal against the sharks before the break. Really nice job. I thought tonight, he had a solid game. You know, just looking at the lines overall with Paling,

blue-groom and Archibald with a four-fell that they like. Women were on the ice, the penguin said 55% of the shot attempts. they also had only 42% of the expected goals. So not kind of man with that. One one in terms of scoring chance. They only allowed one hunting danger chance, though, when they were on ice. They did have a least amount of ice time.

But still, you know, I think results that you can live with when it comes to this fourth line. Really nice job by paling overall. Another topic I wanted to discuss here. So I'm sure you're all wondering, or some people are wondering, Hunter, What happened with that no goal that was called off to start overtime? And yes, it looks like that Chris LaTang did score, but this is what we like to call the parallax effect. Roseville don't know whether it is, you know, it may look like it's in, but if you go to those angles and you like look at the overhead, you know, it's not. That's that's the parallax angle.

You know, you can Google it. You know, a couple people came up mentions like, I had to Google this, but see what it was. That's what it is. you know, it looks like it's in. You're like, oh, it's a sure goal. But, you know, when you go a little, zoom in a little closer, you go over top, you can see that it's not.

A little bit of red was still showing. Honestly, if it goes in by another, if it goes over by another inch, Penguins go home 23 seconds in. And funny enough, Chris Tang would have had the game winner. There, nice heads-up play by friends, those to bring that puck out.

But that was the correct call on the ice. You know, point blank. Fans did not like it at the game, but overall, that was the right. call the refs got right and you know the penguins were lucky enough to win that game um i you know i will say after that really stupid penalty by abgady malcon in overtime i understand he's going for that loose pup from jt comfort but you know you can't hook or trip him there in that

situation you know the penguins got really lucky that they were able to kill that penalty off when they did especially when you have all that firepower here that they put out mackinan waning and mccarr and chuskin and chuskin and usually a lot of the times times. Good luck to Alvin Matt. I know if Nishu, if Lanesov was healthy, he goes out there in Nishuskin's a world-class player. McKinan's a top three player. McCar's the best defenseman in the league. In fact, they were able to kill that off. It was nothing short of spectacular. But those are really just my full overtime thoughts. Beautiful job by Crosby and Lutang. I guess to wrap this up. Beautiful job by Crosby and Lutang to really just get that

overtime winner. And Mike Sullivan had a great comment about that after the game. If I can get this here, Mike Sullivan on Crystal Tang's winner. I know it's well chronicled that Tangor has had a tough first year. We're thrilled for him for a lot of reasons. It's just a great feeling you're thrilled for him. All right, Mike Sullivan. So don't really know if you have a burner account because he does not have an official Twitter account. But I think it might be fair to say, potentially that he is aware of who Penguins Chronicles is. And if you don't know who that is, let's just say he's a person who is not, he's not Crystal Tang's biggest fan.

I will say that. And, you know, I do think Crystal Tang knows who he is because if you go back to his life in 2020, he has liked some of those sweets and he has seen them. So I think he's probably let some of his teammates know that this person exists. Maybe he's let Mike Sullivan know. You know, maybe Mike Sullivan did know what he was doing there. So I absolutely love that Sullivan put that quote out there. I hope everyone did chronicle that goal.

Latang was terrific tonight. Speaking of him, if you look at the hockey stat cards, Latang was their best skater by a mile tonight. Defense with defensive PK impact above average, almost 0.5. In terms of offensive impact above average, almost won in then overall with miscellaneous. Just his overall game,

almost had a game score of two overall, by far the Penguins best skater tonight. Just a fantastic game from him as someone who's had a really tough year, but he was awesome tonight. That's for sure. That wraps up this second segment coming up in the final segment. I'm going to tell you why it was a great move by Mike Sullivan to put the Gensel-Crossy-Rockel line back together

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All right, I'm back down on this episode of the Lockdown on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter. At Hunter Hodes, follow the show, Twitter, Al or so Penguins. And of course, thank you so much for making this, your first lesson of the day. So Mike Sullivan coming out of the break, so I had to change up the top six a little bit. Raquel is back up with Crosby and Gensel. And Russ is back down with Silkerman.

And I love that move. First off, looking at natural statutes tonight, top line when they were on the ice, had 57% of the shot attempts in terms of scoring, in terms of expected goals, a little bit down in terms of that, only 32%. Scoring chances 50-50.

Highing your chances, they got a little bit worked. But in terms of attempts, you know, they were very good. And I thought they were one of the best lines on the ice night, especially in the first two periods when they really weren't doing much. But when you go to the second line, that line was even better with Brian Russ. When they were on ice,

the Penguins had 73% of the shot attempts also had 75% of the expected goals, 62% of the scoring chances, 62% of high danger chances. It just works better with Rust. I know you can interchange Rust and Raquel, and yes, I have heard that Crosby prefers playing with Rust over Raquel,

but I think stylistically, Raquel is the better fit. He's not, you know, that straight-line player that Rust is. I think Raquel has a little bit of a better playmaking ability, than Rust has. And, you know, Rust, you know, playing with Malkin, who is more of a straight line player, you know, it just works better because, you know, he's always in the right spot and the right time

when he's on that line. And with how Raquel's playmaking is, it goes well with Jake Gensel, who is obviously one of the better goals scores on the team. It also goes well with Sid, who's, you know, a great playmaker and also a great shooter as well. So I really like that change. It paid dividends right away. You can easily see that those two lines were humming all night. long. And that's that's the top six that I want to see for the rest of the season.

If I can take a sip of water here, try to clear up my throat a little bit. Again, I don't know why this happens every time I press record. But, you know, these are the top two lines that I want to see for the rest of the season. They just, those two players fit their respective lines much better. You know, Russ has had his struggles this season. I know the goal tonight, a little bit fluky. But in terms of play style and just how they fit, I much prefer Rust with Malkin. And you saw that tonight. You know, that line was going to work. Shift after shift after safe. Chase's and Zucker with, again, a tremendous effort to tie that game late in the third period. And then Russ was able to get the goal. I thought Gensel, Crosby, and Raquel were

threatening all night, especially in the first period, a couple times late in that first period. Denzel had a couple of quality chances. I almost had 12 shots on goal. And this game was crazy that he didn't score because he just kept firing shots to net. And that's a byproduct of having Raquel in that line because he can get him the puck, I think, more times than Rust can as a playmaker. And obviously, Sid is Sid. But, you know, really like the performance from those two players on their respective lines. And I'm really glad Sullivan was able to make that change.

Outside of that, you know, your guess is as good as mine for why Jeff Carter kept being ice against Nathan McKinnon. I don't think Sullivan was intentionally trying to do it. I think mainly this is maybe going to sound like a nuclear level take to some of you. But I really do think, you know, this could be, you know, I don't want to say it, you know. Is Mike Sullivan maybe making a statement with this by saying, hey, you know, if you're going to give me this player on this contract, okay, I'm going to go put him out against this. and get him exposed. Again, I don't think he's intentionally trying to taint these games or anything or just make losing moves for the sake of losing moves.

But a small part of me just just wonders, is he doing this to show everyone that, hey, Jeff Carter is not good enough in this role? You know, I need help here, and the team needs help. Same thing with putting, continuing to put Brockman in on that line. When again, he has given the penguins nothing. over the last month and change, it feels like coming to this game. He hadn't had a point in his last 11 to 12 games, same the thing with Carter, same thing with Bluger. So I really think, you know, that could be a part of it.

You know, Sullivan's job is obviously a lot more safe at this point compared to Hextalls. But, you know, maybe he goes, you know, I've heard some rumors that his relationship with Hextel is a little bit frosty. It's not, you know, the greatest. At least that's a couple rumblings that I've heard. as well firsthand from someone who I trust. So, you know, maybe he's doing it out of this fight. I don't know. But it was a curious decision that he kept putting Carter and his line out there against

McKinnon. And, you know, what happened on that McKinnon goal, it literally looked like Carter just jumped out of the way from the puck. It didn't even look like he attended to block it, which was ridiculous. I don't know what he was trying to do there. That's for sure. But just a really odd move there, I think. Yeah, it's also annoying that Heinz,

and then Drew O'Connor out of the lineup. But, you know, I thought Kappan and played a decent game. So I had a couple of quality chances. Archibald had a couple of thunderous hits. I think the goal scoring is going to come back from him in time. You know, he's been out of 18 games. But you can just see that the fourth line does thrive on him being there. You know, it really does.

You know, you look at and you look at the numbers at the line again, you know, plus and course in coursey tonight, but expected goals and high danger low on the negative. you know, that could potentially change a little bit going forward. And I also will go back to Brian Restier and say, you know, look at hockey stats cards. He was second on the Penguins tonight in terms of that. You know, he had a marvelous effort for the Penguins tonight, just behind Chris, saying Jason Zucker and then again, Eamalkin were just behind them as well. You know, the underlying numbers definitely match up with the eye test.

And I will also shout out Brian Dumlin for a very solid game outside of him fumbling that scoring chance. in the first, second periods. Got the fuck with about 10, 15 feet away. Look like he's going to put a shot on net. Doesn't even do that. And it's just like, you know, great effort there. But please, you know, just trying to get a shot on that in that situation. Other than that, I don't really have too much else to add when it comes to this game.

You know, overall, great win, season saving win, I might add. But, but, even with Tristan Jani back soon, you know, his team will not. go anywhere until they fix that third line. There's nothing doing with it. Jeff Carr's not bringing you anything. Ron McGinn's not bringing you anything. His Barry Capron was okay tonight. A lot of games in season, he's not bringing you anything either.

You have to fix that line. Your top six is cooking. But Teng had a great night. Even if this team gets great goaltending, which it did tonight, it could get better goaltending, especially when Jari comes back. I still need to see a better third line. I also need to see a lot better defensive awareness.

I did not like some of the auto-man rushes they gave up tonight, did not look like how slow they looked against the avalanche for most of this game. And I understand the avalines do this for most teams. I get it. But it's unacceptable to look that slow in a lot of situations. So, you know, still work to be done. Right win. California trip is up next for your penguins.

Got to at least win two of those three games. You play the ducks and the sharks, people. Winning all three would be tough because you play the king. on it back to back. If you can win all three, though, that'd be sick. But again, looking at maybe two out of three, at least on that trip before they go to Long Island to the Islanders next Friday.

But that'll do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of Locked on Penguins. I'll back with another episode for you all on Wednesday, discuss this team even more. Have a great rest of your Tuesday.