Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - It's Casey DeSmith time...at least for Sunday

Episode Date: January 16, 2021

The Penguins have dropped to 0-2 on the season but Hunter is still here to go over everything that happened with this game. The Penguins tried to roar back after going down 3-0 but it just wasn't enough with Carter Hart slamming the door shut. Some of the big talking points in this episode include: Evgeni Malkin as he's just on a different planet. When should some fans start to worry about him? Hunter also sets the record straight with what led to the Flyers 4th goal as it was Tanev's terrible pass, not Letang jumping into the rush that caused it. Also, is it time to sit Jarry for a bit? And finally, can this Penguins third line be one of the best third lines in hockey? All that, plus much more in this episode.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 “LOCKEDON,” and you’ll get 20% off your next order. 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. Welcome to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins.

So another night, another loss for the Penguins, 5-2 to the Flyers. Drop to O in 2-0 on the season, not the start. that anyone in this fan base or anyone on the team would want, especially, you know, you're losing your top rival for the first two games of the season. Luckily, they do come home on Sunday to face the Washington Capitals. Hopefully that will get them juiced for the rest of the season. But, you know, for this game, I thought it was better for the Penguins. I mean, the start at least was bad.

I mean, the first 10 minutes of the game were pathetic. You know, you're down 3-0. We're able to cut it back to 3 to 2 pretty quickly. I think those next two goals in a minute. And then outplay the Flyers badly throughout. the rest of the game but you know carter heart ended up just stealing the game and you know I think we're going to be saying that a lot for the next

10 to 15 years Carter heart is really going to be pissing off me a lot of people in this fan base a lot of you guys have listened to this podcast he is just going to be a pain in the ass because it looks like the flyers have actually found a decent goaltender for the first time since non honestly probably since the first time since Ron Hextall if we're being honest

with ourselves because I don't really recall a good goalie for the Flyers after that I mean, especially during like the 2000s and, you know, the 2010s. They're just, I mean, Ilyabers Galov, Michael Layton, Brian Boucher. I mean, who else? Marty Barron, I think, was there 2008, 2009. They had Sergei Barovsky there for a little bit. Steve Mason, Michael Noyverth.

But the futures is now with Carter Hart. He is going to be pissing off a lot of people for years to come. But in terms of penguins for this game, just a terrible start in the first 10 minutes. I don't know what the hell they were doing defensively in their own zone, just giving the puck away like it was a grenade. Flyers are making them pay every time they went in. And then all of a sudden you're down 3-0. And, you know, Tristan Jari needs to play a lot better than that.

I think I saw a tweet from J. Fresh hockey. He's like minus 5.5 goals above expected. That's unacceptable for him, especially coming off an all-star level of a season this past season. You know, the short sample size, it was a very big criticism. I was higher on it, but, you know, if Jari is going to play like this this season, the penguins are not going to go anywhere. I know it's only two games, but, you know, it's a little alarming that he's played this bad in these first couple of games. Casey Smith was actually able to come in, and I think play pretty good for the penguins. Rest that first period, like I said, I thought the team played well.

You get Sidney Crosby get back on the scoreboard, his second goal of the year. Of course, he's always going to score against Philly. He's getting closer, I think, to the all-time record with points against the football. Flyers. Brandon Tanef scores about a minute later. Again, another great play. That's Tana's second goal of the year. His line with Jankowski is phenomenal.

We're going to get to that line later in the podcast. But Tanev has looked really good this year. I mean, he did have a bad play, which ended up leading to the backbreaking goal to make it forward to late in the third period. We'll get to that later too. But overall, I thought he played a solid game. I don't really think anyone is complaining about his contract right now. I personally wouldn't be with the level that he's displaying.

right now. He's been one of the three best players for this season. Even after that goal, the penguins, they kept pushing. Hart had to make a couple of big saves. I think Zucker had a breakaway. It was either at the end of the first period or was during the second period. Stoned him there. He also

stoned Chad Ruehdle on a many-mini breakaway. And, you know, I was surprised that Sullivan was putting Ruehiel into the lineup. I mean, I guess I'm glad that he's showing that he's not going to be shy about pulling players from a lineup, especially a player like Cici, one year, $1 million deal.

And just, I saw some people saying earlier in the day, I'm kind of buying this theory, too. I think Jim Rutherford was telling Sullivan to play Jack Johnson every night because now he already took out C.C. And he didn't even play bad in that first game. Excuse me. I thought he got better as the game went on. I thought the player they should have taken out was Matheson. But, you know, when he signed for about 300 more years at 4.

something million per year, they're going to give him another shot. I thought Matheson was better tonight. I think he rebounded a bit nicely. but took another penalty. Defensively, still a bit lost a little bit. But, I mean, offensively, I thought he was contributing more. He'll play against the Capitals. They're not going to take him out.

And I thought Rubito was honestly pretty solid, too. I don't really think he's going to be taken out of the lineup going into the Washington game. But, you know, I didn't think C.C. was going to be taking out going into this game, and I was wrong about that. The second period comes, the Penguins are really pushing. I mean, they are just push. The Flyers were playing so bad throughout. that period. I thought they played terrible in the third period too. I mean, this is a result

the penguins usually get nine to nine and a half out of ten times. This is not a game that they usually lose. Again, you know, the big culprits, goaltending. I mean, Casey DeSmith came in, though, was pretty good. I mean, only allowed one goal, the fifth goal was an empty netter. And on that fourth goal, it wasn't even his fault because, you know, of course, the puck goes off, Travis Kineckney's skating. I think he had two pucks go off his skating and it wasn't a kicking motion of course but you know that's just the luck that the flyers had tonight and then it was just also off of a terrible turnover like i said which we'll get to in the next segment but you know i mean they were getting so many odd man rushes and i'm going to say something about that right now i don't know

why the team or just players on the team decide not to shoot on these two-on-ones three-on-twos you're just forcing that pass when it's not there take the freaking shot it is not rocket science the one that they did take the shot on earlier in the first period, they scored a goal. So it's like, I mean, I just really don't understand it. Like, I saw Adrian Rodriguez come down on a two-on-one-one, I think, with Gensel, or you had a couple other ones. And he's passing the puck, where it's a perfectly open shooting lane with Carter Hart right there.

Like, dude, just take the shot. It's not that hard. You will more than likely score on that than if you just try to force a pass where it's not there. So I just, I really don't understand. that's been plaguing the penguins ever since last year the year before that it's just been something that's I've noticed for the last couple of years that's just really annoying I really don't understand why they have to do that again special teams I mean the penalty kill was better tonight but you know they also gave up another goal I mean they gotta get that fixed I mean you can't be given up power play goals every single game I know it's only been two games in the season but you know you gotta get traffic out of the front of the net you gotta have jari see the puck and it's just like you

You know, I know Valichi, he's new to the staff here. He runs the penalty kill. I know it's not going to be like Jack Martens unit. But you got to start getting a better results. I thought the power play looked a bit better tonight. I thought in the third period where they were trying to tie the game, I got many quality looks. I mean, Carter Hart was just a freaking wall all game looking like Kerry Price in the qualifying round.

He was just stopping everything like I talked about before. And, you know, it is more fun to watch Reardon's power play than Reikis. I mean, you can't really go down. much further than Marky's power play because it was absolutely terrible but I mean I know people are going to harp on Todd Reardon's probably you know they have the slingshot pass

wherever the hell it is that it's called but you know his unit it's a lot more fun to watch and you know they got the powerplay goal tonight to make it three to one before Tannath made it three to two and just the movement on the power play just looks better when it's in sync I mean sometimes they have trouble getting the zone but the Flyers Power PK

I would also say is damn good so when they were able to get chances outside of that Crosby goal. I mean, they looked good, but, you know, Carter Hart was just, you know, there to save the day. But they basically will do it for this segment. We have a lot more to get to about this game, including of Gney Malkin, including Chris LaTang, including a couple plays. You know, that could have been, you know, game changing. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about Bet Online.

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So let's just get to one of the big elephants in the room. I don't know what planet Evgeny Malkin is on right now I don't know if it's Mars I don't know if it's Pluto I don't know if it's your anus and yes I really just did say it like that but we need to get

Evgeny Malkin back down to planet Earth where we all know how good of a hockey player he is because he has been a ghost for these last 120 minutes I don't even recognize him on the ice I've had people texting me a couple friends you know just saying you know if he's going to keep playing like this

you know you entertain trading him I'm not close to that point. You know, you don't just, you don't trade Evgeny Malkin for the sake of trading of Gany Malkin. But I am getting a little bit worried about him. It's just like he's just a total ghost on the ice, not contributing anything offensively. We all know defensively he's not the best player,

and he's honestly never been the best player defensively. But even in the offensive zone, he's just been a, I said it three times. He's a ghost. He's a no-show. His line, I mean, Zuckers, at least his creative. chances. Rust is creating chances, but Malkin has been doing none of that. He's barely carrying the puck into the offensive zone on the power play. He's hardly shooting, hardly having any good

passes. I mean, the power play tonight was forcing passes when they weren't there, which led to an easy kill from the Flyers. I counted that like probably two or three times on power plays. It was just like, man, like, what has happened to him? And, you know, and I even tweeted this out. I mean, after the first period of the game, you know, been a total no-show for eight minutes. One of my followers said is single-handedly almost ruined every power play they've had that they haven't scored on

honestly I agree with that you know had someone say I hope you get ratioed for this Of course that Chad who does the 412 Sports Talk please follow him at Madshot 412 him and Eddie Do a great job And you know what

I honestly wanted Gino to score So I could have gotten reshoed for that You know but I wasn't proven wrong on that I just I don't know what's wrong with him He needs to figure it out He needs to figure it out quick because he has been garbage these last two games. Chris Letang, not the greatest night for him either.

People were going to blame Latang for this play in the third period. Three on two going the other way against Philadelphia. I have a good scoring chance. I think this was right as the Flyers power play was expiring. About what, seven, eight minutes left in the game. Tenev has the puck. Terrible cross-ice pass to Latang. I mean, Latang couldn't even do anything there.

And of course, Latang is out of the play. You know, fires have a three-on-two going the other way. Drew has a nice pass to, I'm trying to, I don't remember who it was that got that pass. They got it to connect me for the go-ahead goal. And then, you know, the penguins were just lost defensively there. And, you know, people, like I said, people were going to be away with Tang. Oh, my God, like, where's the Tang there? Where's the Ting?

It's like, yeah, the Tang would have gotten back, or they, that wouldn't have happened if Tannib wouldn't have had such a terrible pass to La Tang there. If he actually puts that on the money, there's a good chance the penguin score there because the Teng just has such great vision with the puck. and you know just has a wicked shot to go along with it so that is why that play failed there terrible press from tannib there is no other way around it you can't blame casey to smith i mean travis connectic gets a very lucky bounce there he honestly fanned on the puck anyway like he missed it it just ended up going off his skate and then and then of course that was all she wrote but still

you know outside of that i didn't really think letang looked great defensively you know offensively on the power play was passing up some for some shots for some passes that weren't there you know there's just a couple the core guys need to get it together. I thought, like I already talked about it, I thought Zucker was good. He was stoned on a breakaway by heart. He had a really nice move going forehand backhand. I think hard, he tried to go five whole on, a hard-headed stick there. And then, you know, Russ had a couple really good chances.

Jake, he's getting close. You know, I thought a lot of times tonight I was like, where is this Jake Gensigl? He always owns the Flyers. Where is that Jake goal? Was not there. He's going to break out of that funk. It's got to be coming soon. It's still a bit of a disappointing start for him.

And now let's get to the Evan Rodriguez thing again. This team cannot wait for Casperi Captain to be available. I don't think he's going to play on Sunday. I know Sullivan said today that it looks like we're getting really close to having him play. I think he's going to play next Tuesday. He's probably going to have to sit out one more game. They cannot get him in the lineup fast enough. I know people are going to try to say like, oh, he's going to say,

like, oh, he's going to save the top line. He's not going to save the top line. It's just you're going to have a better threat on the top line than fucking Evan Rodriguez, who just looked totally lost on that top line. It was just really bad. But otherwise, you know, like I said, guys, this was a winning effort by Pittsburgh. They win this game nine out of ten times. They control the play for the last 15 minutes.

I mean, Jacob Borchick even said to Charlie O'Connor of the Athletic after the game. He was a great follow. I know he does right about the Flyers, but he does a lot of great work for the Athletics, so please go follow him. He basically said, he goes, yeah, Pittsburgh outplayed us. They honestly probably outplayed us in the first game, too, but having Carter Hart back there was the big equalizer, and he said he thinks that Hart can be even better.

I don't doubt that. I think Hart was better in the qualifying round series. And, yeah, I mean, sometimes, guys, you run into a hot goalie. He's going to be like this for the next 10 to 15 years against this team. We'll better get used to it now. I know goalies are very volatile. It's very voodoo, but I just don't see Hart falling off. I'll admit that I was wrong about him because I didn't see him become

this good, this quick. His game is a joy to watch, too. He moves right to left, just so beautifully. He flashed his leather a few times tonight on some big saves and was like, wow. You know, he's just... This kid is the real deal, folks.

He's a really good goaltender. And, you know, the Flyers have a good there for a while. But, you know, guys, I can't wait to see that Carter Hart is not going to win the Stanley Cup there. I would just love for that to be injected in my veins. They're going to waste Carter Hart's prime years. But, you know, there's still more to get into

in the next segment. I'm going to talk about the Jankowski line with Tanev. That's been their best line for the season. All three of those players have probably been their best three players this season. And we'll also talk about the goal tending a little bit coming up in the next segment too

because I think we might be getting to a point where Casey DeSmith starts against the capitals on Sunday. And I'm going to argue as to why he should start on Sunday come and get in the next segment. So please stay tuned for that. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm your host.

Hunter Hodes. Follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show is Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's start with the goalie talk. I mean, I talked about it a little bit in the first segment. Mike Sullivan just has no time to play games here. If Shishanjari is going to play like how he played for the first season's opening 80 minutes, you got to bench him for that next game.

I was fine with giving him this game. I thought he was going to bounce back. You know, shocker, Hunter was wrong. You know, it won't be the first, it wasn't the first time I'm wrong. It won't be the last time I'm wrong. But I think there's a real shot, and I think they should go to Casey DeSmith on Sunday. I mean, he came in, provided a spark where they needed it. I mean, the Penguins were close to coming back in this game.

They got two quick goals. Should have honestly tied the game on numerous occasions, you know, if it weren't for Carter Hart. And DeSmith made some big saves during the first period, during all the second period, and then during a lot of the third period. And I think he can carry that play over into Sunday afternoon's game against Washington. Remember, guys, that game is at noon Eastern on NBC. I think that'll be Kenny Albert and Peter McGuire calling it. Or honestly, it might be Brian Boucher, because I think Brian Boucher is the number one on analyst guy now.

Okay, anyways, moving back to the original point, I just, I really do think this myth needs to start on Sunday with the way that he played. Just so they can get Tristan Jari back on track. Maybe you start Jari on, when's their next game? Tuesday against Washington or someone like that. I think that's the better option here. They need wins at this point. You're already 0 and 2. There's 54 games left.

You got to pay at, play at what? Like an 80-point pace the rest of the way to get in the playoffs. It's only going to get harder from here on out if you just keep dropping games. You know, it already is hard enough as it is with an 0-and-2 start. You drop another one on Sunday to get to 0-3. There's going to be some serious problems. But you know what? Let's get to some positives here because there were some positives come out of this game outside of the team playing well.

Mark Jankowski, I don't know where he came from offensively. But I just did not see this coming from him. Already has three points in the team's first two games. He had seven all of last year, guys. Seven points in... I can actually go check his hockey reference thing real quick here. If I can just load it up on my MacBook real quick. So this past, last season, guys, 56 games, five goals, 7.56 games.

The season before that with Calgary, where he was at his 14-17-goal-based, 32.79 games. He's on pace to shatter that 32-point season. already with those three points in the first two games. His skating ability is top-notch, just his playmaking ability, his vision. He works perfectly on that third line. I would keep that the rest of the season if he's going to keep playing like this. I already talked about Brandon Tannett. I think he already has three points in the team's first two games.

He looks like a complete different player. And honestly, Jared McCann looks good too. I know he had kind of an ugly hit that led to a Flyers Powerpoint. I think it was on Travis Sandheim, if my memory serves me right. Can't be doing that, but otherwise, I thought McCann played a solid game. And, you know, I think those three players have been the team's best three players throughout this season. Well, including Cindy Crosby, too. So Sydney Crosby excluded.

Those three players have been the Penguins' three best players for the season. Not really something anyone saw coming. So especially through the first two games, everyone's like, oh, yeah, the top is just going to carry the penguins. And, you know, myself included, I said that too. But, you know, the opposite has happened outside of Sydney Crosby. the bottom six has been carrying the penguins the last couple games with Jenkowski getting on the scoreboard and Tana of getting on the scoreboard a couple times and I don't expect that to continue I mean on an every night basis the top six is going to have to show up for this team to win games but it is nice to see the third line really contributing to the scoring

I mean this has the potential right now you know to be one of the best third lines in hockey and I know it's only been two games but I am going to go there and I will say that this has makings of truly being a great third line for the Penguins, but we'll see how long that continues. Other stuff to come out of this game. I didn't always how good Chatterwoodle was defensively, according to Danny Shiree Irving of the Penn's blog, who has been on this podcast before. Chowarder Wiedel was

on the ice for just 0.01 expected goals against an 11 minutes of 5E5 ice time. That is in elite number. Please keep him in the line up going into the next game. I mean, you're not going to get numbers like that from Cody Cici. That's for sure. I mean, like I said, they controlled very large

stretches of this game. You know, you can't You can't not show up for the game's first 10 minutes. If they don't have that three-goal deficit in the first 10 minutes of this game, they win the game. So that's basically all I have to say about this game. Put Casey DeSmith in the net on Sunday. You got to give Trishon Jari a break. If DeSmith plays well, you keep starting him. If he doesn't play as well, but he still gets the win.

Maybe you go back to Jari on Tuesday against Washington. But, you know, the wins need to start coming, guys. They're 0-2. There's 54 games left. They got to be playing at, like, what, an 80-90-point pace the rest of the year. to get in the playoffs. There's just, there's no room for error. And I know Mike Sullivan knows that.

We may see more lineup changes going into Sunday. Maybe he'll take out Mike Matheson. You know, maybe he'll put in free Rikola, as everyone likes to say. But, you know, the team needs of getting him all going to show up. Like I said, he needs to come back down to planet Earth. They need Chris LaTang to show up after this terrible game. Cid's been fine. The third line's been great.

Zucker's been fine. They need Jake Ensel to show up more. You know, when he's not scoring goals, it's not a pretty sight, even though I did think that he was a good playmaker tonight, that just the puck just wasn't going in for him or anyone that he was dishing the puck too. And yeah, I mean, there you have it, guys. I basically would do it for this episode

of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I really appreciate you guys listening to this one. The last episode was probably one of the most listened to episodes yet, so please keep it coming. If you guys like what I have to say, you know, let me know. Rate the episodes on Spotify, Apple, megaphone. Give me a follow on my Twitter at Hunter Hode

so we can talk during the games. The show is Twitter, L0, underscore. penguins just so we can talk everything penguins remember guys on sunday noon eastern mbc nationally televised game mbc's number one team there will be in pittsburg for pittsburgh washington the first of two games against them the season before i think they have boston after that it's either boston or buffalo but hope you all have a great rest of the weekend as well and i will talk to you all on monday