Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Meet the new boss...same as the old boss

Episode Date: February 17, 2021

The Penguins were lifeless in a game again...just as it looked like they were going to turn a corner. Hunter is here to talk all about it, including some hard truths about Kris Letang and where this could be headed with the Penguins. He also touches on the improved play of Tristan Jarry and how he shouldn't be credited as the main reason they lost tonight. Other points Hunter touches on: Who should the Pens trade for to upgrade their "fourth" line? Should the team move Zucker down the lineup? Same issues plaguing Geno? All that, plus the listener takeaways, on this episode of Locked On Penguins.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.IndeedWant your QUALITY short-list FAST? You need Indeed. RIGHT NOW, our listeners get a FREE SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLAR CREDIT to upgrade your job post at Indeed.com/LockedOn 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 everyone, welcome to this Tuesday evening 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 L.O. underscore Penguins.

So the Penguins had a pretty pathetic showing tonight against the Washington Capitals. they lose 3 to 1 It was that bad You know we're gonna get all into it For this episode But before we do that This episode is brought to you by Rock Auto Amazing selection, Relively Low Prices

All the parts your car will ever need Visit rockado.com And tell them locked on sent you So you know Where do I start for this game? I guess you know from the beginning I thought the penguins were dominant For the first 10 minutes

Firing Pucks on Net like it was no tomorrow The Powerplace at the beginning were awesome They had a five on three For I think 21 seconds Crosby hit the post on that, I think was a redirect, and then misses a tap-in on a five-on-four that he hits 9.9 out 10 times. I mean, you almost never see Crosby miss those kind of tap-ins. When he misses those kind of tap-ins, guys, it's going to be a bad night. It's just, it's never going to be a good night when Cindy Crosby misses easy tap-ins that he scores 99% of the time.

So after that, it just went all to hell. I will also say, just to get the positives out of the way before I go on to some ranting into some negatives. Tristan Jari, I thought he actually had a stellar performance tonight. 39 saves on 42 shots. I think that's good for some 930 goal tendering or something like that. He was not the reason they lost. I know people are going to say, you know, they're giving up three goals a game. And yes, that is bad, but I'm going to blame more of the defense on that.

And we're going to get to that in just a second. Jari really didn't have any chance on those three goals. They were basically just wide open nets for all three caps goals, I would. say, especially the third one from Ellor, had no chance. And then even the Verona one, great shot. And even for the, oh, yeah, of course, former Penguin Conor Sherry gets a goal, ones in a blue moon. That was a nice shot, too.

I don't really think Jari had a chance on that. But, I mean, they were outshot, what, 42, 27 overall for the game, basically spent the entire second period short-handed or basically over half of it or something like that. You're not, they don't have a chance to come back if you're just going to keep taking penalties. It was just P.O. Joseph, I think, took two. Mike Matheson had a really stupid penalty in that second period.

I don't know why he decided to barrel into the goalie like that. It looked like at the start that he was pushed into him by Orlaw, but then after watching the replay, it was like, okay, no, he did that on his own. I think it was Hathaway in the first period, which gave the Penguins that five on three for 21 seconds. But it was just like, they couldn't get out of their own way. And Brandon Tannib had a really big opportunity in that second period to tie the game. I think he came in way too quick on that breakaway.

and I just don't think he realized it, and then he didn't really have a lot of time to just make his move or his deke there. And, you know, it almost squibbled in after just because I don't think Vanichick knew where it was, but, you know, I just think Tanna needed to slow down a little bit, work, just focus on the deke, and I think he would have had him

or just almost he shot at Gloveside or wherever he wanted to go. I think that probably would have just been better instead of just barreling in like a freaking lightning bolt there. But yeah, overall, you know, just pretty pathetic performance. Like I said, but positive, of course, was Jari. I thought he was solid. You know, another positive Zach Aston Reese gets his third goal of the season in three games.

He's on pace for a goal per game right now. So, guys, we may see Zach Aston Reese win the Rocket Richard this year. So, you know, golf claps for that. No, I'm just kidding, obviously. But, you know, there's a problem when he already has three goals in three games and has two more 5-5 goals than Crosby and Malkin combined. I got that from 404 response code, 404 response code, notice, CK, on Twitter. That's a pretty big issue.

The fact that he has two more 5V5 goals than the two-headed monster, and we're, what, 14 games in the season? It's pretty pathetic if you ask me, but I really like watching him play. Just fits on that line with Bluger and Tanev, so I'm really hoping. I'm just really excited to see what else he can do for the rest of the season. You know, let's get into some of the negative. We'll start with the fourth line. Obviously, the fourth line is the Jankelski line. Some people were a little confused on Twitter, you know, one of my best friends, of course.

But it is the Jankelski line. that line is unplayable. When a quarter of your roster, your forward roster is unplayable, you have some issues. Ron Hextall has to go out and acquire two players, I think, to fill out that line to play with Jared McCann when he comes back. I look at a team like Nashville. They're selling probably at the deadline. They're not going to make the playoffs.

You have Mikhail Gremlin who's on an expiring contract. Eric Holla who's on an expiring contract. Make a deal for both of those two players. Send someone out or a couple pieces out. Bring them in and have them play with Jared McCann on that line. You actually will have a serviceable third or fourth line, and then you can have the Astromy's Blugertanav line eat up however many minutes you want while also playing the McCann line a bunch of minutes as well.

That's the big thing here. McCann needs to play with talented players when he comes back. Sam Lafferty is terrible. I don't know why so many people have decided to tout him every single season. It's just like he does nothing well. Offensively, he contributes absolutely zero things. Defensively, he's a tire fire in his own zone, constantly turning the puck over.

You know, I hear all this from some of the people in the Penguins media and just some of the fans, oh my God, guys, he's having a great training camp, he's really going to break out, he's having a great practice, he's looking great in the scrimmages and all that. Yeah, how is that translated over to this season? I don't even think he scored a goal yet this year for the Penguins.

He's been that bad. I know he had some stretches last season where he actually looked decent and that, you know, had some people believe, oh my God, he could be a fourth-line player for this team in future years. but after that he just was not good and even people during the return to play were like oh my God he's looking great in these practices

why doesn't he get a shot to play and just you know I think he did get a shot to play in game four of that series against Montreal or game three one of those two games and he stung so I just really don't get the Sam Lafferty love he has not been good this year I think he's one of the worst players on the team and expected goals four percentage I was reading that tweet from Shire Irving

aka Danny from Penn's blog this morning I believe he's at the bottom of the list also not absolved Mark Jankowski he is actually dead last on the penguins and that expected goals 4 percentage from Danny

that I saw this morning what a terrible signing that has turned out to be I know there was zero risk for it coming into this season 700K who gives a shit if he sucked to trade him

I think Hextall's gonna have to do that he's unplayable right now I don't even think he's an NHL player right now to be honest with you guys I know he had those two good seasons of the flames fired to this past season but these last couple of seasons

he's just been bad and I think he's been worse this season than he was last season in Calgary. He was great in those first two games in Philadelphia. After that, these last 12 games has been a total no-show. I think it was the opening goal tonight with the Conor Sherry goal when I was kind of half paying attention, kind of half not. I was doing something on my phone and then all of a sudden I look up, I see that the score was like, oh, which line was on the ice? Of course, it's the Jan Kaliskeye line because they're on the ice, it seems like for every goal against this season. those two players have been bad. Cole and Xavier, again, I think he's unplayable too.

Outside of a goal against Washington, I think a couple of times, has not done a thing this year. Could definitely see Ron Hextall giving him the axe throughout the trade deadline. And yeah, I mean, that's, I think, the biggest weakness outside of maybe the goaltending for this team. They need to go out and get one to two players, preferably two, to play on a line with Jared McCann

so they can roll out four lines. You're not going to win a Stanley Cup. Hell, you're not even going to make the playoffs if you're just going to be running three lines every single game. It's just not going to work like that. Other stuff to take out of this game, the second line. Gino, again, another horrendous performance. I'm just going to wait until he actually breaks out of it before I really start commenting on it. Just wasn't there offensively, wasn't there defensively.

He took that stupid penalty. That was actually his first penalty of the season. Took him to his 14th game to take a penalty. So a little bit of progress from there with him with his stupid plays. but just not a great night for him. Kaepinin looked a bit off. We haven't really said that a lot about Kisbury Kaepinin this year.

And then let's get to the Jason Zucker situation because a lot of people I've been talking about him on Penguins Tour of the last couple of games. Has he been bad this season? Yes, I will say that. Has he, I saw someone say he's kind of being like the Derek Bressard when that trade happened. I don't necessarily agree with that.

Last season was basically a point per game player was one of their best players in return to play. And then this season, yes, he has looked lost, I would say, for about seven to eight games. What they could do with him, maybe you bump him up, maybe you bump him down. He's obviously not himself right now. Some people have also said he could be traded. I 100% disagree with that. I would not trade Jason Zucker.

I honestly trust him to get out of it. But, I mean, maybe you go Zucker, Crosby, Rust. Then you go Gensel Malcon Capnin. I don't know. But just Zucker is just not himself right now. and maybe part of it has to do with playing with Malkin. Maybe if you put him up with Cindy Crosby, he would do better. But that Gensel-Crosby-Russ line has been so good this season

that I just don't think they're going to break it up. So I don't really know what you do with Zucker. It's just his level of play has obviously dropped quite a bit. I still would have made that trade 10 out of 10 times. But yeah, I definitely agree that he has not been the same as he was last year. and his level of play for most of the season has dropped significantly from where it was last year. But, okay, there's still a ton to get to for this episode. The listener takeaways, we're going to talk some Crystal Tank stuff, some more defense talk about.

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Amazing selection, reliable low prices, all the parts your car will ever need. That is rockato.com. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So let's get into the Chrysletang stuff. I've been saying it now for the last week or so.

you guys are probably tired of me saying it. I have always been one of Chris LaTang's biggest supporters. The franchise is best defenseman in their history. I know Paul Coffey played here, but it was only for a few years. In terms of franchise defensemen, no one has been better than Chris LaTang. But he has lost his debt. I mean, tonight was another horrendous performance from him. It's a very alarming trend, I would say.

And if this happens throughout the rest of the season, and there's a real possibility that could happen, I would not be surprised as Ron Hextall and Brian Burke decide to trade him this offseason. I really would not be surprised of it. In fact, I could be leaning towards maybe doing it just because of getting the money off the hook. Because, I mean, if this is the way he's going to age, the penguins are going to be stuck for at least one more year of that. I still think he's a very, I shouldn't say. Well, he's a great defenseman, I think, is the way to say it.

But he has lost his stuff. And remember, guys, his body's been through so much. Guy had a stroke at basically 24, 25 years of age. He's been injured every year. with so many injuries. Like, his body has just been through so much throughout his career. He's sacrificed everything for this organization. It just sucks to see him play like this because of what he's done for this team.

You know, his 2016 Stanley Cup playoff run was one of the best performances I've ever seen from any playing when player that I've ever watched. I mean, honestly, probably should have won the consmite that year, but it's just real rough watching him right now. His play on that third goal from Eller really don't know. know what he's doing there, just looked lost, out of position. He's not covering him. Eller at all. Eleanor just has a wide open look in front of Jari, and he makes him pay. Pedersen was basically on him. I'm not going to blame Pedersen for that, but Latang cheated over

that sign, and it was like, you got to cover the guy who's cutting to the front of the net and it has a wide open look in front of Jari, and Latang didn't do that. And I know he was also kind of turning the puck over a bit at times. It's just not been a good season for LaTang so far. I was about to say performance, but he's just, but he's just, had a lot of performances that were been terrible, I would say, this year. You know, what other things can I say about Krista's saying? You know, I said it on my last episode. If you guys didn't hear it, I'm going to say this as well.

The people, his detractors are going to keep saying to everyone, oh, my God, like, well, we were right. Like, he was always terrible, overrated, blah, blah, blah. And it was like, no, he wasn't. Look at the data. Look at his underlying numbers. You watch the games from 2012 to 2017. He was one of the best defensemen in the game.

There were not five defense. in the league that were better than him throughout those seasons. I will die on that hill. Top 10 at the very least. But for me, he was a top five defenseman through those five to six years, 110%. I know he can make a lot of really stupid mistakes, but the good far outweighed the bad during that. It's just for this year, the bad has far outweighed the good.

So I'm really hoping he turns it around. But from how he's played so far, he's definitely lost a big step from where he was. and it's just, he's trending in the wrong direction right now for this team. But, you know, those are basically my thoughts on the Chris, on Chris Lange from tonight's performance. I saw a great tweet from Jason, J underscore A155. I'm going to have him hopefully on the podcast here at some point. He's a great follow on Penguin's Twitter. If you guys are not following him, has great memes, has really good takes about the team.

You know, basically just said, you know, the good fourth line is elevated serving as the third line because the court of the forwards aren't real NHL players. Couple that with the second line, not generating any chances. and you have long stretches of garbage hockey. And yeah, I mean, that was basically the story of tonight. I mean, especially in the second period, weren't generating anything. And I know it's hard to generate scoring chances

when you're short-handed the entire time. But even in the third period, when there was a chance for a comeback, well, you know, in the first minute, they weren't generating a lot of anything. It just looked like they were very disinterested. I know the game could have been different with an early goal from the Penguins on the powerplay

where they hit two posts. And I will say the power play did look good when it was on the ice. It's another encouraging performance from the Penguins power play. Again, you know, baby steps. I know they scored that goal that last game, but in the chances that they had tonight, they're moving the puck better.

They're getting some prime scoring chances. You know, the Cade had two wonderful chances that somehow did not go in because he usually scores on those nine out of ten times. But it just, the power play, it just looks more in Zing. The penalty kill, I think held the capitals to 0 for 5 tonight, if I'm not mistaken, through these two games. One for nine. I mean, that's one of the best power plays in the league.

I know it's actually ranked number one right now. if I'm not mistaken. So Penguins P.K. starting to turn a corner a little bit. So a couple more positives. I already touched on Jari, Zach Ashton Reese. Outside of that, though, guys,

there's just nothing really to take out of this game other than virtually every other player played like crap. That happens sometimes. I'm not going to blame the goaltending. Should the goaltending be better this season? Yes, but Tristan Jari was keeping them

in this game when the Capitals were just shitting on them in the second period. I think at one point they were being outshot 15 to 3 for that period. It was just that that was how much the penguins were being hemmed in their own zone. And if you look at natural statric on the heat maps for the penguins attempts, they were generating basically nothing from the front of the net. And this was, I think, right as the third period was going to start.

This was through two periods. Their best chance basically came from the center point, had some chances before the face-off circles, but just nothing from like 10 feet out. They were just not a lot of high-dangered chances for the penguins tonight. And if you're not generating anything from the front of the net, I mean, you're basically just going to lose every single time. And another thing before we do get to another commercial break,

this team is going to have to win regulation games over these next couple of weeks heading into March, or they will be up a creek for the rest of the season. You play the Islanders two more times this week, at PPG-Paints Arena. Those have to be regulation wins with how, just with where the standings are right now. I mean, the Islanders are a few points clear of the Penguins. If the Penguins win those two games, I think they leap the Islanders, if I'm not mistaken, you have to win them in regulation. then they get the capitals the next week at Verizon Center or whatever it's called.

Now, I always used to be calling at the Verizon Center because I've been there so many times. But you have to win those games. And then I think they play the Islanders again as February comes to a close. It's just they have to win these games. You cannot be winning these games in overtime. I think now I saw this very disturbing stat from Adam Gretz, who does work for Penn's blog and Pro Hockey Talk. If I'm not mistaken, they have the Penguins have only won. six games in regulation over their past 29 games played.

That is Buffalo Sabres level bad. That's just unacceptable for this team with this much talent. Even in his follow tweet, I mean, it almost seems like they were doing that in 2003 and 2004 where they were just openly tanking for Cindy Crosby. With a team this talented, this good, they should not have six regulation wins in the last 29 games. That is just totally unacceptable. but that's just where this team is at this point. They need to play a lot better defensively

and just a lot better overall on Thursday game against the Islanders if they do want to make the playoffs. Because right now, guys, they may not even make the playoffs. If you were just to tell me today that the Penguins would miss the playoffs, I would potentially believe you just because of the way they played for so much of this season. And these next two weeks are critical. Like I said, if they don't win a lot of these games of regulation over these two teams, they will be up a creek in March.

That's for sure. But before we do, get to the next section, for the listener takeaways. It is time to talk about bet online. It's the fastest and easiest way to bet on all your sports action. Football might be over, but the NBA, college basketball, and the NHs are in full swing. Bet Online even covers awards and TV shows. It has you covered for all the news, scores and odds.

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All this shows, Twitter, at L-O-N-Square Penguins. So let's get to some quick post-game takeaways, the listener takeaways. I love this segment. I appreciate you guys always sending these in. Friday Times says Jari looked solid with little help. Somehow the Penguins look slower than the Capitals, and that fourth line doesn't look like it belongs. 100% agree with you. I mean, Jari, I just felt bad for him the whole night because he was basically, what, 9-30 for the game

and was giving the Penguins a chance to at least tie the game. But, I mean, when you're giving up so many high-danger chances and leaving guys wide open and in front of him in prime-scoring areas, he just can't make every save. You're asking the impossible. And yeah, the Penguins look slower than the Capitals. And they're obviously the oldest team in the league. I mean, this is a capital scene that the Penguins have skated circles around

in the previous three meetings with E. So tonight was definitely a weird step back in that regard. And yeah, man, I mean, the fourth line is basically an eight. HL line at this point. It's that bad. Alan T. Yoder says, have to wonder about how the game plays out if the Penguins have that puck luck in the first period. Other than that, it felt a lot like the earlier games a season. At least the P.K. was a good in Jari to an extent. It's disappointing considering the last two games, feel like they were starting to heat up. Yeah, man, it really is disappointing, especially after these last two games, the Islanders game.

I thought they outplayed them. I thought they outplayed the Islanders in both of those games. They should have won both of them for being honest. Then in the Washington game, they were the better team throughout that entire game on Sunday. day and then tonight right when it looks like they're turning a corner you know they're gonna maybe get to eight and five and one they just put down this performance and it's just a load of crap so yeah i hear you on that it could have been definitely been a much different game the penguins don't hit two posts in the first period um gilbert the goat says it's pathetic they didn't show up at all latang was awful as well as the entire fourth line some positives though being jari looked better and the third line still looks good they really need to win these upcoming games against the owners they are huge in my

opinion. Yeah, man, I agree 100% with you. The Islanders ones, especially as the standings are so close in this East Division. You can't afford to be winning these games in overtime or shootout. You have to get the two points and just either tie them or leapfrog them and just sweep these couplet series. You can't just be, you know, just splitting them. You know, just spliting four points to zero or, you know, three to one or something like that. You can't just be, you know, splitting two to two or something like that. It's just it won't work if this team wants to make the playoffs. Again, I agree with you with Latang, talked about Jari. He also says the top six need to start putting the puck into the net. They aren't going to make the playoffs if they keep this up. I'm super frustrated right now. I can't emphasize how big the rest of this month is against the Islanders and the caps. I would have got into Gino and Zucker, but I can't right now. Yeah, man, I mean, I try to get into Gino as much as I can. I feel like I've talked about him more than any other player on this podcast this season.

Jason Zucker, I haven't spent as much time on just because I haven't found him to be one of the bigger issues. But, you know, his play has been a bit more alarming as of late, but there's just, I think, bigger issues than Zarker right now for this team. He definitely needs to be better, but I don't think he's on the high list of issues. That's for sure. I mean, I think the top line is great, though, man. I mean, at least they were creating scoring chances, virtually all game long. It's one of the best lines in hockey.

But the second line, I do a good Gilbert. They need to start putting the puck into the net. Hopefully, Capon wakes up. I mean, I shouldn't even say hopefully Capon wakes up because I think he's been one of their better players, but he's definitely been a little bit more of a ghost these last couple of games, but none other than Evgeny Malkin, who's just been, I think, a ghost all year. But yeah, they have to win these games against the Adoners and the Capitals, these next couple weeks heading into March.

Last but not least, before we do end this podcast, Mr. No-Nal says, we finally have a decent start. Too bad, the post got on the way, need to say out of the box. Then we got back to not shooting the puck. The P.K. was great, put some pressure on the puck and good things happened. Tristan Drive is coming around. Suckerman, Malkin are disappointing. Fourth, and second line, need help. Yeah, I mean, you're basically echoing a lot of what the listeners and I are saying. I mean, they had a great start for those first 10 minutes. They were dominating in Washington. in the shots department,

underlying numbers looked good. And then after that, it was just a total shit show. I mean, they took way too many penalties. And like you said, the PK, I think, is starting to turn the corner.

It was almost dead last in the league heading into these last couple of games. Though it has been better as of late. And that's against the number one power play in hockey. And yeah, I mean, Jari, again, that's the second straight performance that he's played well in.

I'm not even, like I said, I'm not going to say he was bad tonight. It was not the reason they lost when you're out shot 4227. Nothing's going to work. And yeah, man, Zuckerman Malkin, I touched on that so much this episode. I don't think I can touch on it anymore. I appreciate you guys, always sending these in. It's always fun to interact with you all.

And I can't wait to do more of that coming up on Thursday's game against the Islanders. We will have another episode tomorrow. I may try to bring on a special guest for it, but we'll have another episode coming up on Wednesday. Then Thursday, I will recap the game against the Islanders. And then Friday, I will preview the next game against New York on Saturday. I think that's the schedule at least. Hopefully the schedule doesn't cuck me again. just think it's Thursday to Sunday or I think it's a Thursday to Saturday.

But I'll double check on that. But thank you guys so much for listening to this episode. And I will talk to you all tomorrow.