Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Mike Matheson definitely had a debut tonight

Episode Date: January 14, 2021

The first Penguins game is already done with as they lost 6-3 to the Philadelphia Flyers and Hunter is here to break it all down for you all. He starts with some positives as Sidney Crosby was doing Sidney Crosby things and...Cody Ceci actually played a good game! He also touches on the third line as they were dominant all game long and were a force offensively. After that, he goes into the negatives, which are a long list. It starts with Mike Matheson, who had one of the worst Penguin debuts of all-time. He also touches on Jarry and some of the other defensemen before ending the episode with some potential lineup tinkering on Friday.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.

You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello, welcome to this post-game 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 underscore Penguins.

So this podcast episode comes, I think, let's see here. I'm honestly trying to figure out how many minutes it is after the game ended. So about 15 minutes after. it ended. Penguins, of course, lose the game 6 to 3 if you guys didn't watch it. I thought the team played pretty well for the first two periods. They were controlling the game. The offensive zone pressure was very apparent.

I mean, I think after the first period, I put a tweet out there. They had 66.7% of the scoring chances in the first period, 58.8% of the expected goals. They stayed the course in the second period. I know they were losing after. They tied it up going into the third period. Well, they tied it up into third period, And then it just all went to crap right after that

as the Flyers got three goals in like a span of six minutes. Let's start with the positives tonight. The third line was just, wow. Mark Jankelski, no idea what happened to him last year. That was a completely different Jankelski that I was just watching highlights from this past season. Already has two points on the year. Had that beautiful goal to open the game to start.

I mean, that was also a gorgeous pass from, I think it was McCann. And then Jenkowski just roofs at Top Cheese on Carter Harrow. gets us first goal of the year. He also assisted on another one to Tanniv late early on in the third period. Just that whole line was buzzing all night long and Jesse Marshall actually had a great tweet during the game.

Apparently that Jankowski, Tanneth-McCand line, they'd only been on the ice for one shot attempt against during the game. They were just, they were in the offensive zone the entire time. So a really good start for the third line. That was one of the biggest question marks that people had going into this year.

I mean, rightfully so. I mean, Jankowski, who knows we were going to get from him. McCann as well. I thought McCann had a good game, fired some pucks on net. He could have had a couple goals, but Carter Hart just had some really nice saves. Tannov, of course, had that beautiful shot past Hart in the third period to get his first goal of the season. I did not expect two of the first three Penguins' goals of the year to come from Mark Jankowski and Brandon Tanniv, that's their sure. Another big positive, of course, Cindy Crosby doing Cindy Crosby things.

He always owns the flyers. Carter Hart turned into Carter Fart for a second day. in the second period. Just, I really don't know what the hell he was doing. Just Cindy Crosy was right there, bats the puck out of mid-air, his heart's trying to clear it, and then Sid just has a wide open net and tucks it. It was almost like a Mark Andre Fleury moment

from all the times that he went behind the net. Don't really know what Hart was doing there, and Sid made him pay. I think that was his 44th career point. Actually, excuse me, that might be the 44th career goal against them, but he has 105 career points, 106 now against the Flyers, and I think that's fourth all-time.

Mario has 124, Yager 120, Brian Chachay has 1, 17. So, I mean, Sid has a real chance to pass Mario for that record if he just keeps owning the city of Philadelphia and the flyers. I thought he played a great game tonight. He was always buzzing in the offensive zone. Gensel looked a little lost during it for a bit, but, I mean, it's only the first game.

Rodriguez, I thought he looked fine. I mean, obviously, you weren't cap on there to start, but I thought he looked fine on the line. Another positive guys, I do not expect to say this. Cody Sisi. I thought Cody Sisi was actually not. not bad for the penguins. Start on the game a little rough,

took the penalty that, of course, led to the tying goal. I really don't know what he was doing there on that slash. Had a weird play in the defensive zone. I think he almost had a shot on Jari, which was just kind of weird. I was like, why are you firing at your own net? But as the game went on,

I mean, his skating was really apparent. He's a much better skater than I thought he was. He was actually moving the puck up the ice pretty efficiently. I was kind of surprised watching C.C. He played a better game tonight than Mike Mathis. did. And we're going to touch on Mike Matheson a bit later in the podcast because boy, was he terrible. But man, I mean, C.C., you know, a solid start. You know, if he can play like that every game for 56 games for the Penguins and into the regular season, regular season and into the

playoffs, excuse me, that would be everything I think Penguins fans would hope and want out of him as a number six defenseman. I thought he had a very strong game. As for some other positives, I thought John Marino looked fine. I mean, he had to play late in the third period, which kind of led to a goal. We caught out of position. for honestly probably the first time in his NHL career. I don't really know what he was doing there, but otherwise I thought he had a solid game contributed to some of the scoring chances.

Latang was fine. Dumlin, I thought he was okay, but he's also kind of screening Jari on one of the flyers' first two goals on the power play, and you can't have that. You got to give Jari at least a chance to save them, and we're going to get to Jari later on in the episode because he was terrible too.

I thought Zooker was flying all game. He had a couple of decent scoring chances. He's going to get better as the season goes on. Ross was fine. We need to see a little bit more from Gino. Again, it's the first game, but, you know, I've already seen tweets out there and takes like, oh yeah, have you any Malkin training camp hero? It's like, okay, like, it's only one game.

Let's take a chill pool here. Other than that, there's not really too many big positives to come out of this game. Like I said, guys, the third line, I'm going to eat some crow right now. Did not see Mark Jen Ocounckey's offensive output coming out like this, two points in the first game. Brandon Tanna, I've had a wicked shot over Carlin. her heart. Jared McCann was great. Cody Cici got better as the game went on. Cindy Crosby is still arguably the best player in the world.

And, you know, I mean, those are basically the big positives come out of this game. And, you know, I still want to see how this team responds on Friday. I mean, you got to make some adjustments. That's, I think, the best part about this schedule, guys. You see this team again in two days, probably less than 48 hours from now. You have a practice day on Thursday. You can do a video session review. Look to see what mistakes you made.

Obviously, the weak side defense was really bad, and you know which players made mistakes. You can go over that on video, have a practice day, and then you can another crack at these guys on Friday. Because I really do think the Penguins played mostly pretty good tonight outside of that disastrous third period. Like I said, controlled over 60% of the expected goals in the first period. It was basically the same for the scoring chances. Second period was the same as well. And if they can do that for all three periods against the flyers on Friday, they will win this game.

So I'm not really too concerned. It's only the first game of the season. Everyone's going to put their memes out there about the penguins. Oh, yeah, they're all the only team that's not undefeated to start, you know, all this bunch of useless garbage. But, you know, I think this team will respond on Friday and they'll get a win against the Flyers. I really do believe that. But that's basically all the positives to come out of this game.

In the next segment, we're going to talk about the negatives. And there's quite a bit of negatives to talk about, which also include the special teams because I thought the special teams were just that. That's some of the worst specials. team's play I've seen from the Penguins in quite a few years. I mean, I know the power play was pretty bad last year, but the PK tonight was even worse. Like I said, we're going to dive into that in the next segment. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about Bill Barthers. 18 amazing flavors, six new flavors, caramel brownie, cherry barque,

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So the big negative tonight, I think the one that really stood out to most people in this fan base, especially me too, Mike Matheson. utterly terrible in every facet of his game. He was contributing a bit, you know, to the offensive zone and the zone entries, but just defensively, he was a tire fire. I mean, I know people are going to start, well, he's Jack Johnson Part 2, he's Jack Johnson Part 2, but it wasn't that bad, but he just looked lost in the defensive zone. I mean, was it the, yeah, the third goal that they allowed. Jari could have wanted that back, but I mean, he just lost his man there.

I mean, he was screening jari on another goal, just coughing up the puck like a grenade in the defensive zone. The last goal, I think, which was either the fourth or the fifth goal. I mean, Matheson got back, but then just took a skate almost around the net, and then, you know, Gensel couldn't come back to get his man, and then, of course, did the game's out of reach at that point. So, yeah, it was just a really rough night for Matheson. It's only the first game, and we got to see what he can do,

see if he'll rebound on Friday, but that was probably one of the worst debuts, of a penguin player that I can ever remember in the Cindy Crosby of Ganyi Malkin era. Alex Gowchenyuk's season penguin debut was better than Mike Matheson's. I honestly think maybe even Jack Johnson's was better

than that. That's how bad Matheson was tonight. He was just, he was lost out there. Other negatives, Tristan Jari, I don't know what was up with him. I mean, the first two goals he clearly can't blame on him. He was screened by Dumlin on one. Matheson on the other. Had no chance with those. I mean,

I think Van Reevesig was also screening him on the first goal. Beautiful shots from Gus Simpson, by the way. And, you know, good to see Nolan Patrick get on the scoreboard. I know we're supposed to hate the Philadelphia Flyers on this podcast, but it is still good to see Nolan Patrick at his first goal in basically almost two years because I know you had to sit out this past season with migraine. So like I said, congratulations to that. But Jari just was not good at all tonight. I mean, that third goal where Matheson was also bad on with Farabee, it's like Jari, you got to have a save there, man. I mean, that's a pretty weak goal to give up. I know the war. I know the war.

when I think was Raffle was coming down Main Street, so couldn't get back to him. I think Jari needs to make that save too. I know it's a bit of a hard one, but it goes five, it's like, you got to give your team a save there. And then the rebound control,

I think when Hayes fired the puck, and I'm not, no, Hayes got the rebound of the sixth goal. I'm not really sure who shot that, but it's like Jari, that rebound control is terrible. So I just, I didn't like three of the goals

that Jari gave up tonight. He'll bounce back. I don't really think he's going to be a big problem for the Penguins this year. I've said it on this podcast going into this season. This team just needs average goaltending and they'll be fine. So I think this will just be a big outlier for the Penguins in terms of Jari's performances this year.

But yeah, he's got to have a couple saves. You know, like I said, that third one, the one when Raffle was coming down on Main Street and the Hayes rebound goal, which made it six to three. Just really bad efforts there, I thought, from Jari. Special teams, Tard Reardon with the power play. It was just brutal. I mean, I think Pensburg had this tweet. I'm going to go find it.

I recognize this thing that he's done on the powerplay for so many years. I think it's the, was it like the slingshot zone entry. He's basically, he did it a lot with Washington when he was the head coach. I mean, a lot of teams have adapted to stopping it. The Flyers P.K. was just relentless all night. And it's just like the Penguins, they barely had any zone time on the power play. And it just, it almost looked as bad as Mark Recky's ones from last year. And it was like, come on.

Like, you have two of the best players in the world on your power. play. Jake Gensel was one of the best goals scorers in the league. Brian Russ is coming off almost a near 30 goal year. Chris LaTang is one of the best defensemen in the league. The power play should not look that bad. I know it's only one game, but come on. I mean, that's just piss poor showing. I mean, also the penalty kill too. Dumlin and Matheson screening Jari on two of their goals.

They were also way out of position. Some of the other players were way out of position on the PK, letting the flyers get free zone entries. Got to play up a little bit, man. The special teams were a disaster for Pittsburgh. We all knew the power play was terrible last year, but you know, looks like it got even worse to start the new year. The PK was actually pretty good under Jacques Martin for as long as he was here. So we're going to see how it is under Mike Belucci, but, you know, not a good strong start for Belichie with his PK unit. Other negatives, I thought Gino had a lot more to give, not a good first game from him. I'm not going to call him lazy because, you know,

that's just the typical bullshit excuse that people will just use for no reason. But I do think that Gino had a lot more to give. Just because I didn't think he looked as engaged as he normally is on an opening night or as he usually is in NHL games for the Penguins, I think he'll be better on Friday for sure. You know, I'm already getting people on the Lockdown Penguins' Twitter account and my Twitter account saying, like, with Jari, I'm just going back to him, are you going to start to Smith on Friday?

I'm like, nah, honestly, guys, I feel like Jari should have a chance to redeem himself. This was just, like I said, I think it was an outlier for him. I really think he's going to be better as the season goes on. I mean, you better be if the Penguins have a show. shot at making the playoffs. But I think you just give him a shot to redeem himself. And yeah, you know, I get it. It's a small sample size with some of his numbers. But I just, I'm really high on him and I just don't think that this is going to be like the new normal with him for this season. I think that's mostly it for the negatives of this game. I mean, almost no one else played well.

I mean, Sam Lafferty wasn't too bad tonight. Teddy Blue Group was okay. Didn't really notice Colton Severe at all. I didn't even know he was on the ice half the time. Didn't really like his performance. But I think that's basically going to happen all season with him. And I wouldn't be surprised if he's not a penguin by the trade deadline. I think Jim Brotherhood's going to use him as trade bait because I just don't really think he's that good. You know, I'm already seeing people blaming Letang. Please stop. I thought he was fine tonight. You know, that's like every, for some reason in the Penguins fan base, a lot of people like to have Latang as the whipping boy. You guys just don't know how good you have it with him. I really don't understand why so many people have to shit on

Chris Latang. He's been nothing but awesome his entire career here. He's given everything to this organization. I thought he was one of their best defensemen tonight for Pittsburgh. Honestly, he probably was their best defenseman, and a lot of the defensemen weren't even that good. The fact that Cody C.C. was one of their better defensemen tonight just shows how bad the other players were. I mean, Duman was okay. Marino wasn't bad. But as the game went on, I would say the top two that were most notable out there were C.C. and Crystal Tang, and I still can't believe I'm saying that sentence in the year 2021. And going back to the goaltending thing again, you're just reading some quotes from Mike Sullivan after the game.

When he was asked to evaluate with Trish and Jari, he says there are a few that he could have been sharper on, but we could say that about all of us. I'm not going to over-assess any one player. We all need to be better if we're going to have the success we need to have. 100% agree. I mean, basically echoed my sentiments with Jari. I'm sure there's like three or four goals that he wants back, but, you know, the commitment to team defense needs to be a lot better going into this next game.

Just the weak side defense overall was terrible. I mean, I think I saw a chart. I'm not really sure who Twitter. that basically showed like the flyers had so many chances right in front of the net of Jari. And it's like you got to have so much better defense there. Like get the Flyers players out of there so that Jari can actually have a chance to make a save and just actually commit to playing defenses because it was just a terrible night all around. Other quotes from Mike Sullivan after the game.

He also echoed it as something I said earlier in the episode. I don't think the score of the game was an indication of how it was played. He said the Penguins mistakes were magnified, creating catastrophic type scenarios. 100% agree. Like I said, I thought they were the much better team through two periods. He just got to play better defensively. And then the third period obviously was the worst period of the game. The team honestly kind of looked lifeless after the TANF goal.

It just did not ignite anything with their game. And honestly just looked like a track meet after the Tanef goal for Philadelphia in the third period. That's just how bad it was. And as I've been going on natural statuary to look at the underlying numbers, overall for the Penguins, 56.5% Corsei their Fenwick's 56.1%. They control 60% of the shots.

They control 54.3% of the scoring chances. High danger was in Philly's favor, 9 to 7. Expected goals, the Penguins did lead and expected goals, 1.58 to 1.46. If you go to all situations, the Penguins led in Corsey, 54.5%. So the better team possession-wise tonight, shots-wise, 3,4-25.

High Danger was in favor of Philly 10 to 8. Again, that's not expected with how the Penguins looked defensively in their own zone. But for the expected goals, the Penguins did lead 1.86 to 1.74. So not all doom and gloom here. Just fix up the defensive issues. And I really do think they will win this game on Friday. And, of course, the Penguins will welcome Washington to Pittsburgh for their home opener on Sunday at noon Eastern. That will be nationally televised on NBC.

Some other thoughts. Kelly Sutherland. I don't know what that speech was. at the beginning of the game. But it was just like, well, we made it this far. You know, here's to a great game. I was like, okay, I don't really think we need to hear that. I mean, yes, I understand we're in a pandemic and this is a season unlike any other,

but you don't really need a ref speech at the beginning of the game. That's just the last thing I think people want to hear. For the anthem, of course, you know, Lauren Hart sucks. I don't really know why they needed to bring in Lorne Hart anyway, especially during this time without any fans there. But, you know, it is good to have hockey back and basically say that Lauren Hart sucks because I think I would rather get the flu than listen to Lauren Hart saying, she's just absolutely terrible.

But that'll do it for this segment of the podcast. Coming up in the next segment, we'll just talk about maybe some lineup changes that Mike Sullivan could do for next game. I'm not really sure if he's going to judge a lot off of one game, but we'll still bring it up. But before we do get to that, it is time to talk about Bet Online. There's only one place that has you covered in one place we trust.

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first deposit. That's Bet Online, your online sports book experts. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Won't keep you guys here too long. Probably just a couple minute of the segment. But, you know, in terms of lineup adjustments, I don't really think Sullivan's going to tinker with too much. I mean, Cody Cici played fine. You'll keep him in the lineup. Obviously, the top four will be in the lineup. I mean, for Madison, if he continues to struggle like that, I don't think it'll be long until Yuselrigala comes in the lineup. I just don't think Sullivan will put him in the doghouse as much as he did when Jack Johnson is here.

Because I think honestly, Jim Rutherford was telling Mike Sullivan to play Jack Johnson every night. That's just a theory that, like, I've been thinking about for a while, just because it makes no sense as to why for Mike Sullivan, for as good of a coach as he is, that he would just keep playing someone who is just such a detriment to the team and contributes nothing to the team at all. So, like I said, if Matheson continued, to struggle like that, I think, you know, it won't be long until you see you so Riegel in.

But I do think Matheson will play next game to have a shot of redemption. Goaltending Wies already talked about it. Played Tristan Jari again. I know he's going to get a heavy workload this year, but you should give him a shot to redeem himself. Forward lines. I mean, if Colton, maybe you take out Colton, Severe, I didn't notice him at all. So, I mean, I don't know.

I don't know really what you do with that. I mean, there really isn't many other lineup decisions to make. I mean, until Casperi Captain comes back, I'm really not sure who they're going to take out of the lineup. Maybe it's Sam Lafferty. Maybe it's Colton Severe, but we're probably going to have to wait until Sunday at the earliest, probably ended next week for when Kisbury Kaepernan comes back. But other than that, I mean, I really don't see too many other lineup adjustments. I mean, I don't know if I would personally have Mike Madison in the top four next game. I think he needs to be sheltered with C.C. in the second game, just because I didn't

think he looked good with Marino at all, and he just didn't look good on the ice whenever he was out there with anyone. So I think you will see Matheson down with CC for that next game. And, you know, we'll see how Cody CC plays in his second game. Like I said, as the game went on tonight, I thought if you had a pretty admirable effort. And, you know, like I said, if he can play that way for 56 games, the Penguins will be in a very nice spot for that number six defenseman. And he will not drive the fan base crazy as, you know, Jack Johnson and Justin Schultz did. But I think that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. It's great to talk about the games now. We actually have stuff to talk about.

And, you know, even though the Penguins lost, keep the faith. They're 0-1. I know it's a short in season. But go back to practice tomorrow, go with the video session, work out the kinks, you know, the weak side defense, you know, get Mike Matheson back on track. Hopefully the goaltending is much better. And I think if the penguins stick to the recipe that they had for the first two periods for a full game, they will win that game on Dryden.

And I do think the Penguins will bounce back in that game. So like I said, thank you guys so much for listening. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate, like, you know, a lot of people that stuck with us, or, you know, know, stuck with me throughout the offseason, even though there wasn't a lot of content. But, you know, so not to start to the season that we were hoping for the Penguins, but I think a bounceback is in order on Friday. So thank you guys so much for listening to this episode.

We'll have another one coming tomorrow. Friday, I will do it maybe after the game. We'll see. It might do a late night episode on Friday, depending on a couple of factors. I'll just post it beforehand. But I will have a couple of more episodes for you guys coming this week. And then for next week, we'll recap the Capitals game from Sunday. So we will talk to you all tomorrow.