Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Mike Sullivan needs to change some things up...FAST

Episode Date: January 3, 2023

The Pittsburgh Penguins' skid continued on Monday afternoon with a 2-1 loss to the Boston Bruins. It was a game that featured the Penguins doing a lot of good things, but they then made mistakes in the 3rd period that cost them two points. To start things off, Hunter slams Mike Sullivan for putting out a lineup that should've been better. He goes into how Sullivan usually never does 11 forwards and seven defensemen and wonders why he all of a sudden decided to do that. He also goes at him for continuing to put Brian Dumoulin on the ice in late-game situations when things are most dire. Should Ruhwedel have played over Dumoulin? Why isn't Drew O'Connor getting more minutes? After that, Hunter continues to question Sullivan because Kasperi Kapanen saw his ice time go down yet again, even when he was playing well. He also gets into Casey DeSmith coming in for Tristan Jarry and how well he was playing before the last two goals happened. He then looks at some positives from this game and how most of the Penguins' mistakes are fixable. Finally, Hunter ends the show with his thoughts on the team going forward and why you should still think this team can make the playoffs.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.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts! 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.

Hello, everyone. Happy 2023 to you all. And as the Penguins ended 2022 on a sour note, they have started 2023 on the even sour note with a two to one loss to the Boston Ruins. The losing streak now hits five. It looked like they were getting at least a point, if not two from this game until they gave up a tiny goal with 11 minutes left, and then gave up the game winner with a little over two minutes remaining. And the Penguins will go home from the Winter Classic with no points as they will go to Vegas for the next game so this is not getting easier. In this episode, we're going to fully recap what went down for this two on loss of the

ruins. What went wrong for the Penguins? We'll also get into things I liked about this game, how they could be getting closer to turning the corner again and just overall what the general vibe with this team is right now and just how I see it potentially changing going forward. So stick around for all that 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 back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast I am your host Hunter Hodies are gonna follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes all the shows Twitter at LO

Arnskoyans and of course thank you so much for making this your first listen of the day Bruins 2, Penguins 1 Sky is falling, the takes are hot You could also say they're nuclear. Vibes are bad. Everything sucks is, I think, the big one in western Pennsylvania right now,

where, of course, I have resided for the last month. And, yeah, that's it. Thanks all for listening. No, I'm just kidding. But things continue to go wrong for the Penguins Day. They jump out to an early one-n-n-well, I shouldn't say early-one-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-2. They jump out to 1-0-0-0-0-1 in the second period. They play well through most of the first 40 minutes.

They're playing fine in the third period. the Bruins are going to power play, they're able to kill it. But just a few seconds after they tie it, several other minutes go by, and they get 2-1, and the Penguins were a half-second away from getting a buzzer-beater goal to send the game to overtime. That is how close it was. If you watch the replay, if the Penguins have another half a second to a second, this game's going to OT. They were just that short. And, you know, just that's five in a row.

They should have gotten at least a point. of this. When the clock dips, it dips below three minutes, you have to make sure you get at least a point. The Penguins have not played well in three-on-throw overtime this year. They haven't done them in the best in shootouts either. You still have to get at least a point in that situation. You can not lose in regulation. Penguins failed. And with that, and they did lose in regulation. But where I think it went wrong for them is, you know, honestly at the beginning, Mike Sullivan, very weird lineup choices. Those 11, forward, seven defensemen, something you hardly ever see him do. When was the last time you saw Mike Sullivan do 11 to 7?

What? Maybe in a playoff game last year, if I'm not mistaken, once before that, you got to go way back. He hates doing it. I mean, I've even seen him, I think, say to the media that he's not a big fan of it, but for some reason decided to do it today. I made a point that Ryan Kaling, I'm like, he came back last game, is he hurt? It looked like that he wasn't earned after the game, but I think Taylor Haas of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports, who is on site that she didn't say that he did aggravate or it sounds like he aggravated the injury but still droke connor is right there and you're deciding to go 11 to 7 great news that chabra weedle is healthy to go but you know why are you going 11 to 7 situation do you really not trust

droe connor that much especially after he just scored a goal just a few days ago i mean i really do not understand that um at least in my opinion um you know continuing to ice bryan dumont four minutes. That's a recipe for disaster. You saw that on the game winning goal. And yeah, you know, he kind of tripped a little bit. I think it was off David Craycheek. Actually, no, it wasn't David Hogan. I think it was Jake McGrath. Excuse me. But that's another goal against that he's on the ice floor in a big situation. Two and a half minutes left. Why are you icing him in that situation? Yet you're going to continue to not ice Casperi Kappin for advice who has been good. If you want to make an apples to apples to

comparison, because that could be apples for oranges, why is Brian Dumlin getting more minutes than P.O. Joseph? I do not get it. You know, Mike Sullivan, I am going to keep saying this. He is not doing enough right now for this team. And it started right before the opening face-off with

the lineup. He is costing them points right now. And again, I've said this so many times on my episodes, if you all have been listening to my podcast, even the last week, two weeks, month year two two three years if you've been a long time listener like that you know shout out to you but shout out again of course to everyone that listens to the show but i'm always a huge fan of

mike sullman there's not five coaches in this league better but when you are actively causing your team to lose points because of your decisions you need to be looked at a little more closely i don't think he should be fired now can you question him absolutely because i am doing that right now there is no reason to play 11-7 in a situation, especially when Choward Riedel is healthy. If you want to play Choward Riedel, then just go scratch a defenseman like Brian Dumlin. Drew O'Connor is right there.

He's a healthy player, young player. He just scored a goal for you last week. Play him. See what you have. He's an unknown because you won't play him. Choward Riegel, perfect number six, number seven defenseman. Mark Freeman has been the same.

Ty Smith has been in the last two games. You have a healthy defensive core. right now because Choward Riedel is already back. So you easily could have just gone 12-6 and Scratch Jumlin because Freeman can play on his off-side. You can literally have a left side right now of Pedersen, Friedman, and Ty Smith. Trier-Reedle plays on the right side, obviously.

Jan Ruta can play over there. P-O-J, you know, he has, it's not, you know, his, you know, his off-side, it is his offside, excuse me, but I'm sure he can play it. If he be, heck, Ty Slyth can play on the right side as well. You have six healthy defensemen. You can scratch Duman if you want to. So I just don't understand the lineup decisions. And again, you know, just the in-game management.

Stop playing players who have been a detriment to the team in late-game situations where you're trying to at least secure a point. I don't know what it is. It might be a combination of stubbornness, loyalty to a fault, not understanding what the main issues are for this team. I don't know if it's one. I don't know if it's all three together. But something has to change with these lineups.

You can't just keep sending these same bad players out there and expecting different results. You want to know what the definition of that is? It's a definition of insanity. doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. That is what we are seeing right now with Mike Sullivan. And I wish he was pressed a lot more about this after games. I'm not seeing it enough right now.

I think it's kind of unacceptable, to be honest. I mean, again, if I were down there in the locker room, I would be trying to get that information for you all. But, you know, right now, at least, I'm not. So I just have to come on here and talk about it. But, you know, it's not good. enough you on even on the game time goal who else is on the ice jeff carter right after a pony kill he got dusted by brad marshand and i understand brad marshand is one of the top 15 best players

of the game you maybe even make an argument for top 10 i haven't met top 15 because he's just you know say what you want about the guy he's very talented he makes a lot of people look bad look like carter didn't even try on that one and then jacobuss a nice wraparound goal there but still you know it's the same players being on the ice for goals against. And, you know, Mike Sullivan, he has, you know, he has the final say on who goes out there. He can deploy whoever he wants. He's the same coach who keeps benching his Ferry captain, even though he's producing. Literally today he scored right after he barely gets any minutes. I understand, you know, he's playing on a, like a makeshift third or fourth line. That's

not acceptable to me. He's been one of your better players the last two weeks. And yeah, we've harped on a lot this year, but at least he's actually scoring and producing and he's not being a black call on the defensive side of the rank. So I just think a lot of decisions right now that Mike Sullivan is making just make no sense. They're wild. That's what I think the best word to describe it is they're wild. And it's it's not like him. I don't know if the real Mike Sullivan just vanished into an existence, went to a tropical island and it was just chilling there. is replaced by a fake Mike Sullivan, but I ain't the real Mike Sullivan out there.

He's making some weird decisions. I don't know what changed, but they need more from him right now. And I'm going to end my first segment with that. Coming up in the second segment, we are going to get into some things that I actually did like about this game and how I think the penguins can build off them going into the game against Vegas.

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of the day. So honestly, performance-wise, I think this was mostly fine for the Penguins. I thought they dominated the ruins of the opening frame. They gave them next to nothing scoring chance-wise. First half of the second period, the Penguins get the goal. Really nice job. Like, he's very captain to get that goal again. He has been awesome the last week or two. Plains, I think some of his finest hockey as a penguin. He's been producing a bit more. I got a sixth goal of the season. Really nice, pass. I believe it was from Dayton Hinen behind the net. First good play. I think I've seen him make since non. second half the period

Bruin starts to take over a little bit that's hockey though you still won nothing legal in the second intermission most of the third period the first half I liked what I was seeing I know they were trying to quote unquote defend the lead they took that penalty from Brian Dumlin because of course he took that penalty

brewing the score after that they had a couple decent chances the Penguins really were kind of trying to play low event hockey they looked like they were trying to just settle for the point and that's what happens when you get the 2 to 1 lead and then the Penguins were not able to tie the game. That said, numbers-wise, Penguins led 48-47 in terms of shot attempts. Scoring chances were dead even. Bruins, though, did have 13 high-danger chances compared to five for the Penguins.

The Bruins actually had 11 high-danger chances in the last two periods. It was only two. So the third period was definitely not the greatest for the Penguins. They were just definitely trying to defend that lead. And then in terms of expected goals, the Bruins had 57.5% of those, 42%. for the penguins. So, you know, in the latter half of the game, the penguins kind of of let their foot off the gas a little bit, but it came down again to another 50-50, and the penguins just keep losing those at this point. You know, you say heads or tails, you know, if you want to have an example, it just keeps being heads, for example, every time. It also doesn't help that Linus Allmark has been one of the best goaltenders in the league this year,

9-63 save percentage for this game. He was awesome. He had a couple of 10 bell saves for the bruns, especially in that first period. I thought the penguins were really buzzing. Brock Begin chance. If I recall correctly, he came streaking down really nice pass from Teddy Bluger to get it over to him, goes off the shoulder. Jake Gensel hits a post. He's closing in on trying to sap out of this funk. They had plenty of chances in those first couple years. It could have easily been a two or three nothing lead. I'm heading into the third period. But, you know, they were keeping things simple. They were foretracking aggressively. They weren't giving the Bruins anything offensive zone-wise. In the first period, the past,

Penguins had 57.5% of the shot attempts. They had 56% in the scoring chances, 60% of the high danger chances, 67% of the expected goals. Even in the second period, the Penguins led in shot attempts. They led in scoring chances. High danger, they were a little behind. Expected goals, they were a bit behind, but still, the numbers, they were decent. It was just after that, the Bruins really took over, and all the good that the

Penguins did went away. Obviously, Tristanjari got hurt. That's not good. It's a lower body injury. I'm sure Mike's level will have an update soon, but really liked Casey to spend his performance. He made some nice saves coming in cold for the starter. The two goals that he allowed were not his fault, not even close. I don't really think he can do much differently.

Maybe if you want to nitpick a little, he shouldn't have gone for the poke check on the first Jake DeBrus goal, but, I mean, he tried to make a play on it. It was a better play by DeBras. The second goal, no goalie is going to stop. I think this is need to play better defensively, I think, in their own zone. You know, he made the saves that he needed to, but, you know, he just got out due by Linus. Oh my God. I thought Sid and Jake were a bit better.

I think they're closing in on snapping out of this little funk that they're in, especially Gensel. He had a couple of prime chances. One, of course, that hit the post. Sid, I thought he dazzled a few times. Still, not good enough right now, but I'm seeing some flashes. You know, I know they reunited the Gensel, Crosby Rust line. I was fine if, oh, excuse me, no. I mean, yeah, they did because they moved killed out. I was kind of fine with it because, you know, they're changing something. I would maybe

look to move Gensel off Crosby's wing for a little bit to see if he can get something going with Malkin. Maybe you move sucker up with Crosby. They've had very good numbers in the past, you know, shot attempts like well above 60% coursey, scoring chances well above 60% as well. You know, they can play together. Undefensively outside of Dumlin, I thought Pioj played well. thought Ty Smith was fine. Though I do not want to see Tyne Smith running a power play of the top power play in it until the Tang comes back. I would just put POJ back up there. At this point, I thought Mark Freeman had a strong game.

Trevor Bredel was fine coming in for relief. But, you know, it's just they play well in these long spurs. You know, and this losing streak, it's funny. It's similar to the seven-game losing streak, but it's also not. because, you know, the similar way is, they're in these losses, right? They're not getting blown off the rink. Think about it.

All these losses, self-inflicted wounds. I know. They're not holding leads like they used to. This is, they're allergic to it, this point. But, you know, they're playing well for long stretches of these games. It's just one simple mistake. Boom. It snowballs.

But they've gotten decent gold. for the most part. They're getting the scoring for the most part. They're winning a lot of the underlying battles. It's just, you know, a combination of some bad balances, some bad decisions deployment-wise, and bad things go their way, and then it snowballs into other things. Because during these five games, Pickens easily could have won this game, could have won the should have won the game against the Red Wings, should have won the game against Carolina. three of those sides. The only really bad one was the game against the Islanders

where they just got blown off the rank. The devil's game they could easily won. They had a one goal lead late in the second period. Who knows what happens going into the third there? But, you know, they've played well enough to win at least what, three or four of those games. It's just, I think the stuff is not going the way. The power play has been really bad as of late.

And, you know, this is what you get. But again, I see things that I like. Like, you know, when they play simple hockey, they're a tough team to be. And you saw that for the first two periods of this game against the Boston Rooms. They weren't giving them much. It was when they went away from the third period and when they start to turtle a little bit. And when they try to just, you know, protect that one goal lead and not go to get a second or a third goal, you know, things kind of just, you know, not go their way. And even the four goal lead against the right wing, they start turtling a little bit and just playing a little bit loose and all that stuff.

You've got to keep your foot on the gas pedal. I think that's also been a big thing for the penguin. as for why they've struggled as of late. So I want to touch on those things for the second segment. Coming up in the final segment, I'm going to get into just my overall thoughts moving forward, how concerned am I about this team and all that? Just a ground better at coming up in this final segment.

All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at ElnerSorp, and of course, thank you all so much for making this show. your first listen of the day. So five or O, it's not good. This is their second long losing streak of the season.

They've been very, you know, we'll reference for you all. Very Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. You all know that's not, of course. Who are no one to start the season. Things are great. After that, you get a 17-8 losing streak. After that 15 and 3-and-2, they're tearing up the lead. Cup runs back on, baby.

This is the real version of the Penguins. And then you get an 0-3-and-2 shreds like this. where things are just snowballing again. They're getting liens, but they're not closing games out when they should. You know, two of these losses, they've had leads with less than five minutes remaining in the third period, not being able to win. Those two games go differently there. You know, I think we're speaking of much different here right now.

And now you have everyone saying, fire this guy, fire this guy, trade this guy, all this stuff. And it's not a pleasant experience. This is probably the most chaotic season I've had covering this team. to be honest. But that said, how I feel about this team, I don't think this is a true indicator of who this team is. I think this is a rough stretch for the penguins. I don't think this defines them overall. And I do think eventually, potentially later this week, you're going to see them bounce back. Do I think they're going to miss the playoffs at the end of this season? No. Is the Eastern Conference a lot tighter this season? Yes. But you're starting to see some of these teams.

break away from the other teams. I can go to the standings right now. And I understand the Penguins right now in my final playoffs. But you think about this, right? You know, the Panthers are really struggling. There are eight points out. The senators are seven points out. Sabers, six points out.

That's still a lot with half a season left. The Red Wings are five points out. But the Islanders, you know, they got blown out the other night. So they're tied with them right now. But, you know, it's honestly looking like right now a nine-team race. for eight spots and honestly for the metro i would say it's probably going to be a five to a six team race for five spots do again do i think the penguins make the playoffs at the end of this season yes they are too talented to not to do they need to make some roster decisions before then to make sure that

they can start getting more points yes that means scratching brian jim when having that long hard talk with him to get him out of the lineup they've already moved carter to wing that is good the positives have been, if you can call it so-so. He was all nights for another goal tonight. I would scratch him all together, but I'm not the coach. It doesn't help that the penguins are down their top two right-hand defense right now and with Chris's the name and Jeff Petrie. And, you know, my condolences go out to Latang family and his friends.

His dad passed away yesterday. So he is back in Montreal with him. He's also banged up. Right now, Petri is back practicing with the team. He was practicing before the winter classic. So I think his return is not far off. you know, the weaker shoe, which is good. But again, I think a lot of the mistakes right now that you're seeing are fixable,

holding on to lead. It's just playing smarter, disciplined hockey. It's deployment-wise, not icing your bad players in big-time situations. So, you know, you can put out dunger, faster, better players who are better at protecting leads at this stage and in the stages of their careers. that I think is a big one. Yeah, I just said, smarter discipline hockey, you know,

not turtling, looking for that extra goal when they need it. You know, I've seen the process there, these last five games. And they, again,

they easily could have won, two, three of those games, but you know, you can't change the past. We have to look at what's going on right now. And at the end of the day,

I do think this team is going to be, okay, you know, maybe you call me an optimist, say I'm too positive, but, you know,

We've seen it in most of their games this season. I would say in more games, how do I want to say this? I want to make sure this comes out right. In more games than not, they have played like an actual good team. Yeah, I have the loss that's been bad, sure. But even though some of those losses, they played well enough to win. It's just limiting the mistakes, watching the deployment, making sure the goal tending is decent, making sure the Powerblade doesn't have some of these long dry

styles where they just go games without scoring, especially after it was just on a hot streak, and also helps with getting some guys back. So I do think the team is going to be okay. I would like to see some changes. I want Mike Sullivan to start taking this a little more seriously because I don't think he is right now. I mean, he's just coasting along thinking, you know, maybe nothing is wrong or something, but, you know, he needs to change some things up. And when that happens, hopefully, hopefully,

you will start to see this team training together some wins, and hopefully the general manager and the president of hockey operations will go out there and start scouring the trade market because right now this is not okay. It's unacceptable to be playing like this to start the new year, especially after they just had such a great hot streak. So it's up to the players in that room to play better.

that's on the head coach to make sure he's getting more out of the team and making sure that he is making better in-game decisions to help his team come out on top. And I'm hopeful that all that will happen. So again, thank you all so much for listening to this episode, the Locked up to the podcast. That wraps up just my little monologue about the team overall, how I feel just because the process has been there,

the numbers are very good. The goal-tending for the most person is fine this year. The five-on-five numbers are good. You need a little upgrade on the bottom of six. You need to play smarter defensively, but again, I think a lot of these things are fixable in house. What's not fixable in house is, of course, the office going out and getting a player or two from a different team, which, you know, that could happen at any point. But again, thank you also much for listening. I really, really appreciate it.

I'll be back with another episode for you all on Tuesday. I will talk to you all.