Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - On to Game 6 for the Pittsburgh Penguins...

Episode Date: May 12, 2022

Wednesday night wasn't the night for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter goes into how the Penguins played a PERFECT game until Sidney Crosby's injury. From then on, all hell broke loose as the Rangers scored three goals in two minutes. Hunter touches on how Mike Sullivan made a rare blunder in this series by trusting Jeff Carter to play with Guentzel and Rust for a few shifts before Evgeni Malkin was put in that spot. Had Malkin been there, do the Rangers score those goals? Hunter ponders that question before giving his unbiased thoughts on Jacob Trouba's hit that knocked Crosby out of the game. Should there be a suspension? Does the series rest on Sid's health? Hunter answers both of those questions before bringing up Evgeni Malkin's mixed bag game. He ponders that he needs to be better with his penalties and having other players get under his skin. He also goes into why Louis Domingue should've been better on the last two goals, plus gives early thoughts on what to expect for Game 6 (and yes, he may be there). All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.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 “LOCKED15,” 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!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK. 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 and happy Wednesday. Welcome back to another episode of Locked on Hink with podcast. If my room looks a little bit different here for the people on YouTube, we are actually watching one of Ashley's best friend's puppy. So there's three dogs here now, which is just for a night, though. So whatever. But, you know, we have a whole lot to get into for this episode. It looked like for the first 34, 35 minutes, we were going to be partying it up on this podcast.

It's going to bring some beers out, celebrate a series victory. The Rangers really had. nothing. And then, you know, everything else happened. I have a full game recap coming up for you all right after this drop. We're going to get into every single thing that happened tonight. So stay tuned for that. 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 Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoad. He's going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hoad. Cody's fall of the shoes, Twitter Eleanor for Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this. Your first listen of the day, Rangers 5, Penguins 3. And for a while, it did not look like this was going to be the case. I loved how the Penguins started this game. That first period, the Rangers had nothing for them. I mean, I figured they were going to come out with blood, but the penguins were just suffocating them to death. It looked very similar to Game 6 in San Jose,

where, you know, the sharks really had nothing at that entire third period. The Penguins get that early goal. probably should have had that first one on that two minute five on three. That was probably one of the worst five on threes I have ever seen in my life. I will fully say that. That was a absolutely disgusting two-man advantage power player. It took them basically a minute and a half to get a shot on that. I have no idea what that was.

That's just that's unacceptable for a team that's facing a lunation. You have a chance to really jump out on them, you know, not even three minutes in. You got to do that. I know the penguins, they were able to get that goal from Jake Gensel, who continues to defy laws at this point. I mean, again, the fact that people were wanting to trade him after a couple of post seasons where he struggled, which was a very small sample sizes, which compared to a regular season, which would be him struggling for two to two nath weeks. And not's one of the regular season. You know, people, people want to be done.

That's their prerogative. He was sensational against tonight. Penguins take that one-neth league going to the second period. The Rangers start pushing a little bit. but then Crystal Tang makes it 2-0. And I'm like, okay, they're halfway through the game. Just keep this up. The Rangers have nothing for them.

That was the reality situation. They were not pressuring the penguins at all. And then the Jacob Trubis situation was in New Crossby happens. And I'm going to give my fairly, you know, try to be unbiased take here. In my opinion, you know, I don't like the hit. It looks dirty. When you look at it from multiple angles, I don't. think Jacob Trouba was intentionally trying to take Sidney Crosby out of the series, but you know

what, that was still a gross hit. And, you know, right from that, boom, game changes, Penguins lose. No, just a minute after he leaves the ice. I kept saying to myself, get out of the second period, get out of the second period. You can take this two-nothing lead into the third and then maybe play some better defense. And that was not the case. Mike Sullivan made a very rare blunder. in this series. He put Jeff Carter in that Sydney Crosby spot, Adam Fox scores. A couple minutes later,

Rangers tie it two to two. And then Carter goes back out there again for another shift with Jake Gensel and Brian Rust, gets locked by Trubo, which is just basically a bannable offense at this point. And boom, the Rangers take the lead. I know Jake Gensel was able to tie the game 12 seconds later.

That was really nice. But, you know, all of that, could have been avoided, well, you know, all that probably would have been avoided if Sidney Crosby does not get cheap shot up by Jacob Truba. You know, that's, that's a play. If he's out for Friday's game and if he's potentially out for a Sunday game if the series goes to Sunday, that is a play that can change a series. And it stinks because Sid was playing so well these playoffs. Hell, he was the best player in the playoffs. And of course, he gets headshoted. And, you know, the biggest threat in my mind is a concussion just because he's had so many of

them throughout his career. And it's just, it's robbed him of so many, you know, so many games and so many potential great moments. This is a perfect what-if story for the penguins. You know, again, if Crosby probably does not get hurt there by Truba, I do think the penguins won the same. I don't think they allow those two goals when they were pinned in the zone by 50 seconds by Adam Fox in their top line.

And then the third goal with Jacob Trubo when Carter was out there. Crosby makes those plays. He doesn't get walked by him. and Crosby is probably able to clear the puck in that first school. I think the penguins easily skate out to a 2-0 lead after the second period, and I think they probably win the game if he stays healthy. It just, you know, I know, understand that those are the breaks in sports at times. It's just, it's a very unfortunate situation.

Again, I'm not really going to sit here and make excuses for the penguins. You know, they have an opportunity to win that game with 25 minutes left. You can't let that get to you. I know the Rangers were really pushing, but, you know, to allow three goals in that minute and that short amount of time and to play a little brain dead. And again, like, that's just, that's not good enough for the payments.

And, you know, credit to them, you know, that, again, they were able to recover and Jake Gensel was able to score, but third period comes and they take that stupid penalty, Marcus Pedersen. And it looks like they're fully about to kill it, which is great. You know, you would have been five on five

for the rest of the period. Philip Heedle has that shot right in front of Deming, and it's like, you know, Louis's got to make that save. You know, I think if Tristan's in net there, he probably does make that say it was to his glove side. I know Louis, you know, he catches with his right hand. And, you know, there were a couple of goals tonight that I think Louis definitely would have won it back. You know, the third goal when Truba hit him, went five hole.

He's way too deep in his crease. Again, that is the difference between a starting all-star caliber goldtender and Tristan Jari playing versus an HL fringe NHL goaltender. I saw weirdos on social media today. in my mentions, and other people's mentions saying, well, you know, you got to start demean, even if Tristan Jari

is not fully ready to go yet. And I'm like, bro, if Tristan is ready to go, I am putting him in this game a hundred times out of 100. Honestly, he potentially makes some of those saves what we saw tonight,

especially again, the third and the fourth goals, I 100% think Tristan stops. Maybe the first goal. maybe you know obviously it's the blockers on the right hand maybe it's a bit different the second one he's not stopping but i think those last two he definitely is able you know to make a save there um you know he's getting closer he took part in the morning skate today which is just massive uh i can't say enough how big that is he's taking real n hl live shots if he's able to practice on

thursday go through a full one take some shots guys the morning skate on friday there's the that he will be ready to go for that game, which will just be such a welcome development. I mean, obviously, this game hinges on Sidney Crosby's health. I think Taylor Haas of D.K. Pittsburgh Sports said that he was seen walking out of the arena, did not really look to be banged up or anything too serious. I think Mike Sullivan did say he's being evaluated for an upper body injury. I think Mike DeFabo also took a picture.

He was just walking out regularly. He didn't really notice a limb, but again, it's all upper body. Hopefully, again, it is not a concussion. Hopefully it was mainly just precautionary and all that. I didn't want him to go back into the game and potentially get concussion-like symptoms. But that was, again, that was the loss that cost them this game. At the end of the day, you know, I think we're looking at hand. We are looking at handshakes right now if he doesn't go down with about, you know,

25, 26 minutes left in this game. The penguins were absolutely dog-walking the Rangers. They had nothing for him. They were getting no offensive zone time. at 5V5, they were absolutely terrible. And then that injury happens and then all hell breaks loose. That's what it comes down to. If Cid's not ready to go on Friday and Tristan Jari's not ready to go on Friday,

this team might be up a creek for the rest of the series. I mean, we're kind of playing with house money right now anyway because the Penguins have an opportunity to still close this out on Friday. But it gets that much harder if there's another major injury for this team. And it's just, you know, the Penguins, they can almost never get out of their way in terms of injuries. But still a lot more to get to for this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Before we get to some other topics from tonight, if you can say time and money when using Rock Auto, why issues you spend 30%, 50% or even 100% more from the same parts of a chain store or car dealership.

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in their hard. Did you hear about this box so they know we sent you? Amazing selection. Live below prices, all the parts, your call wherever need. Visit rockato dot com. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter

at Hunter Hodes. Follow this show's Twitter at L.O. underscore penguins. So let's get into some other other stuff that happened tonight. You know, well, let's go into the officiating. You know, I'm not going to, you know, complain like some of these mouth-breathing ranger scenes you hear at Madison Square Garden, just being a bunch of idiots for the sake of it. That said, there were some questionable calls.

I think both sides, from a penguin's perspective, Jake Gensel's like bear hug when he went to the box in the third period after Ryan Lindgren literally tackled Evgeny Malkin. Somehow all three of those guys go to the box. I have no idea what Wes McCauley is doing there. And some people tell me that West McCauley is a good ref. He certainly did not prove it with that.

That is for sure. I mean, Gensel literally came in, put his arms around someone. They sent him into the box for roughing. Evgeny Malkin goes to the box for roughing when he's tackled. And Ryan Lingwin, of course, he goes to the box because he's being stupid. But it's just like you're taking Randy. players for the sake of it, and you're not even bothering to actually look at what happened, you know, for the place.

It's just like, you know, officiating is just a total gong show at times. And there are multiple instances in this game, even outside the Jacob Trub, a bad hit, which I don't like, you know, that the Rangers were getting away with stuff. I thought the penguins were getting away with stuff and they weren't calling it just because, you know, I don't know, they wanted to keep the game at 5B5 or something, just really bad, officiating game. And, you know, that's part for the course of playoffs. I'm not going to sit here and go on a 30-minute field like I'm sure some Rangers fans would want to do.

Officiating stunk, that's playoff hockey. You know, they stink for every team. I don't want to hear people that say the penguins get all the calls after what I saw tonight. That is for sure. Let's get to of Guinea Malkin now. Mixed bag, you know, he set up the game. He set up the game tying goal for at least a little bit late in the second period from Jake Gensel, his second one of night.

Then the third period, he just has a total brain dead moment, puts the Rangers back on the power play with 7, 20. two left. And it's like, man, when you're trying to claw back into the game and force overtime and really, you know, get the Rangers sticks a bit tighter, you can't be taking those kind of penalties. And, you know, he sometimes is an easy player to get his, you know, to get off his game. You know, it's been that way, you know, for the last little while. And that was certainly the one that qualified.

You know, I think he's probably going to get fined for what he did for putting that stick up towards his face. He has to know better than that. I'm tired of watching it, you know. He got suspended late in the regular season. for being stupid with his stick, and he's probably going to get fine for another similar situation with his stick.

He has to know the game situation better. I'm tired of seeing him do this. He can't keep losing his cool like this, especially in an elimination game where you have a chance to eliminate a team in five games, even when you're down a goal. That's just that cannot happen in that moment. Because the Rangers, they will gladly just kill two minutes off the clock,

even if they don't score. At the end of the day, that's just that's a really bad penalty. for Gino to take. Also, I thought he had a couple really turnovers. Again, he had some mixed, it was kind of a mixed bag, but it was honestly that full chaos Gino game. Had some nice plays with the puck, takes a bad penalty. Also was kind of then defensively at the time.

And, you know, I'm glad Mike Sullivan decided to finally put him on the line with Jake Gensel and Brian Rust. Heck, honestly, if Gennie Malkin is on that first shift, when the Rangers get that, when the Rangers get that goal, they probably don't even score it. I know Evgeny Malkin is not the best. best defensive player, but I would rather have him out there defending that play than the corpse of Jeff Carter. He was brutal tonight. I'll get to him in a little bit. But I still probably

think the Rangers, I don't think they get back into the game there too, if if Jimmy Malkin is on that line. That should have been an easy decision for head coach Mike Sullivan to do that. The fact that he didn't, you know, he's probably going to be kicking himself about it. I think he's going to have to be really careful about what he does. with Carter if Crosby is not able to go on Friday. That's the big thing here. You know, and speaking of Carter, I'll just get right into it right now. He's a liability when he's not scoring goals.

Yes, I understand he had six goals in his last eight playoff games with the Penguins coming into this game. That's all great and dandy. He was great last year at the Penguins. It was great for the first half of the regular season. And then he fell off a cliff. you know, you cannot be getting top center minutes when Crosby goes out and you're getting walked by Jacob Rubba. That is unacceptable in every single facet.

And on the first goal, what happens? They got pinned for 45 to 50 seconds because the Rangers finally got some pressure going. And who was on the ice? Jeff Rick and Carter. He is bleeding chances and goals every time he steps onto the ice. And again, yes, I understand he will score the occasional playoff goal for the Penguins, but I am not ready to see this for the next two years. You know, I was fine with the Carter extension at the time because he was actually playing well.

His underlying numbers were good. After he signed it, he just went down a cliff. And it's gotten worse in the playoffs. Again, when he is not scoring that timely goal, he is not doing a thing at 5B5. power play penalty kill i hate i hate when i hated when i saw him come over the boards for the extra attacker um he is just he is such a liability uh right now it's just it's not good and you know again you know speaking of that crosbie gensel rust line they had almost 80% of the expected goals before crosbie went out they had they were the rangers were having no answer for that line

and it's just it's really unfortunate that again you know he his his knight had to be cut short in the penguins you know a they couldn't win the game game without him and B, you know, they probably do win the game if he, you know, if he's able to stay in the lineup. That's for sure. That wraps up, I believe, the second segment of this episode of Lockdown Penguins podcast. Coming up in the third segment, I will get into some other play performances that I noticed tonight, you know, just maybe a little, I wish into a small preview, maybe a small

preview of Game Sex, and I will have a small teaser about me potentially going up there for that last segment. But before we get to that, so imagine dipping your finger into that plastic tub of birthday cake frosting and then opening your eyes and realizing that was only 150 calories and 16 grams of protein. This is what it is like to eat a birthday cake puff from Bill. So if you haven't tried the puffs, I'll let you on a little secret because that's what friends do here,

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Hunter Hoides follow the show's Twitter at LNRSquare Penguins. Loved what I saw from Crystal Tank tonight. Again, another fabulous game, gets that second goal. Chronicle that for the distinct person on Penguins, Twitter, who I am not going to name. He absolutely stinks, to say the least. but just another strong game for him. You know, I know, you know, Mike Matheson's definitely had a bit of a chaotic series,

but overall, both of them tonight, I thought were pretty good. You know, they've gotten better these last couple of games. I will say that. I was totally fine with the performances. I thought John Marino looked good. Marcus Pedersen was fine. Honestly, you know, the whole, all six defensive skaters were perfectly fine tonight. I'm not really going to roast anyone.

on the defense. I will say this. The Penguins actually had a nice crack at that six on five at the end there, which is something I don't usually applaud because the Penguins are usually so terrible with six on fives. They had two or three really good scoring chances with the net empty before. I think Lingwin had that five to three empty net goal. The only reason why it went in was because it ricocheted off of Gensel

and rolled into the net. But Rodriguez had a chance right at the doormouth. I believe it was deflected off a Ranger stick over the net. If that's not deflected, that's an easy goal. I think there's a play from Brian Russ from behind the net that almost went in Pasha Sturkin. I think there's another play from the point that they almost had. You know, the Penguins, they actually had some chances there

without Sidney Crosby at the end to send that to overtime. I was really impressed with that six on five. Again, you know, the penguins usually stink at those situations. So, you know, to see that, I guess that's maybe a little of a nice thing going into game six. And speaking of game six, you know, the Penguins cannot let this series go back to New York. It will be bad vibes all around.

You have to close this out on Friday. And yes, I know I've talked about going to a game in Pittsburgh for the first time since I started recording this podcast. I am very, very close to, I think, buying tickets for game six. I have to talk to my girlfriend. We were talking, she was mentioning it about the possibility of it today. You know, obviously we just got a puppy. about three to four weeks ago.

Maybe we can bring him and can, you know, stay in our hotel and stuff. I am very tempted to go to game six with the record I have right now. The last three games, Penn games I've been to. They've won before that they've lost two in a row. And, you know, obviously they got to hope that Sidney Crosby is okay. That's the first and foremost biggest thing. And hopefully they can get back Tristan Jari. You know, it's all going to be up to.

Does he fully practice with the team on Thursday? if they have a practice session. No, that's going to be the big update there. I would love if he's back in the net. That would be such a big boost. Rickel, he's getting close. I would have to think he's back for that game. No update on Brian Dumlin.

The Penguins just need to stop losing bodies. And I know that's basically a foreign concept for the Penguins at this point because they've just been getting banged up all around at this point. It's just, it's hilarious that, I should even say it's hilarious. It's crazy that every single big game that they have, there's just another injury. I'm honestly just kind of sick of it at this point. But, you know, there's just, you know, you got to forecheck the way you're forechecking those first 35 minutes. You got to take away the neutral zone.

There was no space for the Rangers at all. That's one of the, again, that's probably the biggest thing the Penguins have to do if they want to close this series out in Pittsburgh. You got to give them no space. At the end of the day, you know, the Rangers have. had nothing those first 34 to 35 minutes because the penguins were doing such a great job of coming out of their own zone and going from defense to offense really quickly and not giving the Rangers an opportunity to start their cycle in the Penguins defensive zone right when Cindy Crosby goes out, that all goes out the window because there's different players on different

lines and, you know, they just, they couldn't adjust fast enough and you know that all it takes was it all it took was a 50 to 55 second shift and boom, you know, the game is tied and all that jazz. So the Penguins again, they have to come out with that same start, play like a nice period, maybe get a goal or two, get in Schisturkin's head, because obviously this game is going to be in Pittsburgh. I honestly did not even think Schisturkin looked that good tonight. They beat them three times. If Crosby's in the lineup, again, that's probably enough to win the game. I'll be curious to see if the Penguins can close this out on Friday. As long as Louis Doming is in the net, though, the series is not over.

I'll say, honestly, even if Shri's in the net. A 3-1 lead is always dangerous. You know, the Rangers definitely got some momentum. from this win and they're going to be coming out with blood potentially in Pittsburgh to try to send this series back to Madison Square Garden for a seventh and final game of this series. The Penguins, they can't let that happen. It'll be bad vibes all around if the Penguins lose that game on Friday. But, you know, not freaking out.

It's, you know, my mood will definitely be, you know, swayed by the update with Sidney Crosby. I'm potentially going to be at that game on Friday. If you are going to be there, just, you know, reach out to me. Let me know. If I'm going, you know, I can definitely, you know, meet up with you people and all that stuff. I would love to, you know, meet some people that listen to the show.

But, you know, we'll see. I have to talk to my girlfriend and see if she wants to spend the money for the tickets and stuff. You know, she was definitely open to it today. But, you know, we'll see on that front. So I know it's a loss, but, you know, they still got another chance on Friday. It's going to be a raucous crowd at PPG, I'm sure. And, you know, we'll see if the Penguins can close it out for that game,

to say the least. But that'll do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening and supporting the show during the playoffs. Let's see if they can close it out for a second time. Or I screwed that up. Whatever. Let's see if they can close it out again on Friday.

I'll talk to you all on Thursday.