Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get goalied in Boston AGAIN!

Starting point is 00:00:00 The Penguins dropped a tough one to the Bruins on Tuesday night, and Pat and I are going to recap that game, plus give you our picks for Warrior Helmet Wednesday coming up right after this. 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 one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my coach.

Starting point is 00:00:35 post Patrick Camp. You can follow him on all social media platforms at Sendin for Wet. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. And you can find us on Instagram at Lockdown underscore Penguins. Of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson slash watch of the day. We are free and available on all platforms. And finally, today's episode is brought to you by Fandle. Use your profit boost on an NBA future and get entered for your chance to win a trip to the NBA finals. Play your game with Fandul. official sports betting partner of the NBA. Pat, it was another low scoring affair between the penguins and the Bruins as the Penguins fall two to one to the Bruins in Boston.

Starting point is 00:01:16 They've only scored one goal against the Bruins in six periods of hockey. Thankfully, the Penguins don't have to go back to Boston because apparently, Pat, they're just not allowed to score there, even after so many great quality chances in the third period last night. And that's where I want to start. I think outside of the first 10 to 15-ish minutes. I thought the penguins were mostly fine to good last night. I thought they really pushed in the second period, and they pushed even harder in the third.

Starting point is 00:01:45 That saved by Swamon on Noah Chari. I still don't know how the hell he saved that. The one on Eric Carlson, about halfway through the third, a little over halfway through, where Carlson, he lined it up. It looked like he had a perfect angle for it. Swimming, drops his glove down, makes an insane save there.

Starting point is 00:02:01 Tommy Novak hits the Croxbar on a chance. Carlson earlier. hits the crossbar slash post on another chance. So multiple posts, but also a couple of insane saves from Jeremy Swam and where you just have to really tip your cap. I mean, when he plays like that, there's really not much you can do. But this game also, it just reminded me a little bit of that first game, Pat, where when the Bruins get a lead, they clog it up, they try to turn the game into a slog.

Starting point is 00:02:30 Though, I will say, the Penguins did a better job of handling it this time. compared to the first one where they were getting more chances. Jeremy Swayman made 34 out of 35 saves. And again, a goalie like that, man, when he gets hot, it's hard to beat him. Right. I was going to push back there in saying that this was very similar to the last meeting. The last meeting, the Penguins, as I hinted at on our Tuesday episode, played right into the Bruins' defensive hands and just continued to run into, run into that metaphorical brick wall all game long and really not make any changes.

Starting point is 00:03:11 This game, you hit the nail on the head from about the five minute mark, with five minutes left, I should say, in the first period until the final buzzer. The penguins were the better team. The penguins were taking the play to the Bruins. The penguins were breaking through the Bruins defensive system. The Bruins were not getting many looks throughout the second and third period. the difference was this time around Jeremy Swayman went God mode. He had himself a great game.

Starting point is 00:03:39 He made several big saves. The penguins hit a bunch of posts. The problem was the start of the game. Because the penguins, even though they jumped out to a one-nothing lead, they put themselves behind the eight ball because their goal was kind of a fluky goal. It was a weird shot from the point from Eric Carlson that alluded Jeremy Swayman. ha ha that one wasn't even from the red line i made that joke yesterday and look at the goal he gives up but it's so funny pat he gives up that goal and then he makes insane saves the rest of the

Starting point is 00:04:13 way through just again but even though they get that goal from carlson the first 10 minutes of the game the penguins didn't show up they were very porous defensively the effort was questionable at best and stewart skinner did his best but but both goals, there was really nothing he could do about. The first one, he gets screened. The second one, just a perfect shot. Like, there's not a whole lot he was going to be able to do on those. He made saves when he needed to, but at the end of the day,

Starting point is 00:04:46 Muse said it after the game and he's right. We're at the time of the year where points are precious. But I will say it on this show as someone who only just covers the team. they play like this nine games out of ten, their record will be nine and one. They play to, you clean up that first ten minutes and bring this effort that they brought the majority of the game,

Starting point is 00:05:13 they are beating most teams with that effort, even Sands Sidney Crosby. So end of the day, it's frustrating because it's the Bruins and we talked about what a boring style they play. But realistically, the penguins did everything right. they just couldn't beat Swayman. Yeah, I mean, even like below beating them, for example, Pat,

Starting point is 00:05:34 they at least get a point usually nine out of ten times with that type of effort. It felt like I was just waiting for the dam to break just because the penguins were really pushing, especially early in that third period. Swamon was just on another level. Again, you have to tip your cap to the opposing goalie sometimes. When he's on, he is one of the better goaltenders in the league. He's top five this year among all goaltenders in goals saved above expected. he's been really good.

Starting point is 00:06:00 The Bruins. Yeah, I know Pat and I like to joke about how he played at the Olympics, but at least for the Bruins this year, he has been fairly solid. And you're right about their style. You know, I'm going to make a little cross sport reference here. The Bruins system kind of reminds me of a low block that some soccer teams do where they play very defensively.

Starting point is 00:06:18 They put everyone back and they dare the opposing team to come attack them. And that's what the Bruins were doing, Pat, again. They basically do a 1v4. stack the blue line and they try to turn games into slogs. I am very glad that these two teams only play each other one more time because I don't know how Bruins fans do it, man. It is a very boring system. I said that last night.

Starting point is 00:06:40 And if somehow we have any Bruins fans watching or listening to this, just give me your eyes right now. Give me your eyes. Look right into these windows. You're not having fun this season. Don't get me wrong. You're winning, which is nice. But you ain't having fun watching.

Starting point is 00:06:58 in this. That is excruciating hockey to watch. It's bad. It's not fun to watch. Again, they're probably going to make the playoffs good on them. I did not see that coming. I did not think they were going to be very good this year. But man, it is simply boring. I thought the Penguins really tightened up defensively as this game went on. Again, they got plenty of really good chances, though I did not like the six on five at the end of the game. I didn't like some of the decisions that Dan Mus is also made there, Pat? Why is Ben Kendall not getting minutes there? Why is Chinat Cina Cobb? That doesn't make much sense to me. I agree with this point.

Starting point is 00:07:31 I do really. Like I'm not like I think this is a both and situation when it comes to what you're saying. Yeah, Chinikov, Kindle, those guys should be getting six on five minutes. But you look at the majority of that game. They rolled four lines. All four lines were effective. Yeah, you should again, you should load up when you go six on five. You should put your best players out on the ice, give yourself the best opportunity.

Starting point is 00:07:58 realistically watching the way they played last night, I didn't have any problem. Even with Kevin Hayes's line. Like, yeah, he doesn't bring much, but it wasn't like last time where every time the penguins kind of started getting up to speed against the Bruins, his line came out and it stifled all momentum. Last night, he was there. That's the best way. Like, he wasn't a negative.

Starting point is 00:08:24 He wasn't a positive. He was okay at best. Yeah. So to the overarching point, I agree that yes, Kindle, Chinikov, those guys should see more time, six on five. But watching last night's game, it's like, he's just rolling lines. And it was working because there is one other thing I wanted to add before we go to break about the way the penguins played last night. I brought this up on Tuesday show about the way they, and it builds off of what you said about their defensive game. The Bruins stacked the blue line, and I set against the last game,

Starting point is 00:09:01 they tried to play the dump and chase game, and it played right into the Bruins' hands. They did it last night, but what they did was they had two guys shooting through the neutral zone to break that trap. So that the Bruins defenders had to deal with two four checkers coming in on them. And the third guy had to go up high, opening up a little bit of the point. So they were able to get possession last game, the last time these two teams met, penguins dumped it in one guy went and the Bruins went that's really easy to break see you yeah yeah i mean they had three guys three to four guys just stacking the blue line and that's like okay we're going to win that battle basically every time so i did like some of the adjustments that muse made

Starting point is 00:09:42 to try and counter that it's just again there's really not much you can do when their goalie just goes off like that i still didn't like the six on five at the end even without chinikoff and kindle out there for a lot of it pat too much peruner passing not enough good looks to end the game that's not good enough there to end it. And just overall, this is the performance where it's like, okay, you lost, you turn the page to Thursday when a red hot Buffalo team comes to town. We're not crucifying them here or anything like that. This performance was not worthy of that.

Starting point is 00:10:15 It's just the type of loss. It's like, okay, that happens during an 82 game regular season. Every team in the league has this type of loss during the season. So I think that's going to do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to discuss a couple more storylines that came out of this game, including the defensive pairing, staying the same, and a couple other things. Stick around for that coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, which is Fandul.

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Starting point is 00:11:38 Fandle play your game. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Damp and Pat. Hopefully we weren't, you know, coping too much, as the kids like to say a little bit during that first segment. We just don't really like the way the Bruins play. I don't think a lot of other hockey fans probably like it that much either. but again, I digress about that.

Starting point is 00:12:04 I mean, I'll just say this. Like, Muse hit the nail on the head. This is the time of year where there are absolutely no moral victories. You don't want to look at last night's game and go, ah, no big deal because they're very much in a tight playoff race. But for some reason, their kryptonite is TD Garden. They go up there. They do everything right.

Starting point is 00:12:26 They either get goalied or the puck just doesn't go in or they fall right into the Bruins trap. I watched that game last night and I have walked away from a few games this year, including some right before the Olympic break where I went, I didn't love the way they played, didn't like it at all. I look at the way they played last night and I go, they played fine. Just some nights, you lose. Yeah, that's hockey sometimes. And I really did like Mewis's quote after the game. He even said, yeah, I thought we got better as the game went on, but walking out of here without any points this time of year. You can't walk away. and say, hey, it's okay, it was a good effort.

Starting point is 00:13:04 We didn't start the way we wanted to. We've got to find ways to generate more. We had this opportunities. I love that quote from Dam-use. He knows how important the points are. And he's basically saying, like, hey, sure, we had a good effort for the final 45 minutes, but we need points.

Starting point is 00:13:18 We are in the fight of our lives right now trying to get into the playoffs. Yeah, the capitals lost behind us again, which is good. The Penguins still have three games in hand on them. But the Jackets won again. They're now five back of the Penguins. So you still need to keep. getting as many points as you can to try and finish off this dream season that you had.

Starting point is 00:13:37 So I really appreciated Muses quote there overall. But let's get into some of the lineup decisions because when we were recording our Tuesday show, it looked like they were going to be changing the defense affairs. You saw Ryan Shea with Chris Letang, Sam Gerard with Connor Clifton, and then they just flip-flopped them back to the normal spots with Gerard with Latang and Shea with Clifton. And after another game of Gerard LaTang, again, man, I know it's only been a few games. I've still seen enough. I just don't think they're a good fit together.

Starting point is 00:14:07 You know, there's only so much puck to go around between those two. And to me, I would rather have a pure puck mover on each pair, like Carlson with Watherspoon. Carlson obviously is the pure puck mover, Watherspoon. He's that really strong stay at home defenseman. If you put Ryan Shea with Chris Latang, he's that. pure puck mover, Ryan Shea, again, kind of like Parker Wathers, the stay-at-home type. Then Clifton and Gerard, Gerard will move the puck up the ice pretty well. Clifton,

Starting point is 00:14:36 he's that big physical presence, more stay-at-home type. I just think it gives your pairs more balance overall, and I do hope Dam Euse makes that adjustment because you saw that pat early in the first period. Gerard-Latang was out there for that first goal against, and they looked completely lost together. So this has been, like a theme of the last three games. They gotta separate these two at this point.

Starting point is 00:15:01 I'm going kind of back and forth on it because I think your point's correct of it would probably be in the best interest of this team as a whole to have a puck mover on each pairing rather than kind of combining them on the top four and then leaving the bottom two to just be pure defensive. But the other thing I keep wondering, is there are times when Latang and Gerard look lost together.

Starting point is 00:15:33 There are times when they look really good together. And I'm really struggling to figure out if this is a new guy in a new system, just going through the beats of learning how to be with his new team, or if this pairing is oil and water, because it's still so early that it's hard for me to really come up with a conclusion. Because we have seen pairings throughout the Penguin's history, especially in the mid-2010s when they were contenders that when they started out, you went, great mother God, this is terrible. I think of Mata Daly as one of them.

Starting point is 00:16:13 When those guys were together at first, it was a disaster. And then they went on to be pretty damn effective throughout the playoffs. So I kind of, right now I'm watching it and going, I don't know. But I think what you're suggesting is probably the best way to go about it for now. And then if you need a jolt late in a game, pair them up. Yeah, like if you're, I don't know, chasing a game late, you can load up your puck movers on one pair. I mean, we've seen Muse do it at times with Carlson-Latang, which can get too chaotic at times. we've seen that throughout the year, and I haven't really recommended it that much as

Starting point is 00:16:52 because of those moments. But again, if you're down late, if you want to do Gerard Letang, okay, I'll understand it. But, you know, when you're in a tied game or when you're up, you know, it just makes more sense to have that type of balance defensively. I'm just really not liking Gerard with Lettang. And I think Gerard individually in the final couple of periods, he was playing a bit better on his own, but I just still don't like the fit right now with Lettang. And I said at the time when they acquired it, I figured they would at least try it.

Starting point is 00:17:22 Okay, see what you got. I know it's only been a small sample size. I'm just not liking the early returns so far. So I also think Ryan Shea has played well enough that he deserves to be promoted up to the second pair. So that's also playing into my take here. But that's just my opinion on that. Stuart Skinner, I thought was really good last night. The two goals that he gave up, not his fault at all.

Starting point is 00:17:45 They were just really nice shots. Again, no chance. He made some really big saves early to keep the penguins. Well, in the lead until, obviously, you know, they ruined scored a couple of goals in the first three. But even when the penguins were chasing the game in the final 40 minutes, odd that he made some really key saves to keep it a one goal game to give his team a chance to tie it and at least steal a point from Boston.

Starting point is 00:18:09 So no complaints from Skinner for me at all. He continues to play really well, really outside of that Islander game for the last, you know, six-ish weeks. something like that. So again, Pat really liked his performance last night. It feels weird saying that the penguins don't have a goaltending problem because it's been a while since we've been able to say that. And between Sheelovs and Skinner, they have both been somewhere between really good and adequate for the last couple of months. And we know that throughout the history of the Pittsburgh Penguins, you don't need to have a Vezna caliber goalie in

Starting point is 00:18:44 net. You just need to be the guy who doesn't lose the game. If You're in the franchise that's known for winning games seven to six. You need to be the guy who doesn't give up the seventh goal. But so far, I mean, and especially last night, the Bruins in the second and third period didn't mount much of a resistance. They had some chances here and there. But when Stuart Skinner needed to make a save, he made a save. Like you said, the two goals the Bruins got, not his fault at all.

Starting point is 00:19:15 And just for now, I'd say keep rotating until one of them falters because it really does feel like a case between these two of anything you can do, I can do better. Right. I mean, both are giving the penguins a great chance to win on a nightly basis. I don't really have too many other thoughts from this game. I hope that nobody is overreacting or anything like that. Sometimes you just lose a game where you play better. That happens. I know it stinks, especially this time of year where you're in the fight for your life to get in the playoffs. But I don't think the Penguins really did anything that bad in this game outside of

Starting point is 00:19:53 the first 10 minutes. They have to be definitely better coming out of the gate. I thought they weren't handling the puck right. They weren't playing well enough defensively. They got a nice break to get an early lead. If they would have ruled that goal interference, by the way, I think I would have just given up on goal tender interference because that was a crazy challenge I felt like from the ruins.

Starting point is 00:20:11 But hey, when the rule is has been very spin the wheel like, kind of, I don't I'll blame them for challenging it. But again, Pat, I don't have much else. Like, these type of happening. I hated the non-call on geeky, but I mean. The officiating was bad last night, but I, like, it was bad, but like, it had no material impact on the game. So whatever, ho-hum, same thing I've come to expect from NHL officiating at this point. It's been bad all year.

Starting point is 00:20:41 And I think also people need to remember, this is the time of year when it gets even worse. the playoffs are right around the corner. You know the NHL refs. They're going to start officiating these games like playoff games. So yeah, people, it's been bad. It's going to get even worse. But I think that covers it for this game against the Bruins. The Penguins have a chance to respond on Thursday against the Buffalo Sabres.

Starting point is 00:21:03 But that's not all for the Wednesday edition coming up right after this. It's time for Warrior Home at Wednesday, where Pat and I give our pick for the weekly MVP. That's coming up right after this. We're back here on the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am one of your hosts, Patrick Damp, right alongside my good pal, Hunter Hodies. And like I do, every single Wednesday, I wrestle the host chair away from Hunter, if he's in it. Because it's Wednesday, that means it's Warrior Helmet Wednesday. And that is where we give out our MVP of the week here in Penguinsland.

Starting point is 00:21:48 And if you are new here, because we do have quite a bit of new people on the channel, especially on YouTube. I imagine it's also the same on Spotify and Apple if they're not lying to us about the numbers. And I have no reason to not trust them. But I digress. This is us paying homage to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins where after victories in the locker room, they would give out their player of the game. And it was a warrior helmet. So that's us having a little bit of fun with the MVP award.

Starting point is 00:22:18 And Hunter, I think this week, you and I have the same person for Warrior Helmet Wednesday. And I'll just kick us off by saying it is goaltender, Artur Sheelovs. A couple of really good games here in this last week. Two starts, one against the Devils, one against Vegas, 967 against the Devils, and then a shutout against the Vegas Golden Knights. he has a 902 save percentage on the season. He has been steadily getting better seemingly with each and every game. He's going to be 25 in a couple of weeks.

Starting point is 00:22:59 And it really looks like he is figuring things out as a starting goalie in the NHL. He's been fantastic, not even just for the last week, but for the last month and change, month and a half. He's been awesome for the Penguins. You know, you mentioned it for the shoutout against Vegas. He stood on his head during that early onslaught that Vegas had where, you know, for the opening five minutes, they were a better team until the Penguins just blitzed them for the final 55 minutes. But he made a couple of really key saves there and then was able to just keep making, you know, methodical saves, the rest of that game.

Starting point is 00:23:35 And then he also earned the NHL's second star of the week honors. Congratulations to him. He was great against the Devils. But again, even going back to before those games, gave up an. early bad one against Buffalo before the Olympic break, still finished that game with a 926 Hippers engine, made some really big saves throughout that game. The only other goal that he gave up was that screecher from Tage Thompson, where that was just a crazy shot overall.

Starting point is 00:24:00 Had that game against Ottawa, the Penguins lost and didn't play well, but he was the only reason why the Penguins were even in that game. Still late in the third period, he almost stole the Penguins a point during that game, too. Again, Chicago, he was solid. Edmonton, obviously. He has just been a rock for this team. And we said earlier this week, if the playoffs were to start right now, he would be my game one starter.

Starting point is 00:24:23 And he's most likely going to get the start on Thursday against Buffalo because it'll be his turn in the rotation. And I'm excited to see where he goes from here. He's continuing to get more comfortable as a starter in the NHL. And it's been really nice to see very much deserves the boarded helmet for this last week. Kind of expanding that to a little bit, looking at, his body of work since the calendar flipped over to 2026. As you can see on your screen,

Starting point is 00:24:51 that is our graphic for the week, both of us taking Arter Shilovs for Warrior Helmet Wednesday, but he has started 11 games in 2026. And in just three of them, has he had a save percentage below 900. And even those games that were below 900, the only one that was kind of best, bad was Columbus on January 4th, 840 save percentage.

Starting point is 00:25:19 But the rest of them, and pretty much every start he has had in 2026, saved for those couple, 900 or better save percentage. And he's doing what we talked about to end the second segment. He's not playing Vesna level goal tending, but he is keeping the penguins in a position to win. he's making saves he needs to make and as of the last week he has just been really really good now kind of a tale of two starts the new jersey devils they're going through it not having a great year they're pretty much going to be done for the season Vegas on the other hand they're in a battle for the pacific they have a ton of talent and he made a lot of key saves to keep the penguins humming along

Starting point is 00:26:07 in that game so he's having himself one hell of a season so far are really starting to figure it out. And I said it yesterday along with you. The playoffs start today. He is my game one starter. And I'm not thinking twice about that. Now, let's take a look at our tracker for the season. Leading the pack with Five Warrior Helmet Awards is Captain Sidney Crosby.

Starting point is 00:26:34 Right behind him with four is of Gennie Malkin. Behind him is Justin Brzeau with three. Plenty of people. with two including Kyle Dubus, Avery Hayes, Ben Kindle, Eric Carlson, Anthony Mantha, Dan Muse, Sergey Mureshov, and now joining the list of two is Artur Shilovs,

Starting point is 00:26:55 and then with one, Connor Dewar, the special teams units, and Stuart Skinner. Why are we keeping track of these? Well, it's our thing. We can do whatever we want. We made this whole thing up. There's no rules.

Starting point is 00:27:08 We can do whatever we want. But at the end of the season, we will do some locked on penguins end of the season awards, including a season long Warrior Helmet Award. So we're keeping track of it this year. That way at the end of the season, we can hand that out. But Hunter,

Starting point is 00:27:26 unless you've got anything else to add, I do think that's going to do it for our Wednesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back on Thursday to get you set for the penguins and the Sabers, as well as any news that might break between now and then because we are just a couple of days away from the NHL trade deadline. And we will see what kind of magic Kyle Dubus has up his sleeve

Starting point is 00:27:53 as we get closer to that date. But for now, for Hunter Hodes, I am Patrick Damp. Thank you as always for tuning in. And we will be back on Thursday.

Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get goalied in Boston AGAIN!

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