Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins get HUMBLED at home by the New York Rangers

Episode Date: October 13, 2025

The Penguins were handed their first loss of the season, and it wasn't a close one, either. Hunter and Patrick begin the show recapping a 6-1 loss to the Penguins and what went wrong. It starts with the special teams. The Penguins were unable to get any power play goals, gave up a shorthanded goal, and a lot of the overpassing of the past returned, at least for one night. They also discuss not playing a full 60 minutes and other issues that came to light on Saturday night. (0:00) Meanwhile, down in the AHL and NCAA, some Penguins' prospects had big nights. They get you caught up on the state of the Penguins' young talents, where they stand, and who you should be keeping an eye on this year. (12:21) Finally, the Penguins are heading west this week for some late-night hockey against the Anaheim Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, and San Jose Sharks. (21:02) Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!IndeedNow, you can speed up your hiring process with a $75 Sponsored Job Credit. Just go to https://indeed.com/lockedonright now and support our show by saying you heard about Indeed on this podcast. Terms and conditions apply.Monarch MoneyTake control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code LOCKEDONNHL at monarchmoney.com/lockedonnhl for 50% off your first year.FanDuelDownload the FanDuel app now by visiting FanDuel.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins.FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No, my friends, the penguins are not going 82 and 0 and this year after a 6-to-1 blowout loss against the New York Rangers on Saturday. Pat and I are going to get into what went wrong against the Rangers. Plus, preview the week ahead 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 co-host, Patrick Damning and follow him on all social media platforms at Senator Verwet. You can follow the show's Twitter at L.O. UnderSore Penguins, and you can follow the show's 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,

down the Fandle app right now, by visiting fanduil.com and win $300 in bonus bets if your first $5 bet wins. Pat, the vibes were great going into this third game of the season against the Rangers. They beat the Rangers on opening night. They beat the Islanders on Thursday. And we were trying to see if the Penguins could get to 3 in 0 on the season if they were to beat the Rangers on Saturday. Unfortunately, that did not happen. The Penguins are now 2 in 1 heading into their California trip.

The Penguins, I thought, honestly, played a great first 20 minutes. I know they were down 1-0 heading into the second period, but they were the better team in that first period, especially at 5-on-5. They had 68% of the shot attempts, 70% of the scoring chances, also 66% of the high-danger chances. They limited the Rangers to 0.25 expected goals in that first period.

And I also thought, Pat, in the first five minutes of the second period, they were also fairly solid. Ben Kindle, congratulations to him, gets his first NHL goal. What a rocket of a shot that was. And to do it from that, far out against who I think is the best goaltender on the planet, and he's been sensational to start this season, by the way.

That's no such. Like, that was a beautiful shot on, again, the best goaltender right now. It was fantastic. So, I want to shout out Ben Kendall. He continues to get better and better in every single game. And he was, I think, the biggest bright spot for me in the game. After he scored that goal, after the first 25 minutes,

the penguins were just taken to school, special teams were awful. The penalty kill was really bad, just not ever getting set up. They weren't aggressive enough. The power play way too much overpassing. You can say the same at five on five as well. We'll get to end it out a little bit later, Pat, but both special team units, which were playing fairly well in the first two games of the season, were not good in this one. And I don't think Archer Sheelves play well either. I think he could have had a couple of those back. They weren't playing well in front of him either. Everything they did well in the first game against the Rangers it was the complete opposite in this one after the first 25 minutes.

So just not good in really any facet in the final 35-ish minutes of this game. Everybody right with me, deep breaths. And now I'm not building up a straw man just to knock it down here. But this is how this season is going to go. This is how we're going to have this season go. They're going to have a couple of games where you think, you know what, they might have something here. This might be an all right team.

Now we're going to have a couple of games where you're going to go, is this an American hockey league team? What am I watching here? That's how this season's going to go. And we hit it in game three. Penguins looked pretty good. First two games of the year, third game of the year, wheels kind of come off.

I will say to add to another bright spot, I thought a really good player on Saturday night was Philip Hollander. I thought he looked great. He was all over the ice. He was involved in the play, had a couple of chances. but let's start here. You brought up overpassing. Penguins finished the game with 19 shots.

I don't care if you're playing Igor Shisterkin. I don't care if you're playing Tristan Jari. 19 shots in 60 minutes is not going to win you a game in the NHL. That'll really make the people in the 200 level of PPG paints arena happy, who always yell shoot. But when you have less than 20 shots in a game, I do not like your chances at all. Eventually, you got to test Igor Shasturkin. And the two best ways to beat a goalie like him are 30 shots or more and getting in his grill.

They didn't really do either of those things on Saturday night. Now, I will say this. I do think you're right. The first 25 minutes of the game, they played really well. I think we also have to give a little bit of grace here because there are plenty of new faces and there are quite a couple youngish players. Maybe not young in the traditional sense. Obviously, Brunick and Kindle are still teenagers. But there are a lot of guys on the team right now with not a lot of NHL experience. And what happened Saturday night, I will chalk up to inexperience a little bit

because this is something that is always a possibility at the NHL level. You start off hot, you play well, you give up a short-handed goal. But then you get it back and then you get into penalty trouble. And even though you've been the better team for 25 minutes, you find yourself staring down a deficit. Eventually they learn, you learn with time and experience that this is how this league operates. And you can't get down on yourself.

You got to dig in, keep doing what works and see what happens. But all things considered, it wasn't a great night for the penguins. I do think part of it was an experience, but I also think, Pat, a lot of it was just them playing stupid, taking way too many penalties. And these were legit penalties for the most part as well. I know the refs were very whistle-happy in this one, calling a lot of penalties.

But the penguins were just playing really dumb in this one, giving the Rangers power plays, which they'll be like, hey, thank you very much. The Rangers, when their power play is humming, it's usually one of the better units in the league. Adam Fox in this one was especially great, by the way, from the point, showcasing why he's a top five defenseman, in my opinion, in this league. And when you give a power play like that, that many opportunities, even without Solm like Vince Trochuk in the lineup, they're going to make you pay sooner rather than later. And the Rangers eventually did multiple times.

The penalty kill for the penguins was just not very good. So it was a combination, I think, of what you said, but also a lot of just them playing really dumb. The wheels really fell off after the first 25 minutes. They weren't playing well in the defensive zone. There was one sequence later in the game. Caleb Jones is coming in. Really good chance off the rush pat. he overpasses seconds later there's a player in front of the net getting bullied.

I believe it was Ryan Shea there. Just you can't do that. Like you get overpassing and then getting bullied in front of your net. And that just leads me to my next point. Jones and Shea were especially really bad in this game. I would not be surprised and I would welcome it actually if Matt Dunba or Connor Clifton take one of their spots for one of these games on the California trip. I just don't think either of these two were good.

And I think it's time to at least explore what Dumba or Clifton can bring you. Oh, I agree. It's time for, I think, both of them because both guys you brought up. I like Ryan Shea, but he is a sixth defenseman, fifth at best. And even then, like, I'm still not willing to put him there permanently. And Jones just didn't have a good game. I'll also say this. You're right about the penalties.

The, but this also kind of gets into my inexperience. The game gets away from them. point. Rust gets taken down right in front of a ref, doesn't get called. Then just moments later, Ben Kindle gets called for a phantom hooking penalty. And just so it's out there, this is not me saying that the penguins lost because of officiating. They absolutely did not. But that is also something that when you're an inexperienced team, I know, I know they've got Crosby, Malkin, LaTang, Carlson, et cetera, et cetera. But when you're putting a lot, when you're doing what Dan Mews is doing and putting a lot of these younger guys in more prominent positions,

they're going to have to learn. This is sometimes what happens in the league. But yeah, at the end of the day, you got to do a little bit of mad scientist here, if you're Dan Mews on the defense, because this is the first game that those two got exposed. And it wasn't just a little bit here and there. They got exposed all night long.

And honestly, again, I don't think Jones was very good in the first game against the Rangers, either the rest of the defense I thought was fine, but I just think it's time to make at least a change there. And if you want to make a change for Ryan Shea as well, I think that's totally fair to just because Shea was not good in this third game against the Rangers and Jones. He's just been a little out of his depth, I feel like to start this season. So if you want to bring both of them in on the left side, Pat, even though they are righties, I would be totally cool with it. Even if you want to bring one of them in, I would also very much support that as

well. Also, I felt like Crosby and Malkin were a bit off in this one. And that's fine. Like, that's going to happen at times throughout an 82 game season. Sid was really good the first two games. Gino was especially awesome. He was a bit better than Sid, but fell like Gino didn't really have it in this one, which again, that's going to happen. So talk about a great spot I do want to bring up real quick. Yeah. And I'm not saying for the full 60 because as we know, they did not play a full 60 on Saturday night. there were spots where I really liked the Lazot Achari doer line. I thought that they were playing fast.

They were playing physical. Obviously, like the rest of the team, the back half of the game, they struggled. But I looked at that line and went, you know what? I want to see a little bit more of that. Because if they have a game where they play a full 60 or close to it, that line drew a couple penalties early. They were in the Rangers zone quite a bit. And they, I'm not, I don't want to overstate it. They weren't tremendous, but they did what a fourth line is supposed to do. They played fast. They played physical. They hemmed the Rangers in their own end. And if they can do that in

13, 14 minutes a night when this team plays a full 60, you might have something there. You know what? Speaking of Blake Lazot, he hasn't been talked about enough from fans to start. the season. He's been fairly good. I think he's been one of their best four checkers. The points are going to start coming at least a little bit for him if he keeps this up, but I think he's been fairly good in the bottom six so far. But Pat, do you have anything else to add about this game? No, I don't either. It was a stinker people. They're two and one going into the California trip. You know, we'll take it and you'll move on. But that'll do it for this first segment. Coming up in the second segment, it was a big weekend for some of the

top prospects in the organization for the Wilkesbury Scrant Penguins, played well, well, Pat and I are going to discuss that right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our first sponsor, and that is Monarch Money. Most people can't name all their financial accounts or even what they're worth, whether it's 401Ks, properties, or investments. And when you don't have the full picture, you can end up leaving money on the table. That's why there is Monarch money. It's an all-in-one personal finance tool that brings your entire financial life together in one clean, easy-to-use interface on your laptop or on your phone. is built for people with busy lives.

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Don't want financial opportunities slip through the cracks. Use code locked on NHL at monarchmoney.com in your browser for half off your first year. That's 50% off your first year at monarchmoney.com with the code locked on NHT. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s Pat Tramptonab and Pat. Wilkesbury gets a really nice start to open the season, 2-0 after two wins this weekend,

including one on Sunday against Lehigh Valley, 4 to 1, and A.M. McDonough got his first goals of Wilkesbury Scrant Penguin. He was someone that I really wanted fans to keep an eye on after a really strong training camp, and he had a goal on this one. Also, Bill A. Coyvenin gets two assists in this one, including one where he knife through everyone in the offensive zone, very much a man against boys moment to get a primary assist. And when I saw that, I'm like, yeah, I think you're going to be up back to the NHL at some point here fairly soon.

Tristan Brose also had a really good game in this one. And how about during the first game, Sergei Miroshov stops 23 of 24 shots, 958 say percentage, ho-hum stuff for Miroshov. Owen Pickering also gets a goal this week. Avery Hayes scores this weekend, Pat. So everyone that you want to see play well and score, not from Ehrushol of course,

but everyone that you want to see play well played well in this one. Right. And that's huge. And I know I saw a lot of people and were way late to the party on this because it's Monday, but there was plenty of questioning and wondering why did Coivinen get sent down after just two games. it's the only move they could make.

It wasn't an indictment on Coyvin, and they weren't like, hey, you played two so-so games, get down to the minors. He was the only guy who could pass down without waivers. And unfortunately, he fell victim to the numbers game. He's going to be fine. He's going to do well. There's going to be injuries.

There's going to be other send-downs. There's going to be trades. His time is coming. And realistically, I think part of the other thing that led to his demotion aside from the waivers is, I think there were designs on him playing with Crosby, and through two games, it wasn't really there. Maybe that changes later in the year.

Maybe they figure it out together, and he can be a good winger for Cid, but the early returns, he was kind of a bit of a half a step behind, putting Pucks a half a step behind, so on and so forth. And then you get Brian Rust back, and we know how good those two are together. So ho-hum, here we go.

But yeah, I mean, that was a really good weekend for the baby penguins. Like you said, all the players that you want to see do well down there and continue to build a case to become NHLers did exactly that. And we got to have a little bit of patience. We got to wait a little bit. We want these guys to be finished products. But to become finished products, they're going to have to really dominate in the HL, which after, that, that's a pretty good start to that process. And then there was another big thing for the Penguins this weekend, another prospect, maybe the best name of any prospect ever.

Cruz Lucius with a hat trick for the, in the NCAA in ASU's win over Alaska. And that's a name that you and I have said it. It keeps flying under the radar, but probably some, we should have on our radar. Hey, he's been playing really well ever since coming back from that injury. I want to see if he keeps it up, but he's definitely someone that I'm at least, you know, thinking about during the season. Also, Will Horkoff and Michigan, Pat, who he's been lighting it up to start the year. Keep an eye on him, people.

This is a great spot for him at Michigan, one of the top college hockey programs in the country. He has been great to start the year. And I do want to also shout out one more player. He was one of the picks, Pat, in the 2025 NHL draft. Fifth round, to be exact. That is Jordan Sharon, eight goals in 10 games to start the season for the Sue Greyhounds. Eight goals, 12 points in 10 games.

Last year, Pat, he had 10 goals in 21 points. He's already two away from tying his goal total from last year. So keep an eye on him as well because he has also been great to start the year. But yeah, going back to some of the Wilkesbury players, you said about Coivin. I know some people were confused, but that was one of the only moves they could make because there was just no waivers that day. They kind of had no choice but to send Coivin down. His first couple of games, a little bit of a mixed bag.

I wanted to see more of him and Kindle together on the third line, but to activate Russ, you had to make a move like that. He's waivers exempt. He can just go right down. So there you go. He'll be back up pretty soon. He had a great game on Sunday against Lehigh, very much a man against boys. I would expect him back here, I think, in the next week or two, could be dead wrong,

but I think he's going to be up fairly soon once you see him keep dominating the HL, just because I don't really think there's anything left to learn down there. But then for guys like Bros and Hayes, you want to see them do this as well, because I do think they're going to be called up at some point this season. And the same goes for Owen Pickering. He gets a goal this weekend. You want to see him dominate those top pair of minutes. and so far so good in that department.

So it's been really strong for some of the prospects right now. And the time is going to come. I said this about Pickering specifically. We know what kind of player he is. He's not an offensive push the pace kind of defenseman despite scoring a goal this weekend. But he is a two-way defenseman. And with where the Penguins roster is right now in the players they want to, showcase and eventually flip it's going to be a minute before he really gets his big chance to

be part of this roster so at this moment it's better for him to be in the hl play a prominent role do really well in that prominent role rather than come up to the n hl beyond maybe the third pairing maybe get scratched a couple of times and sit in the press box when you can get him a big workload in the AHL and that will do better for him and then once the inevitable injuries happen once the inevitable trades happen then you can bring him up and I know a bunch of people we're probably going to say then you just say that about Harrison Brunick it's better for him to be in the NHL he can't go to the AHL so just a reminder Brunick it's the NHL or the WHL and what we've seen through three games I can't remember who it was I saw post this so my

for stealing your bit, but next time Harrison Brunick goes to the WHL or the CHL, it should be as a fan, not as a player. Yeah, I still think he has a better shot of staying up beyond the nine games than Kindle, though I will say, Kendall's making it awfully hard right now. He continues to get better and better after each game. I think they're going to take this all the way to the end of the nine games, and then they will make a decision. I think at this point, Pat, because you have the opinion,

you know, if you give him a few games, and send him back. I don't think that's going to happen now. I think they're just going to give him these next six games and kind of say, hey, force us to send you back or force us to keep you for the entire season. So it's going to be really fascinating to see what they do with that one. But Brunich, I would say right now he has a fairly decent chance

of staying up beyond the nine games. Kindle, still TBD, but he's making it hard on them. I'll say that. But that'll do it for the second segment coming up to end the show, We're going to look at the week ahead with a California trip for the Penguins. That's coming up right after this. But before we get to that, we have to tell you all about our second sponsor, and that is Fandall.

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Whether you're a casual fan or love diving into the stats, Fandall makes the game day experience so much better. So what are you waiting for? Visit fandle.com to download Fandle out today and get started. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host Hunter Hodes joined by my co-coast, Pat. It's one of my favorite road trips of the season, man. California trip, aka late night hockey, night owls. Let's all come together.

We're going to stay up until, you know, 12.30, 1 a.m. doing this. I love doing this even with my ESPN plus subscription, by the way. You get to find a late night game, binge watch it until midnight, 12, 31 a.m. Now you get to do with the Penguins this week. And it starts on Tuesday against the Anaheim Ducks, 10.30 p.m. start time. So the game is probably not going to end until 1 a.m. Again, I love it. I go to bed around that time anyway.

You have Thursday against the LA Kings, 10 o'clock start time, and then finally Saturday against the San Jose Sharks, 10 o'clock start time. So all games, 10 p.m. start times or later this week has been made for me. I absolutely love it. But in terms of the actual games, you have a Sharks team that is still very much in the rebuild process. Alex Ndilkevich, my friend, I am so sorry for what happened during. that first game, just the tying goal and then the game winning goal, I don't know what he was doing there, but I'm sorry, man. That's very winnable game for the Penguins. I think the Ducks game is

also very winnable just because I don't think they're as good as some of the national media is hyping them up to me, even though I do like a lot of their young players, especially, you know, Jackson Lacombeam, Mason McTavish, I love Leo Carlson, but still, some people got up on the brakes. and the LA Kings, I think this is a bona fide playoff team this year, Copa Tars last year. So I think it's winnable, but the two more winnable ones are the ducks and the sharks. But this is a good opportunity for them to hit a little bit of a reset after that really bad loss to the Rangers. Yeah, you get to go out to the West Coast, enjoy the nice weather, do some team bonding, up and down California. It should be really good for them.

Can we talk about this though real quick? Well, actually, one thing before that, you're the sicko that like staying. up for it. I'm the sicko who likes to get up even earlier than I have to for my full time job and brew a nice cup of coffee, make some breakfast, pull up last night's game on my phone, and enjoy hockey that way, because that's enjoyable to me. But what I originally wanted to say, can we talk about how everybody obviously, understandably, was going after the sharks for the Nadelcovic mess ups? And I understand it. You have those not top 10 plays. They're so much more enjoyable.

But just out of the clear blue, Anaheim and San Jose might have put on the game of the year so far on Saturday, 7-6 overtime win for the ducks. And you know who maybe had the goal of the night? If you picked Ryan Reeves, come forward and get your prize because he scored a beauty for the sharks. He's on the sharks now, by the way. But yeah, to the point, to your point, you, look at this road trip. It's going to be good for some of the young players to learn what an NHL road trip is all about, especially a big one like this. You're not just taking the charter up to New York City or taking the train or whatever. You're flying across the country.

You've got to learn how to adjust your sleep schedule. You've got to learn how to adjust your workouts and how you practice, how you feed yourself, your nutrition, all of that, and then get ready for the game. And then you get all the team bonding stuff. You're going to have your dinners. You're going to have your day at the beach, whatever they do, which will be really good for them. And then you look at the three games on tap. Anaheim's a young scrappy team. They're not going to just lay down and give you a win. So you're going to have to go out and earn that one. LA, bona fide playoff team. Yeah, they had a weird off season, but still a very good team. In San Jose, they're a young team looking to make some headway. They're a young team looking to make some headway.

there's still a lot of talent there. I wouldn't call them good yet, but they have got good young players. And if there's one thing that's been surprising about the penguins' first three games, let's say first two and a third game because they kind of took the second and third off against the Rangers. But the penguins are playing a pretty energetic fast style hockey for the first time in a while. If there's one thing San Jose has, it's a lot of youth in speed. So we'll see how it matches up against an actual youthful fast team.

So this is not going to be an easy three games, but it's going to be a three games where we could learn a lot about this Penguins team. Right. And you know, when I said even during the first games, the first three games, excuse me, of the season where I felt like this was an opportunity for the Penguins to start out.

Well, they did. And I do think there's an opportunity here for the Penguins to continue that start just because I don't think, you know, two of these teams as it stands right now, our playoff teams. One of them obviously is in the LA Kings, but I still believe the Penguins can continue this good start on this road trip. But I will say for the Ducks, a Penguins killer is now on that team, Pat, Chris Kreider, who has 18 goals in 45 games against them in the regular season. So always got a wowch out for him. You know, they still have Lucas Dostole who, Pat, we know who he is

very much now after how good he's gotten to be in the NHL. The sharks, they're bad, but they're like the fun kind of bad. where you got to go out of your way to watch them a little bit more, especially for Macklin Celebrini, who I think has a legit chance to be on the Team Canada Olympic team this coming February. So I'm excited to watch him. And then for the Kings, I always want to see how Kopitar does. Like, this is his last season.

I grew up watching this guy. So it's going to be a fun road trip to watch in these games. And I also want to see how does Dan Musa adjust after losing his first game as a head coach in the manner that he did. That's something that I'm going to be monitoring. as well. Do you have anything else to add? You beat me to that and I just want to add on to it real quick. I know I said this last week.

It was sunshine and rainbows through two games. The young guys were looking good. The penguins were two and oh. Everyone was loving Dan Muses and still loving Dan Muses. I think he has done a fairly good job up to this point. But now the real test comes. You lost in pretty big fashion to a pretty big rival. How do you bounce back?

How do some of these young guys like Kindle and Brunich continue to look? How do they continue to look on the West Coast? What adjustments does Dan Mews make here? Who does he put in net? Who does he change up the lineups for? Like I said, it is a road trip that is going to give us a lot of answers about this Penguins team so far this year. 100% agree.

Again, got to watch out for Penguins killer Chris Kreider on Tuesday. It's going to be a lot of fun. going up against that young duck score, which, again, they have a lot of really good young pieces. And then the Kings, obviously, and then you got the sharks who also have some really good young pieces as well. But now do it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this one. Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Tuesday to preview this game a little bit more in-depth against the duck. So for Patrick Dam, I'm Hunter Hodes.

Thank you guys so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. We will be back on Tuesday.