Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins losing streak extended by Marc-Andre Fleury in his final game in Pittsburgh

Episode Date: October 30, 2024

The Penguins welcomed an old friend for one last game on Tuesday and he helped extend their losing streak to six games. Patrick and Hunter discuss the Penguins surrendering yet another lead, this time in 55 seconds, to Minnesota in what will likely be Marc-Andre Fleury's final game in Pittsburgh ahead of his retirement. They break down the game and what went wrong in those 55 seconds and why the Penguins were unable to recover. Then, they discuss how much of the problems come down to coaching or the players themselves. Finally, it's Wednesday, which means it's time for Patrick and Hunter to hand out their Warrior Helmet for the team's MVP of the week, even if it wasn't the best week. Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!PrizePicksDownload the app or go to https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. GametimeDownload the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDONNHL for $20 off your first purchase. Terms apply. Download Gametime today. What time is it? Gametime.FanDuelYou can start the season with a big return on FanDuel. New customers can place aFIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONEHUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS in BONUS BETS - if you win your first FIVE DOLLAR BET!Visit FANDUEL.COM to get started. 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.

The flower certainly didn't wilt in his return to Pittsburgh, but the Penguins blew yet another lead and their losing streak has reached six. Hunter and I are going to talk about that and more on this edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Your 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 edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Patrick Damp. You can follow me on Twitter at Synonym 4Wet, joined as always by the one and only my co-host Hunter Hodes. You can follow him on Twitter at Hunter Hodes.

You can follow our show's account at L.O. underscore Penguins. And of course, we appreciate you making this part of your daily routine because we're your team every day. And don't forget that we are free and available wherever you get your podcast as well as YouTube. And also, if you follow us on YouTube, don't forget to hit that notification button so you can get an alert every time we drop a brand new episode Monday through Friday as we do. And before we get started, today's episode is brought to you by Fandul. You can start the season with a big return on Fandul and new customers can place a $5 bet and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet.

Visit Fandul.com to get started. So another day, another loss, and another blown lead for the Pittsburgh Penguins as they drop the return of Mark Andre Fleury to PPG paints arena. What will be likely his last start in Pittsburgh as he's expected to retire at the end of this season. They drop that one, five to three. And once again, Hunter, a theme emerges from this losing streak. And that is the fact that the Pittsburgh Penguins are a. apparently physically incapable of holding on to a lead, just like they blew a lead in Vancouver in a minute and five seconds. In this one, they surrendered a two nothing lead in 55 seconds,

giving up goals very quickly to two of the Minnesota Wild players in the late in the second, or first period, excuse me. And it was looking like a very solid game for the penguins through most of the first period and really the rest of the game itself, save for a few moments here and there. But in 55 seconds, the penguins went from up to nothing to tied 2-2. And then early in the second period, they give up yet another goal to Frederick Goodrow. And it's 3 to 2 Minnesota. Then Matt Zuccarello adds on to it to make it 4 to 2. They get some life, thanks to Ricard Raquel in the third period, making it 4 to 3. with his second of the night, but the comeback would fall short as Kirill Kaprizov would hit an empty

net. And that would be all she wrote. And the Penguins losing streak has reached six games. So this has been about as much of a nightmare start to the season for the Pittsburgh Penguins. And Hunter, I know you've got a lot of thoughts on this one, as do I. So I'm going to seed the floor to you and let you empty the tank with whatever. you got, so to speak. Well, first off, it was a pleasure being at the arena for the first time last night and just seeing how the crowd reacted to Mark Andre Fleury every time he was on the Jumbotron every time he was making saves every time.

Just he did virtually anything, honestly. And after the game, it was nice seeing him get his flowers, no pun intended there. And the interview was really nice. And you could tell throughout the game he was really trying to keep his emotions in check. It felt like when they did the tribute. He was kind of crying in his mask a little bit. He was in tears after the game called His Time of the Penguins, the Best Years of His Life.

When he comes back here after he retires, he's going to get another one heck of an ovation. He's probably going to get one heck of innovation every time he returns to Pittsburgh after he stops playing. So just wanted to start out by saying it was a pleasure being at the arena. The crowd was fantastic all night long. But as for the Penguins, I feel like for the entire 60 minutes,

they weren't flat out bad. It's just that every time they get themselves into a little bit of trouble, they wilt. They just, they succumb to pressure. Yuel Blumquist gives up what I thought was his first really bad goal in a penguin's uniform. The penguins are up to nothing. It's getting a little bit late in the first period. You cannot give up that goal to that side from Jacob Locko. That's just bad angle.

You cannot give up that goal there. And then just a few seconds later, boom, game is tied to too, because this team can't defend to save their lives. Matt Grizzlick number 24, he's getting into unplayable territory if we're not there already, I think Pat. And I know we said over the offseason, him like a lot of players, he was signed as a reclamation project, one-year deal, best cases, he plays a bit better than you expect. You trade him at the deadline for a pick or prospect, something like that. But right now, I don't even know what team would trade for him considering the level that he's playing at.

And this is the reason why I would have preferred them to sign someone else during the office season, you know, someone like Oliver Schillington, just using him as an example, Brandstrom, of course. And I am not close to the biggest fan of P.O. Joseph, but I think P.O. Joseph would have given them better play on the left side this season compared to what Grizzlick is doing. That's just how bad Grizzlick has been this year. And again, that's why I was kind of, I guess, a little disappointed by the signing. because he wasn't good last year in Boston.

He didn't play that much. If this were two to three years ago, I would have been over the moon about it. But that signing coupled with a couple of other things they did, I think showed the fans that, yeah, they're not really serious about contending this year and that they're trying to just sign these guys, get their game back to where it used to be at least a little bit,

and then flip them. But for someone like Grizzlik right now, I don't even think he's going to get up traffic at the deadline unless something really drastically changes. But the biggest thing, yet again, it's the team's inability to sustain momentum, their inability to defend. On this six-game losing streak, they have had three multi-gole leads, the one against Winnipeg, the one against Vancouver,

the one against Minnesota, they wilted them all the way in a matter of seconds to a couple of minutes. It's not good enough. When something bad happens, you have to take the momentum back, and they're unable to do it every single time. They're soft in that regard. And that's on the players. And it's especially on the coaches.

We all know that Mike Sullivan has reached his expiration date here in Pittsburgh. I said over the off season, I would have fired him. They didn't want to listen. But it's on all of them right now. The players aren't executing his system. And he also won't adapt. So this is what you get. And based on what we've seen for the first 11 games,

it feels like it might only get worse before. like it's better. Right. And I'm going to have a little bit, I don't want to, I don't know if I would call it a rant, but I'll have a little bit more on Mike Sullivan later in the show because there is something that I have to get off of my chest about coaching and in this roster overall. But I'm going to need a little bit more time to get that out. But to your point about momentum, I know a lot of people don't like to believe in momentum. They don't think it's a thing. They, you know, they throw that out the window. But at the very least, in those moments, whether it's you give up a goal and it becomes two to one or you give up another goal and they tie it.

In that moment, you don't even have to really take the momentum back. You just have to play the game back to even. And for some reason, they lack the ability to do that because you watch against Vancouver, against Minnesota last night. They just, I don't want to say stop playing because that's not an accurate assessment. But they just don't do they stop doing the little things. You don't have to go right back into attack mode. You don't have to suddenly come out guns blazing after that happens.

But at the very least, simplify your game, put some shots on net, whether it's looking for a rebound or at the very least, make the other goalie cover it. So you get a face off. You slow the play down. Put the puck in deep and just make them regroup. Do things that take. take away that momentum. You don't have to go out and snatch it back.

You just have to get back to even, and they can't even do that. So that is a huge issue. As for Yowell Blumquist, yeah, I will give him a pass on the first goal because, yes, it was a bad angle. And the reason I will give him a pass is because he's a 22-year-old rookie goaltender. And there will be growing pains with a 22-year-old rookie goaltender. There will be moments where he lets in a soft one or he makes a mistake and you go, okay, he's 22, he's starting his NHL career. This is part of the development process.

But when you're pushing 30 and you're making $5 million a year like, say, Tristan Jari or you're in the same age bracket and making $2.5 million like Alex Nadelcovic, you need to make those saves. So I can give him the slightest of passes on that given where he is developmentally. And lastly, the team defense. And this is going to be part of what I'm going to say in the second segment. But a lot of this to me, and this is just a bit of a preview, is on the players. You look at Matt Zuccarello's goal. And Anthony Bavillier does a really good job of checking him throughout the offensive or the defensive zone for the Penguins' offensive zone for Matt Zugarello. And then for whatever reason, as soon as Zuccarello gets to the front of the net, Anthony Bavillier's controller disc,

connects and he just lets him go. Now, on the flip side of that, blame does lie with Chris LaTang for a very, very poor clearing attempt ahead of the goal, but that is hockey 101. You don't let your man go until you know you're going to exit the zone. And this wasn't Chris LaTang skating the puck up with possession. And Bavillier goes, oh, okay, okay, Le Tang's got it. I should join the rush and get us out of this zone on the breakout. He's trying to try. trying to clear the puck. So there is, even if it's a better clearing attempt, there's still a chance Minnesota gets possession out of that. So you can't let your man go. And he just did. And yeah, incredible pass from Caprizov. You know, for our,

for our boy Seth, start building that statue because that was unbelievable. But at the end of the day, incredible pass or not, if he's in the lane with his stick down, if he's tying him up, that pass doesn't get through, but he doesn't do any of that. And it leaves that lane open and gives him that look. And it was just a poor, poor defensive effort on Anthony Bavilliers part. So that was just incredibly discouraging. But we're going to keep this discussion rolling in the second segment. We're going to have some more to talk about what this team can do to change this up,

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Prize picks run your game. All right, welcome back to the Wednesday edition of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I'm Patrick Damp, joined as always by the one and only Hunter Hodes. and we've got a lot of meat left on the bone to talk about that 5-3 loss to the Minnesota Wild last night for the Pittsburgh Penguins, taking their losing streak to six games. And Hunter, the way I look at last night's game is this. The Penguins, we know, were not going into this year as contenders. We said it to Jesse Marshall on Monday.

We didn't start this season with dreams of a silver chalice at the end of it. We weren't planning the parade down the boulevard of the Allies to point state park. We knew this was going to be a struggle of a year. We knew it was going to be another year where maybe they make the playoffs, maybe they just miss. But last night was a microcosm of everything that's gone wrong with this team. A blown lead, an inability to defend, and a continued ability, inability, excuse me, to beat a playoff team. So realistically in your mind, what has to change? Well, I mean, I feel like it's the same thing we've been talking about, right?

I mean, they're getting the depth scoring. Evgeny Malkin had another really good game last night. Sidney Crosby woke up out of his slumber, a three assist night. And his line with Evgeny Malkin, Rickel, they were cooking all night long. I said this on Twitter. I know a lot of people aren't looking for positives right now, and I totally understand why. But that was, I feel like, the best game I've seen Crosby play since the Buffalo game. He was engaged all night long.

He was for checking hard, setting up quality chances, getting good quality chances of his own. He more than woke up for that game. He had the three points to show for it. And they're going to need more of that level from Crosby if they do want to get themselves out of this big rut that they've dug themselves in. And I think, again, the defensive issues, we keep bringing it up. but until they actually start playing committed team defense, that has to change. This team also needs to be a lot better at when they get a lead, simplifying their game.

Stop playing so open. You can still play a little bit open, but tone down the aggressiveness a little bit, so you're not leading wide open areas of the ice undefended and just giving up high danger chances. I felt like overall, when you look at the five on five numbers, Minnesota only had nine high danger chances, none in the third period. Again, that is some progress for the Penguins, considering they gave up 24 to the Oilers the other night. But it's still not good enough and not where it needs to be. You blew that lead in less than a minute, just like basically what you did against Vancouver.

You can't wilt when you get a lead and when the smallest thing goes wrong. And you made a really good point about Anthony Bavillier there, because you're right. He was following Zuccarello pretty well throughout the defensive zone, but then as soon as Caprice off fires that insane pass, just stands there. I'm like, put your stick in the lane. What are you doing? And I know I blamed Mike Sullivan for quite a bit recently.

I will continue doing that just because he's passed his expiration date. I don't think Mike Sullivan is telling Anthony Bavillia to just stop like that in the defensive zone. And the same thing also for the delay of game penalty, for example, in the third period. I don't think he's telling his player. oh yeah, clear it over the boards. Like that's just, that's not the case here. So again, I am more than down to blame coaching.

I have been more than I know, not as much I think as some other people have. I try to be level-headed with it. But I definitely have been blaming coaching for a lot of these problems. But I'm also putting some on the players too where it's like, okay, put your stick in the passing lane. Don't clear the puck obviously over the boards. Just stop making stupid mistakes. I don't think Sullivan is telling these players to do. stupid mistakes like that. But I do think at the end of the line, these issues, just going back,

I think, to last season, even maybe the season before, if you want to argue that, I feel like it's going to be his downfall here in Pittsburgh. And, you know, whether or not they fire him this year or the offseason or whenever it happens, it's going to be too late. But again, right now, it's on both the coaches and it's on the players. I really do feel that's way. This is how, you can tell Hunter and I have done a couple hundred of these episodes together because, brother, you just teed me up perfectly for what I said I was going to talk about with coaching. And this is how I want to start this. I don't want this to come off as a blind defense of Mike Sullivan because it's not that.

I don't have any loyalty to Mike Sullivan. I know I've said I think he's a great coach. I still believe he's a great coach. I don't think Team USA hired him because he's a good guy. They hired him because he's a very good coach. and I also don't care if they hold on to him, if they fire him, it is no water off of my back. I truly don't care. But I was thinking of this last night, watching some of those defensive efforts.

And I coupled it with our conversation from Marshall Monday about how you look at the way these guys are fixating on the puck in the defensive zone. They're playing the same system they have played for at least the last seven years. This is not a brand new system. I agree they should change it. He absolutely should change it because it's not working. And if you continue to do the same thing over and over again, it continues to not work, then I think we've identified the issue.

But with that said, I looked this up last night. I confirmed it today just to make sure I wasn't looking something up and getting it wrong out of frustration. 22 skaters have suited up for the Pittsburgh Penguins so far this season. 16 of them have been here for at least a year. meaning they were on the team last year or years prior. The penguins have not changed their defensive zone system. It is still a puck side overload.

And as Jesse explained to us, it's not a complex system. Three guys, pressure the puck side. If the puck gets reversed, you just switch those rolls over. Center continues to pressure, wing and defenseman pressure, and a defenseman in a winger cover the slot. This is not pee-wee hockey. These guys have played this before. And like I said,

16 of these skaters who have played this year have played this system specifically with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Again, I still think Mike Sullivan should change the system because it's clearly not working. But again, this is not pee-wee hockey. These guys know this system. They have played this system either with the Pittsburgh Penguins or with other teams along their hockey journey.

Yes, I am frustrated with the coaching. You are clearly frustrated with the coaching. I know our listeners are frustrated with the coaching. But a coach can only do so much. And yes, he's got his flaws. He's got his shortcomings and they all should be talked about right now. But at some point, the players have to play. And again, this is not a new system.

It's not an overly complex system. They didn't overhaul it in the off season. There is familiarity with this system. And when you watch the failings that they have of it, at first, in the beginning part of this season, I looked at it and thought, oh, man, they're just not a fast team anymore. They can't do this anymore.

Watching this losing streak, it's just not doing their jobs. They're puck chasing. They're not getting to spots. They're making poor passes and poor clearing. attempts and it's not as if these guys just forgot how to play hockey. So while I'm frustrated with Sullivan, I'm frustrated with the system, and Onus eventually has to be put upon the players because this is not new.

This is not something that came out of the blue. And when you have a majority of your skaters, having played this system for at least a year, eventually some blame has to be put on them. See, no, I agree with you in part. A lot of these players are making dumb decisions, like, again, Anthony Bavillia just stopping watching that Capriess off pass. You have the delay game penalty. You have really ill-advised pinches being way too aggressive. Yes, the on that is on the players.

But again, it is well past time for this head coach to adjust to the personnel that he has. And if he's unable to do that or he doesn't want to do that, then you can show him the door and you can bring in someone else that will get these players to play a lot more better, especially in their own zone. I don't think David Quinn is going to do that. And if they do fire Mike Sullivan and they promote David Quinn to interim head coach, I feel like their defensive issues are going to get worse, considering Quinn's work in San Jose and New York, those teams were not that good defensively. If you want to put Volucci in charge, okay, you might improve a bit more defensively,

but it's still not going to be that much. You'd have to wait until the offseason to hire someone full time. If you wanted to bring in someone during his season, this might be a hot take to some, maybe not. Jay Woodcroft is on the top of my list. He's been on the top of my list going back to last offseason where he was available. And I even said if the Penguins wanted to make a change, he would be someone that I would go after right away if I were the Penguins. And I think they wouldn't do it now just because they're not contending. I think they would maybe wait until after the season.

But again, just going back to your overall point, I agree in part. because the players do have to play, and a lot of these guys have to be so much better and stop making stupid plays on the ice. They have to stop wilting under pressure. But at the same time, this head coach needs to be so, and I mean so much better.

It is past time for him to look himself in the mirror and be like, am I really going to go down with this ship and not do anything about it? Or am I going to at least try to make some tweaks so that this season doesn't go completely down the drain where the penguins are the worst team of the league. Because right now, look at the standings, Pat.

They're only ahead of one team in the standings right now. It's that bad. If you're not willing to make some adjustments and help out your players, they can show him in the door. Yeah, and like I said, I don't want that to come off as some defense of Mike Sullivan and saying, no, no, stop criticizing him. He's not at fault. He absolutely is.

Yeah. It's just when you look at the totality of the players who are still here and who are here for at least a year and then not changing the system, eventually you do have to look at the players and say what is going on. And maybe part of that is just the message ain't working anymore. But at the same time, when it seemed to work somewhere between extremely well and good enough for the last half plus decade, I eventually got to look at the players. So that's really where I stand on it again. not a defense of Sullivan. I'm not saying he's not at fault. He's got his shortcomings and his issues. And we're going to continue to talk about them so long as these struggles continue with the team. But that's enough of that. We do have to do our usual Wednesday tradition. And that is hand out our warrior helmet because it is in fact Wednesday.

And Hunter and I will do that when we return right after this. And now we're going to tell you about our last sponsor. and that is Fandle. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Fandle, America's number one sportsbook, because right now new customers can bet $5 and get $150 in bonus bets if you win. The Fandul Sportsbook app gives you everything you need to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, when you're sitting down on Sunday and watching all the NFL action,

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It's Wednesday, which means we're giving out our warrior helmet and just because I have to, just so everybody knows because I know we've gotten some new listeners over the past few weeks. This is a nod to the 2016 Stanley Cup winning penguins where during that season they would give their locker room team MVP a warrior helmet to name them the player at the game. So on Wednesday, we take a look back at the week that was, if it's a good week, if it's a bad week, it doesn't matter. We still hand out our team MVP of the week with our warrior helmet for warrior helmet Wednesday. So Hunter, I'll let you kick it off. Who is getting your warrior helmet this Wednesday? Well, I understand there's not many positives around this team right now, but I have to give mine to Ricard Raquel with the level that he's playing at to start this season.

He was tremendous on Tuesday night. That release that he had for one of his goals, just peak Ricardo Rakelke, the way that he was able to fire that pass, Mark Andre Fleury. He goes to the net for his second goal. So far to start this season, he has six goals, eight points, and 11 games.

He only had 15 goals in 37 points and 70 games last year. He's at almost a point per game to start this season, even though the penguins are off to a dreadful start. This is the Ricard Raquel. that we saw a couple of seasons ago, 22, 23, especially when he had 28 goals, 60 points, and 82 games for the Penguins. He is on pace to put up those type of numbers with this team if he stays healthy. He's getting back to basics. He's fully healthy.

He's using his release to his advantage, which is one of the best releases I feel like on this team right with Valteri Pustin as well. And Pustin, also shout out to him the way that he was able to be so patient with his goal last night. fire that puck, excuse me, past Mark Andre Fleury, was awesome. Really one of my favorite games, I think, of Pustin's tenure with the Penguins. But Raquel, the way that he's played this last week, easy choice for me to give him the warrior helmet. I could have gone Yoel Blumquist with the way he's playing, especially in Edmonton. I felt like even last night outside of that first goal, he was giving the Penguins a chance

to win. He's given the Penguins a chance to win in a lot of these games. He just hasn't gotten the help, I think, especially defensively. but I'm going Raquel this past week. I know I made a couple of comments this past off season saying, well, you know, the Penguins can look to trade in, that contract is just not that good. He's coming off a rough year. Well, at least on this episode,

I want to offer an apology to Ricard Raquel and to the people that came into the YouTube comments, DM me saying, Hunter, I think he might be a bit wrong on this. I think he's going to have a really good year next year. And again, I apologize to Raquel and to those people. I am looking like a complete fool right now. I mean, I did say heading into the season that there was a chance that he was going to bounce back. I just wasn't sure how confident I was going to be.

But so far in at least 11 games, he has been fantastic. And I love seeing him play at the level that he played at two years ago. That is one of the biggest positives of this team right now. That's a great pick. And to keep everybody on their toes, I am going to make the same pick. That is who I'm going with. I think it's been a very solid return so far this week. Granted, this was not the best week.

They're in the midst of a six-game losing streak, and there's not a ton of positive to take out. Like you, I was back and forth between Ricard Raquel and Yoel Blumquist. When you have a game where you face 50 shots and only give up four goals, that is a pretty damn good effort. So he definitely is a runner-up for me. But overall, just watching Ricard Raquel's game this year, I think it really solidifies how hurt he was last season.

I think that early shoulder injury really took it out of him, didn't get a chance to really get into the mix, didn't have a great return, probably wasn't 100% when he returned. Couple that with just being unable to produce at the level he's known to produce for. It just snowballed on him and it was not a great season. This year, complete 180 so far through 11. games. He's just played very well. He's got six goals and 11 games, leads the team,

eight points as well with two assists. It's just been a very great start to the year for him in a season where so far there is not a lot of positive to glean. So very big week for him. And putting him up on the top line, it makes sense with the way he's producing and the way he's playing. He should probably be stapled to that top line until they absolutely have to rip him off it. So Great start for him. So two of the three weeks to start the season with Warrior Helmut Wednesday, we've got two unanimous picks of Gennie Malkin in week one, Ricard Raquel this week.

But that is going to do it for the Wednesday edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Hunter and I will be back with a new episode for you tomorrow. We'll get you ready for the Ducks game when they come to town for a Halloween night matchup. I will be in attendance. So if you see me, say what's up. and we'll talk about how frustrating this team has been so far, because God knows I got plenty of ransom raves in me. But anyway, that'll do it for this edition.

Hunter and I will be back again tomorrow. But for now, For Hunter Hodes, I'm Patrick Damp. Thank you, as always for tuning in, and we will be back on Thursday.