Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Penguins once again unable to hold onto multi-goal lead

Episode Date: November 6, 2024

The Pittsburgh Penguins, for the fifth time this season, surrendered a multi-goal lead in a shootout loss against the New York Islanders, and Hunter and Patrick aren't happy. They start the show by slamming the Penguins for not defending another third-period lead and ponder if there is anything that can be done to fix this issue. They look at when the game turned and how Drew O'Connor cannot take that penalty after Michael Bunting got them a 3-1 lead. After that, they dive into some more mistakes with the power play in OT before looking at some individual performances that stood out. Finally, they end the show with Warrior Helmet Wednesday and everyone probably knows who they are giving the helmet to.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 a FIVE DOLLAR bet and you’ll get started with ONE HUNDRED 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 Penguins blew yet another two-goal lead against the New York Islanders on Tuesday night, and Pat and I are going to break down that loss for you all 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'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes. You can follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-host Patrick Damp. You can follow him on Twitter at Cendin Frouette,

and you can follow the show's account on Twitter at L.O. Understore 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, this episode is brought to you by Fandall. You can start the season with a big return on Fandall. 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. And yes, everyone, I still very much have a raspy voice.

And I'm hoping that this is going to get better in the next couple of days. So, Pat, to start on today's show, are you familiar with the song, Won't Get Fooled again by The Who? I'm sure you are. I'm sure everyone that listens to this show knows that song. If you don't, you're probably living under a rock, to be honest. But, hey, I may, I'm, you may give me grief for being a Swifty or enjoying whatever music I enjoy.

But that's one place where our music tastes converge. who one of my favorite bands. See them three times. And there's a lyric in that song that very much applies to this game and a lot of games in these last three seasons. So meet the new boss, same as the old boss. And that's exactly what we have here

with the Penguins blowing yet. Another two goal lead this season, this continues to be a massive problem for this team for a third season in a row at this point. And it's unacceptable, it's pathetic. I was really ready to come on here for today's episode and saying a lot of praises. I felt like those first 45 to 50 minutes were some of the best consistent hockey I've seen this team play this season.

They were defending really well in their own zone. They weren't making careless decisions, excuse me, with the puck. They were getting good offensive zone time. They were getting puck's past Ilya Seroquan. And then that all evaporated in the final 10 minutes, starting with that really foolish penalty by Drew O'Connor. I thought O'Connor played a really strong game up until that point, but you can't give the referees any reason to call a penalty on you in that situation, especially after Michael Bunting just got a big goal.

You're up three to one. You have half a period left. All you got to do is play mistake-free hockey, and you're going to walk out of there with two points. The Islanders weren't doing anything in the offensive zone. They were just flat out awful with chances. Again, and that's been the theme for them throughout the season. they haven't been able to finish chances.

They're one of the worst finishing teams in the league. But then you give them that power play. They make it 3-2. And then a few minutes later, this team wilts once again, game is tied 3-3. They go into overtime. They have a chance to win there in the power play, aren't able to do it.

And then they lose in a shootout. And I'm not going to overreact to a shootout loss just because shootouts are so random. I could go on for days about how Chris LaTang doesn't want to change up his shootout move or why Sid doesn't want to deek. It's whatever. They're going to keep doing the same thing. just because I think at this point people, they hate shootouts.

But the fact of the matter is, Pat, blowing leads like this, it's inexcusable. It needs to stop. Yeah. And it's like you said, for 50-ish minutes last night, they were head and shoulders, the better team. They, yeah, the Islanders had a couple chances here and there, but that's what you expect out of an NHO game. Your opponent eventually is going to get a look or two. but they really played some very efficient hockey against the islanders through two periods. And even when they cut the score or when they tied it up in the second period,

the penguins didn't falter. They just kept going about their business. If Gennie Malkin gets a great goal on the power play. And then about eight minutes into the third, Michael Bunting gets a massive goal for him because he's really needed that to get on the score sheet. We'll see if that turns into anything. But then it's the same thing that we have seen throughout the rest of the year is that they gave up a huge goal to Holmstrom after that penalty. And to your point about DOC, he can't take that penalty. I know that him and Dobson

have been battling all night. And that was great theater to watch. They were jocelyn all night. And I thought that was up to that point, Drew O'Connor's best game of the season. But he takes that penalty. The Islanders make them pay. And just a few minutes later, they tie the game. And it's what we have seen from them. When the times get tough, they just seem to wilt. And listen, I know you're going to touch on this.

And I know a lot of people have touched on this. I, again, don't want this to come off as me saying, don't blame Mike Sullivan. He has to wear this. but at the same time, they are not pee-wee hockey players. They have been doing this for the better part of their lives. And many of them have won Stanley Cup championships or gone deep in the playoffs. This is inexcusable from a player standpoint. They have to know that when you give up a goal, and they did it early,

they gave up a goal, they went right back to work, took the lead back. And last night, times get tough, and they all started puck chasing, They fell apart in the defensive zone. They went away from everything that was working for them and just completely abandoned it. And look what happened. No, you're right. I mean, they were just, again,

running around on the ice like headless chickens after the Islanders made it three, two. And then same thing after it was tied. I mean, they tried to get a couple more chances late in the third period, but it was hard because the Islanders got a power play to end the third period. And if they had scored there, I mean, the Penguins would have walked out of this game with no points. instead of one when, I mean, they probably should have walked out with two if they knew how to

defend a lead. But you look at the way they've been defending leads for the better part of these last three seasons, but just looking at this season, they've held a two goal lead in five of their last eight games. They've lost four of those games. That's pathetic. It's on the players and it's on the coaches. I remember a time. Yeah, like I said, like I said, just to just to add real quick, because I know we'll get the comments. I'm not absolving Mike Sullivan of this loss. I'm just saying that there has to be at some point a discussion of the players wearing this because coaches can only do so much. And maybe this means the message is stale. I think it probably is, but they are not children. They are not little kids learning the game anymore. This is something

that they should know how to do. And the fact that they have been doing this is just inexcusable. No, I agree. But I do think the message is probably gone stale because I remember a time when the penguins, they were automatic in the third period with a, one or two goal lead when Mike Sullivan first came to town as Penguins head coach. I mean, 2016, 2017, heck, even 2018, 2019, this team was very good at defending leads in the third period. But these last two to three seasons, it has gone completely out the window. According to J. Fresh hockey, you want to look at another stat here. Five, two goal leads in 14 games this season after squandering 12 of those last season, 11 this season prior.

We're only 14 games in. they've already blown five, two goal leads this season. It's A, the message is going stale. Mike Sullivan is clearly not getting through to these players, I think. And B, the players just don't know what they're doing when they go up to. They think, oh, we can just coast to victory. We can kind of just do whatever we want in the defensive zone. No, you still need to keep playing.

When you have a team pinned down like that on the mat, you don't want to give them a chance to breathe again. And that's exactly what the penguins did against an Islander's team that can't score for crown i mean they were without adam pelic anthony du clair matt barzel romanov was not playing you cannot allow a team like that which is already struggling to score as it is to score two goals in the final 10 minutes it's not good enough it's not and the i know that this is going to be contradictory to what we have said about this team and the way we've analyzed this team with them essentially being a team that's not looking to contend right now but there does have to be

a little bit of an onus onus on side of your big names who are doing their jobs for the most part. I would say Sidney Crosby, Fgeny Malkin definitely Eric Carlson in spurts, Chris LaTang in spurts. I would say Chris LaTang not really to start this season. And I hate saying that, Pat, because he's been my dude for a very long time. I have defended him from a lot of very weird fans bashing him for no reason. But he has been bad this year and it sucks seeing his game right away. I'm with you on that, but the point I'm making is this. And a lot of it falls, an onus falls on Kyle Duvus,

because even though this is not a team that has Stanley Cup dreams, and I get that, that's not how this team was built. They don't have outside of the big guns any killers. And they sort of did at the end of last year when we had that Michael Bunting bump, but up until last night, he's been invisible. They don't really have anybody right now. At least nobody has stepped up to this point to shake this team out of its slumber. because if you remember, especially in those cup winning years or a few years that followed,

they had guys who would shake this team out of a slumber or when they would go up on a team, they would keep the pedal to the medal. You look at this team this year and they just take a break when they go up. They just think, okay, like you said, it's in the bag, we're good, it's over, game over. Let's take our two points and leave. And then they blow it. it was the same thing last year too. So many blown third period leads where they would just be like,

oh, okay, we're just going to take the rest of this period off. They're not going to come back. It's like, no, teams will play until the final whistle. You saw that last night with the Islanders. You've seen that countless times. This loss really reminded me of that flames loss last year, where the Penguins, they took that two-go lead with about half a period to go, and then they just kind of sublocked.

And then they lost that game in regulation, even though they were playing really well for those 50 minutes. Again, I was ready to come on here and really praise this team for this win with the way they were playing through 50 minutes. I felt like in terms of an overall first 50 minutes, that was the best 50 minutes they played as a team all year. And then they just wilt when the pressure comes back. So this has got to change. I just don't think it's going to, though. Well, I guess we're going to have to talk about that in the second segment because at this point,

you still have a quarter of a season to, or three quarters of a season to play. And I don't see that, and we'll get into it, but I don't see this lasting this way all season because I just can't tell myself that this team is truly this bad. I mean, I hope not. I mean, at some point, though, they need to learn how to defend a third period lead, especially when you're up to and you have a team pinned down to the map. But I think that'll do it for this first segment coming up in the second segment. We're going to discuss more of what this loss can mean for the rest of this.

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your first $5 lineup. One more time down the app today and use code Locked on NHL to get $50 instantly after you play your first $5 lineup. All right. We're back here in this episode of The Lockedown. on Penguins podcast. I'm one of your host, Hunter Hodes, joined by my co-s, Patrick Dam. So Pat, I'll kind of just leave with this question here. Is this going to be able to be fixed during the season? Because right now, I see no evidence of it. We saw the same issues

with defending a third period lead last year. They've carried over into this year. You saw the season before that. I really think it's just kind of systematic at this point. I think it's player wise, no one knows what they're doing when they're defending a lead. And you said it. It's on the players. It's on the coaches. But I just really don't see a way that this changes right now. See, I'm thinking about it this way, right?

And we talked about this, I think last week with Jesse about just coaches in general, about how it's not just a Mike Sullivan thing. coaches across all sports are, for the most part, extremely resistant to change, especially big change. They may make tweaks here and there, but for the most part, the meat and potatoes of their systems are going to stay the same. But at this point, that has to be the next button to push for Mike Sullivan is you have seen this team can't defend, at least not in the way you're asking them to defend. There has to be some sort of change in the defensive zone. And I have been harping on this all season long. They have switched up their offensive attack.

And it showed last night. What they did last night was they possessed the puck down low and tried to work it to the middle as best they could. And it for 50 minutes showed some success. and if they aren't willing to, if he isn't willing to make a change to that defensive zone coverage, this is just going to continue because if you continue to watch it, there have been infrequent moments this season where they get it right. And you saw it for a long period last night. You saw it during this little, that little two game win streak that they had. They were running it correctly.

They were rotating when they had to rotate. people were getting to their spots, they were covering the right players, but they for some reason cannot play it for a full 60 minutes, which tells me they are incapable of playing it. So at some point, you have to make this change because it's not going to matter if Yowell Blumquist stays up and turns into an all-star, or if Tristan Jari comes back next week and is magically fixed, or if Alex Nadelcovic just takes the reins, they are going to be absolutely on an island because the defense in front of them is going to leave them out to dry. So their struggles won't really matter because the team's defense struggles superseded.

So I am of the mindset that I think Sullivan's going to last the season just because this isn't a contending team. The big guns like him. And we can kind of tell what Kyle Dubus's mentality is, especially overall of a, if you guys look like you have a chance, I'm going to help you. If you don't, I'm going to continue this rebuild, retool on the fly. And if this team finds itself in a similar position or worse at the end of this season, he might pull the trigger and say, okay, I've done everything else with the roster.

It's time for the coach to go. Right. And I do think at least so far, I don't think Kyle Dubas has seen anything to make him be like, yeah, you deserve any help because they don't right now. No. I think he's kind of being proved right that, oh, yeah, I'm glad I kind of started this retool slash rebuild on the fly, and I'm going to try to get more assets at the trade deadline.

And honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he started doing it a bit earlier than he did last year, considering that last year, remember, he was kind of all in on one more playoff berth for this team. But this year, he's kind of the mentality like, okay, if they make the playoffs, that's good. No one's believing in us. But we know deep down that this is not a playoff team heading into this year. And there was something from 32 thoughts last week that I was listening to. and Elliot Freeman was discussing how Penguin players were kind of upset at the Penguins management last year for some of the moves they made. But he even said, Kyle Dubus has been proven right with that because the players haven't showed him that he was wrong.

And the same thing is being showed this year, at least to start the year, about a month into the season as well. One more negative thing I want to get into before we touch on some positive performances from this game. And that is the power play in overtime. I felt like in regulation, the power play was more crisp. I felt, especially on the power play goal that of getting Malkin had, the movement was really nice. I love seeing a good old-fashioned Gino bomb from the circle. But in overtime, you saw last year's power play really creep into this year's power play. You have a full two minutes, four on three.

You have all that world-class talent out there. The Islander's penalty kill is not very good. But you're kind of just playing patty cake, passing the puck back and forth. They only had one quality chance. and was a Malkin pass to Crosby for a deflection that really nice saved by Sorokin, by the way, but that's your only chance with two minutes of a four on three. Come on, man. You got to be in that game.

You need that killer instinct and they have not had it these last couple of seasons. Yeah, the thing that struck me about the overtime power play was they got halfway there. They did the right thing in the sense that they backed up. the Islanders' penalty kill to get themselves looks. They just never took that next step except for the one deflection, where once you back them up, you've opened up more ice for your shooters and they just never got them to them or at the very least didn't get them into a position to where they could shoot. So the improvements we have seen on this team early on in three on three overtime now has to

become an improvement on four on three power plays in overtime should they get them, because that really should at this point be automatic, but it just isn't. Because like you said, that killer instinct wasn't there. They did half of the right things, but didn't finish the job. And I will say this, outside of Holmstrom's goal, which was a little bit weird, the P.K was good last night. They did the things they needed to do, especially in three on three when they were down four on three.

And a huge shout out to Noelle Achari, who has been. just fantastic on the PK the last few games. And he's continued his solid play over the past few games. That was just a better move by Homestrom. There's really not much anyone could do there. The penalty killers are doing their job. Delkevich was doing his job, excuse me. That's just a really nice move and an even better backhand.

I mean, again, there's really nothing and nothing you can do about that. And I'm glad that you brought up a chari because he really was fantastic in that game. Shop blocking menace. he was using his physicalness to really throw some nice hits. Was he probably offside on that Crosby goal? Yes. I saw the replay. But you know what?

I'll take that call. What I said on Twitter was, if you need that long to make a call, just have the goal stand. That's what happened. But I understand at least why I owners fans were a bit upset because it did look like he was legitimately offside there. It's also common sense.

I mean, yeah, like letter of the law. literal, quite literal interpretation. He's off sides, but he's not affecting the play. He's going to the bench. He had one foot in and one foot out. Like, is by letter of the law that offsides? Yeah. But at the same time, he's not affecting the play in any way, shape, or form.

So whatever. A few more positives to go over before we get to Warrior Helmet Wednesday. Cindy Crosby, another great game gets another goal. Great backhand. Still has the best backhand in hockey. Hvgeny Malkin gets the Gino bomb. He was fantastic. get again. And shout out to Michael Bunting. He finally gets on the score sheet. Really nice shot

past Ilius Sorokin. But you know what, Pat, an even better pass from Yassie Pooley-R-V. The way that he knew, bunting was right there, the vision that he had to get that pass off. Awesome stuff. And I'll keep saying it on the show, he is one of your 12 best forwards. I don't care how many forwards you have. He has to be in the lineup on a nightly basis. You saw why with that play. Great play from him once again. Oh, it was beautiful. I don't have a whole heck of a lot more to add on that. It was a very slick pass. And like you said, that's the kind of play you want to see from him.

And he's been consistently making them for most of the season. So at this point with the way this season has gone so far, what is the harm of keeping him in the lineup? Yep, I agree on that. And I think with that, we're going to end the second segment of today's episode. And coming up in the final segment, you all know it. It's Wednesday. That means Pat and I are going to give out our Warriors. helmet for this past week. And I think everyone that's tuning in knows who are probably going to

give our helmet to considering the level that he's played at this past week. But before we get to that, we got to tell you all about our last sponsor. And that is Fandall. Get ready to tackle the NFL action with Vandall. That's America's number one sportsbook. Because right now, new customers can bet $5 and get $150 and bonus bets if you win. The Fandall Sportsbook app gives you everything you to place live bets on the NFL all in one place. So when you get a hunch in the middle of the game, you can check out the latest stats, view line, play-by-play,

and so much more on the same page where you place your bets. Just visit fandle.com to join today, and you'll get started with $150 in bonus bets if you win your first $5 bet. That's fandle.com. All right here in this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast, I'm one of your host, Hunters, Hodes.

Join by my co-host Patrick Damp. So, Pat, I think we know, who we're giving our helmet to. For me, it's Cindy Crosby and really no one else. I mean, the level that he's played at this past week has been nothing short of superb. He has five goals in his last three games. He was great against the Ducks,

was the biggest reason why they won that game. He was great against the Canadians, one of the biggest reasons why they won that game. And against the Islanders, he showed everyone once again that he has still the best backhand in the NHL, and he was all over the ice once again. He has tormented the Islanders and their fans throughout his career.

And even though the Penguins lost that, game. That was still very much the case in that one against the Islanders. But Sid is all the way back. Yes, he had a slow start. Yes, it was a bit unfortunate and maybe a little bit annoying. But again, sometimes it takes him a little bit longer to get out of a rut considering that he is, hey, 37 right now. But it's Crosby for me. Pat, I think I can say the same for you. You can. I mean, this has just been a tremendous week for Sidney Crosby. He has really gotten himself back to the level we're so used to seeing with him. He's up to 15 points in 14 games. So the point per game streak is looking okay right now. So we might be able to see that history

at the end of the season. But yeah, I mean, overall, you really can't give it to anybody else. One other person I could maybe make a case for. But again, it's so unanimously that it's going to be Sidney Crosby. I could give it to Ned. I think he's had a good few games here. I thought he was very solid last night. I can't really pin any of the goals on him. They were either good moves or bad bounces and then shootouts are a coin flip crap shoot. So I'm not going to hold anything against him for that.

So I mean, overall, it's got to be Sid, but I also did like Alex Nadalcovic's game this week. I thought he was very steady. He did what he needed to do a couple or three really good games, backstop and the Penguins. But like we said, end of the day, no mystery here. it's Sidney Crosby. Absolutely.

And if you wanted to make another case for a player outside of Nadelcovich, and I would agree I would have him up there too. But also, Eric Carlson, I feel like had a really nice last week for the Penguins. He's been really solid in all three zones. He's been great offensively. I'm starting to really like him even more on the half wall and the power play. He's really starting to fit in there a bit more. But he's also playing a bit better defensively in his own zone too.

Again, he was never going to win it this week. but if Crosby didn't have the week that he just had, I felt like he definitely would have been at least more in consideration, but I still probably would have given it to Nadelcovich with the way he's played, but I feel like Carlson still had a really nice last week for the Penguins as a whole. Yeah, absolutely. And I mean, it's easy to kind of despair a little bit after last night's game. I get it.

The trends are still there. But we have seen some positive signs over the past week that this team might be able to figure some things out and a lot of it is on the backs of their most influential players. So while there is still a lot of frustration, this team has a long way to go. I am seeing some signs overall that this team might be able to figure it out. But until they do, I'm still skeptical. But at the end of the day, when you're getting the performances that you're getting from the players, you need to perform that at the very least can give you some momentum going into what's

going to be one hard week here. Right. I mean, I think for me, I like what I'm seeing offensively. The depth scoring has been great this year. The power play has been better. Penalty kill is really good. And Adelkevich is giving them really good goaltending for the last week and change. But until this team learns how to defend a lead in the third period, I'm going to continue to remain skeptical that they turn it around this season. Yeah, I'm right with you. It's definitely going to be, I'm skeptical until I see more consistent performances, but I'm seeing some underlying trends that give me a,

ever so slight glimpse of hope. Yeah, I mean, again, until the players start executing in those situations and that coaching staff starts changing some things up to help the players in the situations, I'm going to continue to remain a bit skeptical that they can climb out of this hole. But I think that I'll do it for today's episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for taking the time to listen to slash watch this episode and put up with my raspy voice as hosting this show. But Pat and I will be back with another episode for you all on Thursday,

to get you all set for Penguins Hurricanes and how hot Carolina has been recently. I mean, they're playing very good hockey. We'll get you all set for that game Thursday morning into Thursday afternoon. And then Friday, we'll recap that game for you guys and get you all set for Penguins Capitals as well. So for Patrick Damp, I am Hunter Hodes. Thank you all so much for tuning in. We appreciate it. And we'll be back on Thursday.