Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - So the Penguins went 1-1 the last two games, right?

Episode Date: January 29, 2022

The Penguins lost again on Friday evening and that means it's time to panic again, right? Well, Hunter isn't here to do that as the Penguins continue to bank points. He touches on the overall picture when it comes to this team as they continue to keep pace with the other top teams in the division. He also explains how John Marino can fix his issues in front of the net and what he keeps doing wrong as these issues keep coming up. Jake Guentzel also continues his hot pace and scored twice in the smallest of spaces. Hunter explains what goes into that before touching on Casey DeSmith saving his job. Will this be enough moving forward? What was different in this start? All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.Built BarBuilt Bar is a protein bar that tastes like a candy bar. Go to builtbar.com and use promo code “LOCKED15,” and you’ll get 15% off your next order. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Well, Penguins finally lost back-to-back games for the first time since November 29th and December 1st. Basically, it's been two full months since this team has not won to enroll. I'm going to break it all down for you all right after the shot for the Friday edition of this podcast. You're Locked-on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins. Part of the Locked-on Podcast Network. Your team every day. Hello.

Welcome back to this Friday evening edition of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter, of course, Hunter Hodes. Follow those shows Twitter, L.O. owners for Penguins as well. So the Penguins, as I said in my intro, fall three to two in a shootout, their first back-to-back loss. First back-to-back losses, excuse me, since November 29th and December 1st, as I said as well. Just very consistent hockey play.

So now in their last 21 games, they are 17 and 2-2, which is just ridiculous consistency. See, first thing I want to get you to start off this show. I know some people are going to get, you know, even more mad after, you know, what happened last night and everything. I get it. I really do understand. It's annoying to lose back-to-back games, especially to two teams. They're not in the playoff picture. But you know what?

With how dumb the NHL's point system is, and I think it is obviously pretty dumb, they basically won one game and then lost another regulation. So when you really think about it, you really shouldn't be. team out that they lost in Roe because they again they won one and then just lost one in regulation. They got two out of four points. That's perfectly fine with where they are. The key for the penguins moving forward because right now per money puck.com this morning, they have a 99.6% chance to make playoffs. They would have to be a monumental collapse coupled with the islanders going on some

20 and two in one run or something like that. And with how they played against winning teams this year, I don't think that's likely, at least at this point. opinion. So I don't mind if they lose at times as long as they're gaining points because that is what they have been doing right now. And as I said, 17 and 2 and 2, they're in direct competition with the Rangers, the Hurricanes, and the Capitals. Right now, there are six points up in the Capitals. It's likely going to be down to four after tonight because they are just lighting up, Braden Holpey, like a Christmas tree down in Dallas. That's fine. I really do think, as of course,

my text message thing goes off from my buddy who's a Red Wings fan when I'm just talking during the game. You know, this team, they're perfectly fine where they are. And, you know, that's that. I just wanted to start off the podcast with that. Now, one of my other biggest takeaways, Jake Gunstall continues to just kill it. 23 goals this year. You continue to give this guy, even the smallest bit of space. He is going to make you pay every single time.

You know, that first one, you know, gets a rebound off Pickard's, pad puts it in the second one um just a ridiculous pass first from sydney crossby um no idea how he was able to get that through about two or three to i think it was like three to four or six or something like that gensel was able to one time it from right in the right in a nice high danger area ties the game i don't really like they probably didn't get a lot of puck luck after that pickard had to come up with a lot of really nice saves but you know he that he's still continuing to crush it He's probably not going to catch Chris Crider, who has a league leading 31 goals this year, which is ridiculous considering how old he is and the contract that he is on.

But he is still very much just awesome for the penguins this year. His contract continues to be a steal. I love with that one-timer. You let him drift into that kind of area right in front of the net and say about 10 feet out. He is going to bury that 10 out of 10 times. If he misses that, it's just because the goal he makes a hell of a save. Pickard had really no chance on that. Jake is going to do that to a goalie anytime.

And so just a great performance from him. I thought Sid tonight, he was really killing it. He had some really nice, again, some great passes. Obviously, he's been firing the puck a lot more. Defensively, I thought he was strong. This is the Sydney Crosby that, you know, we're used to seeing. So I really liked his game as well. And of course, I have to get to the number one star of the game for the Penguins,

Casey DeSmith. I really think he saved his job, or at least. for the time being with its performance, you know, think about it, right? If he goes out there tonight and he sucks, what do you think happens? Ron Hextel probably gets even more worried because, you know, he was asked about this on Thursday's press conference and, you know, he's going to say, you know, the typical goal general manager's be, well, you know, we believe in him, you know, we're not really looking to do anything right now. He can say that all he wants, but he obviously is aware of the problem. Casey Smith has been more of the worst goaltenders in hockey this year.

But tonight, DeSmith must have listened to that. It's like, okay, you believe in me, at least to the media, I'm going to go out there and show that you believe in me. And boy, did he yet, right? I feel bad for him because I think the Penguins wasted his best effort since last season with how inconsistent that he has been this year. Mostly bad. He has not put together even close to a performance like this since last year. He was a 9-12, 9-13 goalie somewhere around that area. And it's only fitting.

this probably thing only happens to a select few teams and of course the penguins are one of them that the save of the year halfway through a little over halfway through it should say belongs to Casey to Smith and not Tristanjari like you can't make that up can you it's just it's funny to me I mean the penguins have a top five goaltender in the league right now a potential future Vezna finalist plays his tail off every night makes save after save after save. The backup comes in on a back-to-back. He's been pretty bad. And then he makes the save of the year in overtime, just flexing that glove. And I was just like, wow, where did that come from? And can that version of Casey DeSmith, please stick around for the rest of the season? Even before that

save, he was absolutely ridiculous. And I think the biggest thing from what I noticed personally, you know, he looked confident in the net. He wasn't flopping around like a fish, just, you know, diving everywhere and all this stuff. No, he was squaring up two shooters and saying, I dare you to beat me. And the only two goals that he gave up were two that he had no chance on because if there were some poor defensive coverage from the net,

I'm going to get to that coming up in the next thing with regards to John Marino because he was absolutely awful tonight. Like I said, we'll get to that just a second. But that I think is the biggest thing, what I know is, you know, square to the shooters, he looked confident, he was playing aggressive in front of the blue paint. When he's not playing aggressive, he's back a lot farther. You know, that same thing I know is with Tristan Jari as well. But, you know, Smith, he's a smaller goalie, you know, than Tristan.

So he needs to be more aggressive. When he's not doing that, he's a very easy goaltender to meet. And you saw what happened in his previous starts where he was giving up all these lousy goals because his positioning was not right. And he was just making the wrong leads and just everything else. And it looked like all of that was corrected tonight because, you know, probably got some coaching with Andy Kyoto. And but just overall, he got back to his game.

And that's just, that's so huge for the penguins moving forward. Because if he can even do half of what he did tonight and just go back to last year, then the penguins won't have to give up prime assets. to go out and get a backup goaltender. I know I have been on record saying that the penguins need to go out and get a backup goaltender. I still stand by that as of right now. But if DeSmith can keep doing this and keeping at least average to above average

and giving Tristan the night off on nights that he needs off because he has played the second most games for a goalie this year. Only Andre Vasselowski, I believe, has started more games than Tristan this year. You can't start your goalie 608 to 70 games. That's not where the league is. You can do that maybe a decade or two ago with where the league is now, with how teams are gassed, you know, a lot more frequently. You can't do that.

So getting to Smith right is very important. And tonight I think was a very, and I mean a very important step in getting Tristan right. And getting, excuse me, to Smith, right. So I can't say enough about that performance. He was just, I think, on bath salts for that entire game. man, again, I feel bad for the penguins just because, you know, they just, they couldn't get the win. But coming up in the next segment, we're going to go into what went wrong on the two goals of the penguins gave up, talking about why John Marino just needs to be better in front of the net. We're also going to touch on the shootout, just, you know, my overall thoughts on that, the overtime, a couple of other things, into the power play as well.

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That's promo code lock 15 for 15% off at Bilt.com. Now, have you been to an art museum lately? And no, that's a serious question. Heck, there's a better question for you. When was the last time you felt welcome at an art museum? It can really feel like as a hockey fan you don't belong in the art world, but it's really the perfect place for us when you think about it. Great hockey fans are passionate.

We are dedicated. And we just so happen to know that the Magist Factory, Pittsburgh's own contemporary art installations museum, has partnered with the Penguins. Well, they had the ticket package for this week's game against the Red Wings. They are probably going to have more ticket packages going forward, I would not be surprised if there is one for the game on Sunday against Los Angeles or one on Tuesday against the Washington Capitals. Remember, they do not in fact sell beds.

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So let's get to what went wrong on the two goals. First one, well, honestly, I should say this for both of them. Excuse me, I don't know what's going on with my sinuses right now as I'm recording this. John Marino, he needs to be a lot better in front of the net. On the second one especially, he's following Zadina around the net. And this is a player who hasn't scored in his last 20 games, by the way. There's a lot of trade speculation with Phil Zadena. Anyways, going back to my original point.

He's following him around the net when there's no reason to do that because the puck is not in a high danger zone. And then by the time he gets back to the front net, it's too late because Zadina basically already has the puck. And then Marino is out of position. He needs to stay, you know, right near Kaston Smith to make sure that, you know, he's not allowed back in front of the net. And then he's just really soft as Zadina gets the puck for that second goal. It's just, it's bad net front coverage. It needs to get cleaned up. And I hate to harp on the guy because I do like when he brings to the lineup. I like him as a player. He's not, you know, he doesn't treat the puck like a grenade when he has it. I know I've been vocal about his offensive inefficiencies

just because he doesn't score a lot, his playmaking ability. You know, it's not there a lot of time, especially the season. I think, you know, in his third year in the league, he's looking more like the player we saw last year compared to his rookie year where, you know, he was getting some called or trophy consideration before he broke his jaw or cheekbone. But this year, you know, he doesn't have that. And then when you combine all of that with just his bad play in front of the net, it doesn't, it's not a good combination. And the first one as well, just, you know, being way too passive. He's got to get a little physical there. And I hate saying that just because physicality in hockey, I feel like it's so overrated.

But in that kind of situation, you've got to get, at least a little bit physical. Get your guy out of the way. Make sure DeSmith is not going. Make sure DeSmith can actually see the puck in those situations and that he's not put in a position to fail because that's what Marino did. I think that's the most important thing here. He put his goalie in a position to fail and that's why the Red Wing scored two goals. It's nothing to do with the Penguins power play, you know,

being too passive with the puck and all that or missing clears. It's just that, you know, Marino in front of the game. the net, he was not good enough, and that needs to change moving forward. You know, I'm not going to subscribe to the notion that, you know, he needs to be traded over the off season. They're still half a season left. You know, we got to see what happens here. Maybe they need some defensive help of the deadline.

I'm not really sure I'm there yet. I want to see what keeps happening moving forward, but it's no secret that he needs to play better. This is not the John Marino that I saw a couple of years ago. You know, I've been wanting his offense turnaround, but, you know, overall, just these last eight or ten games, he needs to be just more aggressive in front of the net. And Pete, this is funny because people said the same thing about Pedersen, but the thing with Pedersen was he actually was pretty good of boxing out his own man in front of the net. It was always that, like, you know, he's like soft behind the net, which is just not true.

I mean, that's just a myth. But Marino, that actually applies to you because I think he is soft in some areas. and I'm just, I'm tired of watching him just continually screw up in front of the net and in the process, allow goals that should not be going in, because those should be clears in those situations. And he should be getting the puck out. So that's just kind of my long rant on John Marino. And that's just how to fix him. You know, he just needs to be more physical. He needs to play them better.

And, you know, he just needs to make better, you know, he just needs to have better situational awareness is I think what I'm trying to say here. That's just how I would do it or attack it. If I were on hopefully top rear and can work with him here moving forward. As for the shootout, at the end of the day, I don't really give a crap about shootouts just because they all go away for the playoffs. So who cares? I know the team has struggled this year. But the biggest thing for me, you know, this team has so much talent.

But outside of Chris LaTang, and I'll get to him in just a second, I don't understand why so many players on this team come in and just shoot it. you're allowed to make a dig i have said that probably 5 000 times on this podcast for those i was listening a lot longer for the new ones here i i would like to see some creativity in that regard you know cindy crosby he's 40% on shootouts right but he keeps coming in and neither just trying to go you know blocker side you know go outside or he's just he's going five home and it's like buddy you're allowed to make a move forehand backhand you know backhand forehand and something like that.

You're a top five player of all time. You're still a top player, five player in the game today. Act like you're in a shootout. And that sounds kind of like aggressive to say, but I just want to see him actually do something because when I always see him come in, I'm like, well, this is probably nine out of ten times. Nine out of ten times now he's not going to score. But yet the last time they were in a shootout just a few days ago, he did.

So I guess that was the one out of ten times at this point. Jake Gensel, I would like to see the same thing. he's a he's one of the best pure goal scores in the league he's the best pure goal score on the on the team i would like to see more than him just you know skating in and just you know i like the head think that he did but it was just kind of like a soft little backhand shot that i don't really um i i didn't really care for so um to crystal tang though the thing is his attempt was really good you know he did his pat patented you know he has obviously two moves you know his forehand backhand top cheese always I love that's I love that one but he decided to do backhand forehand he had

pickered beat that's the thing it was going to go in he just put it in the wrong spot go back and watch it it hits his shoulder by accident if it goes a little bit more to the right that's in tied in the shootout to Smith would have to go make another say with how he's playing you know he probably would have and then you know see what happens in you know the one in one rounds but you know I like the Tang's attempt. I wish that one went in to the end of the day. It's a shootout. Who really cares? At the end of the day, I know the team has struggled. Though, you know, Lucas Raymond had a heck of a move on to Smith, you know, just kind of had a nice fake, put it, you know, five hole. And, you know, that was the decider for the Penguins to lose in the shootout. Three on three-on-three-wise,

the Red Wings had a lot of zone time. You know, you don't really see the Penguins get shut down on three-on-three with how much talent that they have that they can put out there. I I know Evgeny Malkin was pretty gassed out there at times. And, you know, I haven't seen this take on social media and a couple other places that people are afraid for their lives when Hvgeny Malkin is out there. I mean, if you're talking about if he's gassed offensively, then sure. But he's your second best offensive threat on the team. Why aren't you scared when he's out there? I just, I don't really understand that logic, I guess, when he can do things on this team that only one other player can probably do.

So just kind of want to see that talk go away. I guess I'm fine with him getting a lot of minutes. You know, I thought Sid, you know, he would have had a breakaway towards the end of it if that pass was just a little bit, you know, faster and the puck wasn't on edge, you know, because Sid was well behind the defense, but he had to wait for the puck, which was, you know, a lot more annoying. Then, you know, if the puck was not, you know, just on edge and if it was actually going a lot quicker. One more thing before we get to the commercial break to touch on the game against the Kings on Sunday. Overall underlying numbers, the Penguins, you know, and I've been saying this, you know, before I came on in the podcast.

They have a really bad first period. The Red Wings had 66% of the shot attempts after that. Penguins gave them in a little bit. In the second period, 58% of the shot attempts, 60% of the shot attempts in the third, Penguins ended up with the edge at 50.5% of the shot attempts. Scoring chances-wise, the Red Wings led in the show. that department 22 to 18, though in the final two periods, the penguins led

15 to 12. They just had a really bad first, but they then turned it on the rest of the game. They kind of got a little unlucky with the saves that Picker Picker was making. And then the Red Wings also led in high danger 9 to 7. They also let an expected goal score with 2.591.63

for the Penguins. All situations, it was even for shot attempts. The Red Wings have the edge and scoring chances. Also, the edge in high danger, and they had the edge at expected goals. So honestly, any way you look at it, it was close to an even game. You know,

the penguins had a little bit of the better of the play in the last 40 minutes, but, you know, that first 20, if they show up a lot better in that regard, they probably win this game in regulation, at least in my opinion. But at the end of the day, they only gave a point away.

They basically think of it as they won against Seattle, MMA lost in regulation against Detroit. That's fine. So with that, if it was not 17 so right now they were what they're 17 and 2 and 2 in their last

21 games think of it now as it would be 18 and what is it 18 and 2 and 1 or something like that math is not my strong suit here people if I'm wrong you know that's just that's sad

but you know they would have 18 wins believe they would have three losses and they would have one overtime loss so that's fine. I don't really I don't really mind that at all. Or no, I even know it would be, yeah, yeah, it would be 18 and 2 and 1. So that's fine.

They're 17 and 2 and 2 now at the end of the day. You're still banking points and that that's the biggest thing. So coming up in the next day, we're going to do a small preview of the game against the Kings before I'll send you off for the rest of the weekend. But before we do that, there might be less football being played, but bet on line is way more stuff to bet on this football season from scores. totals, plan of performance pops to where the next fired coach is going to win. Beneline is the number one spot for all things NFL betting in 2022.

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number one online betting destination. That is bet online where the game starts. All right, welcome back to this episode here of the locked on Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hon. Hoey's. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hoodies. Follow the show's Twitter at LO underscore Penguins. Probably do a little shorter segment than some of the other ones here.

But, you know, big game on Sunday against the Kings, and this will be their third game again in almost three and a half days, which is great to think about. This team badly needs a break. I mean, I think that's a kind of. obvious at this point, their play has been, I wouldn't say underwhelming this month, but a little bit inconsistent. It's just crazy that they continually get results. As I said, I've said so many times, you know, they're 17 and 2 and 2 in their last 21 games. But, you know, they have a big challenge on Sunday just because the Kings are coming to town. That is a team that smoked,

and I mean smoked the Penguins just a couple of weeks ago. Also, as I was reporting right now, the Wild are up three to two on the Rangers. So if this result holds, the penguins will be first in the metropolitan division going in to Saturday. How about that? Yes, they have four games. The Hurricanes have four games in hand. But you know what? They'll be in first place.

So at the end of the down, they don't really care. But also, like I said, the Kings come to town. I mean, they honestly gave the penguins their worst performance of the season. L.A. is a sneaky good team this year. They have 52.6% of the expected goals. 54% of the actual goals. They have 54% of the shot attempts at 5-5-5. They have a plus-14 goal differential.

Jonathan Quick has been insane this year. The King's overall say percentage is 929. They're 2.27 goals 4 per 60, but where they're really making their name is their defensive play, 1.88 goals against par 60. If we go to Jonathan Quicks, overall numbers, he is right behind Tristan Jari. 15 goals saved above expected.

9.52 save percentage on unblocked shots, 914 overall save percentage and a 2.53 goals against average. You know, this just came out of nowhere with him because it looked like that he was going to be giving up the net. Goaltending is very volatile. That's just how it is. It's the most, I think it is the hardest position to predict in this sport. Just because, you know, analytics play a part in goalie. I struggle just with some analytics with goal. And the only side I will look at is goal state above expected because it's the best one. I think goal state above average is not that good. But that's the one position where I think the eye test definitely comes more into play than just some underlying numbers. And at least that's just my opinion.

You know, we saw what happened last time in the Penguins. This was a tied game for, you know, a little bit in the third period. But then L.A. started taking it to them again. and again, you know, the Penguins just did not have it that entire game. I would expect quick to start in that one. Copa Tar on the top line with Kemp and Iiafalo. Kempbe, excuse me, has just been unreal this season, has been one of their best players.

It's come out of nowhere. Arvidsen with the note on the second line. Quentin Bifield was just called up, and he actually got his first NHL goal against Islanders. So congratulations to him. He is going to be a force in this league. There is a reason why he was selected in the top three. of the initial draft just a couple of years ago, you know, he is that good.

Dustin Brown and with Andreas Seth and Nassi with Bifil in the third line, and then Brendan Lemuel on the fourth line, Drew Doughty, top defense, he's head of Renaissance here. Olimada is, of course, still there. So this is going to be a fun game. You know, the Kings actually play an entertaining style of hockey now, and I think the Penguins are going to want to get back with them for, you know, that embarrassing loss that they severed just a couple of weeks ago for the California road trip.

Remember, that's a 1 o'clock start time right before, the NFL playoffs. The game will be ending 30 minutes after the Chiefs Bengals game. So I'll be able to watch that one as kind of like an advertiser to the main course for the two football games for that day. So that's just a small preview, what we're looking for with the lineup

and just how good the Kings have been this year. You've got to attack them down low. You've got to play sound defense against them because they have a lot of pure finishers on this team that will make you pay in an instant. You've got to get traffic in front of Jonathan quick. I mean, that's just the biggest thing. with how great he's been this year.

He's one of the most athletic goaltenders in the league. You can't let him just go side to side with ease and make sure he's ease everything. You've got to put traffic in front of them, make it as hard as you can because this is not the same Jonathan Quake that we have seen in the last couple of years. So that will do it for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to this one. And also, you know, overall, thank you all so much for making this month of January one of the most listened months in Lock on Penguin's history.

you know we're up 15% from last month with December which is crazy I can't thank everyone enough that continually downloads this podcast on a daily basis you know you are the reason why I do this every single time I just I look forward to doing this every day and I'm glad that I'm just I'm in a rhythm you know when I when I record these sometimes they're late at night sometimes they're during the day can't thank you all enough so that'll do it for this episode I appreciate all of you listening we're back on Monday for a fresh set of five episodes for next week. Talk to you all that.