Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Sometimes, you don't have it and that doomed the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight

Episode Date: February 18, 2022

Thursday night turned into one of those games for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter starts off the show by touching on how the team needs to throw this one into the trash. They started out slow and aside from a few minutes in the first period, they didn't have it. He breaks down the goals against and touches on how all of the defensemen need to be a lot better, especially Kris Letang. He goes into how Letang screwed up big-time on two of the goals but also makes sure to say that this won't be the norm moving forward. He then brings up the new lines and how they fared tonight. Should Geno's line stick together? What about Kapanen with Rodrigues? After that, he does a small preview for Sunday's game against the Carolina Hurricanes as that promises to be a thriller. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!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.Primal Origin OilsStop the itch and make your beard look healthy & groomed. Check out PRIMALORIGINSOILS.COM to learn more about their full line of beard care products. Use the code “LOCKEDON” for a 20% discount at checkout.BetOnlineBetOnline.net has you covered this season with more props, odds and lines than ever before. BetOnline – Where The Game Starts!Rock AutoAmazing selection. Reliably low prices. All the parts your car will ever need. Visit RockAuto.com and tell them Locked On sent you. 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.

Hey everyone, happy Thursday. So the team, the Penguins, of course, they just did not have it tonight against the Maple Leafs. A 4-1 loss breaks their four-game losing streak. The Penguins have now lost their second game in their last 15 games in regulation. Just a ridiculous streak that this team has been on. I have a full-game recap coming up right after this job. I will say, though, probably won't be a lot of positives to take out of this one, but we're still going to recap this game and then maybe do a little bit of a preview going into Sunday's game

against the Carolina Hurricanes. It's coming up right after this. You're locked on penguins Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins Part of the Locked on Podcast Network Your team every day Hey everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast

I am your host Hunter Hodes You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes You can also follow the show's Twitter at L-Oenerscore Penguins And of course thank you all so much for making this Your first listen of the day So penguins, you know, they fall 4 to 1 to the Maple Leafs tonight. And I think the biggest thing I can take away from this,

starting off today's episode, you know, this is kind of like, you know, back when you were a kid or something like that, you know, you're going through all your school supplies and all your school papers.

Like, okay, you know, maybe I'll keep this for, you know, safekeeping to show my kids one day. And, you know, you see some other stuff. I'm kind of kind of throw this in the trash. This is one of those moments

where the penguins just need to throw this in the garbage. There was really nothing good about this performance. They started out the game, really poorly, 21 seconds in, Austin Matthews scores. I mean, I know he's one of the best goals scores in the league, but that was just a really bad defensive breakdown, not even a minute, and hell, not even 30 seconds into the game. And then they started to play well a little bit after that, but it was just a really sloppy performance, I thought. And I'll get to the underlying numbers in just a sec, but, you know, I felt like they weren't completing the passes

that I normally see them make. Their four check was not there. They definitely did not past the vibe check to say the least tonight. That was just, it was nothing good was happening on that. The power play was horrendous. That was probably the worst the power play has looked, except for that last chance that they had. I believe it was right before the second intermission. You know, they actually had a little bit of a pulse.

They got some pretty good high danger chances on Jack Campbell. He was obviously fantastic in this one. But other than that, I thought the power play looked just as bad as it did. from early on in the season, you know, when the Penguins Valley needed to be goal to get back in the game, they couldn't get one just because, you know, the zone entries were bad. You know, they weren't winning the puck battles. You know, they weren't getting the pucks on net. And, you know, they just, they weren't setting it up.

And at the end of the day, you know, that's part of the reason why this team lost. But, you know, this is the kind of game where, you know, every team has a game like this, where you just, you don't have it. And that's fine. It's an 82 game season. The Penguins are in first place. As I said in my opening little monologue, this is a little monologue. only their second regulation loss in their last 15 games, this team is still really good. I'm not going to sit here and go overreaction Thursday for you all or anything like that.

I mean, I know how good this team is. I know the schedule down the stretch is really tough. They're going to have to play a lot better than this if they want to clinch home ice in the playoffs. And I think they will. I mean, obviously, this is where Mike Sullivan makes his big bucks, right? He always knows how to make adjustments. And at the end of the day, I'm sure he will. They have a few days off going into Sunday's game against Carolina.

They don't play Friday or Saturday. This team, I think, will be fine. It's just, you know, Toronto played well. They were playing pretty good coming into it. You know, Jack Campbell, I know was up and down, but, you know, for this one, he gave them a Vesnik caliber performance, and he has been one of the best goaltenders in hockey this year. You know, it's no coincidence that, you know, he's also top five in goals,

they've been what I've expected. He has one of the best save percentages in hockey right up there with Tristan Jari. the penguins got the elite version of him tonight. The only one that got past him wasn't if Ganyi Malkin rebound goal that, you know, Campbell really had no chance on. You know, he was making some damn good saves throughout that game. You know, the Penguins in the third period had nine of the ten high danger chances. So they were coming at him a little bit more because the team started to wake up a little bit more

when they were down three nothing. But, you know, Campbell was still shutting the door just as he did in the first and second period. I also will say this, you know, it goes along with, you know, the sloppy play. I thought the defensive zone coverage was pretty piss poor tonight. I did not like the way anyone on the blue line was defending. You know, Matheson, Ruiedel, Pedersen, Marino. And I'll say this, this was probably the worst game I think I've ever seen

Chris Leng play in the last couple years. This is going to be one where he wants to throw the tape in the trash, and rightfully so. He was caught out of position on two of Toronto's four goals on the last one. just really did not know what he was doing defensively there. He was just kind of caught flat-footed. The short-handed chance when the Penguins were on the power play, and that was a very rare occurrence because the Penguins don't give up short-handed goals.

They're one of the league leaders with some of the leased short-handed goals allowed this season. But trying to force the pass, and then that leads to basically a breakaway, and then, you know, Jari has no chances because, you know, a heck of a move. but it's just he'll be fine. He's had been at a Norris caliber level this entire season. You know, even Sidney Crosby has these kind of games once in a while. I'm not too concerned. It's just, you know, I'm sure he's going to, when he speaks to the media next,

Crystal Tang, that is, I'm sure he's going to obviously take responsibility for it and, you know, vow to be better and all that stuff. And I know he will because he's been playing at such a high level this year. But I just wanted to point out, his deficiencies in this game you know if i'm going to um say how great he's been i'm also going to criticize him i'm not going to just you know be a homer here and say oh my god like you know he was he was okay in this game he didn't really do anything now like if you've been listening to this podcast for you know even just one episode or you know 10 or 20 you know that i'm going to you know keep

real with you all and you know be as objective as i can because you know that's that's how i roll um with this so um i have no problem criticizing him he was bad um and he needs to be a lot better moving forward goal tending wise tristan did what he could um i really can't blame him for any of the four goals against just because um they were just great chances i mean austin naffy's on a breakaway he has such a quick release that it's so hard i think for any goalie to track that shot i mean i don't even think if you put a prime henrik lungwist in there i'm not even sure he stops that release just because of how fast it was and you know he had a good angle on tristan you know that's a goal scorer shot And we all know how great Austin is, excuse me, at scoring goals in the show he's one of the five best pure goal scores.

And you give him that chance. He's going to bury that at least nine out of ten times. And of course, that was one of them. You know, the other one, you know, the net went off its moorings. That's a good goal. You know, Elliot Freeman was talking about that in one of the intermissions. Another one was basically, it was the shorthanded chance where, you know, he kind of got digged a little bit. But, you know, he just, he didn't have help.

I mean, at the end of the day, what else can he do? He's still playing fine. You know, he didn't give up any softies or anything. He was probably one of the lone bright spots, I think, for the penguins in this one. So I'm not really going to criticize him there that much. Underlying numbers-wise for the penguins, it's kind of a mixed bag. So they at least had 55.2% of the shot attempts tonight per natural stratrick at 5B-5. Scoring chances, the penguins were 50-50.

But in high danger, they led 14. to six, and that's mainly due to the third period again, where they had nine high danger chances compared to one for Toronto, the one high danger chance that the Leafs did have. In the back of the end, that was Michael Bunting's goal, and that's just an awesome pass, by the way, from Matthews. You probably will not see a better path. I should rephrase that. You won't see many better passes than that for the rest of the season.

That was just a ridiculous play by Matthews to get to Bunting, and he's having a pretty good year for Toronto. but, you know, getting back to those numbers. So the penguins led in high danger chances. And they also led in expected goals for 62.4% of the expected goals rate. In terms of expected goals for numbers-wise, 2.7 for the penguins compared to 1.6 for the Leafs. So the numbers definitely tell a bit of the story. But if you watch the game, you know, with the eye test and stuff, you can see that the penguins giving up too many odd man rushes,

really sloppy in the defensive zone. they started out playing piss poor, turned it on a little bit, but then the second period, you know, the power play was not good. The penalty kill was, eh, I guess. But, you know, it's definitely interesting how, you know, the numbers tell one side where it looks like, oh, wow, like the high danger chances, you know, they played good there. Oh, they had more of the expected goals for that means the penguins must have gotten goalied or something.

No, you know, Jack Campbell was really good, but I'll also say the penguins kind of dug their own grave with how poor defensively. They were. But that wraps up this first segment of the episode today. Coming up in the next segment, we're just going to go into a couple of other things surrounding this game. We're going to break down a Gennie Malkins' goal a little bit.

Also talk about his new line and why I want to see more of it moving forward. And also, of course, get touched on the Rodriguez captain and night because, of course, Mike Sullivan has had to change up the lines for this one. But before we get to that, football might be over for this season. but basketball is in full steam for both pro and college hoops. From all the latest odds, totals, play performance props to where the next fire coach is going to land. Betonline.com.net is the number one spot for all of your sports betting needs. Benadeline remains the best spots for all of your sports scores, podcasts, and news this season.

Head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. That is Bet Online, where the game starts. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. You're not to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes also follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So I did like, one of the things I guess I should like coming out of this game, I know there's not going to be many positives, but there is one here. Really enjoyed the second line of Hagen, Danton Hine, and Jeff Carter,

and I hope the Penguins continue to use that line until a Teddy Bluger is ready to play. And I'll tell you why. You know, right, honestly, from the first couple of minutes, Carter got a really good chance on Jack Campbell. He tried to go forehand, backhand, five hole. But, you know, Campbell came up with a really nice pad save. But it was the beautiful saucer pass from high and into spring Carter. It's like, okay, is Casperi Campan never going to make a pass like that on that line?

Probably not. Is Brock McGinn, who I have liked his game this year. Don't worry. I mean, he's probably been a bit better than Brandon Tannib was last year. excuse me for the Penguins. Is he going to make that pass? No, but Hinen, you know, he's, he's shifty a little bit. He's an underrated playmaker.

He's an underrated goal score. Threaded the perfect saucer pass to Carter to get that chance. And, you know, unfortunately, for Jeff, it didn't go in, but it's like, okay, there's the start there. You know, Malkin was able to score on the rebound with Jack Kim. And it's just a nice display of him crashing the net. I mean, we see him do it at times. It probably doesn't happen as much as I would like it to,

but it's still great that he is going to the net. Again, at times, and he's finishing his chances. And he's playing really well right now. I've liked his game since he's come back. He's at a point per game level. But the biggest thing that I think a lot of fans and just media alike, including me, have been wishing for, is just to surround him with two good, incapable linemates

because it's been a huge problem, I think, for the Penguins this year. you know, this team does not have many issues, but that one is definitely up there. And it's mainly just because, you know, Kaepernan has not been good. Rodriguez, he had a great start, but he also has not been good as of late Brock. And again, for as much as I like him, and, you know, he's a great player, really in a nice you do, of course, he came on the podcast this past summer. You know, he's not suited to play in a top six role. He is much better suited for a third-line role, checking line on the fourth line with

Aston, Reese, and Blugher, whenever Teddy, comes back. I'm sure they're going to reunite that line. And I would be all in favor of that, obviously, because of how great the underlying numbers were before Bluger got hurt. But, you know, it's just, it's not, what's the word I'm looking for, I think? It's not good if he's in your top six when most of your team is healthy. And I know Jason's going to be out for a while. He usually has decent chemistry with Afghani Malkin. And even though he hasn't been scoring a lot, but he's still, can make some pretty good passes here and there. And I think Gino enjoyed playing with him.

But, you know, he, Gino just hasn't had those consistent line mates. But, you know, I really liked what I saw from Hinen and Carter-Tun. If I can actually check out natural stat trick real quick, Penguins shift report tonight. If I can go down here for Hinen. So, well, actually, no, Penguins forward lines. I, excuse me.

So this is, this was their best line at Even Strengthen. I'm going to read you the numbers right here. The Hine and Malkin-Malkin-Carter line, 70% of the shot attempts at 5E-5. They also had one goal for no goals against, expected goals for 1.17 expected goals against. They had an 83.6 expected goals rate. They were also on the ice for 77% of the scoring chances for, by far again, the best line for Pittsburgh tonight. That line deserves another look or two. I mean, who else you're going to put up there?

You know, Kappanin, he struggled again tonight as well. I'm going to get to that in a couple of minutes. But, you know, the early returns on it, and they played 1037 of 5E5 ice time tonight. That was the second most, of course, to the Gansel-Krosby-Rust line, which had 66% of the shot attempts at even strength. They also had 0.580 the expected goals for,

54% of the scoring chances for. So that was the penguin's second best line, and then the other two or Kay Danna, of course. I'm going to get to Capon and Rodriguez in just a sec. But, you know, I know some people kind of have reservations about Carter playing wing compared to the center just because Carter's been a good center. But, you know, I saw what Jeff said to the media the other day and basically said he's fine with it. And, you know, he's been good on the wing, you know, going back to his days in Philadelphia,

Los Angeles. This is fine until Bluegar comes back because I'm sure once Teddy comes back, they'll be putting Carter right back at center. Heck, when Zulker comes back, I think he will be in the lineup. And then even if Carter is somehow not moved back to center when Bluger comes back, I think when Zulker comes back, whenever that is,

he will 100% be moved back to center. But it's never a bad idea to change something up. I know the team had won four straight going into this one, but I think any self-respecting fan of this team could watch the games and realize, was, oh, wow, you know, Geno's line has just been, you know, getting caved in almost every shift. And, you know, it had obviously a lot to do with his linemates because Brock McGinn's not getting it done. And Caspera Capton is surely not getting it done either.

And, you know, speaking of him, it was another struggle fest for him tonight, you know, came into the zone countless times and just continues to button hook back, look for a pass that's not there. He's still not going back to his fundamentals of what worked last year, which was, of course, you know, coming in with a burst of speed and firing the puck on goal, excuse me, and he was being rewarded for doing that. And, you know, just for finishing on his chances this year, it's just, it's been anything but that. And, you know, tonight, I just said a couple minutes ago,

his line was with Brock McGinn and Evan Rodriguez, who was playing center. And, you know, that line before, there's a stat here that I had from Adam Ritz. If I can find this real quick, the early returns on that line. were pretty good, actually. You know, since the start, this is the statet from Adam Greth. I know it was back tonight, but no, coming into this game, they've played 334 minutes of five-on-five hockey together.

The Penguins own a commanding shot share and a 19-2 actual goal advantage, including 13 to 1 this season. So I was perfectly fine with Sullivan trying the back. I know tonight they were on ice for one goal against, no goals for. they only had 30% of the scoring chances, only 41% of the shot attempts, 0.26 expected goals for, it was, they got caved in pretty bad. But, you know, it's also only one game. I want to see how they do against Carolina on Sunday.

But, you know, the numbers are still mostly pretty decent. It's just, you know, for whatever reason, Kaepinan continues to look lost. And, you know, Rodriguez, you know, he's up there as well. I don't think he looks as lost as Kavanaugh. happened, but something has definitely changed with him. And I'm still trying to figure out for you all what it is. I mean, he's still shooting it fairly often at 5.5.

He's one of the best volume shooters on the team right now. I mean, A, the puck is not going in the net. And two, I mean, I don't think he's getting as many chances as he did, you know, during the start of the season. You know, sure, he is getting some chances, but it's not to the degree that he was early on. But, you know, it's definitely, I get a little bit concerning. I knew it wasn't going to continue for the rest of the season. I mean, did anyone expect that?

He's still playing fine, but I think, you know, now is the point where it's like, okay, you know, is this going to be the Evera Riga's? We're going to see the rest of the season? Or is this, or is, you know, the early season, Evera Riga is going to come back and light everyone up? Or is it going to be, you know, a mix in the middle? And I think that's probably what we're going to get at some point here. You know, we just, we've had.

opposite ends of the, you know, the spectrum, I think, over here. So those wrap up my thoughts on the new lines tonight. You know, the fourth line, they didn't really do anything. But, you know, sometimes, you know, that happens with penguins. I'm still a little more to get to for this episode of Locked on Penguins coming up here in the next segment. All right, welcome back to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoddes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L0 underscore Penguins.

I will say, you know, shout out to Leafsands for really showing up tonight, 50% capacity for the first time in quite a while. They were playing, I believe, with no fans. So to see them, you know, really show up and support their team, you know, makes me happy, you know, hopefully, you know, again, we're getting, you know, closer to the end with this, you know, but I'm not really too sure to say the least. So the Penguins will finally get a matchup with the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday. You know, this will be the first of three meetings. And, you know, these are huge. I mean, you know, you look at the standings right now, and I'll load them up for you on my phone.

You know, the Penguins, four games in hand on Carolina, but, you know, the Hurricanes are only two points back. The Rangers won tonight. They still have two games in hand on the Penguins. They're three points back. The Capitals won tonight. There are five points back, the Penguins also have a game in hand on them.

But, you know, with how Carolina has four games in hand, you know, Pittsburgh, they got to win this game, especially because, you know, it's at PPJP paints arena. And if Carolina does win it, you know, they'll probably be in the Metropolitan Division. I'm looking to see when they play next year. So they play Nashville on Friday, and then they travel to Pittsburgh. So if they beat Nashville at home, Carolina will overtake the Penguins for the top spot in the Metro,

just because they'll have the three games in hand. So Penguins, yeah, you know, they're going to have to win that game to keep pace in the Metropolitan Division. You know, the Hurricanes are one of the. best teams in hockey. They have a monster top stakes with, you know, Tevotarabine and Sebastian Arho, Vincent Trochecks, Spachnikov, Seth Jarvis, you know, Jordan Stahl on the bottom six, Yesperer Fasperfoss, Nino Niederwriters, Yersperi, Jorten-Martin-Uk, I mean, it's deep. That's one of the best teams in hockey, the Penguins are going to have their hands full, that they can't give up the odd man rushes that they gave up against Toronto.

I think, you know, just off the top of my head, it was around 14 or 15 from what I wrote down here in my notes. So, Carolina is also a great team in transition, excuse me, they have a lot of great finishers. The Penguins are going to have to really clean up defensively if they're going to win this game defensively. Jacob Slavin is incredible. I would kill to have him on the Penguins. I think he's probably the most underrated defenseman of hockey. Great in both the offensive and the defensive zones. It has awesome underlying numbers. He's probably not getting as much Norris love as he should this season. I know obviously Fox and Headman and McCarr and Latang and Yossi have been great,

but, you know, Slavin's been right up there. He's so much fun to watch. You know, Brady Shea with Peschi. Pesci, again, as another player who I think is ridiculously underrated. You know, he's great in a top four role. He's been banged up at the times, but, you know, this is still a pretty good player. And then, you know, old friend, An Cole on the bottom pair, Tony DiAngelo on the top pair. Of course, he's easy to make fun of it. I'm sure Frederick Anderson is going to give start in this game. Anderson, you know, he's been one of the best goals he's in hockey this year. It's something that I didn't see coming just because of how banged up he's been.

It's pretty crazy. You know, he's second in the league right now, 24.9 goals stayed above expected, 928, 7% of average, just a ridiculous season that he is having just because of how, you know, injured he was for the Leafs last year. You know, just unbelievable with what he's been. able to do you know if we go to the underlying numbers overall for carolina 504% of the expected goals 59% of the actual goals at 585 they have a plus 36 goal differential they have 55% of the shot attempts every game um this is this is a jargonaut um this is why i would love to see these two

teams go out in the playoffs because you know i know how deadly carolina is but i also now how i also know how good pittsburgh is and i know that this team can play with them in a seven game series and we're about to find out just how, you know, these teams match up on Sunday. And it's just, it's going to be a great match. Remember, it's an afternoon game. I'm just checking the time here for you all. Just double checking here. Yeah, one o'clock game on Sunday, NHL Network.

So if you have ESPN Plus, I don't believe it's going to be on that. So I'm going to have to find a different streaming site for that. But Penguins, back home, Carolina on Sunday. I have another episode coming up for you all. on Friday. I know it wasn't the Penguins Night on Thursday, but again, as I said in the beginning, this is a game, you just crumble it up with a little paper, throw it in the trash. That's all you got to do. But again, thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I really do appreciate it. And I will be back on Friday for another episode. I'll talk to you

all then.