Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins get a point and that's...totally fine

Episode Date: March 24, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins didn't bring their best and well, we all saw what happens when they don't do that. They dropped their second of the year to the Buffalo Sabres in a shootout, 4-3. The Penguins didn't deserve a point in this one and Hunter makes sure to jam that point home to everyone at the top of the show. But the fact that they did, shows that this is a damn good team. He goes into the goals that were scored and how rare it is for the three main core players to all score in the same game, but the team still lost. He also touches on the goals against and how those situations can be avoided in the future, plus goes into some players who the teams need more out of right now, especially Brian Dumoulin. WHat's been troubling him? How can he get his mojo back? Does he need to sit for a few games? Hunter also analyzes Casey DeSmith's performance in both regulation/overtime, and then the shootout as he made himself look way too small. He also pleads the Penguins to try and be less boring in shootouts going forward, even if they mean nothing come playoff time. 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.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.Athletic GreensAthletic Greens is going to give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit athleticgreens.com/NHLNETWORK. 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, the Pittsburgh Penguins drop a tough one on Wednesday night, too. The Buffalo Savers, a four to three shootout loss. They get a point, so three out of four points for the Penguins in their last two games. They dropped to 88 points on the season, two more away from being 90, which, you know, basically at this point, six wins away from getting to 100 points, which would just be awesome. I have a full game recap coming up right for you all after this job. I'm going to go into all the struggles that came tonight for the Panthers.

And, you know, honestly, why I thought that was the case. Crystal Ting's goal, of Gini Malkinskoll, Schall, Sydney Crosby School, Casey Dismunds play, all of that and much more coming up on this episode of the Locked on Penguins 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, and welcome back to another episode of the Lodon. Locked-on Penguins podcast.

I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. All this shows, Twitter, at L.O. Orn's War Penguins. So Penguins, they drop a tough one tonight, four to three to the Sabres. In a game that, you know, honestly, five minutes into the game,

the vibes were definitely not there, to say the least. This was a game that, you know, it was a typical late, a mid-to-late-march game against one of the worst teams in the league. and you're already in the playoffs, you won against a team

that's in ninth place the night before, and you're basically like, you know what, we're probably going to save ourselves for Friday in New York. I'm pretty sure they did. We're not going to bring our best effort. I know the players are going to say,

well, we've got to bring our best effort every game. You know, we left points out there and all that. There are two points back from Carolina right now when it could have been won. But at the end of the day, every team in the NHL has a game like this. Multiple, I should say. Where, you know what?

You just don't have. And the fact that the penguins even got to overtime and then a shootout when they didn't have it. I mean, that just goes to show how good this team is. And even on nights that they don't have it, they can still score, especially, you know, when the big guns do all three, all three of the main core players scored tonight. According to Bob Grove, this was the first time, I believe, in the Sydney Crosby of Guinea Monk and Crystal Tanger that all three have scored in the same game and they've lost. It just does not happen very often. Hell, when Sin and Geno's school in the same game, they have,

I believe it's less than five regulation losses, only a couple of overtime losses. Obviously, this one will qualify. It is very rare when both of them score in the same game, and the Penguins lose. So definitely a lot of rare feats tonight, but, you know, again, this was a game where the Penguins did not have it.

At the end of the day, they didn't bring their best hockey. They played much better on the night before against Columbus, and I understand that. It's a divisional game. It's against the team that, you know, it's kind of your little. little brother in a way it's a metropolitan division game and now you go from there for less than

24 hours later you're playing a buffalo savers team that's really playing for pride at this point even though they're now five and one in their last six games this has been a definitely a better season for the sabers i know they're not that good but you know compared to last year with where they were um you know especially when ralph coogear was their coach of the team um don granado definitely has those guys ready to play um on an every night basis so i thought buffalo looked pretty good you know they were obviously the, they had more rest coming in in this game. But, you know, I'm not going to take anything away from the Penguins. I thought, you know, even though they played like crap, they had multiple chances to win

it in the overtime. And they still got the point to be up eight points up on the capitals with the same game. So 17 games to go between those two teams, it's going to be very hard for Washington to move up. I actually saw this stat. When I was looking at the stand, someone posted this on Twitter, I think. It was about mid-February, about February 12, February 13th, we're not. in March 23rd. Penguins had played 49 games. Capos have played 50. Now we're both at 65. So the Cowboys played 15. Penguins have played 16. The gap has gone up by one point. The capitals were

seven points back about five weeks ago. They're now eight points back with only five, basically five weeks left in the season. That is how hard it is to catch a team like that in the standing. So right now, again, the Penguins are, it's most likely they're going to be locked into the 2-3 and the 2-3, unless they have this, you know, this monumental collapse with 17 games of them and knock on wood for you all. You know, I thought, you know, if, how do I want to say this? Against probably any other team in the league, hell, maybe even Arizona, the Penguins probably lose this game in regulation. You know, with how Montreal is playing lately, I think Montreal probably beats this. them in regulation. Arizona, you know, maybe they,

maybe they're good enough to get to overtime, but, you know, it was just, that was how bad the Penguins play. This was probably their worst performance, um, you know, six to eight weeks or something like that.

I, I cannot remember a time, um, you know, in a while where they looked this flat, I mean, this lethargic, but, you know,

they're saving themselves. The schedule coming up is about to get really nasty. They have the Rangers three times in basically two weeks. Colorado, Minnesota, Boston twice. These games are only going to get tougher down the stretch. So I really have no problem with them dropping a point. Cindy Krazi was able to get the tying goal right after Penguins killer,

Tage Thompson opens the scoring. And, I mean, Tage Thompson's approaching Jordan Everly territory at this point. This guy scores at will against the Penguins had two goals against him. the goal is 26 and 27 for him on the season. Hell, he scored against them a bunch last season. I'm pretty sure in one of the two games this year, he also scored against them. He is a Penguins killer right now.

No matter what they do, they can't seem to stop him. But, you know, Sid, just a few seconds after that first goal is able to tie it, goes five whole. He is playing some really high-level hockey right now. That's now six points in his last three games. He now has now has 1,390 points. Actually, I'll raise that 1,391. I'm going to get to the other goal in just a second.

He is now five points back of Alex Ovechkin. He's 24th all time with Brett Hull for the most points in initial history, nine away from 1400. So congratulations to say he's probably going to hit 1,400, probably in the next few games, to be honest. That's going to be a great milestone. He'll probably hit 1,500, if not next season, the season after that, which is just going to be even better.

accomplishment at this point. Evgeny Malkin gets the penguins some puck luck. That was awesome. I mean, I even tweeted that on my social media. It is very rare when the penguins get a bounce the way they did with that genome goal. He just, you know, it's a harmless puck to the front of the net, goes off of Yoki Haru's skate, goes five hole past Anderson. I think that's the first time the penguins have scored a goal like that this year.

They probably had it scored against them about four to five times. but the penguins have definitely, you know, they may have not gotten that kind of bounce to say the least. So on the fact that they did, that was nice, the penguins were being outplayed in that second period, just like they were the entire game. That goal came with a little less than 90 seconds left in that period. So to be tied going into the second, that's massive.

Obviously, Tage Thompson scores again, but Crystal Tang is able to tie it and get the penguins at least a point. Shout out to Mike Sullivan for, that timeout. That is a Jack Adams worthy timeout right there. I thought that was tremendous. You know, he saw there was an opportunity because they were getting a lot of chances. He knew it was late in the game. He also knew that they were probably not going to get another power play after this, but you know what? He made that good play, called the timeouts, a 200 IQ play, as I like to say sometimes on the podcast, puts the unit for first unit back out there,

set play. Crystal Tang is able to bury it. Todd Reard, and goes absolutely crazy on the bench. Like Mike Madison's almost like punching him and something like that. Really nice to see him and the rest of the team fired up because that I thought was a great coaching moment from Mike Sullivan to say the least. So obviously, we're going to get to the overtime coming up in the next segment.

Those are the goals that were scored. One of them was obviously a bit lucky. The first one was just a nice shot five hole. And then, you know, the other one, Crystal Tang, no chance. The power play has been struggling a lot lately. but that it was the power play was also the main reason that the penguins got at least a point in this game so that's big and especially because the power play has been in like a one for 21 one for 22 drought before this game and before last night as well so that that was

just really huge I think for the penguins you know also for a Gany Malcon's goal 13th goal already in the season he's only played two and a half months he's already equaled there He's already equal Danton Hinen's goal number. I know Hinen's been pretty good this year, but no, this is one of the best players in the league in that Ganyi Malkin. But still have a lot to get to for this episode, including the defensive, excuse me, and efficiencies that we saw throughout the night.

Casey DeSmith's performance and who I thought regressed from last night. But before we get to that, with Hello Fresh, you get Farm Fresh pre-Portion ingredients and seasonal recipes delivered right to your doorstep, skip trips to the grocery store, and count on Hello Fresh to make. home cooking, easy, fun, and affordable. That's why it's America's number one meal kit.

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We're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So about the defensive inefficiencies tonight, the Penguins were pretty porous in the defensive zone. That was just really bad stuff. Penguins making a lot of just ill-advised decisions,

I guess, is the way to say. it. You know, they were lucky, honestly, that Buffalo didn't score five or six goals in regulation with some of the safes that Casey DeSmith had to make. There's just a lot of, you know, I think, you know, Trump Marino made a couple really bad decisions. You know, the goal that Tage Thompson actually scored about a minute into the third period. It was mainly, you know, just two players behind the day. It was boiled that didn't really know what he was doing. I think it was also Roodle. And they just like, you know, Thompson come out right in front and then he's going to fire that pass to Smith who tried to make a diving save. I mean, that's a save

that he's probably going to make one out of ten times. There's no reason for two players to be behind the net in that situation. I know Boyle is kind of falling on top of Ruby Edel there. Speaking of, Boy, I thought he probably had his worst game of the season tonight. He's been a great story. He's impressed a lot of people, but I don't think he can play in the playoffs when this team is fully healthy. I mean, I just think, you know, his legs were definitely showing his old lakes, I should say, we're definitely showing tonight, at least in my opinion. So, you know, you just, you know, it's, I'm sure he'll be fine on Friday against the Rangers, but, you know, that just, that, that defensive laps can't happen.

Speaking of Marino, I know he pivoted to boil a little bit. He should have had an easy clear on Buffalo's second goal from Gergenson since you guys eighth of the year. Oposo basically puts the puck in front of the neck kind of a little bit to the side kind of a little bit. But the puck, I don't think it hops off Muno's stick. It just goes right by it. And Marino was right fricking there.

And he didn't get the clear Gergensen's berries it on blocker's side past Smith. And, you know, there's nothing in case he can do about that. I mean, that's just, you know, from 10 feet out. I don't even think Tristan Jari makes that save. But it was just, I thought, pretty bad defense there from John. You know, he's been playing better hockey for the most part lately. This was definitely, I think, a step in the wrong direction, in my opinion.

We'll see if he's able to correct it. on Friday. You know, Brian Dumlin, I don't know what's going on. I don't know if he's hurt. I don't know if it's just a full-on regression that we're seeing from him,

but this is probably the worst hockey. I think I've seen him play in a penguin uniform. He's not making good decisions with a puck. He's being hemmed in his own zone and a lot more. It's almost like he's afraid to get hit just because he's nursing an injury or he's obviously, I think,

afraid to make a hit. as well. But it's definitely just not, it hasn't been there for a while now. And, you know, I applaud him if he's playing through an injury. I totally get that. But if he's not, you know, maybe you have to sit him for a game or two and let him get right. Because this is not the Brian Doom one that I think, you know, a lot of us are accustomed

to seeing, to say the least. So hopefully that gets cleaned up sooner or rather than later. Again, just really bad decisions in the defensive zone. It's kind of scared to take any sort of contact, making bad passes when he's coming into the offensive zone. I think his zone entries per 60 has gone down a little bit. He's not the same doomling with the puck that I remember from all these years. So I'm hoping, again, that does get corrected here in the stretch line and obviously into the playoffs when the Penguins inevitably do make it. As are some of the other positives, I thought Ricard Raquel was awesome tonight.

saved a goal, almost had the highlight goal of the year for the Penguins in overtime, split through the Sabers defense and just missed it past Craig. Pass Top Cheese on Craig Anderson. If that's just a little bit to the left, you know, he brings the house down and I'm sure a lot of Penguins fans are, including me, obviously I cover the team, are freaking the hell out right now. So really liked his debut. And I just, not his debut, really liked his second game.

and the fact that he's playing like this and he hasn't even had a full practice yet, excuse me, he's going to be just fine, at least in my opinion. So I'm definitely really excited to see what else there is to come from him. Chris Berry Caputant, I thought this was another step in the right direction again. You know, I didn't have a problem with anything he did tonight. He got a couple of good chances. I was skating with authority. He wasn't, you know, coming into the zone and button hooking back and looking for that pass or anything.

played five defensively to, you know, this is, I don't know if this is a flash in the pan. I don't know if the penguins are ever going to get back the version that we saw last year from Cappy, but this is, it's the best hockey we've seen him play all year, not even close, at least in my opinion. And, you know, Casey DeSmith, I thought he was okay tonight. You know, he's not nearly as bad as he was a couple of months ago. Obviously, that's probably not saying much. But, you know, two of the three goals I'm not really going to blame him for.

I thought the first one, the first H-1, made himself look way too small there. He kind of went down into a butterfly position from what I watched on replay a few times after I saw a goal. There was really no need to do that. I don't think if he just, you know, stands up a little taller and makes himself bigger in the net. He has a save there. The second one from Gurgensen's again, no shot. Third one, diving across, no chance. In the shootout, though, and I'm going to get to the shootout in the next segment

overall from a penguin skater point of view. I don't really know what he was doing on two of those three attempts. DeSmith had stopped 10 of his last 11 going into the shootout, which is pretty crazy. He's been a pretty good shootout goaltender for the Penguins series, also stopped 12 of 16 coming into tonight. And this was also, according to Bob Grove, you know, the first time he's allowed more than one shootout goal

in a game since 2018 when he made him. his shootout debut. So this is a goalie that usually makes saves, but for every reason tonight, made himself look way smaller than he normally does. Both Tage Thompson and Alex Tuck had the entire net to shoot out. I had a couple of people saying to me that, well, you know, Buffalo didn't have to deacon and all that stuff.

I'm like, well, yeah, again, I'm going to get to the penguin skater point of view with that. But I'm just like the savers have the entire net to shoot at. So I'm not really going to entertain that argument. I'm at least in my opinion. So kind of maybe a little bit of the mixed bag. I guess he was all right. I don't know how many more starts he's going to get down the stretch here. But, you know, he gave him a shot.

He was fine. I'm not really going to grill him too hard. This is Tristan Jari's team at the end of the day. If we're really getting mad about a backup goaltender, then, you know, that's a small problem with only so little the regular season left. Coming up in the next segment, I am going to get to more shootout struggles for the penguin skaters. and what the heck I think is going on, plus the overtime.

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off your order. That's promo code lock 15 for 15% off at built.com. We're back here on this episode of the locked on penguins podcast. I am your host, Honor Hodes. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodesol the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So in terms of the actual penguin shooters tonight in the shootout, and you know, at the end of the day, this is a very small thing to complain about. I'll just put that as a disclaimer out there for people that think I'm being a team or maybe I'm being too

I don't know if the word you know bitchy I guess or just a whiner 49er over here or whatever but at the end of the day I want to see more of the penguin shooters Deak in the shootout Cindy Crosby especially I know some fans are not going to want to hear this

trust me I love Cindy Crosby I've loved watching him for almost 20 years now he is awful in shootouts right now and he has been for a while I don't think that's a hot take he absolutely does nothing in the shootouts you look at the percentage

it's like oh wow he's taking a lot of attempts and he scored a lot of goals he must be really good but this year only one of five one of six last year it wasn't really that much better he does the same thing now comes in goes a little slow tries five hole goes home

he never tries a deke I just for once I want him to try something other than that same annoying move where he comes in

doesn't really do much and tries to go five four I think the goalies when the games go to a shootout they know what Sid does to say the least Brian Rust I applaud him for doing

what he did against Billy Huso last week he is I think he was five for five overall in shootouts coming into this one he just missed a goal by this much but still man I mean, I just want the players to change it up. I get so bored watching them in shiots.

And, you know, thank God there are no shootouts in the playoffs because the penguins have struggled in shiouts so much this year. Usually, this was automatic for the penguins, even just a few years ago. There would not be a time where they didn't win in shouts. And I know at times they had Mark Andre Florey, who's the greatest shootout goaltender in in in in-achal history. You know, you look at the stats.

I mean, he's number one. But, you know, that was when the times when the penguins actually, I guess, practice them and took them more serious. I know we don't see a lot more shootouts in the NHL now. And again, as for the Deeks thing, I don't really know if the players have some analytics that tell them not to.

I don't know. But what I do know is I want to see more of them if we do see another shootout this year. And, you know, next year and a year after that. I just, I think it's, I'm kind of tired of seeing the same thing over and over and over again. with his team in the shootout. You know, there's only, you know, especially, you know,

with Casey to Smith making himself look way too small there in those situations. Just, you know, you can't get Alex Tuck and Tage Thompson the whole net to shootout, as I said in the last second. That's just unacceptable to say the least. The overtime was dominated by Pittsburgh. They had the puck basically the entire time. Crater, I understand that had come up with a couple of massive saves. One of them of which was on Cindy Crosby.

again, I already touched on the Raquel thing. At the end of the day, you know, this is a game that the penguins, you know, they're going to throw in their tracks. They only had 43% of the shot attempts, 37% of the scoring chances, 29% of the high danger chances, 34% of the expected goals. It was pretty bad. They got outscore 3 to 1 of a 5-5. If it weren't for the two power play goals,

Pitts were aware of loss this game and regulation. So I'm not going to panic. no one else should. You know, it's not the end of the role that they lost this game. They got three out of four points in this back-to-back. The Penguins have gotten at least a point, actually, in 11 of their last 13 games. They are also 9 and 2 and 2 in those last 13 games.

So on a roll right now still, 88 points, 8 up on Washington, three up on the Rangers. And speaking of the Rangers, I'm going to have Rachel Knowns from the hockey writers on the show on Thursday to preview that massive matchup at Madison Square Garden, on Friday because that's probably a playoff preview, I think, at this point, and it's going to, you know, it's going to be a way of a game. So look for that to come out tomorrow evening. I think we're going to record around six or seven o'clock and then I'll have a full game recap episode

for you all on Friday. So that'll do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. And I will be back with you all on Thursday.