Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The Pittsburgh Penguins may be cooked...

Episode Date: April 27, 2022

That game might have been the final nail in the coffin for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Hunter starts out the show by confirming that he's had enough of the team's recent play and goes on a rant about how this loss was, at least to him. He first lays into Mike Sullivan for changing up the lines for no apparent reason and how that's one of the main reasons they likely lost this game. It looked to be doomed before it even started. He goes into what line changes need to be made for the next game and for the playoffs as the Penguins look to somehow do some damage. He then looks at how the team continues to play atrocious defense and looks at some of the gaping errors that were made on the ice tonight. Where is it all starting? What is causing all of these issues to continually happen? He also slams the team for continuing to give up goals right after they get back into it as that killed any momentum that they got from the Carter goal. He also brings up the issues that people feared heading into the season, including some player's regression, the lack of a true backup to Jarry, and so much more. He also does a deep dive into what went wrong on all of the goals against and which areas need to be cleaned up for the playoffs. All that, plus much more on this episode of Locked On Penguins.Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!HelloFreshGo to HelloFresh.com/lockedon16 and use code lockedon16 for up to 16 free meals AND 3 free gifts.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.Shady RaysEXCLUSIVELY FOR OUR LISTENERS, HEAD TO SHADYRAYS.COM AND USE CODE LOCKEDON TO GET FIFTY PERCENT OFF TWO OR MORE PAIRS OF POLARIZED SUNGLASSES. 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, was that the worst game of the year for the Pittsburgh Penguins? I think that might have to qualify. You know, you're going to get all the facts from me in this one. This is not going to be a very positive-centric episode. I will warn you all right now before I hit the drop. We're going to recap this, you know, the best I can. I'm going to be as objective as I usually am. And, you know, I got all my notes here.

And let's just get right into it. Here comes a full recap episode of this awful loss. the penguins of the Oilers tonight right after this drop. 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 am your host, Hunter Hodes. We're going to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the shows Twitter, L.O.S. or Penguins. If you are listening to this episode, just know I love you. I don't know how you're going to go out of your way. to listen to an episode where I am about to just lay into the team for everything that happened tonight. And, you know, just been what's been season-long issues, month-long issues. Nobody is safe tonight.

That includes Sidney Crosby. That includes Mike Sullivan. That includes everyone in the Penguins organization right now. What that two and a half hours just was. It was humiliating, embarrassing, disgusting, flat out, just awful by the penguins. I get very 2015 vibes when I've been watching them lately. And that's not good.

I mean, remember, you know, they had Crystal Tang go down just a few games for the playoffs. They weren't playing well going into that. And, you know, they lost five games. They had a tied one-one series against the Rangers going back to P.BGipchip in the arena. And then they lost the last three games. And then, you know, there were some serious changes made. obviously the Penguins went on to win a couple cups in a row, but I don't see that happening here.

That's to say the least, you know, I've been an optimist all year. You know, you've heard me on this podcast say numerous times that you guys are all returning listeners. This team's a contender. They're going to be fine. They're going to figure this out. And I remember after that loss in Denver,

I say, you know what? They're going to continue to play like this in the month of April. You know, they should have gotten a point or maybe even a win out of that game. I wasn't concerned. ever since then, though, this has just been a downward slide by the penguins that I didn't see coming. Everything has gone wrong. The power plays in a two-for-26 funk. Kennedy kills gone down a little bit.

The goaltending hasn't been as good. The 5B-5 play hasn't been good. They're getting outskated on a nightly basis. At this point, the net front play has been awful. We heard its ugly head again tonight on a couple goals. everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for the penguins. And you know what? For tonight's game especially, it all started at the morning skate.

And some of you may be like, well, you know, you've got to give those lines a shot. You know, maybe what if they would have won the game? And I'm like, you know, with those kind of lines, you know, my confidence went down. And sure enough, you know, when you put Brock McGinn and, you know, friend of the show, great person. But when you're playing him in the top six and you're making changes, for the sake of making changes, what's the point?

Sure, you lost a bad game in Philadelphia, whatever, second half of a back-to-back. Keep your top six intact. I just, I don't understand it. And you're going to put Jason Zucker, I know he got hurt again tonight, with a worse center in Jeff Carter, who is not having a good year

ever since, you know, he started those first 10 to 20 games. Of course, he was rewarded with an extension that continues to look worse and worse. I'm probably going to get to that a little bit. later on in this episode. But, you know, it just, it all just reeks again of, you know, I'm going to do something for the sake of it.

I'm going to throw crap of the wall and hope that it sticks. And that was part of it. You know, McGinn, I know he has 12 goals this year, but, you know, even strength-wise offensively, he sucks the life out of offense. I don't know why Mike Sullivan wanted to put him with the beginning Malk. And I understand you want to get Gino going. His 5-E-5 play, I think has been mainly fine,

but still it's not up to his usual standards. But you keep Jason Zucker in that spot. And, you know, maybe if you want to put Raquel down there and move Brian Rust up, I think I'd be maybe a little more okay with that. I still disagreed with moving Raquel off the Crosby line. That line's been, I know, their best line for the last week or two. You know, ever since Ricard Raquel came over and they started off with some shifts on the sideline before they, you know, eventually made it a little bit of a full-time thing.

It's been one of the best lines in hockey. And to just abandon that after a few games. I don't get it to say at least. These lines were not it. Casperi Capitant and he was on the third line. He's basically unplayable at this point in the third period just made brutal passes up to the point, you know, side to side.

No one was in the area. He's got to be benched. He is doing nothing right now to warrant being, having played in on the roster. I would put Brian Boyle over him at this point. And, you know, I didn't think I'd be saying that, but, you know, with how bad caputin was tonight,

you know, he hasn't earned his ice time. At the end of the day, that is how it is. He has not earned his ice time. Sorry. I mean, that's just, that's how I see it. You know, there's another issue that was very, you know, it weird its ugly head again tonight as well. and again, the penguins, they get back in the game, they tie it,

and everything's looking better again. It's finally a gang, you know, who knows what happens. Not 30 seconds later, excuse me, 25 seconds later, Boydlers come back, Evander Cain gets his 22nd of the year. And it's like, this has been a recurring problem for the last few months. And I'm going to pull up a stack here. You know, it's funny, my uncle Kenny, you know, if you ever listen to this podcast, thank you for sending me this.

This goes back to March 11th. They played Vegas. 103 seconds after the penguin scored, Vegas got a goal. Carolina, 14 seconds after the penguin scored, they gave up a goal. Nashville, in Nashville, a minute and a half after the penguin scored,

they gave up a goal. April 2nd, twice against the avalanche. Within 30 seconds, they gave up a goal the other way. And actually, I could say on April 5th against the abs, this one was in Pittsburgh, 31 seconds later against the capitals, 16 seconds later after the Penguins scored to go up 1-0 very early on.

They gave up another goal. Islanders, 53 seconds, Red Wings, 78 seconds. Philadelphia, 59 seconds. Edmonton tonight, 25 seconds. I know a couple of those were empty netters. But that has been a very big issue for the Penguins all month long. It has not changed. And if they're going to play like this in the playoffs, they are going to get swept.

That's the reality of the situation. I try to be an optimist as much as I can. I try to be as level-headed as I can on this show for you all. But with how this team is playing and just the vibe I'm getting, they don't have it this year. It looks like, honestly, it's the end of a near 20-year run. That's how I see. You know, the team that I saw in December, January, February, hell,

even a lot of March, it's not existent right now. this team that I am watching for this last month, it's not the team I saw for 8 to 10 to 12 weeks early on in the season. They are a shell of their former selves right now. There was no pushback at all against the Oilers tonight. It looked like there was no loyalty, no spirit, no heart, anything like that. And I try not to bring up those intangible was a lot on this podcast. Some of those is overrated.

But it looks like a team that was just, just skating in mud all game long. And, you know, that's, that ain't going to work. No matter if they play the Rangers or the Panthers next week, it's a 50-50 shot. At this point, who the Penguins are going to play, the Capitals did lose tonight, 4 to 1 to the Islanders. And if the Capitals lose again to the Islanders on Thursday, all the Penguins need to do on Friday is beat the Blue Jackets at home.

And they will play the Rangers in the first one. Otherwise, if Washington wins their last two games, it will be Capital. Rangers and Penguins, Panthers, but just a total lackluster effort. I'm going to dive deep into the goals that were scored by the Oilers in the second segment, but I really just had to rant for this first segment. This was the loss that really I think has turned me to the other side, that this is not the Penguins here.

I know, again, I said for a long time that this team was a contender and it's all going to be fine, but, you know, right now, I would love for them to prove me wrong. I don't see it. That's, that's me, though. I thought that's how I see it. So I know my rant was maybe a little all over the place, but I just, I tried to put my thoughts together and, you know, be as clear as I can for you all and what I am seeing and what I am watching with this team. It's just, they are a very hard watch right now, to say the least. in the second segment, I'm going to go over the goals that were scored against the Penguins and you know what needs to change for that heading into the playoffs.

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So the goals that were scored tonight, let's break them all down. here. First one, I personally think to Casey Disman should have had that. He really wasn't screened too hard on that Bouchard one. It went glove side and people are always going to say the glove side and quotation marks, but it looked like he saw it all the way to me. I think, you know, if he's able to make that save, you know, maybe the game turns out different, probably not, but, you know, it's at least a different, maybe different dynamic. Second one, again, Jeff Carter ties the game after not having a good game, crowds back into it. Penguins have the momentum, you know, they're pushing a little bit, 25 seconds later.

Brock McGinn gets toasted by Connor McDavid. No clue why he's on the ice against him. And then Evan Rane's able to finish off a chance because all the penguin skaters are standing flat in the defensive zone. And that's a trend as well that I've been noticing a lot lately. I don't know why the team defense has fallen off a cliff like this. I think a good part of it has to do with their play in the neutral zone. whenever the puck gets, you know, into the defensive zone, the skaters are just, they're skating in mud, and they're not moving their feet.

And they're also failing to get the puck out on a lot of clear attempts. I was noticing that a lot tonight, too. The penguins would have the puck on their stick in the defensive zone. And numerous times, they're not able to get the puck out. You know, they're doing these heathen pray praise, heath and pray plays, excuse me, that I like to call them where, you know, you're just, you're praying to God. that an oiler is not, one of the opposition players, one of the opposing players, I cannot speak tonight, Jesus Christ, one of the opposing players is not jumping up and putting the puck down back in the offensive zone or, you know, pinning the puck against the glass

and then dumping it around. And, you know, that was killing the penguins a lot tonight. And, you know, especially on that first goal, you know, they had multiple attempts to get the puck out before Bouchard scored. And, you know, you know what Jeff Carter was on the ice for that one. he's been playing a lot of third line minutes lately. He cannot keep playing those. That's for sure I would honestly put Teddy Blueiger up there. Just to send a message, I think he's been playing better than Carter at this point.

I understand Carter scored tonight. But had he not scored that goal, this was probably one of his worst goals of the year. And again, need I not remind you that he's still signed for two more years after this. And his play is continuing to dip pretty far at this point. It's just looking like a really bad contract right now for one next on. You know, I was fine with that. I was fine with that at the time because he was playing good.

That's the thing. You know, his points for 60 was actually decent league-wide. He was producing. Defensively, he was not bad. Now he's just getting cratered on a nightly basis at this point. And his age is really starting to show. I think this was the player that everyone was expecting the Penguins were going to get last year. And then obviously, Carter goes on that massive heater, starts out of the year playing really well, too.

And then, you know, since then he has, he's not been the same player. that's for sure. So again, going back to the second goal, too, you know, just again, just really bad team defense. Everyone is just standing still. There's no communication it looks like. It bucks in the back of the net.

Third period. Orlers make it three to one. I mean, there's nothing doing defensively in that zone. I mean, Zach Heimann gets an easy rebound. I mean, there's Chad Ruehdle and Chris LaTang are right in front of Casey to Smith. They have an outman two to one with Hyman down there. And you're telling me you can't get Hyman out of the way

so he doesn't put the Oilers up three to one. Just the net front problems continue to be a problem for the Penguins. And I touched on this on my Monday episode when I was talking about the Flyers game, you know, when Noah Cates of all people is scoring two goals against you right in front of the net with deflections, what is going to happen when you have to play one of Chris Kreider or Patrick Hornquist in the first round of playoffs?

They are going to eat this team alive, one of those two, at least will, in a seven-game series. And it's not going to be pretty. And that's for him, sure. I am very concerned about that aspect for the playoffs for the Penguins. The fourth one, Connor McDavid. What a shot. I mean, that's just ridiculous by him. Casey DeSmith made himself, I think, way too low.

M.M.A. And, you know, DeSmith tonight, I'm not really going to blame him too much. but I would have liked to see a couple more saves. But the overarching thing, and I saw this on the timeline, and it's hard not to argue this. Wouldn't it be better right now with a 1B goaltender? I'm not going to sit here and say they should have gone on with a trade deadline.

I think that's totally, I think it's irresponsible to say. But there were some available over the offseason. And one of my good buddies, Jason from Penguins, Twitter, for those that are not on social media, you know, Rimer only signed for two, $2.25 million per. I hate to say this. Brock McGinn, love him, friend of the show, has 12 goals this year,

but hasn't brought a lot of offense outside that. I mean, it's 500K more he's making. You could have given that $2.25. You could have given his contract to James Reimers. And potentially, you know, we're singing a different tune right now, you know, if they're getting, you know, maybe a little bit of better goaltaining. Because the goaltending, you know, down the stretch, I know, just Smith has played, you know, mostly fine.

but, you know, Tristan Jari, he wasn't able to get the time off that he needed. And, you know, now he's banged up. And he had to play way too much early on because DeSmith was not playing well. They didn't have a reliable backup at the time. And they got lucky that he turned his game around a little bit. But, you know, it still frightens me that going into the playoffs, most likely, Tristan Jari is not going to be healthy. He hasn't even started to skate yet.

It's been almost two weeks since he broke his foot. And there's no chance that he's going to be ready for game one. Unless he just pulls a miracle out of a hat here. And the Penguins are going to have to go in here riding Casey to Smith and their coattails on him. So it's just something that I'm very much worried about to say the least. But, you know, again, the Penguins' defensive issues continue to just play the team. And again, there are so many moments where the Penguins were just coughing up the puck numerous times, both in the defensive zone, the neutral zone.

Heck, even in the offensive zone when the Penguins had the puck, passing it to nowhere. Evgeny Malkin had so many egregious passes. This was probably one of his worst games of this season. I think he's had. It was just nothing was working for him. Again, I partly say that having Brock McGill on his line is not good. It's never been a good thing.

I would like to see Mike Sullivan change that going into the final game of the regular season against Columbus. But, you know, we'll see. at this point. The lone goal was scored by Jeff Carter. It was a nice, you know, bounce off the end boards. You know, he's almost at 20 now for the season. Nice for him to get that.

But, you know, that's really the only good thing, I guess, I can say about this game. You know, maybe other than Choward Riedel really starting to gain more confidence in his play, I really like how he's continuing to jump into the play offensively a lot more. I just, I'm sorry, guys. I just don't have the vibes right now. I haven't felt this somber about the Penguins since the 2014-15 season. It just seems like this is truly the end of a near 20-year run by this team and this core.

I would love to be proven wrong, but I just, my confidence is cratered. Nothing's been fixed. The finishing hasn't regressed. You know, they didn't replace Jared McCann. when they decided to trade him, I still think that's haunting the penguins. Imagine if they protected him and Nacus Gray captain

with how he's playing right now. Season potentially looks a lot different, especially with how McCann has played, the contract he signed. I think that's a decision that's going to haunt raw next on Brian Burke for years to come. That's for sure.

And again, you know, not getting a goaltender over the off season to help Tristan Jari, I think, is going to really fight this team in the playoffs. And, you know, I also think going into next year, I know it's maybe a little too early to say this. They're going to have to go out and get another defenseman that can move the puck and is a bit more offensive. Chris is saying even if he is back, he's great, but he's not going to play at this level for this much longer. Mike Matheson's great.

But after that, you have players that don't bring a lot of offense. I mean, Pedersen's a good defensive defenseman. John Marino's offensive game is never going to come out, I think, at this point. Traver-Reedle has been no better at activating himself, but he's still mainly a defensive defenseman. Brian Dumlin looks cooked. You might have to go out and get a top four guy. And you might have to pay up to get one too. And there's just like there, I just,

I feel like right now there's so many holes that are plaguing this team that are really coming to life. And, you know, I was definitely ignoring them early on the season when the team was looking like a contender because it looked like the penguins were going to be able to get by those shortcomings. But right now, you know, when everything just comes to a head, it just, it looks bad. say the least.

So a little more to get to for this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. Before I get to that, though, you can say time and money when using Rock Auto. Rock Auto is a feeling of business. Serving do your cellpers for over 20 years. The prices are right below for every customer. They have everything you need from brake parts,

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I'm going to follow me on Twitter, 100 Hodes. Follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. I'm stuttering. Very bad there. I very much apologize for that.

I feel like I've said almost everything I've wanted to say with this episode. I didn't want to get to some of the underlying numbers tonight from the lines on the least that we saw. So let's take a look at it here. So the McGinn-Malk and Raquel line, 28% of the shot attempts at even strength,

80% of the scoring chances, so a little bit better there. 79% of the expected goals, but they still got out of attempt to do it oblivion. The Hinen-Kartor-Captain line was really bad. They had 10% of the expected goals. They had 11% of the shot attempts. Oh, square chances lies. They had 25% of those.

I never want to see that third line again. Dana He is a much better player than people give him credit for. He should not be playing with Jeff Gardner and Kisbury Kappen. Again, Kisbury Kappen should not be in the lineup right now. I have had enough of him with how he's playing. He needs to be scratched for game 82 and probably for game one of a Stanley Cup playoffs. The Genslow-Crosby-Rust line was on ice for 54% of the shot attempts, but only had an expected goals rate of 14%.

38% of the scoring chance of score. You will not see that again from Cindy Crosby. I think he's going to take that very personally going into the last game of the season and into the playoffs. He's going to be pissed after this because you don't usually see his line, even when Brian Russ is on it, get stifled like that. No matter who they play in the playoffs, whether it's the Rangers or the Panthers, he is going to be absolutely livid. And it's very weird that of all teams, the Oilers are going to shut them down,

because the Oilers are not known for being a good defensive team. I mean, their defensive courts, they're terrible. I mean, they were down darn-nail nurse tonight. Oscar Clefarms out for the year. I mean, their best defenseman tonight is basically what Evan Bouchard, and he's a second pairing guy, Cody C, C, C, Duncan, Keith, Chris Russell. I mean, the fact, you know, only scoring one goal on those defensemen. It's, you know, pretty embarrassing to say the least.

So I definitely think, and I hope that the forward lines are definitely switched going into the next game. Defensive lines, I don't think there are, I mean, defensive parents, I don't think they're going to change them that much. I don't really think they need to do anything on there. But, you know, there's one more game here. I said, these last five games are going to tell me a lot and they have so far, the first two looked good. I said, okay, you know, maybe things are going back in the right direction. I said after the flyer's lost, okay, what if it turns around again on Tuesday? And boy, was I wrong.

You know, right now, everything's telling me that this team is going to either get swept in the first round or, you know, losing five games. I just, nothing is going right for them right now. Again, you know, for, you know, if you prefer one matchup with the other, if the Capitals win in their last two games, they will play the Rangers, the Penguins will play the Panthers. If the Capitals lose on Thursday, all the Penguins have to do on Friday is either win against the Blue Jackets or the Capitals lose no matter what. That's the situation there. for the Penguins. I was very surprised. I think that Mike Sullivan

did not really say much to the media after the game. He didn't really lay into the team. I guess he has some sort of loyalty to this group. Though I did see a report from Jesse Marshall during the game. Someone asked him,

how concerned are you about the team right now? He said about 7.7. And then I think someone else asked him, do you think Mike Sullivan is back next year? And Jesse had a very interesting answer where he said, I don't know what the ownership group is going to do, but it's definitely not looking that good right now, to say the least.

So if this team is out early again, could we see a coaching change? Could arguably the best head coach in this franchise's history be out during the offseason? Could the Penguins be looking for a new head coach in this Indian Crossby era after seven full seasons of my being the head coach, you know, who knows, to say at the least there. But, yeah, bad vibes all around right now. there's nothing the Penguins are doing good. And maybe they flip a switch next week, maybe starting on Friday against the Blue Jackets, who knows?

But right now, Yins, I don't see it. I just, it's too many red flags for me. And, you know, they look like, at least in terms of contenders, they're at the bottom of the barrel. That's how I see it. That I think we'll do it for this episode of the Locktime Hingland's podcast. I appreciate all of you listening to the, this one if you somehow made it to the end.

I very much appreciate you, you know, even though I just basically ragged on the team for 26 minutes. I did, I did forget, though, the power play again was abysmal tonight. The puck movement was, they're overpassing like crap, and, you know,

they're not, they're still not finishing their chances. There were just so many brain dead moments I thought from the Penguins on the main advantage, and it doesn't look like it's going to get fixed. Anytime soon. Brian Russ continues to also play like under garbage he's not hitting the net it's not producing i believe it's now a seventh or eighth game in a row where he hasn't even a point um that's not boating well for his chances to be signed

with the team next season i don't want to see him play like that on the team if he's going to get a long-term extension uh that's for sure if the penguins do want to go down that road um but again thank you all so much for listening to this episode of the show i very much appreciate it if it was you know if it was all back and forth between different things i apologize I tried to be, you know, as strict and concise as I can be. I'm just, you know, I'm fed up with what I'm seeing, and I know you all are right now as to, you know, this team looks dead. And, you know, prove me wrong.

That's all I can say. Make me eat some grow at this point. But again, thank you all so much for listening. I'll be back with another episode on Wednesday and then Thursday. And, of course, on Friday, I believe I'm going to have Taylor Hauss on from D.K. Pittsburgh Sports. And then the playoff star, and we'll see what this team. can do. So thank you all so much. I'll be back with you all for a fresh episode of the

Walktime England's podcast on Wednesday.