Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - The power play struggles are BACK, baby!

Episode Date: December 31, 2022

That's now four straight losses and yes, Hunter knows you all want to set everything on fire. Hunter starts Friday night's recap with the special teams' struggles and how that was the main difference in this game. He looks at what the power play did wrong and how it was a complete 180 from the last 12 games when the Penguins scored at least 1 PP goal in 11 of them. He dissects the zone entries and how the Penguins made it look effortless for the Devils to keep sending the puck down the ice, plus why Ty Smith needs to be a bit more polished at the point as the QB. Should the team return to POJ on the top unit until Kris Letang returns? He tries to answer that question before pivoting to how badly the top players played in this one. Is there cause for concern with Jake Guentzel? Hunter gives some stats about his recent play that don't put him in the best light and makes the point that this needs to change quickly. He even does the same for Sidney Crosby as he didn't look to be on his game, either. Hunter also analyzes Tristan Jarry's performance and how he probably should've had that third goal from Hischier while also blasting Malkin for not back-checking hard enough. All that, plus a lot more on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.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 “LOCKEDON15,” 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!NHTSADrive sober or get pulled over. Click HERE to learn more.  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.

Hello, everyone. Happy Friday evening, the day before New Year's Eve, you'll probably be listening to this honestly on New Year's Eve. I'm recording this, like honestly just right after the game here between the Penguins and the Devils. The Penguins have suffered their fourth straight loss. Still in third and fourth place in the Metropolitan Division right around there, but, you know, missed a big opportunity tonight to pick up two points in the standings as they let a late second period lead, slip away and lost three to two. We're going to touch on everything that went wrong for the Penguins in this game, starting with the special team. and how that was the main reason the thing was lost. We're going to get into Tristan Jari and how I did not like that third goal. Evgeny Malkins, poor back check, how I thought the third period win, especially with before checking, everything about the power play, all of that, plus so much more to recap on this episode of Lockedon Penguins,

and it comes right after this. You're Locked on Penguins. Your daily podcast on the Pittsburgh Penguins, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. your team every day. Hello and welcome back to another episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Honor Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Honor Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter,

L.A. Orsore Penguins. And of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. For those that are watching on YouTube, yes, the beard is gone. I probably look like I'm 12 years old now recording the show instead of the 25-year-old man that I actually am. But yes, it looks really interesting when I don't have a full beard on. But Devils 3 or Devils 4, I should say, Penguins 2 almost forgot the empty net or at the end. Penguins suffered their four straight loss.

And, you know, the main thing that we got to touch on first, power play. Dreadful performance from that unit. Nine power play opportunities. Garrett Rank, the Anshel Rath tonight, who decided to call every penalty, which is very rare in the NHL. You do not see a team get nine power play opportunities very often. The penguins squandered every single one. That is where the game was won and lost. And the Devils, further to their credit, nine penalty killing, not nine for nine on the penalty kill.

They also, I believe, got a power play goal. Special teams won the day. They won out. Penguins, they have the advantage on special teams coming into this game. You know, if you were to probably play this eight, nine other times, I would say the Penguins have been most of them. But tonight, I think, was the exception. Not the norm. But speaking, you know, just sticking with the power play,

what a terrible night it was for that unit. And yeah, you know, Ty Smith was quarterbacking. It's his first game. You know, I maybe would have done POJ up there just because I think, you know, he's more polished at this point working on the powerplay. I know, Smith is a, you know, good mobile defenseman who can move the puck well. But I just didn't see enough from him on that top powerplay to warrant him, you know, continuing getting those minutes.

I think after the third or fourth one. I would have made the change to POJ. And they did do that once. POJ actually did come on the top powerplay late in the second period. But when they had that four-minute double minor in the third period, right? And a little bit before that on some other power play opportunities, it was Ty Smith running the show. And especially at the end of the game,

when the Penguins were trying to mount a comeback with a six on five, it was Ty Smith there too. You know, I personally would have had POJ at the point running it. Just because, you know, I thought Ty had a fine debut, but I just wasn't a fan of those kind of weak wrist shots from the point. They just weren't really doing it for me, at least in my opinion. But outside of them, outside of him, I should say, all the top players on that unit were terrible tonight. Yes, I understand beginning Malcon's score, but power play-play-wise, I didn't really think he was that good.

I thought Cindy Crosby played one of his worst games of the season just was not there. A number of numerous opportunities tonight where the puck just bounced over his stick for whatever reason when he should have a couple tap-in goals. There was one in the third period. I should say, you know, Russ was able to get the puck over to him, but it just got over his dick. Usually Sid is able to corral that, but, you know, you know it's a bad night for him when he's not able to do that.

Jake Gensel, I thought he played awful tonight. We're going to touch on him a little later on in this episode because he's been a major problem for the Penguins lately, and I don't think enough people are talking that we're going to get into some of the stats, which, you know, really shows. So that Jake is just not happening this year. But, you know, the top players on the unit were bad. I thought the zone entries were atrocious. Penguins were just sending it into the zone, willy-nilly,

not really taking much care in the world with it. The devils are easily able to clear it. Again, I will credit the devils for going nine for nine on the PK, but I don't really think the penguins made them truly work for it. That's going to sound weird, especially if some Devils fans, tune into this show. And I'm not trying to discount, not. going nine for nine. Nine for nine is very good on the PK. They deserve credit for it.

It's the big talking point in the game. I'm just saying that I don't think the penguins, you know, did enough to just make it seem like, oh, wow, like this was, you know, amazing and all that. I think the penguins, you know, kind of gave it to them on a couple of those penalties, especially that four-minute double minor in the third period, you know, Brian Dumlin draws that penalty. Nice job by him. There's a little bit of blood near his lip. Penguins get that four-minute double minor do you guys even remember a good quality scoring chance on that? I sure don't. I mean, I have my notes right here.

A couple shots from the point from Ty Smith. That's it. Afghani Malkin didn't do anything. Jake Ansel didn't get any good looks. Cindy Crosby didn't get many good looks. Rickel before he was bumped down for Brian Rust. You know, they kind of made the devil's job a lot easier to be auspigans. You know, I just the penguins, their puck movement, I thought was also atrocious.

that they were doing right during that past 12 games stretch, right, where they had, you know, 11 out of their last 12 games where they had a power play goal, it all evaporated in this game. And yes, I know the Devils P.K. has some good players. Sharon Drovich is very good. Nico Hes, you have a shorthand goal tonight. That's hilarious on nine power play opportunities. The Peklins were outscored, one to nothing. That is embarrassing. That's sad. You know, I had some people, can ask some Devils fans coming to my mentions about that. Yes, That is, you know, the Penguins will take the L for that. You cannot allow that to happen.

You know, yes, for bad, I think also players on a penalty kill. But still, I don't think the Penguins made the Devils work, you know, nearly hard enough than they could have on the penalty kill. And it showed. The Penguins had numerous opportunities to take over this game when the Devils were taking, you know, clear penalties. There was one, remember, when the Penguins took the lead in the second period to one game, right? PO to about Jeff Carter gets the goal. The devils were about to challenge it. Nope.

They get a delay a game because they were taking too long. Penguins got power play there. You can really potentially go up 3-1. They act like there's not a care in the world, and they're just not doing anything. I'll go back to use another example, right? Penguins make it 1-0. Actually, no, no, no, excuse me.

The devil thought they tied it off a Dunkie Hamilton goal, right? But the ref calls it no goal. They said it was goal-interference. Lindy Ruff challenges it, loses it, the Penguins, get the power play because that's the rule, and there's a chance that right there to go up to nothing. It's a pivotal point in the game. Nope. No one wants to do anything.

The second unit, I think, was just as bad as the first unit. A really awful night for the Penguins power play. I cannot sugarcoat it for Yin's enough. This was probably the worst I've seen the power play all season, bar none, not even close. Even when they were struggling early on in the season, they were still getting some decent chances, I think, on the unit. In this one game, though, I can't even recall a single good chance that they had. They had some shots, sure, but how many of those were actual quality scoring chances? Yes, the devil's did a good job limiting them to the point and to the outside a little bit,

but the penguins, with how talented they are, I expect a lot better. O for nine, it's not good enough. They haven't been O for nine on the power play since 2009, according to Bob Grove. That's when they beat the Rangers 4 to 3 actually. So it's been almost 14 years since they had gone 0 for 9 on the power play. But special teams is where this game was won and where it was lost. I know some people are not going to like that explanation. But at 5B5, I think my original perception was a bit skewed because of the third period. I thought the Penguins did not play well at 5B5.

It was close at even strength. But, you know, with how many special teams power plays there were for both. teams. Penguins have the opportunity to win it there and these last few weeks where it's been very rare that they've lost special teams battle they did tonight. So that's where it was won and lost for me. That's how I see it. But that wraps up, I think, this first segment of today's episode. Coming up in the second segment, we're going to touch on Tristan Jari, how I didn't like that third goal that he gave up. We're also getting to what led to that third goal. And we're going to touch on Jake Denzel's struggles because it's been really bad for him as of late. But before I get

to that, say you're hanging out with some friends and putting back a few drinks, a few becomes a few too many as the evening comes to an end and people start to head out. You think of calling for a ride. Now you live near by, you can make it home okay. It's no big deal. What are the odds you'll get pulled over anyway? Even so, what's the worst that could happen? Your insurance goes up, you lose your license, you lose your job, you total your car, you kill someone. Everyone knows about the risk of driving drunk. The results are tragic. Amay are often very deadly. However, that does not stop everyone from getting behind the wheel while under the influence of alcohol. That's why police officers are out there right now looking for impaired

drivers on our roads to save lives. So if you think you're okay to drive after a few drinks, think again, especially when it comes to New Year's Eve tomorrow night. Play it safe and plan ahead and get a ride. It only takes one mistake to change your life or someone else's forever. Drive sober or get hold over. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter. at Honor Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, EleanorSore Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Have a wonderful new Penguins mug here that my girlfriend got me for the holidays.

I will, you know, I do not drink enough water, I think, during these shows. So, glad I am for this one. Oh, so let's get in nutrition, Jarmist's performance. Thought he was mostly fine. Overall, made some, uh, to us, I made some good saves. First two goals, really can't blame him for those. I mean, you know, the Hamilton one, Jake Gunzel was, we'll get, we'll get to that in a second. But the devil's basically had a five on four in that situation because Jake Insull was kind of cherry picking at the,

near the blue line. I actually passed the blue line and, you know, Ducky Hamilton has a wide open net. And then the other goal, no chance. That's a Jack Hughes, Rishaw people. I mean, he's one of the best players. He's going to do back to any goalie. And then the third goal, though, is where I have a problem. So it's, you're at the end of the second period.

2-2 game, you have the power play. They got the power play with, what a buck, 58 left. If that sounds right, I believe so. So all you have to do is, you know, obviously not give up a short-handed goal. You're going to at least go in an intermission, tied. But that was not on the cards for the penguins. They had that first unit out there, probably a little too longer than they should have. And the devil's come down on a car.

2-1-2, Nico He sure gets the puck, blows past of Guinea-Malkin. And I am sorry, Gino, you know, you've done so many great things for this organization throughout your tenure here. And you have been awesome this season. But please, back-check a lot better next time. That was a very, and I hate using this word for him. That was lazy. I get it.

He's out there for a while. He's a bit gasped. But you know what? Do a little bit better with your back-check there. That was just very lazy, I think, in my opinion. just didn't really give much in an effort. And then for Tristan's perspective, he needs to come out of the net more. That is a shot from the angle that he sheer had it, right?

Kind of like to the right of the dot, you know, it's an uncontested wrist shot from that area of the ice. I'm sure people are going to tell me, you know, oh, it's just a night perfectly play shot, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. In my opinion, no. I think Tristan needs to make that safe. He needs to come out. He needs to take away that angle. And he needs to be aggressive. And he needs to make that save.

Yeah, we went off the posting in. So it was a decent shot a little bit. But that said, Tristan needs to make that save. Especially when the first unit's been out there for a while. Again, I understand that Gino's back check with something the greatest. He could have pushed T-shirt into the boards if he's able to hustle a little bit more. But that said, I did not like that goal from Jari. I think he could have done better with it.

That's how I feel that. You know, if you disagree, you know, let me know. comments you can DM me on social media as well that that is how i see it personally and you know if we're going to talk about goaltending as well we should also look at the defensive play um for some of the other the other tools the things allow before the empty netter um just because tristan wasn't at fault for those two goals especially uh the second one which tied the game with what three minutes left um in the second period if you go back and look watch the we play it's basically a five on four for the New Jersey

that was there. And they got a couple of bounces. That's hockey. You know, let's get those sometimes. But, you know, watch where Jake Gensel is on the ice. Look where to see he is. Because he is not even in the defensive zone. He is well past the blue line, kind of cherry picking near the red line, to be honest. And, you know, that's not good enough from one of your best offensive players. I get that he's not been a good defensive player since he came into the NHL. I actually saw a stat today during the game from Danny Shiree of VK. Pittsburgh Sports

that really put this into perspective of how bad he's been defensively over the last three seasons. According to Danny, his isolated impact on suppressing quality chances ranks 370th out of 382 forwards with 1,000 minutes plus playing. again so he's 370th out of 382 players in terms of suppressing quality chances and what that means you know suppressing shots means you know you're not allowing you know a lot of quality chances while you're on the ice but when he is on the ice he is one of their worst defenders as a forward and you know he needs to be in the defensive zone in that sequence it's not good enough and it needs to change. Honestly, Hins, this has not been talked about enough either. Jake Denzel needs to start playing better as a whole. It's gone a little under the radar. I've kind of noticed it. I haven't

really wanted to bring it up, but tonight, this is probably his worst game of the season. He is not doing enough at all. He has not scored a five-on-five goal since early November. Unacceptable for someone like him. You all know it. He's one of the best goal scores, not just on the team, but around the league, but it's not happening this season. Again, no five-on-five goal for him since early November. I'm sure he's kicking himself about it. I don't know if he's playing hurt if something's been bothering him or whatever, but, you know, still, he's not getting to those dangerous areas of the ice where he can put the puck in the back of the net. He's also not driving the net front a lot more than he usually does. He's not using that beautiful.

shot that he has. I don't know if I would demote him down to the Malkin line and move someone like Zulker up, just because I think Zulker has done so well, which you know this season, but something needs to change with Jake. Sorry, I have to take his in my water there. But yes, overall, something needs to change with him. His play right now is unacceptable. Especially for someone that's making $6 million per.

His contract is up. Not after this season, but after the following season, if he wants to get. at, you know, 8.5, 9 million, something like that in this league per year on the Penguins, you know, he needs to play a hell of a lot more, a hell of a lot better than he is right now. I kind of have no doubt that he's probably going to respond at some point just because that's what great players do. But he was abnormally bad tonight, not just offensively, but defensively. And he needs to start putting the fuck in the back in the net.

A lot more. Again, same with Cindy Crosby. I thought tonight he was dreadful. He's been awesome all year. He usually follows up this kind of performance with one of his best performances. Funny enough, the Winter Classic is, of course, the Penguins' next game.

He's had plenty of, you know, he's had at least one big moment. At a Winter Classic, of course, going back to 2008 when he had the shootout goal and had that amazing celebration. But the fact of the matter is, you know, he was not good tonight either. And honestly, drop this up.

I don't think most of the top Penguins players were good tonight at all. I really do not think that. Aside of the Malkins goal, which was Vintage, you know, he picked Dougie Hamilton's pocket, took his lunch money, and fired that top cheese. Pass-fee-tech Vangang, very nice job with him. I thought it was just kind of a dud for him after that. Again, his defensive work wasn't the best.

And, you know, I know he's not known for his defensive work. But still needs to be a little bit better. He just also wasn't threatening on the power play. Rekar Raquel, I think, could have done a bit better. Brian Rust has been struggling as of late. He had that goal against Carolina last Thursday, which was awesome, but still, you know, outside of that, you know, he's still not playing at the level that we expect Brian Russell to play at.

So, yeah, and I get it. Chris Tang was not playing tonight. Chef Petrie was not either two of your best defense in, but the top players needed better. And I think they will be moving forward. I think if the top players are better tonight, the Penguins probably win this game, especially if their power play produces. But, you know, these games happen. And, you know, at the end of the day, it's not the end of the world.

But that wraps up this segment touching on Trishanjari, Jake Gensel and some of the other top players. Coming up in the final segment, we're going to get into some coaching decisions that I saw tonight from Mike Sullivan that I actually did like a little bit and go into some other performances that I thought were good as well. And also touch on some other stuff about the team and why, you know, I know that this looks bad.

But again, I do think that they're going to get close to breaking out of this sooner rather than later. So stick around for that coming up in this final segment. All right, I'm 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-Henor's Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into, so right before the game, Mike Sullivan,

finally made the decision to move Jeff Carter to the wing. and it actually paid dividends. Look at the second goal. You know, he comes up off, comes up off the bench. I know he's kind of playing center in a situation, but he's able to drive the net, you know, as a winger, even though he's kind of playing center in that situation. He's able to get the puck to the blue paint.

It goes off a skate and it originally was POJ's goal, but it goes back to Carter, and the Penguins were able to score to make it two to one there. He wasn't taking any of the defensive zone draws. I saw the Penguins are doing a little bit better in the faceoff circle. That is always good. as well. And, you know, when he's on a center, he doesn't have as many defensive responsibilities. And I think you saw him take a small step forward in those kind of great tonight.

Again, it's baby steps. I understand. But I like that decision for Mike Sullivan to move card to the wing. I liked Teddy Bluger as a third line center tonight, which met Ryan Paling, came back and was the fourth line center, which I'll get to in just a second. I liked that decision from selling. Speaking of Ryan Paley, he came back after a few games. or with a lower body injury. He said this was the best he's felt since earlier in the month. Apparently he said he's been dealing with a really nagging injury that he was playing through, but just couldn't play through anymore,

but he said he feels fine now. I think he played fine. You know, I think at this point we have to understand that, you know, outside of a pretty decent penalty killer, he's not going to bring you too much at 5B5. He scored a few times a season, but, you know, he's not going to really drive possession as a fourth liner. he's not going to score a bunch of goals for you.

Like Brock McGinn has, for example, this season on a really nice, unsustainable shooting percentage, I should say. But, you know, I think we have to just temper our expectations for paling a little bit because, you know, he's mainly just going to be that defensive first player who can play well in the penalty kill, but I don't think it's going to chip in too much. It's just kind of like a tweeter to me. Touch on Ty Smith a little bit, but I really did think he had a pretty decent debut tonight. I thought he moved the puck pretty well up the ice at 5B5.

He was on the ice for one goals, zero goals against, 12 shot attempts for, 14 shot attempts against. So not good with Corsi, but he did have 68% of the Penguins did have, excuse me, 68% of, geez, I cannot talk. When he was on the ice, the Penguins had 68% of the expected goal share. So that's good. So at 5B was fine. On the top, power play, though, wasn't overly impressed.

And I get it. First game. But didn't like some of those weakling shots from the point that he could have done a little bit better moving the puck around to the perimeter to sit and Gino and Gensel, of course. And that's why, again, I would probably put POJ back up on that top unit. I'm heading into Monday's Quinter Classic against the ruins. I liked the decision to put Dumlin down there with Rood. I kind of made a joke before the game. Like, oh, of course, Ty's first game came with Brumlin, but I thought they played fine.

I was actually very happy that Sullivan moved POJ up to the second pairing, put him with Mark Freeman and moved Doomlin down. That is what they're going to have to do until Chris Latang comes back. Obviously, when Latang comes back, someone's going to have to come out right now, probably going to be Thai, even though it shouldn't be. But I think if it is tie, I think you're probably going to see Doomlin down on the third pairing. The bigger question will be what happens with the defense when Jeff Petrie is ready to play. I think that's going to be the big one for me. Mark Freeman, I thought he had another solid game. You know, he's that perfect, you know, fringe NHL or number six, number seven defensively.

He's not going to wow a lot of people, but, you know, he gets under player skins. He has a nice first pass. He's fine defensively. His underlings have always been solid. There's a lot to like about him. There's really nothing to not like, I should say, about Freeman. I don't know why some people pick on him too much. you know, he's a fine, you know,

an initial defenseman. I think if he were to be a free agent, like right now, he would probably have a ton of teams interested in him. I think these are really good number six, number seven defense in the initial. At least that that's my opinion. I think he had a solid game tonight.

Outside of that, you know, I don't really have too much else to say about this game. Penguins just have to get the things rolling. I think they will be fine for the long term tonight. Just a couple of things went against them. again the special teams were awful five on five especially bad in the third period before that i think they were fine it's just i didn't think the penguins were forechecking nearly as aggressive as i as i think they should be the six on five was awful because they couldn't game the zone um

i think all those are very correctable errors yes they're doing with injuries right now but so many other teams in the league but if they're able to get that power play back up and rolling penalty kill able to get back if they're able to get that back to the way it should be I may not be giving up a goal per game and get some healthy bodies back. And Tristan Jari doesn't have some of those weird goals. This team should be fine. I understand that some people don't like Mike Sullivan, you know, whatever. The head coach is not above criticism.

I am more than willing to criticize him. That said, I think he made a couple of good moves tonight. People are going to freak out that Drew O'Connor was not in the lineup. And yes, I understand that is a little annoying because I think he did play well in that game on Wednesday. against the Red Wings and he only played seven shifts after, which was pretty pathetic. And I know Dayton Hinen did not play that well tonight, even though at a couple good chances. That said, Ian's, did that decision really make a difference in this game? Did it?

I'm serious question. Like, did it make a difference? No. I don't think Drew O'Connor's presence was going to have the Penguins score power play goal on their nine opportunities. or just get outscored 1-0 on 9-out power play opportunity. So, you know, I know losing is not fun. They've done a couple points. They're still in fine positioning right now for the playoffs.

But you got to get this thing rolling sooner rather than later. Next up, though, big game against the Boston Bruins on Monday. I cannot wait for the Winter Classic. I love watching it on TV. It's going to be a great game. The Bruins are one of the best teams, if not the best team in hockey. We'll have to see if Chris is healthy enough to play in that game. I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm going to have a full preview for it on the Locked on NHL National Show for Monday so you can look for that there with Gilmartin. Really looking forward to that. Maybe I'll hook up with Ian McLaren, a host of Locked on Ruins over the weekend here to do a little preview. But really looking forward to that. Before I sign off, though, thank you all so much for continuing to listen to this podcast. This has been an amazing year for the show. This is easily the most listened to. This is easily the most that this podcast has been listened to this year.

I have the numbers right in front of me. 221,000 yearly downloads. Thank you so much. This month, over 16,000 monthly downloads. I cannot thank all of you enough for continuing to listen to the show. It means so much to me. We got up to top 20 on Charitable today. even when the team is losing, you all are coming out and listening to the show and watching the show on YouTube, it means the absolute world to me.

So great things happen in 2022 for the show. We're going to go above and beyond for this show in 2023. Mark my words on that. So again, thank you all so much for listening. I hope you all the wonderful and a safe new year. Please stay safe. Don't do anything stupid on the roadways and stuff. Have some drinks, obviously, if you're over 21.

and all that and i will see you all in 2023 on monday when we'll recap the winter classic between the penguins and the bruin's i'll talk to y'all then hope you'll have a great new year