Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - This 5-day break is MUCH NEEDED for the Pittsburgh Penguins...

Episode Date: April 19, 2022

Happy Monday! The Penguins are off for the next few days, but I promise you that the content DOES NOT stop there. Hunter starts the show with the depressing news about Tristan Jarry and how he was this close to writing his redemption story. Is there a chance that he's back for the postseason? Hunter ponders that as he will likely do nothing for the time being before switching gears to Casey DeSmith. Is he good enough to win the Penguins a playoff series? Hunter weighs the pros and cons of that as it's highly likely he's going to start at least part of the Penguins' first-round series. He then shouts out Danton Heinen for his tremendous season after setting a career-high in goals and how that wicked release has done wonders for him this year. Anytime you can get close to 20 goals from a depth player, you're doing something right. Hunter then pivots to the game as a whole and why the Penguins' slow starts continue to be an issue. He explains what the Penguins need to do in order to not give up goals in these situations before hammering them for their brutal 6-on-5 effort again (this is becoming a theme). Finally, he ends the show by explaining just how big this break is and what he's looking for from the team down the stretch.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.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.

Happy Monday, two weeks away from the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs. Penguins have a much needed five-day break. They come back on Thursday. They'll play the Boston Bruins. For today's episode, we're going to go over that game from Saturday. I know I was not able to watch it, but I watched the highlights back, was able to see some things I like, see some things that I didn't like. We're also obviously going to talk about Trisenjari's injury and why, you know,

this is obviously the worst timing and so much more. So that's all coming up right after this drop. Your 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.

You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. Follow the shows Twitter at L.O. Arnsport Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. Today's episode is brought to you by Bet Online. Ben Online, as you covered the season with more props, odds. and lines than ever before that has been online where the game starts so for those i watch on youtube i am not wearing my glasses for part of these um thank you to the youtube listener that pointed

out and i've been noticing this for a while that yes my glasses uh they definitely are crooked i would say a little bit you know you can thank my um my mom's black lab who is 80 pounds back home uh for that because i'm pretty sure i was also an idiot and left my glasses where they should not have been and he stepped on and well you know when i put them on right now for those that watch, this is the result you get. So it's funny, funny that someone else noticed it. Trust me, I know I need new glasses. So that is on the agenda, to say the least.

I'm also going to try to talk a little quieter for this episode. For those that follow me on Twitter, I have a brand new puppy who is sleeping right over here. He's a beautiful 22-pound black lab, and my German Shepherd just absolutely destroys him. the day just because you know she likes to roughhouse and um you know he stands no chance at least for right now anyways okay not going to have a 25 minute episode devoted to my dogs but um penguins are related we'll get we'll jump right into it um we'll start with tris and jari um just

really shitty news i think that's the best way to say it i mean you know there was the rumor obviously i talked about on my friday episode that you know Colin dumbapp was reporting that um trish and jari is a broken bone in his foot i said you know i'm not not really going to read too much into it because Colin Dunlap usually doesn't break too much. He's been wrong in the past. Well, no, I'll grow there. Colin Dunlap was the first to have it. He was right.

You know, and I poked around a couple of times during the day, I didn't really hear anything, you know, until obviously the announcement was made for Mike Selvin, that he will be week to week. Mike DeFabo and Dave Molinaari, excuse me, they both confirmed independently for their separate websites that Jari does indeed have a broken bone. in his foot there's no timetable for his return i mean you know we also i think louis de ming had a kind of a similar injury he was out for what four to six weeks right now the playoffs are two weeks away um tristan at the time it'll be two and a half weeks to the day almost three weeks

when the playoffs will start i don't know how much healed that broken bone will be i don't know if he's going to want to play through that just because it's obviously still going to be in a lot of pain but it's just the worst possible timing for the Penguins. I mean, he was this close to starting to really write that redemption story. He's been great all regular season. I know he wanted a chance to go out there and prove the entire Penguins fan base wrong. That was not him last year and he was going to go out and prove it to us. And the fact that he's potentially going to be robbed of that, obviously we have no firm update right now other than week to week.

It sucks. that's just that is an outside of an injury to one of the three core players i'll put jake ensel maybe brian russ up there um this is an injury that the penguins just could not afford to have um he's been healthy all year long um but of course right at the end of this season right as the penguins are about to clinch their playoff spot the game is four to one in the third period you know he's relatively healthy and then the ender's legal happens i think that was when he had the broken bone um i think it was, Lattang kind of pushed Lee into him and, you know, his leg, it looked like his leg buckled a little bit. He came up a little gimpy was able to finish the game because, of course,

in typical penguins fashion, a player has to finish the game, even though he's hurt, and then he's out day to day, week to week, month, whatever. It's just that is the penguin's luck. At this point, you know, at the time, you know, I said this on Saturday before the game against the Bruins, the penguins were literally two games away from having a fully healthy lineup for the first time all year. And now they're basically at the point where they're going to get a Genni Malkin back this weekend. And they'll have hopefully a full complement of forwards and defensemen healthy, but they still won't have their starting goaltender. So I'm counting that this team will play 82 games this year and they will not have a fully healthy lineup

that includes their starting goal tender one time. It's just you cannot make it up when it comes to this franchise. And again, you know, this year. This just this is a killer i mean do you trust casey dismiss in a playoff series i certainly don't i think think he was mainly fine on i met saturday game when i was watching it back um the first couple minutes were definitely rough on that first goal i think was just too juicy of a rebound the second goal i think you know maybe he could have but it was also just you know it was a nice play by boston the penguins were on their heels those first two or three minutes they pushed back pretty well i thought those last 57 to 58 minutes they just weren't able to tie the game and you know

that's the difference. You know, Jeremy Swainman was really good at the other end, something that's been, you know, hard to come by for him lately because, you know, he hadn't given him, I think, four plus goals in, you know, each of his last, I think, four to five starts or something like that. You know, his state percentage is also not been as good as it was earlier in the year. You know, this is usually Lienis Allmark's starting job.

And I think, you know, if he is healthy by the time the playoffs roll around, he will be the starter. I mean, at least that's just how I see it. But, you know, I thought for the rest of the game, DeSmith was fine. But just in a playoff series, do you trust him to give you league average goaltending when the penguins are probably going to need, excuse me, a lot more than that? I just, I personally, I don't see it. I know he's been a lot better as of late, but, you know, the playoffs are a completely different ballgame. You know, it's good that he's going to get the reps down the stretch.

It's good that Trish and Jari is hopefully going to be, you know, if he is able to come back, he's going to be, you know, if he's able to come back, he's going to be. rested up he's not going to be gassed in all that jazz but you know it's just i wish this injury if it was going to happen it would have happened like last month it's just the timing stinks you know it's just it was the one injury that they could not afford to have and the fact that it's happening um just goes to how brutally unlucky this team has been um these last figures you know his injury was also not the only goalie injury that we saw frederick and Anderson, it looked like either pulled a hammy, pulled a groin against Colorado the other night. Rod Vindamore said he's going to be reevaluated in a week.

So who knows if he's even going to be available for the start of the Stanley Cup playoffs. That would be another awful goalie injury to one of the best teams, not just in the Metropolitan Division, but in the Eastern Conference as well. I know they have Antirontas ready to step up and he's had a pretty decent year. But, you know, the drop off from Anderson, who's been elite level playing this year versus Ranta, who's just been fun. mine, it will still show, I think, as well. I do want to see, I think, Louis Doming get a starter or two here down the stretch. I don't think it's wise to have Casey to Smith start all five of those games. Obviously, DeSmith will go on Thursday against Boston, and then they'll split one of the,

they'll split the two games this week against Detroit and Philadelphia. And then after that, you have Edmonton. I'm pretty sure DeSmith will start that. And then if you want to start Louis Doming in the season finale, I'm not sure you can do that as well. I just, I don't want them to fully overwork to Smith during these last couple of weeks. I mean, will he get four out of five starts? You know, maybe, you know, I probably put the chances, heck, even at 70 to 75 percent that he will. And it's good that he is going to get the reps. I just don't want him to be, again, you know, a little overworked heading into the playoffs.

You know, he's, he's going to have to play at a level. If they, if the Penguins do get the Rangers in the first round of the playoffs, um, case. just says it's going to somehow have to outdo egot E. Gorses-Sirkin. And that would be hilarious, magnificent. Any great word you want to use to describe that. That's literally what it would be. I don't see it happening. I mean, they're going to have to play tight defense.

They're going to have to foretruck aggressively. Again, not give up much the other way, and they're going to have to get timely saves from a goalie, who has been inconsistent, I think, for a lot of this season. So, again, you know, I try my best, you know, just stay as positive as I can while being objective, of course. But it's hard for me to stay positive when one of the best goaltenders in hockey this year is going to be potentially out for at least part of the first round, if not all of the first round. So definitely really, oh, I almost had a yonder. Definitely really upsetting.

I'm going to see that, that's for sure. Now, coming up in the next segment, we're going to get to more of the game from Boston. Again, things I liked, things I did, and what the penguins can take away going into that game on Thursday. Now, before we get to that, our next partner has a product that I use literally every day. I started taking athletic meetings because, I mean, you know, I wanted to get my health in check personally. You know, I wanted to have more energy throughout my day since I usually go to bed so late and then I wake up so early. I don't get enough sleep. You know, my girlfriend also loves you.

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GoPens to get a free one in your membership to Mattress Factory when you buy tickets to the Penguins game on April 21st. Remember, you get a free one-year membership and mattress factory when you buy the tickets for the Penguins' game that comes your way on Thursday. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hoodies. Remember to follow me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So overall, that game in Boston, while it was definitely, I think, a bit of an annoying loss,

you know, it's not really the end-all be-all. I think, again, the Penguins played mainly fine from what I watched, at least from my highlights that I watch back and stuff. But, you know, these bad starts or these bad moments in play, they got to stop getting scored on during those times. And, you know, I know you're not going to play, you know, 60-minute hockey at times against some of the best teams in the league. I mean, I totally get that.

But when you're conceding a lot of chances and when you're being hemmed in, it's important that you're able to get a saver to so that the game can either, you know, be tied, you know, keep it within striking distance and all that. I mean, sure, Desmith, you know, after that 2-0 deficit, he was able to keep them in the game for those final 57 to 58 minutes. But, you know, had he just given up one goal in that sequence, you know, the Penguins probably would have taken that game to overtime. They just didn't have enough offense to finish the job in that game.

At least that's just how I saw it. You know, 24 shots is usually unusual from Mike Sullivan coach team. They usually have 30 plus almost every game. High danger, I think, was pretty even from what I saw, scoring chances, a shot attempts. you know, kind of right there too. And again, it's just, you know, these bad moments in play when they're happening, the penguins are getting scored on. And, you know, that needs to stop happening when there is bad play going on

because you need to stay in these games and either have it be a one goal game after that or have it, you know, you're either up one at the time or you're even time. Because then at that point, you know, who knows what happens. Yes, the penguins had the rest of the game to try and come back. that, you know, they had a bunch of glorious chances after Danton Hinen got that goal. I'll get to the Hinen in just a second. But, you know, it's just these slow starts continue to doom them.

And it's definitely an annoying pattern to say the least. Again, that's just how I see it personally. Loved the Danton Hining goal. Just a really nice shot to beat Swayman. That was his 17th goal of the season. He now has a career high in goals. Congratulations. And this is a player that I really loved the penguin signing over the all season.

I thought he was going to fit Mike Sullivan's system to an absolute tee. And, you know, he absolutely has so far. I mean, the fact that he's three away from his first 20 goal season in the NHL, that that's pretty crazy, to say the least. Just, you know, he's a player that, you know, never needs to come out of the lineup as far as I am concerned. Actually, that's my opinion. And again, I've seen a lot of takes recently that he should be scratched or, you know, that some of these people, you know, well, you know, he's not, he's way too inconsistent.

He doesn't show up a lot of times. I'm like, the guy has 17 freaking goals more than Kisbury Capitan. Right around near Evan Rodriguez, he's a perfectly competent depth player. At the end of the day, that's totally fine with me. And if you stick him on the third or fourth line, which she has been for most of this year. and it gets almost 20 goals, you are doing something right. I will die on the hill. Excuse me, I'm almost like short of breath, I think at times.

Again, yeah, I will 100% die on the hill. He's been great, hell of a release. And he used that to his advantage to make a two to one. The rest of that game, just unfortunate that the Penguins could not cash in a lot of glorious chances. There was one that Raquel had in the third period. It looked like it went in at first glance, but it just glanced off the post.

that he would have probably brought the house down in Pittsburgh had he scored on that one. The six on five situation just honestly makes me laugh. I actually cannot even remember the last time the Penguins scored a six on five goal. The fact, you know, I can flip through my notes here all I want. The fact that I can't even remember that, and I have a pretty good memory when it comes to, you know, previous games earlier in this year, excuse me, the fact that they have barely even done it this year is pretty pathetic, at least in my opinion. And, you know, the worst part about it, they have the zone time,

but they're overpassing and they're not getting the shots to the net. And it's like, you know, when time is running out, especially as the playoffs are coming up, you need to fire everything you can at these goals to see if you can get a bounce. The fact that they really didn't do that against Swamen, who, you know, has not had a good stretch as of late. That's just kind of dumb. You know, and they also only had 24 shots,

even though they were tilting the ice a little bit. after they went down to you nothing. I know it was a low event kind of boring game for a lot of times too. You still need more shots than that. You need more schooling chances. For as much as they were kind of like, I shouldn't even say dominate. For as much as they were kind of carrying the play at times,

I think they missed on a lot of glorious chances to really shoot the puck more. Again, you know, I try not to be a shoot the puck guy. I'm the furthest thing from that. But again, it is definitely a little bit annoying that, that's just the six on five situation comes up when the penguins are down and just you know all hell breaks this and they have no idea what they're doing um i don't know if they need to practice a six on five situation more practice um who knows but um definitely a little weird to say the least um coming up in the next segment we're going to get into why this break i think was very beneficial um to the penguins

especially at the right time um and a little bit more but before we get to that Betonline.net is your number one source for all of your betting stats and sports info. You can find all the latest developments in league reviews and news, including this year's basketball playoffs and the start of the major league baseball season. Benonline is your continued source for all of your sports wagging information from live betting to playoffs, e-sports, and more. You can head to the website today or use your mobile device to learn more about the trends and action. That has been online where the game starts. Now, let's get to Bill Bar. Have you tried the puffs?

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You can go to Bilt.com, use promo code lock 15 and get 15% off your order. That's promo code lock 15 for 15% off at built.com. All right, we're back here on this episode of the locked on penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember following me on Twitter, Hunter Hodes, follow this shows, Twitter at L.O underscore Penguins. So this was a perfectly timed break for the Penguins. They needed a reset. They needed to take a couple days off, get their legs back.

These results down the stretch here mean nothing outside of who you're going to play in the playoffs. In the grand scheme of things, who really cares? I mean, I know a lot of fans are going to, you know, maybe comment on the YouTube page or you're just sending reviews or do you know, I mean, well, you want to see how they play and all that. And that's definitely true. trust me, like I want the team to play better. But, you know, even if they're not getting, you know, some of the results, but I think the process is there and the underlying numbers are there,

I would like to think that that's going to turn around come playoff time, even though the penguins have a good shot to play the Rangers, excuse me, in the first round. But at the end of the day, these results right now really mean nothing. There are two weeks left until the Stanley Cup playoffs people. Every single playoff spot is locked up. The officially, the Washington capitalists clinched that last spot last night. The Islanders were officially eliminated.

these eight teams have been locked in for four months a lot of these results lately have not meaned much to be honest i just i personally look to see how the team is playing can they clean up their errors can a goal 10 mean better you know special teams five on five play all that i'm looking mainly for the process to be there and if the results come that is big especially with the playoffs coming around but if not i'm not going to honestly lose too much sleep over it because the games are about to get, you know, even bigger in the playoffs. And, you know, I want to see that process carry over to there where the penguins can hopefully get some luck going their way and finish their chances.

That's how I see it, at least, you know, this team has played a lot of hockey down the stretch here. I know they've had two very big gauntlet schedules. They did well in the first one. Second one, not really as well. But, you know, these last five games, they have an opportunity here to end this season on, I guess, a small high note. You know, Boston comes to town on Thursday.

This is a team that the Penguins, they've split this year, played a very tight checking game against them on Saturday. There'll be a 7 o'clock start. They have two very winnable games this weekend. Evgeny Malkin will be welcomed back for those two games. They'll be nice to see him, get his legs back, his rhythm back, see how he is. Maybe if he's a little bit rusty, I'm not really going to carry his four games left to knock that off. But, you know, they play the Red Wings and the Philadelphia Flyers. Two of the worst teams in the conference tech the Flyers are literally tanking at this point.

the Red Wings are getting blown to shredge, I think, almost every game, and they're also, excuse me, they're not going to have Dylan Larkin in that game. After that, the Penguins will play the Edmonton Oilers. Oilers, good playoff team, I think very beatable in Pittsburgh, and then the season with the Columbus Bluejack. So three of the last five games against three non-playoff teams, it's good to get their mojo back there. But if you can also, you know, squeak out wins against the Oilers and Bruins, you know, the Penguins, they have an opportunity here to potentially win five in a row to end the year. And if the process is there as well, I think that's going to make a lot more people happy going into the playoffs.

I know it's hard to get a little hyped up just because, you know, we don't know the status of Tristan Jari right now. I'm sure that's going to be, you know, announced over these next couple of weeks. We're going to have to see if he practices leading up to game one. I would assume right now, just my speculation, like he's probably not going to be ready by the time the playoffs start. I mean, it's going to be almost three weeks at that point. you know, hopefully this is a very minor bone fracture, but you know, those, you know, who knows, I mean, I'm not a, yeah, I'm not a doctor here. You know, you're not, you don't listen or subscribe to this podcast to listen to me, try to play fake doctor. So I'm not going to try to

speculate on that injury or, you know, say I've had something like that or not that. Well, I have. So anyways, just, you know, hoping that, hoping that he is back for that time. But I'm glad that the Penguins did get a break here. They did not practice these last couple. days. I'm totally okay with that. Let's see what the team can do starting on Thursday, and then they'll close out the season next Friday against the blue jackets before the playoff start next Monday on the Monday and Tuesday after that, I should say. So that would do it for this episode of the Locktime Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to this episode. I assume the Penguins will practice on Tuesday. I'm definitely Wednesday. I'm glad that Mike

Selwyn was able to give them a couple days off. I'll be back to the last. Back to the last on Tuesday and Wednesday to prepare for their game at PPT Paints Arena on Thursday against the Boston Bruins. So that would do it for this one. Thank you all so much for listening, and I will talk with you all on Tuesday.