Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What a chaotic Penguins-Islanders game...but did you expect anything different?

Episode Date: April 13, 2022

The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Islanders played ANOTHER chaotic game on Tuesday night as this was a back-and-forth affair. Hunter starts off the show by laying into the team (while laughing) about the shootout as it was the same old story for the Penguins. He again explains why the Penguins are maybe trying to get the league to abolish the shootout with these attempts were terrible. He also bashes the overtime power play and looks at what the Penguins need to do better in that kind of situation moving forward (if they get another PP in an OT game this year). After that, he compliments Casey DeSmith's play and why it was the right call to start him, plus how he really wasn't to blame for most of those goals tonight. He then goes into Kris Letang's performance and why the Penguins need more out of him. Yes, the bad games are few and far between, but when he's bad, it's REAL bad. Hunter then praises Jake Guentzel and Danton Heinen as they played tremendously, plus goes into why Crosby and Rakell need to stay on a line together. ALl that, plus much more on this episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast.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.

Hello there. I am just now putting my hat on for those that watch on YouTube. I pretty much just sweated, I think, for the last two and a half to almost three hours at this point. What a freaking game between the Penguins and the Islanders. Chaotic, as always. You know, outside, I think of Penn's Caps. There are not, you know, more chaotic games the Penguins will play against than the New York Islanders. I mean, this one would certainly qualify. I have a full game recap coming up right after this job.

We're going to get into everything that happened in this game. The pathetic shootout attempts, the pathetic overtime power play, almost losing on an empty net in overtime, the giveaways from Brian Dumolin, everything in between. That's all coming up 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 to a late night edition of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. Of course, I am your host, Hunter Hodes. Remember to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the shows, Twitter, L.O. anders for Penguins, and, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first list on the day, whether you're listening late Tuesday night or early Wednesday morning. I'm going to count that as well.

And, of course, we are going to have an episode on Wednesday and hopefully do a crossover, I think, with Gilmartin. Adam Gretz is going to come on the show on Thursday afternoon. I'm going to have that up for you all right after that. And then I'll have a full game recap for Friday, especially if the Penguins do clinch their playoff berth on Thursday and against the Islanders. But they were close tonight to clinching that playoff berth

was not able to happen. They fall five to four in a shootout to New York on Long Island. And I really don't know where to start. You know what? Let's just get the really bad stuff out of the way. And that starts with the shootout. You know, I'm... I wish I could say I was surprised.

Watching the penguin skaters do the same thing time after time, after time. Has anyone here listened to, you know, round and round by rat? You know, if you're a hardcore, you know, rock fan from the 80s or something, you know, I listen to music like that, even though I wasn't even alive at the time. That basically describes, you know, what the penguins have been doing in a shootout this season. Round and round, what comes around goes around are part of the lyrics. And it's the same three garbage attempts. Jake Gensel comes in.

Basically glides, shoots glove side. Oh, easy save. Srogan doesn't have to move. Oh, Cindy Gronzby comes in. Oh, maybe he'll do go five hole. Maybe he'll do a little deep. Nope, comes in, glides, stops, goes glove. Save.

And then Chris Lattane comes in with the cherry on top. And I should be more mad about this, but I'm not. I'm just laughing about it because of how pathetic it is. And the controller basically disconnects, loses control of the puck, and the game is over. And it's just like, you know, how bad are you all at shootouts that this is what it's come to?

The Penguins have missed on 17 of their last 19 shootout attempts. That should not even be possible during the season. Seven of their 11 loser points have come via the shootout. imagine what would have happened in overtime if the Penguins could have gotten some of those wins that did not go to a shootout, or imagine if Mike Sullivan actually decided to change up the lineup in the shootout, or imagine if the players wanted to actually make a deak

or make any other kind of move so that the goalie can actually not just stand there and make easy save after easy save. I tweeted this on my Twitter tonight. You see better attempts from players playing beer league games. Hell, you know, I didn't even play, you know, that highly competitively back when I was a kid. But even in those games, you know,

when we went to a shootout, I think for one of the playoff games I was in, I saw better attempts from, you know, kids my age that were like 12 or 13 years old than I saw tonight. It was a joke. It was an utter disgrace. Thank God there are new shootouts in the playoffs and the Penguins, basically with this point tonight have almost clinched their way in,

any kind of win on Thursday against the Islanders. clinched the penguins in or any loss by the islanders overall down the stretch basically puts them in as well. It's that close, people, to say the least. But just, you know, the penguins deserve to lose the game based off what I saw in that shootout. And, you know, Casey Smith, he can only do so much. I actually like the way he played in the shootout. He came out, I think, a lot further than he did in the last one.

And he was able to save, make two out of the three saves, which were really nice saves, actually. Kyle Palmeri, you know, that was picked a nice corner there. Nothing really just Smith can do about that. But, you know, maybe if any of the Penguin players wanted to actually try in the shootout, you know, maybe going maybe four or five rounds. I also will say it was pretty disgraceful that Mike Sullivan did not send out Ricard Raquel, who's four for four in shootouts this year. I'm pretty positive Latang this year is like, like one for eight.

One for, I think it's, I saw this on social media. I'm pretty sure he's one for eight. in the show us this year, which is pathetic as well. So that's my rant about the shootouts, you know, out of the way. I've talked about that a lot on the podcast this year. Just every time the Penguins lose the shootout because it's the same thing. I know you all probably tired of me saying the same thing for the last five or six minutes now, but I just can't drive it home enough.

You know, Penguins just have to be better in these situations. It's not good enough. Hasn't been good enough all year. I want to see that change going into the next regular season. I know, again, shootouts are not going to count. in the playoffs when the Penguins do eventually clinch their spot. But at the end of the day, just a really disgraceful effort there, I think, in my opinion.

Now, to the overtime, again, another atrocious part of the Penguins game tonight. I have no clue what they were doing on that two-minute four-on-three power play. The four players are just kind of skating around. They're passing back and forth. again, I have said this a lot on my show this year. I am not a shoot-it guy. I'm not just going to yell, shoot it, like some of these other weirdo fans at P.Bchia Pancer Arena

or any other stadium you see with other fans. But for God's sake, you only have one shot on a four-on-three power play. It is basically a gaming almost that you're going to score in those situations. Heck, every time I usually see a team get a four-on-three power play in overtime, you know, about 90-90 percent, 95 percent of the time they score. the only chance that the penguins got, I understand, was flat out robbery from Sorokin, which we've seen so many times over the last year off Jake Gensel. I mean, that's a goal he probably scores, you know, eight or nine other times.

But, I mean, all the other, the times, you're just, you're passing back and forth. Lettang is fanning on passes. He also basically gave up a breakaway to Casey Zizekas. He did not play that well at all. I'll get to Chris of Tang a little bit more coming up in the next segment. and, you know, it almost results in the Penguins allowing a short-handed goal here. They were lucky that the puck did not cross the goal line before the net went off its moorings. It looked like from the other angle that it went in the net from the side,

which obviously is not going to count. It did not count. But Chris Latang could not have played that any worse, and he couldn't have played on the power play any worse either. Just a really bad performance from him. Oh, hey, y'all there for him. second. Sorry about that. I think that's the first time I've ever done that on my show.

But just there's not enough shooting. I mean, you're going to tell me, with less than three minutes to go in overtime, you're not going to get more than one shot on a four on three when they're basically giving you the game at that point. It's unacceptable to me. The Penguins should have won that game in overtime. The fact that they didn't, it's definitely going to sting at least a little bit. I know the Penguins are going to get another shot at them on Thursday.

This is definitely an islander's team. I think that's beatable. But I definitely think the Penguins shot themselves in the foot quite a lot tonight, especially in the overtime and the shootout. So I had to start the episode with those two talking points. You know, just, again, not good enough by the Penguins, and that needs to, especially if they play more overtime games to hear down in the stretch. I know they only have seven games left.

Just, you know, not good enough effort, especially on the power play. And the shootouts, if they do have another shootout, these last seven games. I don't think it's likely, but who knows at this point, you just need to be a lot better there to say the least. Coming up to the next segment, I'm going to go into more of Crystal Tang struggles, going to go into some of the goals that were scored tonight that really impressed me. Brian Dumlin's bad play, we're going to get to a little later on in the show, Casey dismissed performance, and so much more.

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backed by over 150,000 verified five-star reviews. All right, we're back here on this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honor Hode's. We're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. underscore payments. All right. Done with the overtime. Done with the shootout.

I don't want to talk about that anymore. It's just going to make me either start laughing again or it's actually going to probably start to piss me off. But all right. Overall, Chris LaTangue tonight. I have not said this a lot this season. And I alluded to it in the last segment. He was dreadful tonight.

Just not a good performance. Again, I already talked about his overtime and his shootout. but just was making the wrong weeds in the defensive zone, was not playing well offensively, making poor decisions with the puck. He was basically, I think, a liability all game wrong. And again, for everyone that listens to the show, I do not harp on this player a lot.

I think the world of him, he's at a hell of a seat, and I'm sure most of the fans would agree. But, you know, I think most of you would also agree with me that he was pretty bad tonight. And that's unacceptable for a player of this caliber, especially at a game, you know, that has this much meaning. I mean, well,

I shouldn't say that has this much meaning because the penguins are basically already in the playoffs. But, you know, when you're still trying to win games down the stretch and you're trying to solidify your spot, excuse me, in the top eight and, you know, play who you want to play and all that. You control your own destiny. This was still not good enough from Krista Tang, and it needs to change. I'm sure he's going to be fine on Thursday and hopefully in the playoffs and all that. But tonight, not a good performance. I'm sure he's probably going to be kicking himself about it.

I don't need to sit here and go on a massive way and about it, but just did not make good decisions all night, to say the least. And also I'll piggyback off that with Brian Dumlin. I think we're reaching a point now with Dumo folks that, excuse me, he might have to be benched for a few games. I'm not going to say this is Jack Johnson territory,

but it's pretty close with how he's playing. He turned the puck over numerous times in the defensive zone. hell, the Bailey goal that made it four to three in the third period. It was basically a random slap shot dump in from Andy Green. Brian Jumlin misplays it in the defensive zone, somehow goes off his stick. He would have the wrong angle, goes right to Bailey who deeks around to Smith. He had no chance on it. And it's just like, I mean, nice job leaving your goaltender out to dry for literally no reason at all.

And it's plays like that. And other plays where, you know, he's just, he's giving the puck. right to Islanders skaters where it's like, you know, he's not right now and he needs a game or two off. I don't understand how you can scratch Marcus Pedersen, who I think has been playing fine and I like Mark Freeman, but you're not going to scratch Brian Dumlin who's playing way worse than MP 28 at this point. So I just, I think that's just a double, a weird double standard for me, at least in my opinion. So I think, you know, especially with seven games left and that they're virtually almost locked into a playoff spot at this point.

Once they eventually do clinch, if that is on Thursday, I would start to give some time off to some of the best players down the stretch. Because at that point, the games really don't mean anything. I mean, they're going to be playing either in that two-three matchup in the Metro or they're going to be playing in that second wild card spot or the first wild-card spot, whichever one they get. But I just, I don't get it. He's been regressing for the last month now.

You know, he had that really bad start to this regular season, kind of started playing a lot better. And then lately, you know, it's just been a tire fire for him. And, you know, it's just bad decision after bad decision, after bad decision tonight was no different. It's not good enough there either, to say the least. Moving on a little bit. Casey DeSmith, I think one of the biggest bright spots tonight for the Penguins.

And I'm glad I actually was able to get something right on my Monday episode. I talked about this. I say, don't be surprised if DeSmith goes in one of these two games, potentially the Tuesday one to give Tristan Jari almost a week off of rest, because I'm sure he's going to get the start on Thursday at home against the Islanders. And Mike Sullivan did exactly that, and I thought DeSmith tonight was pretty good. I know he allowed four goals in regulation,

but I'm not really going to blame him for a lot of those four goals. I know the underlying numbers will tell you that it even strength. The Islanders only had 1.5 to expect the goals for. but at the end of the day I'm not really going to pin a lot of those goals onto Smith which is weird because of course you can look at the underlying numbers and that should tell you a different story

but it was really just the penguins barfing all over themselves I thought in the defensive zone. I mean they were just a tire fire with these zone exits. I mean every play for the penguins I think in their zone chip off the glass out, but they're trying their hardest for the islanders to not jump up, catch the puck, put it down and then keep it in the offensive zone.

that was literally what the penguins were doing all night long. They were just disgustingly terrible in their own zone. And that was making to Smith's night that much more difficult. You know, the Penguins grew up 1-0. That's huge. You know, 1-1. Mark Friedman plays way too passively on Zach Reesay's first goal. I'm not really going to blame to Smith because that was a nice shot.

But he has to jump up there a little bit and play more aggressive. If he's able to do that, who knows what happens there, maybe he breaks it up. you know, the second one, Penguins give up a short-handed goal. Chris LaTang basically fumbles the puck at the point. Jake Gensel had a horrific back check. Penguins are then down two to one. And then on the third goal, Teddy Wugar passes it right to Josh Bailey, three-one going in in the second period.

The game was intentionally over that point until the Penguins had that nice comeback. And then the fourth goal again, Brian Junewin, misplays the puck in the defensive zone, somehow does not get the right read on it. Casey DeSmith is deeped out by another, by another Josh Daly goal, who's basically a Penguins killer at this point, despite having a dreadful season, it's pucks in the back of the net.

Just really bad defensive mishaps from the Penguins really doomed them in this game. Because, you know, if it weren't for them just being stupid in their own zone, they win this game. And they probably wouldn't in regulation, considering how they played in the second and third periods. Those last 40 minutes are probably some of the best 40 minutes of hockey. I've seen the Penguins play in about a week or week and a half now. It turns out this team can turn on.

when it wants to. And I'm going to leave you all with that as we go into our next commercial break here. Just, you know, I think at the end of the day, I really like what Casey Dismith did tonight, to say the least. So that wraps up this segment of the locked on Penguins. Wow, I almost just totally screw that. I am literally logging into my email to get this thing ready here. I apologize for that. Anyways, you can save time and money when using Rock Auto. Why she's used to spend 30%, 50%, or 100% more from the same parts from a chain store or car dealership. Rock Auto is a family business to endure yourself for over 20 years.

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two or three weeks ago. Sports are art actually. won by a landslide, but with two votes for artists for, I think we might be on to something. Mattress Factory says to that full disclosure, one of those votes was us, but we're really happy someone agreed, DM us and we'll snag a beer at the game. So if you were the person that agreed with Mattress Factory and you listen to the show, DM them on social media, on their Twitter account if you have Twitter, and they will buy you a beer at the game, of course, if you are legal to drink 21 and over. Of course, all this comes from Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh's premier site-specific contemporary art installations museum.

That's just a fancy way of saying, actually, immersive art. You can visit mattress.org slash go pens to get a free one-year membership to Mattress Factory when you buy tickets to the Penguins Bruins game on April 21st. Remember, mattress.org slash go-pins to get a free one-year membership to Mattress Factory when you buy tickets for the Penguins' Bruins game on April 21st. welcome back to this episode of the locked on penguins podcast i am your host hunter hoodies remember remember to follow me on twitter at hunter hoodies follow this show twitter at eleanor escorts i think i just screwed up my name about five seconds ago whatever we're gonna roll right through it um in terms of you know positive performances tonight um danan hyman got his 15th goal of the season um you know the team was fully healthy coming in minus in um guinea malkin suspension right now

I don't know if there is an injury update for Mike Sullivan. Oh, well, I just got it for you all right now. I'm paying one since that scoop. Ross and Rodriguez are both sick with non-COVID illnesses. So again, a stomach bug just continues to ravage this team. It is basically about half of the team at this point that has an outdo the stomach bug. Mike Sullivan said, it seems like we've got some sort of bugs going through our team guys are trying to play through it. These guys try, but they couldn't finish the game.

So a lot of these players, it looks like, are not even 100%. And also Mike Sullivan said we've also had players over the last couple of weeks who have been sick that have played through it. So I don't know. It's probably just someone has diarrhea and they're just spreading it across the entire team. So no injuries at least. It's just some, you know, on COVID illnesses, I'm sure they'll have the day off tomorrow. And, you know, we'll see if they play on Tuesday. You know, we can maybe get some antibiotic or something for that.

But Dan Heiden, again, 15th goal of the season, he's worn away from tying his gridder high that he's set with Bob. in a few years back. If this team is fully healthy in the playoffs, and if he any Malkin comes back from that suspension, which he obviously will. I don't think he's the guy to scratch. I know he can drive some people crazy. He misses some open nets,

but he has that wicked release that you just can't replace in this lineup. That was a hell of a shot off of that great pass from Capone. I'll get to him in just a second. But, no, just you're not replacing that, in my opinion. He's been a really good depth signing for this team all year. Even if it's in a third or fourth line role, I know he's been on the fourth line a lot lately. I'm not really too big of a fan of that.

But, you know, he's still playing fine. And, you know, if one of your fourth liners has 15 goals, you're doing something right. Am I right, guys? So I'm fine with him staying in the lineup. Speaking of Kaspari Captain, I thought he played pretty well tonight. That was a really slick pass to Hinen.

They get the Penguins back in that game a few minutes into the second period. just, you know, really underrated there. You know, his playmaking ability has been better as of lay. I know his goal scoring is not there. I understand that. But, you know, his play, you know, with the puck in a passing capacity or, you know, even defensively has been a lot better this year compared to last year. So I'm definitely going to take the good with the bad, I think, in that situation.

Jake Gensel, he was awesome tonight. I mean, he was robbed of a hat-track twice. You know, Jeff Carter stole his hat-rick goal on the power play that made it four to four in the third period. And then in overtime, it has a beautiful deflection, literally five feet from the net. And it's gloved by Sorokin. And I'm just like, of course, he makes that save because he always has to make all these great saves against the Penguins. Had two other goals. He's closing in on 40 goals at this point.

And, you know, he was just, you know, at the right place at the right time. Especially for that first one, you know, he's able to kind of sneak down a little bit. bury a rebound. And then, you know, the Gansaiing one, excuse me, was kind of a little bit of a squeaker by Serokee. Don't usually see him give up those kind of goals. Just squeaked by him five hole. But, you know, if the penguins actually shooting the puck in those situations

where they were overpassing at times, you know, during this game. And I just, I can't stress enough. You know, when you're playing a good goalie like that, just shoot it and see what happens. So they're able to get four goals past Seroquen tonight. I know they came up a little bit short. But, you know, I still think there were a lot of times where the team was not shooting enough, and they could have won this game in overtime and regulation. Cindy Crosby, I thought he played a really good game that outside of the shootout.

You know, ho-hum, I think, for him at this point. So that, I think, does it for this episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I really can't think of, I was just checking my notes here. Nothing really else I'm talking about with this game, It was obviously very chaotic. Penguins get another shout at these guys on Thursday. I'm happy with the point. They probably should have won the game.

If it weren't for that, just vomiting all over themselves, the overtime in the shootout. And I will say, it almost got the hilarious ending where Jason Zucker almost put it into his own net when the Penguins are getting the power play. That would have been the funniest, the most saddest way to lose a game.

And funny enough, the penguins, I did not know this was a rule. If the goalie was not coming out because of the delayed penalty and the puck went in, the penguins would have lost their point. But because DeSmith was coming out for it, even if the puck went in, I know the penguins would have lost the game, which would have been hilarious and sad, but they still would have gotten the point.

But had he not done that, and how the puck would have gone in with an empty net where he wasn't leaving it on a delayed. penalty, the Penguins would have not gotten their point. So that's a little fun fact. I will leave with you all there. Again, Penguins get another crack at these guys on Thursday. I have a full game to recap episode coming up right for you all. Probably on Friday after I have my episode with Adam Brett's on Thursday. So another episode coming for you all on Wednesday. Obviously, there will still be much to talk about with this team. Thank you all so

much for listening to this episode of the Locked on Penguins podcast. And I will talk with you all tomorrow.