Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - What can't Sidney Crosby do at this point?

Episode Date: January 22, 2022

Make it four in a row for the Penguins! They went to Columbus for the first time in two years and took down the Blue Jackets 5-2 thanks to Sidney Crosby's heroics. Before that talk takes place, Hunter starts with the goaltending subject as it was another horrific night for Casey DeSmith. Should Ron Hextall make a move now? Who should he go over if he does? Was Sullivan pulling DeSmith a message to Hextall? Hunter gets into those questions before diving into SId's hat trick and breaking it all down. He goes into each goal and why they were each very Sidney Crosby-like goals. He also touches on how Bryan Rust had a pass that was perhaps more important than some may think on one of the goals, plus how Mike Matheson continues to prove everyone wrong. Other topics discussed: Why the Penguins are a perfectly kept secret, Simon vs Boyle, a preview for Sunday's game, and a whole lot more!Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors!BetOnline AGThere is only 1 place that has you covered and 1 place we trust. Betonline.ag! Sign up today for a free account at betonline.ag and use that promocode: LOCKEDON for your 50% welcome bonus.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. 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.

Another win for the Pittsburgh Penguins. That's now four in a row. They're one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division. I have a full game recap coming up for you all 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, welcome to this Friday evening episode of the Locked On Penguins podcast. I'm your host, Hunter Hodes, member, to follow me on, Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow the show's Twitter at L-O-Nors for Penguins. And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first lesson of the day. Penguins, they keep stacking wins. That's now six of the last eight, 15 of their last 17. Well, four in a row also.

Penguins are now, again, just one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Vision. I know the Hurricanes have three games in hand. But the Penguins still have one game in hand on the Rangers. So they could easily be in second as early as this weekend or potentially even next week. I'm not going to waste time. I'm going to get right into this right now. Get the big negative thing out of the way with the biggest takeaways.

You know, if this wasn't an indictment for Mike Sullivan pulling Casey to Smith when it comes to his confidence and saying that he doesn't trust him, I don't know what his. This game was two to two going into the second period. Two pretty weak goals, I would say. And Sully's like, you know what, F that, I'm going to go put it in my starter who's been a top five goal tender in the league this year. And he didn't allow a goal the rest of the way. Technically, it kind of did with the domy one.

But, you know, that was obviously off sides of that, you know, was taken back. So without that, he didn't allow anything past him, you know, just for the last 40 minutes. But the thing is, and I've been clamoring this point home in this podcast for, you know, the last several weeks. and on my social media's and stuff, you know, they have to go out and get a goaltender. I don't know how long Louis DeMing is going to be out. I don't think he's a long-term answer. You're back-up position.

I don't know what's going on with Casey DeSmith. It's weird because he was a 9-12 goalie last year, had two really good starts before the Christmas break this year. It was like, wow, he could be returning to form with where he was last year. And, you know, that would have been fine because he was actually pretty good going into the playoffs. And there were fans clamoring for him to come in if he was fully healthy because Trishon Jari screwed up that much. Now a complete 180 has happened and he can't even stop a beach ball if someone shot a beach ball at him. So, you know, they are going to have to go out and get someone.

And again, Mike Sullivan, I think, sent a message there to Ron Hextall, who was probably sitting up above with Brian Burke saying, I don't trust this guy. I hope you don't trust this guy either. please go out and get Tristan Jari some help. And hopefully sooner rather than later he does. I know the trade market is really hot right now with goaltenders. I mean, there's a lot of teams that need them. You know, you look at a team like the Washington Capitals.

You know, I've seen them being floated around as a Flory destination, though. I don't know if Flurry has them on his NTC list. Who knows? It makes a lot of sense, even though it would kind of stink. Edmonton is looking for a goalie, you know, several other teams, I'm sure. rather, you know, Toronto, I think, could use a backup behind Jack Campbell, you know, just et cetera, et cetera. So I would have to think before the deadline run is going to make a move because this can't

go on any longer. That first one, Nyquist whiffs on the shot. It's pretty good defense. And then for some reason, DeSmith does not close off the angle on his near side post and still lets the goal in. And I was just like really confused while watching that because I feel like a high school or a college goaltender could have made that safe. And, you know, I understand, you know, goaltending, it's very hard to analyze, you know, just because sometimes the stats don't tell

the whole story, but I did not like the goal he gave up there. And then the second one, I don't even know what was going on there. Just a really weak goal to allow. And, and again, you know, kudos to Sully for pulling the trigger. Because remember, this was a two to two game going into the second period. You know, most coaches will be like, yeah, you know, let's see how he responds in the second. But, you know, I think Mike really wanted these two points and he could see that the team was out playing Columbus. And he put a starter. And even though he got a lot of work last night and he was like, you know what, screw it. We're going to see what happens here.

And, you know, to his credit, you know, Tristan played really well. As he has done all year, I was not surprised. He made a lot of really nice saves. The one I think on Roslovich, I want to say that was in the second period. when it was two to two, was just a hell of a save off of a two-on-one opportunity, just a hell of a saucer pass there. I think it was from Wrenski, if I'm not mistaken.

But again, you know, this is, it's just, it's coming to a head. Something needs to change, and, you know, hopefully sooner rather than later, Ron is going to make them move there. Outside of that, though, I thought the penguins were really good tonight, especially coming off a back-to-back.

I love the way they started this game. They were forechecking with, a high amount of intensity, just really ferocious all around. Their defensive work, I thought, was really good. Especially their net front work. I think that was one of the main differences that I saw to start this game. And I think throughout the game as well, you know,

they weren't being pushed around in front of that area. They were actually, you know, boxing players out, you know, letting Jari see, you know, the Pucks and all that when he came in at least. And again, that was just, I think, a huge 180 from what we saw. just the last few games overall, just because it has become a problem. Overall, if you look at the underlying numbers for the game, Columbus actually led with 52% of the shot attempts, but if I had 5B fired, the Penguins led the way with 58% of the scoring chances,

also 58% of the high danger chances, 2.22 expected goals for 1.94 for Columbus. So the Penguins had 53% of the expected goals for in terms of that number, and then outscored them 3 to 1 at even strength. If we go to all situations, everything turns in the penguin's favor even more. They led in 54% of the shot attempts, 63% of the scoring chances, 62% of the high danger chances, almost five expected goals for, and of course they win five to two, and 2.6.4 expected goals for the blue jacket. So the penguins got the result they deserve tonight. The numbers back that up.

The eye test backs it up. This is just a really nice win. And, you know, I'm glad that there were a lot of Penguins fans in Columbus because, You know, sometimes, you know, Jackets fans in recent years when they've been, I think, more competitive. They try to sell that place out, especially when Pittsburgh comes down, because the Penguins fans come in buses. Not tonight. I want to say that was probably at least 40% Penguins fans, if not more. It sounded like a close to a 50-50 split.

But, you know, Columbus is not that good this year. But also, it was finally nice to play those guys again. You know, I miss those matchups. I understand that it's a big brother, little brother thing. but some of those games have their high intensity. It's a little bit of a mini rivalry, even though it kind of reminds me of Steelers Bengals in recent years, obviously not this year of how the Bengals played against them.

But, you know, it's just the games have always been competitive. I know John Tortoella is not there anymore, and the jackets are not, you know, that same boring trap team. They actually opened up the game a lot tonight. But, you know, just it's really fun to play those guys again and just, you know, have a little bit of a sense of normalcy as we try to hopefully get back, you know, to a full normal,

especially hopefully when this pandemic eventually ends at some point. I'm going to get to Sidney Crosby later on in this episode because what a game he had. I thought of Gennie Malkin was a little bit of mixed back. Crystal Tang, we're going to get into him as well. Just the power play. We'll get into all of this. It's a full game recap episode for a reason. But before we get to that, so it is a new year, obviously.

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for Penguins. I'm going to take a beautiful sip here of my beverage of the evening. That's just, that tastes so good. You know, it's a Friday night. I'm going to have a Jack and Coke. I feel like it, especially after a Penguins win. And no, I am perfectly fine recording this podcast. Anyways, Sydney Crosby tonight,

I mean, this was probably his best performance of the season. Started out a bit slow, remember, three points in eight games. Since then, in his next 20 games, teams 28 points. That is good for a 115 point base. Seems pretty good. It's almost like Sidney Crosby is still one of the best players in the league. And that what I heard from Capitals media and some people from Capitals fans about a month, month and a half ago when talking about Ovechkin, that Sid is washed. That's just a bunch of baloney. Just never been the case. Don't listen to those people.

Don't compare those players usually overall just because they're two different players. I had to throw a dig at them, especially the Capitals media, because I think a lot of those people just don't really know what they're talking about up there. But, you know, he's playing at a very high level. All three of his goals were just vintage Sid goals, especially even the empty netter. And I'll get to that in a second. But the first one, you know, he goes around the net, right? You know, that's his office.

He loves being at the net front. Sit down low on the power play is the thing for a reason. But, you know, this is even strange. This is right after the penguins, they give up that two to one. the black, excuse me, make it two to one off of a really bad case of a dismissal. He said, again, it goes around the front of the net, gets a ridiculous deflection off a shot, boom, tie game, 30 seconds left going into the second. It's just like, you know, you don't teach that kind of stuff. And it was just a perfectly timed deflection.

And again, where is Sid right at the front of the net in his office doing his thing? That was the most Sydney Crosby goal of all time. The second one comes on the five on three. The jackets take two really stupid penalties. The second one was an easy delay a game call. I mean, that's going to be called every time. The first one, I believe, was when Boom Jenner decided to do Boonehunter things, gave Ryan Dumlin kind of a nasty cross check.

Don't really understand what he was going there. But, you know, that's just what Boone Jenner has done throughout his crew in Columbus. Shout off to him. He has the C letter, at least on his jersey now. So that's good for them. but, you know, a lot of beautiful passes on the power play, but the one that really takes the cake that Ryan Russ won the sit, he gets the puck, goes around a defender a little bit,

fires it or just has a beautiful saucer pass through about three to four sticks, boom, Sid, one times it in, four, two, and it's just like, I know like the shot is so good because Sid has a hell of a one-timer, but that pass was just disgusting from Brian Ross. I mean, again, you don't teach that kind of stuff at hockey school either. And the way that he was able to find that passing lane, that's what a good to an elite player does in this league.

And there are not many players that can just, you know, find a lane like that and deliver that quality pass. I mean, you know, sure a lot of the other elite players can. But, you know, for an average, you know, run of the mill NHL player, they're not going to be able to do that. Brian Ross is not that. He's the top six-finger for a reason. He's also on the top power play for a reason.

Beautiful pass there. You know, Sid was able to put the game away for two. And then his third goal wasn't even trying to score it off the boards and then goes all has the angle, goes in the empty net. I mean, if that's not the most Sydney Crosby empty net goal, I don't know what is. And you could see him just laughing and smiling about it after because, again, he knows he probably wasn't aiming for it. aiming for a pass there, he just got lucky enough that, you know, it didn't hit anyone. And, you know, what do you know?

He just, he gets a lucky bunch bounce off of it. Excuse me. And at the end of the day, you know, they get the five to two lead and that was curtains. After that. Mike Matheson. So this was another game winning goal from him. I believe now he has five game winning goals with the Penguins, which is, I want to say that's getting close to like, I don't think it's a record, but it's higher than a lot of

other players the last couple of years that have been on this team. You know, he got a little bit lucky with that one. I mean, sure, it was a bit of a rifle from the point, but the puck bounced on edge through Corpus Hollow's five pole. If that puck is flat, that's the same situation from what we saw in Los Angeles with Jake Ensel. What had happened would have stopped on the goal line, and I'm sure Nyquist would be able to clear it. But the fact that it was rolling on edge made the puck have a little more momentum. So that's why it went into the net. And it didn't stop right on the goal line,

just as we all saw about a week ago in Los Angeles, when, you know, Gensel almost had the tying goal late in the second period. But the puck basically stays right on the goal line because it's flat in that scenario. You know, very rarely will the puck, you know, have the momentum that, you know, a bouncing or a rolling puck would. So nice shot there from Mathisard. You know, things you love. to see. Brian Dumlin, he has another goal tonight. I tweeted about this on my social media,

for those that don't follow me, the Penguins have really started to get a lot more offense from their defensemen lately, and I can't say enough how big that is. Because early on in the season, I want to say throughout the first 15, 20 games, something like that, they only had about one to two goals from their defensemen. And I remember talking about on the show because that was close to dead last, if not dead last in the NHL. Now lately, you know, especially with Chris Tang scoring a little bit more, Brian Newman's goal tonight, that's now three goals

in the last two games from Mike Matheson. You know, the defensemen are starting to put the puck in the back of the net more, and that's huge. Obviously, your forwards are going to score most of your goals. I mean, that's why they're playing forward. You know, they're paid to score goals here. But, you know, it's always

nice to have the defensemen that, you know, that they can chip in every once in while. The penguins were not getting that at the start the season, well, they are now and then some. So I really have been liking that lately, especially when it comes to Matheson. I mean, he's having just a ridiculous season at this point. You know, I said it on Thursday's episode. I'll say it here. I mean, you know, the key to unlocking him, you know, just keep giving him these bottom pairing minutes. Hell, if you want to give him a couple extra minutes a night and play him top four sometimes, I think you can get away with that.

You don't want to be doing that on an every night basis. I think you'll just get crushed that way. I mean, because, you know, we also had happened last year when you played with Marino in a top four role. And, you know, he kind of got exposed. You know, this year he's been able to play most of his minutes in a sheltered role with Chalrydal, who has also been really good this year and kind of one of the wrongsome heroes on the blue line. And you're seeing the results with how much offense he's providing, how good he's been the defensive zone. And just, you know, his all-around game has been awesome. And, you know, he's definitely not worth his cap hit.

I mean, it's just a lot for a lot of years. But, you know, he's playing at a very high level, and the Penguins have, they've badly needed, I think, someone else other than Crystal Tang to step up. And, you know, speaking of Crystal Tang, I thought he was really good tonight, too. This was a much, I think just a much needed bounce back from him just because he really struggled. I thought against the senators on Thursday night tonight was not really coughing the puck up much. Defensively, he was fine. Offensively, he had some really nice passes on the power play.

You know, just everything all around with Tangar, I thought, was. really good, I would say. I'm trying to think here. Asron Rase, so he made his return tonight. I don't think he played much in the third period. I think he was nursing a bit of an injury. But it was interesting to me that Brian Boyle was the one that was scratched and not Dominic Simone.

I think it's probably because Simone has been playing well lately. You know, the game in Vegas. Remember he got the helmet after the game in case you all were on social media. you know, the penguins give away that, you know, that, that's the, oh, the bold penguin helmet. I almost screwed it up there for a second. Just, you know, the player of the game and stuff, and he got it just because of how great defensively he was

and he was creating chances. He then scores last night. And then, you know, I think part, I think that that was the main reason why he is the 13th floor right now in not Boyle. That's not to say that I don't think Brian Boyle is having a good season. I think he's been a relevant, a relatively, excuse me, surprise for the Penguins of the season.

But, you know, when Ashton Reese is, is coming back. I mean, he deserves to be in the lineup or someone like Boyle. So this is the closest they've been to a fully healthy lineup. The only one that are missing is Jason Zucker. And, you know, I wish the best of him at this point. He's week to week right now with the same injury. Trying, I don't really just, you know, I think I've actually almost nailed everything for this game. I do want to say this, you know, coming up in the next segment, you know, I'm going to get into why the penguins are just, you know, and, you know, a perfectly kept secret in the league right now.

And yes, you know, again, they're one point out of first place in the Metropolitan Division. So stay tuned coming up for this next segment. You're just going to go into why, you know, I want everyone, you know, to just keep sleeping on this team. But first, Betelmine would like to wish you happy new betting years. We continue our March to the playoffs and beyond. Ben-on-Line remains the number one spot for all the best sports wagering action for 2022. It's a new year in a new updated desktop and mobile website to sign them today

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Follow the shows, Twitter, L.O. R.S.S.Or Penguins. Again, I'm going to take a sip here of this drink. And we are back. I think I honestly need more drinks while I record these because usually before I started the video, I would pause sometimes just because I would start to get out of breath. And I think the people that are on videos, they sometimes notice that if I hunched down a little bit. I think I just, I don't know, I talk too quick or excuse me, maybe I just, I talk too much or something like that. But, you know, so the penguins, again, that's 15 to 17, six of the last eight, four in a row. I love that this is a perfectly kept secret hockey team.

You know, I want the media to keep hyping up to Tampa Bay and Florida and Vegas and Colorado and all these other teams, Carolina, just I want the Penguins to keep doing their thing because if they keep doing that and no one keeps talking about them, they're just going to keep flying under the radar. And honestly, that's completely fine with me. I don't want them to be a Stanley Cup favorite on a basically in every year. basis. We've seen that for many years. Number 2012, 2013, everyone picked them to beat the Bruins in the Eastern Conference Final. What happened? Twenty-13-14, everyone picked them to go play Chicago again in the final that year. We also had happened. You know, 2015-16, 16, they fell off the radar a little bit. Then they steamwold everyone in the playoffs. 2016-17. No, not a lot of people picked them to go back to back. They steamwold everyone the next year without even having Chrysletang. And, you know, last year, I thought they were under the radar. They should have won their first-round playoff series. They did not. But this year, again, I think that team is better than last year's.

And they're playing like it, especially with the underlying numbers right now. And I just, I want people to keep ignoring what they're doing. I don't need a lot of media attention on this team or anything like that. So I wanted to get that off my chest a little bit. A couple other things that I noticed from tonight's game. If Dan Hinen could stop missing empty nets and not giving me my free cock guy barbecue from one of my best friends, Jeff, that would be really nice. because, again, 2-2 hockey game, Dan Hinen is a wide open net, a juicy rebound, floats it just wide. And I'm pretty sure that's like the third empty net in the last five or six games that he's missed.

He's definitely cooled off a little bit. I mean, this is not to say that he's been bad this year because he hasn't. But he's definitely cooled off a little bit as of late. But, you know, he still probably should have 11 or 12 goals right now with the chances that he's been getting, especially with just the empty nets that he's somehow been missing. You know, I'm sure if you give him those chances, you know, eight or nine more times, he probably scores every single time. So I'm sure he'll correct it at some point.

Jake Gensel, I have no idea how he did not score numerous times tonight. He had, I think, in the first period, five or six shot attempts, which was leading the team. He had a breakaway in the second period. I tried to go five home corporal. He made a hell of a save. He was everywhere on the ice. He was probably the best player that didn't score, at least in my opinion.

And he continues just his toward pace. You know, honestly, when he doesn't score in games, I'm now surprised just because of how many chances this guy gets on a nightly basis. Just the level of play that he has right now is nothing short of, you know, outstanding. So really pleased with how he played. So the Penguins of Back Connection on Sunday, game against Winnipeg. If I recall correctly, this is an afternoon matinee game. And if I remember me, right, this is a one o'clock game. Yes, one o'clock on Sunday.

NHL Network and AT&T Sports Network. So I don't think I'm going to be able to get the game on ESPN Plus. If it's an NHL Network exclusive game, the games are not on ESPN Plus. So I'm probably going to have to go to like streamies or something like that, some illegal site to watch the game. Winnipeg is fighting for their playoff lives. That should be, I think, a pretty good game. You know, Connor Hella Buck has been really good this year. Kyle Connor, I think he's been having a really underrated year for Winnipeg.

21 goals, 40 points and 36 games. He leaves them in goals, assists, and points. He's just, he's been that good this year for Winnipeg. And, you know, obviously, you know, Dubois is still there. You know, Blake Wheeler, Mark Schifley, so many, you know, Nicolite Heelers, of course, you know, they have so many very good players. And it's weird that, you know, Winnipeg is fighting for the playoff line just because they have a lot of talent.

There, you know, and I am going to go look at their lines real quick just to see who the penguins will be getting. If I can go to left wing lock real quick here. So, yeah, they're going to get hell of buck. You know, Andrew Kopp with Shifley and Paul Stassany. I almost forgot that Paul Stassany is on Winnipeg, you know, Pierloch de Bois with Kyle Connor and Colperfetti. He is now recently called up. Adam Lowry on the third line. Stetschnikov on the fourth line with Tony Yanano.

Josh Morrissey with Dylan DeMello on the top pairing, Neil Pionk. on the second pairing. Nate Schmidt is on the third pairing. So yeah, I actually almost forgot, excuse me, so that's my fault. I'm McLaughillers is a bit banged up. So it doesn't look like he'll be playing this one. Apologies on that one. So I'm excited for this one. You know, Winnipeg, they're always usually chaotic games in Pittsburgh. They've had a lot of really back and forth one, especially in overtime. I think where the penguins, I think one of them was like a seven to six win, I want to say, just a few years ago. So, I'm excited.

It's always a fun game when these two teams play. I know the Penguins also have six games at home coming up here in this next stretch. But overall, great win tonight by the Penguins, Casey to Smith sunk at first. Tristan Jarre was able to finish it, and Cindy Crosby was able to have another hack trick for his story and career. That will wrap up this one for the Locktown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening. I'm glad that I was able to do another full week of episodes for you all. But the best part is we're back starting on Monday, full game recap of the game.

against Winnipeg and you know we'll get to preview some of the matchups coming up later on in the week as well so that'll do it for this one hope you all have a wonderful weekend let's go pens and i'll be back with you all on monday