Locked On Penguins - Daily Podcast On The Pittsburgh Penguins - Why the Penguins HAVE TO be better in OT & Shootouts this season

Episode Date: October 6, 2022

There is only 1 week until the season, yinz! We have just about made it. Hunter starts the show by going into a couple of roster moves that were made by the Penguins as the team is starting to come into shape. After that, he looks at how the Penguins were practicing a lot of OT & shootouts stuff during camp on Wednesday & how they NEED TO be better in those sessions. He goes over the issues that plagued them last season in those extra sessions (especially the shootouts) and why those extra points are so valuable when you get to the end of the season. What does he want to see more of in the shootout? What about not being dull in OT? After that, he previews the final game of the preseason against the Buffalo Sabres and gives a full prediction on what the lineup will likely look like. Will POJ get into this game? Is this his final chance to show the staff that he belongs on this team? What about Sam Poulin? Finally, to end the show, he wishes a couple of very happy birthdays to Mario Lemieux and Jake Guentzel and again argues that Mario is the greatest player in NHL history.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!SimpliSafeWith Fast Protect™️ Technology, exclusively from SimpliSafe, 24/7 monitoring agents capture evidence to accurately verify a threat for faster police response. There’s No Safe Like SimpliSafe. Visit SimpliSafe.com/LockedOnNHL 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 Thursday. I'm recording this at around 11 a.m. Eastern time. Usually do not record this early, but, you know, apologize for a new episode on Wednesday. I was going to record. I had everything ready to go. And then, you know, my appetite on Yom Kippur. Yeah, my thirst for hunger was getting the best. For those who don't know, I am Jewish. I do. Obviously, I solve a Yom Kippur. And that's like one of the biggest holidays out there just because you're atoning for your sins and your mistakes that you've made. And so you have to fast for. 24 hours and that definitely got the best of me and I figured I would just come back at 100% for today and then for Friday of course. So for today's episode, we're going to get into some of the practice notes that we saw from Wednesday's training camp practice, including how they worked a lot on three on three, four on four, and on shootouts. I'm going to get into why that is important, especially for the season. But there was also a roster cut. That was made yesterday. It looks like there was another one that was made today. We'll get into that. We'll also do a small preview for the final preseason tune-up against the Buffalo Sabres

looking to see how they played in the preseason. Though that doesn't mean much, but still they played pretty well throughout this time. And a couple other things sprinkled in there as well. 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, welcome back to another episode of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Hunter Hodes. I'm going to follow me on Twitter. Hunter Hodes. You're also to follow the shows, Twitter, at Elmore Score Penguins.

And, of course, thank you all so much for making this your first listen of the day. So let's get into yesterday's news and notes from practice. So Taylor Friedman starting off, he was sent down to Wilkesbury. He's fully healthy now, but he's not going to make the team. The rostered down to 26 players. And also, as it looks like,

according to a couple of reporters that are actually going to get practice on Thursday, Philip Lindbergh is not there. So, I mean, Tristanjani Jari is fully good to go. The roster is now down to 25. And, you know, that means at least two more cuts have to be made. Poulin and Pio Joseph has made it to the end. It's all a matter of, you know, what is the coaching staff see? What does the management see?

They have to make these cuts by this time next week. I'm sure they'll probably have their decisions made after tomorrow's game. But, you know, we reached the end. I think tomorrow you're basically almost going to see. a full dress rehearsal, though I think you might see POJ in there. And I should say you might see Sam Poulan in there. Just because Teddy Blugher is not ready. He's been skating on his own, which is good news.

I think he'll probably be ready for the first game of the regularization. He hasn't been practicing with the team yet. But the fact that he's already skating, he's been skating for most this week. I think tells me he'll probably be good to go next week. I don't know if Poulan will be on the team by then. And then we'll have to see what they do with the defenseman again. If I had to guess, I think POJ will be in the line of tomorrow. I think they maybe want to see him one more time before they make the full roster cuts.

But, you know, we'll have to see on that. Penguins also did a fair good of work on three on three, which is something that I'm glad that they're doing and on the shootouts. You know, for everyone that's listening to this show for the last several months, for the last year, two years, something like that, you all know that I have harped on the penguins a lot when it comes to the shootouts. their record should not be as poor as it was last year. They were well below 500 shootouts.

They were terrible. Every time it felt like they was going to a shootout, they would lose. And for a team that, you know, how do I want to say this? It did not used to be that way. Usually the penguins, you know, even as early as three to 40 years ago, they would go to a shootout. They would win one basically every time because, you know, not many teams have the skill that the penguins have to go up.

against them. And, you know, they would also have Mark Andre Fleury at their disposal. He's probably the best shootout goaltender of all time. But, you know, even when Jari, after he had his struggles early on in the season last year in the shootout, he played pretty well. You know, he was saving, I think, you know, 930, 940 of the shots. But the Penguins, they were not putting the puck in the back. And that the biggest example, do you remember that game against the Calgary Flames? I believe it was last. I think it was like late trying to think. I think it was like November of this.

I think it was like November of last year or something like that. And I remember this because it was a game of the thing that said, no does no, they have no reason to be in it. They tied the game in the third period. They get a point. Goes to overtime. They don't, that doesn't it gets solved there. Then they have multiple chances to win in the shoot out.

Jari is saving their butts, making all these great saves of the Penguins. They're not putting the puck in the back of the net. They're just coming in, ripping a shot, not making a move or a deek, and they're just going back to the bench. And obviously the flames ended up winning that game because I think one of their players ended up doing a deak. But that's something I want the penguins to go back doing. And I understand that shootouts are not as common these days

just because most games, I should say, end in three-on-three. I mean, that's the reason why the NHL pivoted. from four-on-four overtime to three-on-three, which is because a lot of games are going to shootouts. A lot of fans don't like shoot-outs, myself included. I can't stand them. But that's the reason why. And, you know, you've seen most,

if you've seen it pay dividends for a lot of teams with the Penguins last year, they were one of the teams that played a ton of shootouts, you know, just a lot more than, you would expect. You know, the one against the Dallas stars early in the season, the October 19th one, that one comes to mind. I thought they all played them for most of that game. and then they just screw up in the shootout. The game against, I believe it was Chicago as well on November 9th.

Mark Andre Fleury is there. They lose that one in a shootout. And yes, that was a game against the flames, November 29th. The MA actually had a stretch where they won three straight games. In overtime, they beat the Sabres, they beat the Sharks, they beat the Jets. Seattle ended up losing that one in overtime. The Red Wings, I think that won. That was in a shootout.

Capitals one was in overtime. hurricanes one was in overtime um you know the sabers one was as well and uh the islanders one i believe actually was a shootout um funny enough so you know they've been losing a lot of games in these extra sessions that you know you got to get those extra points when you need to yes they win a fair amount of games in overtime last year yes their overtime record was i believe was a little over 500 the shootout record though not good enough and i want to see the star player get back to actually making moves during that time. Case in points, Cindy Crosby, right?

You all know that listen to this podcast, you watch Sid coming in a shootout attempt, comes in, stick handles the puck a little bit, tries to go five hole or top cheese every time. He does not, he has not made, I do not even remember the last time

he has made a move in the shootout. It's not good enough. Crystal Tang, he always has his, you know, beautiful forehand, backhand, roof sit,

but I want to see him add something else to his repertoire. Jake Ansel, I know he has an amazing shot, but I want to see him at something else. Malkin, he kind of does the same thing that Sid does, to be honest with you. So I am glad that the Penguins are working on that in practice. Mike Sullivan actually said this to the media yesterday. He goes, as I said to the players,

22% of the games in the league are decided by OT or shootouts. It's a significant amount of games. That's one of the reasons we've tried to make it a focal point so early in the season. Yeah, Mike, I 100% agree with that. and again, as you go back into last season, before the new year, the Penguins had one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. They had eight games decided by a shootout or overtime.

Just in October alone, two of their games, five days apart decided by OT or a shootout. In November, five games decided by OT or a shootout. That's just, that's just, you know, the league is, it's parity. There's a lot of parity in the league. A lot of these teams just like to give other teams extra points. That's just how it is now.

So the Penguins, they had a lot of loser points last season. I want to see that number. I mean, obviously, it's good to get that loser point, even though it sucks that you lose. But I want to see that converted into another extra point where they win those games in overtime and a shot because the Penguins, they should be one of the better shootout teams. They have a goaltender that can stop the puck.

They have a lot of skill players. three on three, they have players going out there that not a lot of teams can step up against, especially, you know, you can throw out Sid, Gensel and Letang, Malkin, Rust, and Petri. I mean, what other teams can really compete against that other than Colorado, Tampa Bay, Toronto, Boston, you know, maybe Calgary, I guess, can go up there as well. But I want to take some time talk about that. Hopefully we can see some changes made with their strategy. in three on three and the shootout.

I'll say this to end it. The Penguins were kind of, you know, they were dull during the three on three session and I understand that to a T just because you don't want to make that grand mistake. You know, they're odd and rushes basically every time. But, you know, you don't got to slow it down so much. I just don't want to see a boring three-on-three session to say the least.

But that wraps up this first segment coming up in the second segment. We're going to do a little bit of a small preview. for that final preseason game going to the lineup that I think you'll be seeing from the Penguins. I'm sure that's going to be announced a bit later today. But I'll go into what I think is going to be the lineup for tomorrow. We're also looking to see how the Buffalo Sabres have played during the preseason. But before I get to that, it's time to talk about that online.

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That has been online where the game starts. All right, I'm back here on this episode of the Lockdown Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honour Hode. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes, follow the show's Twitter at L.O. arms for penguins. So, excuse me, Penguins' final preseason game, excuse me, damn, every time, again, every time I start this podcast, I just cough for some reason, but it's just, I don't know. Final preseason game of the preseason, funny enough, of course, is against the Buffalo Sabres and the Sabres. Grat to them, four and one in their first five preseason games, all four regulation

wins. They have, if this were the regular season, eight points. They would be, if I'd look here at the standings, they would actually be tied for the most points in the league. Am the wrong numbers-wise, you know, they've controlled 46% of the shot attempts. At 5-5-5, they had seven goals for, seven goals against, you know, when they've also controlled only 46% of the schooling chances. So kind of 50% of the, again, 50% of the actual goals for, I don't know what the heck I was looking at there. 47% of the high danger chances they have controlled. So they're losing out a lot of battles.

They're not controlling the expected goals in the offensive zone. They're not getting as many high danger chances as the opposition. Not getting as many shot attempts, but that's not mattering. You know, they've been putting, they've still been finishing their chances when they've gotten them. And that's what that's been getting them wins in the postseason. Four high danger goals, four three high danger goals against. I think that basically tells the story. right there.

You know, this is a young team. I don't think they're going to be that good this year. I think the Sabres overall, they're going to be improved, I think, even from last year. It's not going to be enough to make the playoffs, but, you know, I like what they're assembling up there. And if they can get a couple other high-end players, I think there'll be a playoff team in the next couple of years to see the least.

I think you're probably going to see mostly their full lineup for that game. I'm sure you'll see Dahlene out there. Owen Power. He's such a great player to watch. Bill and Cousins, Victor Oloffson, Alex Tuck, Peyton Crabbs, you know, all those guys. There are a lot of fun to watch. Very young players still have a lot of room to grow. That Eichael trade is looking pretty good for them.

You know, Tuck, he was not a – people thought he was like a throw-in for that trade. No, he was a very good player in Vegas. Peyton Crabbs, very good prospect. He's probably going to play most minutes in the NHL this season. And I'm really excited to see how Dahlene continues to play. under this new regime, you know, Don Granado. You know, he got back to his normal self last year before that when, you know, I think what was it, Phil Housley was the head coach, not even Phil Housley.

Ralph Kruger, excuse me, geez, going way back there with Phil Housley. With Ralph Kruger, he was not the same player, but then, you know, Granado comes in, he's able to unlock new parts of his game, and he's, you know, living up to that number one pick that, you know, when he was picked just a few years ago. and then Owen Power, you know, he's going to be really good, too. So definitely a team not to sleep on. They just beat the Penguins 2 to 1, well, 3 to 1, I should say.

In Buffalo is a really close game. Drake, could you look at the only goal for the Penguins? I do think you are going to see a mostly, this is going to be a very varsity team for the Penguins. The only player that's not going to play for sure is Teddy Bluger. Again, he's been skating with the team. He's been skating with the team last several days. They're going to hold him out for this one,

hope that he's ready to go for the regular season debut against the Arizona Coyotes. That is a week from today, funny enough. I think the first line you're going to see Denzel Crosby, Raquel. You're going to see Zucker Malkin and Rust. I think you're going to see Heinen Carter Capitin. And then I do think you're going to see Poulan at Center on the fourth line and probably McGinn and Archibald.

I think that's what I would do at least, you know, maybe Palin comes in. Maybe Poulan is a scratch for that one. Maybe it's like something like Poulin. Maybe it's something like paling with Archibald and McGin. I could easily see, you know, that combination for the fourth line. But, you know, would not be surprised since Poulan is a natural center now that he he will come in and play the minutes for a looter defensively. Dumont-Littang, I think will be the top pairing.

Patterson Petrie. I'm going to go out there. I want to make a bull prediction. I think you're going to see POJ play with Yanruta. I think the Penguins, they want to see what they have in him. This is his final games really show that he belongs on the roster. It's down to 25 players. I don't know.

You've made it to the end, basically. It's time to show what you can do. If he's not able to play well in this game, I think it's over for. him. I think he's either going to be waived or he's going to be traded. Josh Yewley was writing about it in the athletic for one of his 10 observations on an article that came out on Wednesday and he said, you know, he's been told that Brian Burke and Ron Hextall are as enamored with him as the previous regime of Jim Brotherford and Patrick Alvinmore, which, you know, that makes sense. I think even though they signed him to a two-year deal during the song season, you know, he's not being gifted anything.

And he shouldn't, you know, he really hasn't, you know, shown much so far that he is a true and it shall player, you know, he needs to go out there and take it, whether it's from Ty Smith or someone else. I mean, it's probably going to be Ty Smith. They're not going to really take out anyone else from the lineup. You know, you need to go out there and show that you belong in a lineup and that you deserve to play every day minutes. And I think he is going to get that chance to play on Friday. I would kind of be surprised if he didn't, to be honest, you know, we've all seen what Smith and Brut have done. And I know it's a little bit of a concern for some people, but as I sent him my Tuesday episode, if you all are concerned about this one, this pairing, I should say,

how concerned with you about a Matheson-C-Pering or even a Matheson-Ru-Tel one? It's kind of the same thing in way. Ruehle, he's that good, grizzled veteran, doesn't wow you in a lot of areas, just like Jan Ruta doesn't wow you in a lot of areas. But then, you know, Matheson, he's a, you know, was a tire in his defensive zone, great offensive instincts, great with the fuck on his stick. Same similarities with Ty Smith. grading in the offensive zone can make plays with the puck

that not a lot of other defensemen on this team can, but it gives a little bit of it back defensively. So I'm kind of making that, I'm really making that comparison a lot recently just because I think there's some unfair criticism of that potential pairing heading into the regular season. Now, do I think that will be the pairing when the regular season starts?

Yes, I think it will. Could there be some surprises? Yes. Could Ty Smith be sent down? Absolutely. I'm not, I think there's a better chance that he's going to stay up. If that does happen, you know, then they will have to figure out something with the salary cap and all that jazz. But as a stand as right now, I still think Ty Smith is going to win that job.

But I do think they're going to give POJ one last chance to win that one to say the least. So that wraps up the second segment doing a little bit of a preview for the Penguins. final preseason game, trust me, guys. I am so ready to be done with the preseason training camp. This week's gone by super quick. Really excited. Next week we're going to be fully into regular season hockey, and I am super stoked about that.

Coming up in the final segment, we're going to get into a couple of birthdays, these last couple of days, Mary Lou Lemieux's birthday on Wednesday, and then Jake Gensel's birthday is today. So we're going to get into that, a couple of other things. So stick around for that coming up in the final segment.

All right, I'm back here on this episode. of the Locked-on Penguins podcast. I am your host, Honored Rode. You're going to follow me on Twitter at Hunter Hodes. You can also follow on the shows Twitter at L.O. underscore Penguins. So on Wednesday, October 5th, happy birthday to Mary Lou Amu. I'm bringing up this chart right now from Danny Sharii.

He posted this a long time ago. It's basically, you know, a big what-if. What if Mary-Lumew played 82 games every season of his career? And, you know, he basically just, you know, looked what he did when he was healthy. And then, you know, pulled out the averages. and seeing what he could have done if, you know, he didn't have the back injuries, the Hodgkin's lymphoma. So in his first season, 73 games, 48, 48 goals, 64 points, 112 points.

Next season, 145 points. That was in 79 games. Season after that, 63 games, so he still missed a good chunk. He would have about 138 points had he played a fully healthy season. In 88, 178 points. He played 76 games. The next season, 89. He would have had 214, according to Danny's calculations.

In 90, 1990, he would have had 170. He only played 59 games that year. In 1990, 1991, if he were fully healthy, he would have had 141 points, 91, 92. He would have had 167 points. 92, 93, which I think many consider myself included, that that was probably the best Penguins team in the history of this franchise. He would have had 218 points, and that it just continues, 137. 187, 130, 144, 105.

The funniest one, that 2000-2001 season, when three years off, remember, he retired after the 97 season, three years off, he's 35 years old. If he played a full season that year, he would have had 144 points coming off three-year retirement. I mean, it's just like how talented he was. You can't even put it into words. He means so much to the city, this organization,

on and off the ice. My opinion, he's the greatest hockey player the planet has ever seen. One of the three, I mean, I think outside of Alex O'Betchin and Wayne Gretzky, I would have Mary Lumieux as one of the three best pure goal scorers to ever play in the NHL.

He is that good. Cannot say enough about what he has done overall for this team, you know, save them from bankruptcy. You know, had a great co-ownership with Ron Burkle. I know he's writing often the sunset right now that he doesn't have to deal with it on an everyday basis, but he still lives in the city and all that. So Mario, happy birthday from the bottom of my heart. Thank you so much for

what you've done for the Penguins organization. And it stinks that, you know, had he been healthy, he would have shattered all of Gretzky's records. I stand by that 1,000% had he not been hurting, had he not been diagnosed with cancer all those years ago. I think almost every record book in the And it's all that every record in the record book that Gretzky has right now, let me, it would have. Just because he was more a talented of a player, you know, and, you know, he would have, when he was healthy, he showed that. So happy birthday, Mario.

Thank you for everything that you've done. And also another happy birthday to Jake Gensel today. You know, everyone knows, well, for those that have not listened to the show before, I've gone on record, one of my bowl predictions for him this evening. that he's going to score 50. I think he can definitely do it with how he's already a top five year goal score in the league. He's already hit 40 twice. I know he was fully healthy for most of the last season.

But I think he has another gear to unlock. He's also getting close to potentially getting a contract extension. And he has a couple of years left on that deal where he makes $6 million per. If he scores 50 this year, that price is only going to go up. And boy, oh, boy, will he be worth it? Trust me. You know, you don't just let a player like that walk. And no, it's not a product of Sidney Crosby or anything like that.

And I think he does hit 50 with how well he sees the ice, how well he disguises his shot. You give him the slightest bit of time, and he'll make you pay every single time. And, you know, him and Crosby, they work so well together. You put Raquel up there. That is making just a very dangerous line. And also, you know, he has great vision with the puck as well.

You all saw what he did in the playoffs. I know playing off Jake went away a couple of years. But it came back in full form this past year. He scored, you know, I think going back to 2016-17, he's top five in the league, I believe, and playoff goals among all players. You know, that is how good he is when it matters most. And there were people wanting him to be traded.

After that series, lost against the Islanders and against the Canadians for, I don't know, someone that's, you know, more toughness or something like that. I just throw all that garbage away. But so, have your birthday, Jake. Hope you all, hope you have a wonderful special day, and I can't wait to see you. Hopefully, we score 50 this season.

Penguins are just to end the show here. They're working on some special team stuff today. PowerPlay 1 is the same. Crosby, Gensel, Russ Malk, and Latang. Carter, Zucker, Raquel, Petrie, and Ty Smith on the second PowerPell unit, then on the first PK unit, which it looks like we could see this to start the season. Ryan Paling,

very captain, Brian Dumlin, Jan Ruta, really thrilled that they're continuing to put captain on the top penalty killing unit. I'm sure we'll probably see him in action again on Friday against the savers, really looking forward to that. Again, I've said this a thousand times this week in the last few weeks. I'll say it again, I think this can really help unlock a lot in his game this season. If he can play well in that unit, I think that can really, you know, translate over to even strength and I think he'll be a different player compared to where it was last year.

And hey, you know, maybe he needs to, you know, I guess struggle a little bit in camp and not wow everyone, you know, to have a better season. Because remember we all want to know what happened last year, twin and Kevin preseason Euro goes out and stinks it up. Maybe, you know, there's a different vibe that's seen from it, you know, maybe also putting him on the PK, that helps, I think. The second pet peeve penalty killing unit, Brock began, Josh Archibald, Chabraweedle, Marcus Pedersen, you know, interesting that Brock McGinn is on the second penalty killing unit,

considering that, you know, he was on the varsity one last season. And again, you know, the lines, they remain basically the same. I know Smith is with Rooted today, but I'm going to go off and make a bowl prediction. I think you're going to see POJ play against the Sabres. And then the same thing with the fourth line. Again, Paling, Poolean Archibald, one of those players is going to be out for that game. You know, not sure which one if I had to guess. maybe they'll rest McGinn or Archibald, something like that.

I'm not really sure, though. But that would do it for this episode of the Locktown Penguins podcast. Thank you all so much for listening to this one for tomorrow's episode. I am going to watch the final preseason game. And then I will have a full game recap episode for you all to discuss what I saw, what I like going into the regular season versus what I don't like, and everything in between. So again, thank you so much for listening.

And I will talk with you all on Friday evening. Thank you.