It took seven years and a meltdown from Matt Murray, but Tristan Jarry last August made his first NHL playoffs start, with Pittsburgh’s season on the brink.
He was rock solid, particularly in the final two periods as the Montreal Canadiens pushed. He shrugged off one Joel Armia shot. Stared down a point-blank blast from Phillip Danault. Flashed the glove on a Brendan Gallagher breakaway.
Just one of their 21 shots got past him, the Artturi Lehkonen tap-in after Brandon Tanev’s giveaway that sent the Penguins home from the playoff bubble.
That was the last piece of information that Jim Rutherford and the Penguins needed before trading Murray to Ottawa and handing the starting job to Jarry.
Sunday at PPG Paints Arena, Jarry will embark upon his first Stanley Cup chase as the No. 1 when the Penguins begin their series with the New York Islanders.
“His appearance last year in the bubble is nowhere near what he will be facing this year. Because he came in with nothing to lose,” former NHL goalie Martin Biron said. “This is completely different. You’re the man. You’re the guy. The spotlights are on you. So I think there is a ton of added pressure for Tristan Jarry.”
What else can Jarry expect this spring? We chatted with four former goalies, including his new boss, about their experience of being the No. 1 in the playoffs for the first time. Before that, let’s acknowledge what Jarry did to get to this point.
The 26-year-old got off to a rocky start to the regular season. He was yanked from his second start, a loss in Philadelphia, and was held out of games for a week so goalie coach Mike Buckley could rein him back in. He finally found his footing in February, going 23-5-2 with a .919 save percentage after Valentine’s Day.
“I’m impressed with the way he’s played. I know it was a bumpy start for him but he’s overcome it. And that, to me, is a good sign,” said Brian Boucher, who played his best hockey with the Flyers. “We saw another guy in Pennsylvania who had a tough start and didn’t overcome it. Look where he’s at right now.”
That other guy would be Carter Hart, Jarry’s training partner last offseason.
Boucher said he has been impressed with Jarry since the 2013 second-round pick made his Penguins debut in 2016-17 even though Jarry did not establish himself as an NHL regular until last season, when he played in the All-Star Game.
“I thought right from the hop you could see there’s some smarts to his game,” Boucher said. “He understood situational play and when to be aggressive. And he handled the puck well. That to me is a big one. If you can come into the NHL and have the courage to make plays that way, it says a lot about your confidence.”
In Jarry, Biron sees a goalie who is now playing with confidence and control.
“I’ve always liked him as a goalie because he’s technically very sound,” the SiriusXM NHL Radio analyst said. “His movements are good. His positioning is good. Now you just need to find your ‘it factor.’ And I think we’re seeing it right now.”
In 2014, Jarry led the Edmonton Oil Kings to the Memorial Cup, the top prize in Canadian junior hockey. Biron believes that experience will serve him well.
“I think it’s important that you have won somewhere or at least experienced success,” said Biron, who played for a few NHL teams, including the Buffalo Sabres. “My second year in Rochester, we lost in the Calder Cup final. That experience gave me the sense I could compete under pressure at the highest of levels.”
But the Stanley Cup playoffs are “a different animal,” noted Boucher, who in 2000 took the Flyers all the way to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals.
“Here’s my feel as an ex-player,” he said. “The attention to detail in a team concept is heightened. Teams check better. They manage the game better. Everything is better. And if you look, you’ll see that most guys, their save percentage goes up in the postseason. I know mine did. It wasn’t because it was all me.”
Conversely, Ron Hextall, another former Flyer who had a heck of a run in his first postseason, said a goalie must resist the urge to change his game too much.
“When you really break it down, it’s the same game,” said Hextall, who replaced Rutherford as Penguins general manager in February. “You’re a goaltender. You can’t work harder. You can’t play more physical. You can’t do this or you can’t do that like some players can. You’ve got to let the game come to you.”
And once you get on a roll, Boucher said, “ride that sucker and don’t stop.”
He pointed to Jordan Binnington, who led the St. Louis Blues to the Cup in 2019, as one example. Coincidentally, there are some interesting parallels between Jarry and Binnington, a third-round pick who toiled in the American Hockey League for a few years before finally emerging as an NHL No. 1 at the age of 25.
“Binnington was riding an incredible wave of confidence that year. We wondered when that wave was going to peter out. It never did,” Boucher said. “So it’s not unprecedented. It can happen. It’s important to get off to a good start. They need to play well in front of Jarry and allow him to get comfortable.”
With Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang running out of time to win the Cup again, there is added pressure on the Penguins to get it done in 2021.
But NHL Network analyst Kevin Weekes, who shared the crease with Arturs Irbe when the Carolina Hurricanes went on an improbable run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2002, advised Jarry to make sure to “enjoy the moment and absorb it.”
“The biggest thing is the magnitude of the opportunity,” Weekes said. “You reflect on all the games you played, all the junior tournaments, the minors, the bus rides, the time in the car with your parents, the hard road to get there. … And now you’re in the thick of it, getting a chance to compete for the Stanley Cup.”
Weekes remembers standing in his crease before his first playoff start, “my heart racing through my chest,” during the anthems. Down at the other end was Martin Brodeur, a guy he used to watch on TV. It was a surreal experience.
“I was trying to calm myself down with my breathing, doing deep breathing while the anthems played,” he said. “I get goosebumps talking about it now.”
So forget all that noise, he said, and focus on the opportunity of a lifetime.
“This is what you worked for,” Weekes said. “This is what you dreamt of.”
