PITTSBURGH — Tristan Jarry still has a long way to go to prove that the Penguins made the right decision by committing to him as their go-to goaltender this past offseason.
But he is showing that he deserves an opportunity to settle in for the short term and hopefully give them the competent puck-stopping they lacked in January.
Making his third consecutive start Thursday, Jarry stopped 31 shots to lead the Penguins to a 4-1 victory against the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena. Brock Nelson spoiled the 25-year-old’s shutout bid with 4:21 left in regulation.
In those three games this week, Jarry stopped 98 of the 105 shots he faced.
Thursday’s performance was his most encouraging yet. Jarry had to scramble to make a few tough saves. But a subtle one midway through the second period was a better example of the strides that Jarry has made over the last week.
The Islanders had a power play and Josh Bailey held the puck in the right circle. Bailey waited for a seam to open up then slapped a pass through to Nelson, who was posted up in front. Jarry was under control as he slid out to the top of his crease to meet Nelson’s redirect try and didn’t let a rebound dribble out.
In the season’s first few weeks, which included the week-long mental “reset” that coach Mike Sullivan gave Jarry after his new No. 1 got pulled in Philadelphia, Jarry was erratic in the crease. He drifted too deep into his net or shuffled out of position. A bunch of the pucks that hit him bounced right to opponents.
Jarry won just two of his first seven starts while posting an NHL-worst .857 save percentage. He had been ceding starts to scrappy backup Casey DeSmith. And there was media chatter that the Penguins were shopping for another goalie.
DeSmith was sick Sunday with an illness unrelated to COVID-19 and Jarry got the nod against the high-scoring Washington Capitals. He made 28 saves in a win and held up well enough against a barrage of Capitals shots in Tuesday’s loss.
On Thursday, Jarry held down the fort until the Penguins could pull away.
The other storyline was the Penguins getting three pucks past Semyon Varlamov, one of the NHL’s hottest goalies with a .939 save percentage in February.
Sullivan shook up his forward group, presumably with a certain underperforming Russian center in mind. Entering Thursday night, Evgeni Malkin led the Penguins in giveaways, had delivered just nine hits and had yet to produce a multi-point game in 2021. And in their previous two games, he didn’t record a point.
Sullivan disassembled the dynamic trio of Jake Guentzel, Sidney Crosby and Bryan Rust, which had been one of the NHL’s best lines the last few weeks. That is, until they had a quiet night in Tuesday’s 3-1 loss to the Washington Capitals.
Rust, who led the Penguins in goals and points heading into Thursday, switched spots with Kasperi Kapanen, moving back to the second line. He was reunited with Malkin and Jason Zucker, his linemates when the season began Jan. 13.
Kapanen finally got a chance to start a game on Crosby’s right wing, the spot where the Penguins initially planned to play him when acquiring him in August.
Sullivan’s switcheroo paid off 4:15 into the game. Kapanen fought off two Islanders to put the puck on goal. Cutting in front of Varlamov, Crosby reached back and with a flick of the stick redirected the shot over the goalie’s right pad.
Late in the second period, Kris Letang coughed up the puck near his blue line, leading to a 2-on-1 for the Islanders. Jarry fought off Nelson and moments later Teddy Blueger potted a juicy rebound to increase the Penguins’ lead to 2-0.
To be sure, Blueger had so much time there that he could have flipped his stick around like a pool cue and poked it into the open net. But the strides he has made both in the offensive zone and at the faceoff dot have eased concerns about the third-line center spot. His line was arguably Pittsburgh’s best again.
Blueger has more points than Malkin this season, but the Russian showed signs of life during one sequence in the third period. Malkin won a puck battle along the wall to keep the puck in the offensive zone. He passed it to Rust, who got crushed behind the night right after making a nice play to set up Zucker in front.
Zucker returned the favor with 3:06 left, turning down an open net on a 2-on-0 rush to slide it over to Rust. It was Rust’s team-leading sixth goal of the season.
With the win, the Penguins improved to 2-1 against the Islanders this season.
The Penguins on Saturday will again host the Islanders at PPG Paints Arena. The two East Division foes are scheduled to play each other six times in February.
