It had been a while for Tristan Jarry.

Well … eight days at least.

Going into Thursday, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ would-be franchise goaltender had been a spectator for his team’s three previous games.

Injured during his most recent appearance March 22, he had lots of time to heal from what was apparently a minor – and undisclosed – malady.

He also had plenty of opportunity to refine his game, which has been mostly aberrant this season.

Eight days salved his body as well as his play and allowed him to do something he had not done in an even longer while on Thursday.

Post a shutout.

Stopping all 28 saves he faced, Jarry led the Penguins to a 2-0 blanking of the Nashville Predators at PPG Paints Arena.

It was his (and the team’s) second shutout of the season and first since a 3-0 road win against the Winnipeg Jets on Nov. 19.

More importantly, it kept the Penguins in a playoff position.

Following Thursday’s games, the Penguins (37-28-10, 84 points) maintained a placemat-thin advantage over the Florida Panthers (38-31-7, 83 points) for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.

Some 10 hours to the northeast, the Panthers kept pace with a 5-2 road victory against the Montreal Canadiens.

Stateside, Jarry worked with goaltending coach Andy Chiodo over the previous week and change to smooth out the considerably rough edges that have pockmarked his performances, particularly over the past three months.

“Obviously, anytime that you can get away from it a little bit, it takes a little bit of stress off of you and you’re able to just prepare your game and kind of work on the things that you need to in practice,” Jarry said. “I want to do the best I can. I want to help the team.”

Jarry and his counterpart, fellow All-Star goaltender Juuse Saros, were each stout in net. As a result, the first half of the contest was mostly a stoic staring contest between two teams playing a conservative style with the occasional challenging save mixed in.

After the first 34:15 of regulation bore nothing but the smallest non-negative integer possible on both sides of the scoreboard, Penguins forward Jason Zucker broke the stalemate late in the second period.

Settling a puck in his zone and retreating to the bottom of the right circle, Penguins rookie defenseman P.O Joseph snapped an impressive cross-ice stretch pass to forward Evgeni Malkin in front of the home bench. Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Malkin faked a slapper and then offloaded the puck to the slot for onrushing Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin. Displaying a handful of dekes to get around sliding Predators defenseman Kevin Gravel, Dumoulin slid a clever short-area pass to the left of the crease for Zucker to tap in past the stick of a scrambling Saros for his 26th goal. Dumoulin and Malkin had assists.

Slick passes by Joseph and Dumoulin created the goal.

“I just saw (the Predators) changing,” Joseph said. “The goal is to put the puck in the forwards’ hands and let them create some plays. They just have some great imagination, and the talent that we have up front is unbelievable. The second that we can put that up there, the faster the better.”

Dumoulin displayed a rare bit of offensive flair to directly set up Zucker.

“(Zucker) owes me a bottle of wine,” Dumoulin quipped. “I’ll be waiting for that.”

The Predators weren’t about to go down without fermenting a fight. They had a handful of quality scoring chances, including a breakaway by forward Philip Tomasino at 8:48 of the third period.

Jarry coolly snuffed out those ambitions.

“They had a clear-cut breakaway in the third period he makes a great save on,” Sullivan said. “He was there when we needed him.”

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel was there to secure victory with his team-leading 34th goal on a power-play opportunity at 13:03 of the third period.

After Penguins forward Sidney Crosby beat Predators forward Colton Sissons on a draw in Nashville’s left circle, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang corralled the puck at the left point then sauntered his way to the center point before flicking a forehand pass to the left half wall for forward Rickard Rakell. Maneuvering low into the left circle, Rakell snapped a sharp forehand pass to the far side of the crease, where Guentzel deflected the puck with the forehand of his stick blade past the left skate of a valiant Saros, who made 43 saves on 45 shots. Rakell and Letang logged assists.

After that, the Penguins limited the visitors to four shots to finish the game.

While the rebuilding Predators are certainly not the most dangerous offensive outfit in the NHL, closing out a victory against an opponent of any stripe has been a considerable challenge for the Penguins this season.

“It’s a playoff mentality,” Guentzel said. “You’ve got to defend hard at this time of the year. For us, we’re going to have to win these (tight) games. It gives us some confidence here.”

It’s hard not to have some boost in confidence, even if only incrementally, in Jarry after Thursday’s triumph. His lengthy respite clearly provided ample benefit.

“He got some quality work with Andy in practice and that’s an important aspect of the preparation process so that he can be at his best,” Sullivan said. “We’re trying to find those windows of opportunity where we can get him those types of (repetitions). I thought he looked really sharp tonight.”

Appearing in his 200th career game, Jarry recorded his 13th career shutout and boosted his record to 21-10-6 on the season.

He might also have something he hasn’t had in a while.

Joy.

“Just really happy for him,” Guentzel said. “Hopefully he smiles now and has some fun.”

Notes:

• The Penguins were 3 for 3 on the penalty kill on Thursday and snapped a six-game streak of allowing at least one opposing power-play goal.

• The Penguins’ scratches were forward Alex Nylander (healthy) and defenseman Jan Rutta (suspected left knee).

• The Penguins’ last shutout of the Predators was a 4-0 home win on Oct. 7, 2017. Matt Murray made 26 saves in the victory.

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