Tristan Jarry struggles before getting pulled in Penguins’ loss to Senators
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Tristan Jarry has a pretty simple endeavor he pursues every time he takes the ice as the starting goaltender for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“I want to be solid back there,” Jarry said Thursday. “I want the guys to know what they’re going to get every night.”
On Saturday night, the Penguins did not get the desired result from Jarry, who was pulled midway through a deflating 5-2 loss to the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena.
Allowing three goals on nine shots in 25 minutes, 28 seconds of ice time, Jarry was replaced in the second period by journeyman Magnus Hellberg.
While Jarry’s performance was disappointing for anyone with a rooting interest in the Penguins, it might have been more baffling than anything else considering how sharp he appeared just two nights prior when he authored a 4-0 shutout of the powerful Colorado Avalanche on home ice. He made 31 saves in that contest.
For the season, Jarry’s record dropped to 2-4-0.
Jarry did not speak with reporters following the contest. And his coach did not offer much of an evaluation of Jarry or Hellberg when queried after the game.
“It’s not an easy one, I think, right after the game to digest the goaltending performance, per se,” Sullivan said. “For me, it’s more about a collective effort.”
Hellberg, making his Penguins debut, allowed two goals on 17 shots and addressed his play.
“Obviously, it was fun to see some action,” Hellberg said. “Not happy with the result. I let in two as well there at the end. It was tough. Obviously, it was fun for me to see some action. At the same time, I was hoping we would get the win.”
The result in this contest was hardly limited to the malfunctions in net. The team’s supposedly potent power play largely served as a practice session for the Senators’ penalty killers.
With four minutes of ice time on the power play, the Penguins could generate only four shots.
The Penguins have been blanked on 16 consecutive power-play opportunities and are 2 for 20 (10.0%) on the season.
“Part of the process needs to be we need to simplify it,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to shoot the puck more. I think we’ve got to make a hard effort in front. And I think if we do that, pucks will go in the net. We’ve just got to stay with that. I think like I said, I think they’re creating opportunities. If they weren’t, that would be a different conversation. But they are. And all of the numbers that we track suggest that.”
The Senators converted their first power-play opportunity 4:24 into regulation and never trailed.
Taking a pass on the left wing of the offensive zone, Senators forward and longtime Penguins nemesis Claude Giroux listed into the near circle and snapped a forehand pass to the top of the crease. Stationed just above the blue paint like a sentry, Senators rookie forward Ridly Greig re-directed the puck with his blade past Jarry’s glove for his second goal. Giroux and defenseman Jakob Chychrun had assists.
Giroux set up the Senators’ second goal at 14:14 of the first period.
Gaining the offensive blue line at the center point, Giroux fed a simple forehand pass to the left wing for linemate Brady Tkachuk. With Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves providing minimal resistance, Tkachuk coasted through the left circle and fired a pedestrian wrister to the far side under Jarry’s glove for his fifth goal. Giroux and forward Tim Stutzle tallied assists.
Despite the score, the Penguins professed satisfaction with how the first period unfolded. They led in shots, 22-7, in the first 20 minutes.
“We were all over them,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “You look at the first period, they capitalized on probably two or three chances and we carried most of the game. But they executed. They kept the game simple. They scored big goals at the right time. Just the way it is. In the end, we didn’t manage it. We should have kept it simple like we did in the first.”
The Senators appeared to go up by three goals at 4:20 of the second period when defenseman Travis Hamonic blasted a slapper from the center point behind Jarry. But the Penguins issued a successful coach’s challenge claiming the play to be offside. A video review confirmed the Penguins’ suspicions and euthanized the score.
But that small triumph did little to filibuster the Senators as forward Dominik Kubalik scored his first goal at the 5:28 mark of the middle period.
After gaining the offensive zone on the left wing with fury, Senators forward Mathieu Joseph left a drop pass for Greig, who one-touched a forehand pass across the ice. Settling the puck above the right circle, Kubalik wound up and chopped a slapper to the far side, toasting Jarry’s blocker and prompting his replacement by Hellberg. Greig and Joseph registered assists.
The Penguins’ first line broke through late in the second at the 17:34 mark. Off some precision passing, forward Bryan Rust settled the puck in the Senators’ left circle and dished a seam pass to the far side of the crease, where linemate Sidney Crosby leaned down and redirected a forehand shot by goaltender Joonas Korpisalo’s left skate for his fifth goal. Assists went to Rust and Letang.
Any notion of a comeback was snuffed out when Tkachuk scored his second goal of the contest at 13:07 of the third period.
Corralling a loose puck in the Penguins’ left circle, Stutzle snapped off a wrister that Hellberg denied with his left leg. Positioned to the left of the cage, Tkachuk claimed the rebound, deked Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson’s soul from his physical being and lifted a snazzy backhander over Hellberg’s glove on the far side. Stutzle and Hamonic had assists.
A mere 31 seconds later, forward Drake Batherson’s first goal put the visitors up 5-1.
After Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin failed to cleanly accept a pass in the slot of the offensive zone, Senators forward Vladimir Tarasenko one-touched the puck to the neutral zone for a hustling Batherson, who generated a breakaway. Pulling away from Letang and Graves, Batherson approached the net and flipped a backhander past Hellberg’s blocker. The lone assist went to Tarasenko.
Penguins forward Jake Guentzel’s second goal at 19:26 of the final frame capped the scoring.
Settling a rimmed puck on the left half wall of the offensive zone, Crosby allowed things to develop then fed a seam pass to Guentzel above the right circle. Allowing a shooting lane to open, Guentzel zipped a far-side wrister past Korpisalo’s blocker. Crosby and defenseman Chad Ruhwedel had assists.
Saturday’s setback came roughly 48 hours following Thursday’s triumph which was, by any measure, the Penguins’ best game of the still-young season.
“If you look at our first period, I don’t think (anything) changed from the previous game,” Letang said. “I thought we came out hard on our toes. We dominated the play. We had the puck most of the game. It’s just unfortunate (there’s) a mistake here or there. It is what it is.”
It remains to be seen if Jarry is the goaltender who stoned the awesome Avalanche or the player who was sliced up by the Senators. His thoughts on the matter remained private on Saturday.
Hellberg, who was recalled to the NHL roster Wednesday after backup Alex Nedeljkovic suffered an undisclosed injury, offered a sound sentiment, however.
“I feel like we have such a skilled team, we can win against any team in this league,” he said. “Even if Thursday’s game against Colorado was a great win and we played really good hockey, you’ve got to reset. It was a good team today. We know Ottawa has a lot of good offense. They’re a quick transition team.
“You’re never better than your last game. You’ve got to stick with it and play at your top all the time.”
Notes:
• At 6-foot-6, 220 pounds, Hellberg became the tallest and heaviest goaltender in franchise history.
Matt Murray and Dany Sabourin (6-4) previously shared the mark for height while Thomas Greiss (219 pounds) held down the weight.
• Hellberg became the 10th player to wear No. 45 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors:
Mike Needham (playoffs only), Glen Mulvenna, Peter Ferraro, Martin Sonnenberg, Rob Scuderi, Arron Asham, Adam Payerl, Josh Archibald, Jonathan Gruden
In 47 career games against the Senators, Crosby has 56 points (19 goals, 37 assists).
• Ruhwedel’s assist was his first point of the season.
• The Penguins scratched defensemen P.O Joseph (healthy), John Ludvig (concussion) and forward Vinnie Hinostroza (healthy).
• A day after being assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League in paper transactions that benefit the team’s daily maintenance of the salary cap, Hinostroza and forward Radim Zohorna were recalled to the NHL roster Saturday morning.
• In eight career games against the Penguins, Batherson has 12 points.
• Senators defenseman Nikolas Mantipalo made his NHL debut.