Tristan Jarry has had an injury-prone corpse of a season for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Dealing with the “can he or can’t he?” is exhausting.

Casey DeSmith isn’t as talented or even very talented. But he battles like a bulldog.

It’s time to go with the bulldog.

Enough is enough with Jarry. You just wait for whatever the next hurt is, though it’s never defined publicly as per hockey’s omerta. (The latest whisper: It’s Jarry’s back this time.)

The dressing room isn’t complaining about it, but Jarry being in and out like the hokey-pokey on skates has to be taxing. Being a No. 1 goalie requires reliability. It’s part of the job. Jarry can’t be that.

The numbers don’t much matter at this point, but please note that Jarry’s and DeSmith’s save percentages are about the same (.908, .907) and that there’s not overwhelming distance between their goals-against averages (2.98, 3.11). The biggest numerical cause for concern is the Penguins have 21 wins and 16 losses when Jarry gets the decision, 14 wins and 19 losses when DeSmith does.

But right now, you’ve got to stick somebody in goal for a while. Even if Jarry is OK — he was the backup in Saturday’s 4-3 home win vs. Washington — you can’t trust him to be that guy.

Anyway, Jarry got pulled four times in 13 starts since returning from the injury before the latest injury. He had hardly sparkled. Coach Mike Sullivan kept talking about Jarry needing more practice to find himself. Then Jarry got hurt again.

DeSmith, meanwhile, is almost always ready.

He did more than enough in Saturday’s victory, stopping 31 shots as the Penguins went from leading 3-0 to tied 3-3 to winning on Evgeni Malkin’s goal with 80 seconds left. DeSmith wore out a bit in the third period, but given the night’s demands, Jarry likely would have had a bone showing.

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Some of DeSmith’s work was phenomenal. He foiled career goal-scoring leader-elect Alex Ovechkin on a breakaway when it was 0-0, then made a flurry of saves to end the second period when the Penguins led 2-0.

DeSmith is too small. He’s listed at 6-foot, but that’s a lie. Sometimes DeSmith loses the crease in his effort to compensate by dramatically cutting down angles. (That played a role in Washington’s third-period rally.)

Less is more with DeSmith. When he plays too many games, he plays worse.

But he doesn’t often stink, and he competes hard. Heart of a lion.

At this point, perhaps that’s enough.

Play him Tuesday at Detroit even if Jarry is OK. Let him get a run of games. See if DeSmith can find the magic of Ron Tugnutt with the Penguins in 2000 or, better yet, Johan Hedberg in ’01. (Break out the moose antlers.)

Perhaps the dressing room would rally around DeSmith. Jarry never gives them that chance. You can’t rally around a question mark.

Can DeSmith get them to the postseason? Sure.

Can DeSmith win a playoff series? Probably not. But Jarry never has.

Jarry has been hurt five times inside of a year. He made his Penguins’ debut in 2017 and still hasn’t truly proven himself. He’s a free agent at season’s end, and the Penguins would be stupid to retain him at significant cost or term.

Waiting on Jarry is just exhausting.

DeSmith provides adrenaline.

Let Jarry find himself in practice. Give DeSmith the net for a while. His performance against Washington merits that.

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