Penguins

Tristan Jarry chased again, Penguins’ playoff hopes take another hit in loss to Stars

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
Slide 1
AP
Penguins defensemen Jack St. Ivany (left) controls the puck in front of Dallas center Sam Steel in the first period Friday.
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AP
Stars defenseman Esa Lindell works to maintain control of the puck under pressure from Penguins right wing Reilly Smith in the first period Friday.
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AP
Penguins left wing Michael Bunting celebrates with the bench after scoring against the Dallas Stars in the first period Friday.
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AP
Penguins defensemen Jack St. Ivany and Dallas defenseman Esa Lindell compete for control of the puck in the first period Friday.

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The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t been mathematically eliminated from postseason contention just yet.

But a lot of things – mostly out of their control – need to add up for them to get an “x” affixed next to their entry in the standings.

And on Friday, the arithmetic was ugly as they were defeated by one of the NHL’s better teams, the Dallas Stars, 4-2, at American Airlines Center in Dallas.

The calculus gets even more daunting Sunday with a road contest against the powerful Colorado Avalanche.

“It’s a weekend that’s really important for us,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said on Thursday in Cranberry. “I have the sense that this team, every time we’re facing a good opponent, we raise our game. I think that’s what we need to do.”

No such thing happened Friday as the Penguins lost for the 10th time in their past 13 games (3-9-1).

The visitors did strike first as forward Michael Bunting found his 16th goal 2:45 into regulation.

Corralling a rebound on the right half-wall of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin burrowed his way around the corner boards to behind the cage where he flicked a clever pass to the right of the net. Establishing position in front of Stars defenseman Thomas Harley, Bunting mashed in a forehand shot under goaltender Jake Oettinger’s left leg while falling to the ice. It was Bunting’s third goal in seven games since he was acquired via trade on March 7. Malkin and defenseman P.O Joseph had assists.

Stars forward Joe Pavelski’s 25th goal tied the game 1-1 at 7:16 of the first period.

Chasing down a loose puck in the Penguins’ left circle, Harley chucked a wrister toward the cage. Goaltender Tristan Jarry appeared to make the save initially but a rebound popped out to the lower rim of the left circle where Pavelski, just on reflexes, batted a backhander that floated up. With Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson planted above the blue paint to defer any intruders, the puck glanced off his right glove and fluttered over Jarry’s right shoulder and into the cage. Harley and forward Jason Robertson registered assists.

A quick burst of scores by forward Jamie Benn in the second period put the Stars in the lead.

Benn’s 14th goal of the season came at 5:52 of the middle frame during a power-play opportunity.

Taking a pass in the high slot, Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen veered toward the right circle and then offloaded the puck to Benn above the left circle. Surveying the scene, Benn advanced slightly into the circle and released a heavy wrister that beat a flustered Jarry’s right shoulder on the near side. Stars forward Roope Hintz and Pettersson served as screens on the sequence. Assists went to Heiskanen and Robertson.

Only 77 seconds later, Benn struck again at even strength.

Gaining the offensive zone on the right wing, Stars rookie forward Logan Stankoven pulled up at the point, spun off a check from Penguins forward Bryan Rust and slid a pass to the center point for an onrushing Benn. Avoiding a sliding block attempt by Penguins rookie defenseman John Ludvig, Benn listed slightly to the lower left circle and pushed the puck into the slot on an attempted pass for linemate Wyatt Johnston. With Jarry shuffling to gain sound position in the slot, the puck hit off the inside of his left leg and deflected through his five hole then into the cage. The lone assist was logged by Stankoven.

Jarry was chased 4:37 into the third period via forward Sam Steel’s 11th goal.

Trying to corral a dump-in by the Stars in his own right corner, Bunting lost the puck to Stars forward Craig Smith. Off the right half-wall, Smith backhanded a pass to the top of the near circle for Steel. Darting past ill-positioned Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson, Steel surged to the slot and singed Jarry’s right shoulder with a sinister wrister. Smith claimed the only assist.

For the third time in seven games, Jarry was pulled in favor of backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Jarry’s record tumbled to 19-24-5 after he made 16 saves on 20 shots.

“I’m not going to get into the reasons why,” Sullivan said to the Associated Press in Dallas in regards to replacing Jarry. “But there were a number of reasons why I thought it was the right decision at that particular time for the team.”

Penguins forward Rickard Rakell’s 11th goal came at 11:03 of the third period.

Under pressure from a forechecking Bunting, Stars defenseman Nils Lundkvist lost possession of a puck on his own end boards to Malkin. Swooping behind the cage and emerging to the left of the crease, Malkin tapped a subtle backhand pass to the top of the blue paint for an off-balance Rakell, who jabbed a forehand shot by Oettinger’s glove. Malkin and Bunting had assists.

Nedeljkovic stopped all three shots he faced.

“I like the way the team started,” Sullivan said. “I thought there were instances where we needed to defend harder. I thought we had opportunities on the other end of the rink offensively where we simply have to execute and finish.”

Notes:

• Malkin (1,282 points) surpassed former Red Wings forward Alex Delvecchio (1,281) for 37th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

• Penguins rookie defenseman Jack St. Ivany made his NHL debut. He replaced veteran defenseman Ryan Graves. According to the team’s X social media account, coach Mike Sullivan told media in Dallas that Graves remained in Pittsburgh to attend to the birth of his first child.

Primarily stationed on the third defensive pairing, St. Ivany logged 12:22 of ice time on 19 shifts and recorded one shot on two attempts as well as one blocked shot.

• St. Ivany became the 24th player to wear No. 3 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors:

Al MacNeil, John Arbour, Bob Woytowich, Tim Horton, Jack Lynch, Ron Stackhouse, Bennett Wolf, Norm Schmidt, Doug Bodger, Jim Kyte, Jim Paek, Grant Jennings, Sergei Zubov, Stefan Bergkvist, Dan Trebil, Marc Bergevin, Jamie Pushor, Steve Poapst, Mark Eaton, Alex Goligoski, Douglas Murray, Olli Maatta, Yannick Weber

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter was scratched for the second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury.

• Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi returned to the lineup after being a healthy scratch for the previous six games.

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