Tristan Jarry focuses on an exceptionally close puck Saturday night. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Penguins

Kovacevic: Imagine the goaltending riches should this Jarry thing be really real

By Dejan Kovacevic

Dec 3, 2017 • 2:03 am

17.9K

No, I'm not going there.

Except ... maybe ... just a little?

Look, I know those were the Sabres out there. I saw them, too. They're absolutely abysmal. They're so bad that they can suffer through nearly four full games without scoring and still, somehow, be that much lousier with defense and discipline. They're so bad that Phil Housley, their rookie coach and erstwhile Hall of Fame defenseman, could probably skate circles around half his roster. At age 53. With his ankles hogtied.

In the same breath, and in all seriousness, let's not lose sight of what Tristan Jarry's doing.

Because this 22-year-old kid with the big smile and bigger net presence has just shoved back-to-back goaltending gems on back-to-back nights in our collective faces. He stopped all 34 shots he faced Friday in Buffalo, then 32 of 33 in the Penguins' 5-1 follow-up on this Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.

And to ignore that because of the caliber of the opponent wouldn't be the slightest bit fair upon closer inspection ...

That up there is Evander Kane, owner of one of the NHL's most devastating wrist shots this side of Phil Kessel. And as with Kessel, the gift is in the release because the goaltender is kept guessing to the last millisecond.

Kane didn't disappoint in that regard. His partial break in the second period saw him reach the left circle, full-steam, and slap the fire button with such velocity that Jarry, sharp as he was, could only have the puck clang off his catching glove and downward.

But it didn't do damage. And the slo-mo illustrates, through the glove movement alone but also through his aggressive positioning above the crease, that this was very real.

As was his nonchalance when I brought it up afterward:

"Lucky?"

Um, no. And all it took was one look at poor Kane shaking his head on the Buffalo bench as he watched the save replayed on the big board.

There were a bunch more, too ...

A point-blank bullet by Rasmus Ristolainen off the mask, courtesy of a sound square-up. A smooth tracking of a point shot through a double-screen. And the last one, which might have been my favorite, was the bad-angle surprise wrister by Jack Eichel, a shot not many in the NHL would conceive let alone attempt with such force.

"Sneaky," Jarry called it. "He's dangerous."

Eichel sure is, unlike most of his mates. And there's a reason Eichel never took a shift in the AHL, because players who can shoot like that bypass all the other levels.

That makes it all the more impressive, if you ask me, that Jarry's performing as he is. On Nov. 2, exactly a month earlier, he was called up to Calgary in a pinch after Antti Niemi's release. I saw him before faceofff that day at the Saddledome, all gosh-wow and gazing at the stars around him as if he were about to seek autographs. And I saw him that night, flicking aside 32 of the Flames' 34 shots for what wound up an overtime loss.

The No. 1 thought then remains atop the list now: He belongs.

"Right away, in Calgary, we all saw it," Carl Hagelin was telling me after this game. "He was so calm, steady, and we feed off that. He's made a lot of good saves, he's kept us in games, and we're the kind of team where we're going to score goals if we get the opportunity."

"He's been a rock for us," Justin Schultz would tell me across the room. "What stands out for me is that he's a gamer. He always comes to play. He never gives up on a puck. He's always battling, always giving that extra effort. I can't even count all the times he's bailed us out."

Here's that count: 1.99 goals-against average, .937 save percentage and a 4-0-2 record that's built on the team's ongoing, season-high four-game winning streak.

Sidney Crosby was no less effusive when I asked, singling out that same save on Kane as pivotal:

Housley piped up, too, from the opponents' perspective.

"We ran into some great goaltending these two nights," he said. "That's not an excuse. It's just what happened."

OK, so, is it acceptable to go there now?

Cool, but it's probably smart to open with a deep breath and a deeper disclaimer: Matt Murray's the goaltender. He's the one with the two Stanley Cup rings at age 23. He's the one who entered this season with every reasonable claim to No. 1 status over a full winter for the first time.

But ...

But ... if Jarry should continue to feed off this confidence, continue to carry momentum beyond a mere half-dozen games, continue to prove that he's a match for his pedigree when the Penguins made him their top pick of the 2013 NHL Draft -- second round, 44th overall -- then it's at least reasonable to contemplate how that might affect the short-term goaltending mix, right?

To review, Jim Rutherford entered this season with a rare mistake in believing Niemi had anything left. But the plan then was more flawed than just that, as it also presumed that Murray, who'd never logged more than 49 regular-season games as a pro and never more than 53 in his life, suddenly would blossom into an iron man. That was the unspoken schedule: Murray would take three-quarters of the starts, and Niemi would assume the second game of most or all of the league-high 19 back-to-backs.

It bombed. Both halves. Niemi was so awful that only the Panthers could possibly have claimed his $750,000 salary off waivers and spared the Penguins the cap hit. And Murray, of course, was hurt earlier this week against the Flyers when Jakub Voracek crashed into his right leg on a breakaway.

But now, thanks to Jarry showing up as he has, that doubly bleak mess has suddenly become this: With Murray and Jarry, the Penguins will have the NHL's youngest goaltending duo -- by a broad margin -- as well as one that grows together, shares the load at a more realistic level and, yes, pushes each other.

No one should ever doubt Murray's motivation. Remember, he's got those rings. But the same constant push he felt from Marc-Andre Fleury's mere presence was completely gone at the start of this season. And coincidence or not, Murray wasn't himself before his injury. Not consistently, anyway. He was 11-7-1 with a 2.95 goals-against average and .906 save percentage, or half a goal and 15 points off his career figures in those categories.

Maybe that will change once Murray returns, which I've heard will be in the range of 2-4 weeks.

Mike Sullivan's a Murray guy, if you'll recall from those raging playoff debates, but it's easy to tell he'd be in favor of such a scenario. In a lengthy, thoughtful answer on this night about Jarry, he appeared to raise caution, given Jarry's history of lapses in his development that occasionally raised doubts about his potential. But he also clearly embraced having challenged Jarry with starts on back-to-back nights.

"I thought he was really solid, and I wasn't hesitant at all," Sullivan began. "I think it's a great opportunity for Tristan while Matt's recovering to get in the net and to give this team a chance to win. Everyone can see the talent level that exists. I think this is a great opportunity for his own personal development. We have high expectations of him."

Sounded like he was done. He wasn't.

"He's had two solid outings in a row and, hopefully, that should give him some confidence moving forward that he's an NHL-caliber goalie. As long as he stays focused and stays in the moment, he's a goaltender that I think can be very good in this league."

One of two on this very team.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Penguins vs. Sabres, PPG Paints Arena, Dec. 2, 2017. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

WHAT'S BREWING

• It'll be a rare slow day in Pittsburgh sports with no one playing, practicing or anything. There is, of course, a full slate of NFL action, so Dale Lolley thought to include in his weekly Kickoff a viewing guide for the day's games. All the usual terrific work is in there, as well.

• Our full football crew -- Lolley, Christopher Carter, Matt Sunday and I -- are heading out to Cincinnati. Night game or not, you'll always get all the coverage you have a right to expect. No deadlines, no delivery trucks. Just lots of caffeine. (With no sugar, of course.)

• If you missed Site Stuff, I wrote about a personal challenge.

VIDEO

Bradford and me after the game: