Casey DeSmith focuses on the puck at the blade of the Hurricanes' Jordan Staal. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Penguins

Kovacevic: No one's leaving Casey DeSmith out in the cold anymore

Jan 24, 2018 • 1:30 am

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It was anything but the "dream come true" Casey DeSmith had labeled it at the time, though one could hardly tell.

It was late October in already-wintry Winnipeg, and the chill outside was exceeded only by the repeated torching of the Penguins' goaltenders. Four goals on six shots against Matt Murray, then three more on 15 shots against DeSmith in the most ignominious NHL debut imaginable.

And yet, there he was in the minuscule visitors' locker room, surrounded by the standard crush of Canadian cameras and microphones ... smiling?

Like, uh, smiling after 7-1?

"Yeah, yeah, I know," DeSmith came back when I ribbed him for that yet again, this following maybe the best, biggest reason of his hockey career to smile, a 34-save, 3-1 throttling of the Hurricanes on this Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. And this in a stunning third consecutive start. "I'm just a naturally happy person, I think, which probably explains the Winnipeg thing. But I also ... I don't know, I just really appreciate all this. I appreciated that chance up there, even though the game didn't go great. I appreciate the chance now."

It's the chance of a lifetime in every sense.

TAP FOR BOXSCORE, PLAY-BY-PLAY, HIGHLIGHTS

He's 26 years old, and he's followed three seasons at the University of New Hampshire with four professional seasons ... in which he's barely played. No, really, it's crazy: In 2015-16, he appeared in 13 games with the Wheeling Nailers and six others with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. In 2016-17, it was just 29 games, all with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. This season, before his emergency promotion, it was 19.

Get the picture?

Wait, there's more: He was so lowly regarded coming out of college in 2015 that he was ignored in the NHL Draft, signed to an ECHL contract that paid $550 a week, started out as Wheeling's No. 3 goaltender behind two dudes named Brian Foster and Franky Palazzese, then wasn't allowed to stand between the pipes once until mid-December.

Also, bus rides. Endless bus rides.

Now this ...

Oh, right, Winnipeg.

Turns out that stuck out for Mike Sullivan, too.

"He seems like a mentally strong kid," the head-coach-who's-never-wrong was saying after this game. "He's a guy who's worked his way up from the East Coast league. He's come up the hard way. Nobody's handed him anything. He's earned every bit of the opportunities he's been given. I think when players go through that process, you develop a certain resilience. A lot of people aren't willing to go through those challenges. Casey has."

Sullivan paused.

"We put him in some tough situations early on where we used him in relief. The one in Winnipeg comes to mind. That was a pretty difficult circumstance. But he just shakes that off and just goes back to work."

Yep. And workmanlike would be the most fitting term for this particular performance. The Hurricanes weren't as dangerous as they'd been in previous meetings, robbed of vital cog Sebastian Aho from their first line by a concussion, but there were still stops like this beauty on Victor Rask midway through the first ...

... and this on a Noah Hanifin rush a few minutes later:

Neither was mindblowing, but that's not his thing. He stands only 6 feet -- which gives him something more in common with Johan Hedberg than being a late bloomer, as Paul Steigerwald smartly pointed out during our dinner before the game -- and he simply stays calm and in command.

"Moose!" DeSmith came right back when I cited Steigy's observation. "Of course I remember Moose! Who wouldn't?"

It's way too soon to begin comparing, of course. But here's what's known at this moment: Sullivan needs points in the standings. The Penguins, at 26-21-3, inched up into a tie with the Blue Jackets for the East's final wild card spot. Both New York teams are two points back. And his choice for not one, not two, but three games in a row has been this virtual nobody from Rochester, N.H., and that's not because the coach is feeling the warm-and-fuzzies about a fine storyline.

As Sullivan put it, "We're happy for him. But he's doing the job."

Smiling, too.

He credits his mother, Patty DeSmith, whom he calls "the happiest person in the world, guaranteed," but he also stresses, "I've had a long journey here, so it hasn't been all smiles and giggles. But my family's just pretty positive, and that's helped. Just appreciating that I'm getting this opportunity ... I think that's what allowed me to smile when we lost, 7-1, and I gave up the last three goals."

Winnipeg again.

"I appreciated that. I appreciate all of this. Not that all guys don't. But some guys have a harder road. Some guys don't stay with it. I guess for me, the biggest thing was that ... it's not that I wasn't succeeding, and it's not that I was playing poorly. It's because I wasn't getting a chance. Now I am. It feels good."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Penguins vs. Hurricanes, PPG Paints Arena, Jan. 23, 2018. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

WHAT'S BREWING

• Chris Bradford and Matt Sunday were with me at the game, and they've got much more on the game on our Penguins page.

• I'll cover Duquesne-Richmond tonight at Palumbo. Sunday will be there shooting. This will be fun.

• Speaking of the Dukes, don't miss Chris Mueller's Midweek Reader this morning. It's a terrific, thorough piece on the program's remarkably bright future.

• Chris Benson's outdone himself with his weekly Benstonium video, this one on Todd Haley.

• Do you follow us on social media? If not, we're available on Facebook, YouTube and Instagram, among others.

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