'Confident' Jarry keeps fighting his way back

As a dues-paying, card-carrying member of the Fraternal Order of Goaltenders, Tristan Jarry could feel union brother and Calgary counterpart Jon Gillies' pain.

Well, a little.

It was Gillies who nearly let in Olli Maatta's 171-foot, shorthanded clearing attempt with 7:37 to go in a what had been a tied game on Monday night.

You know the shot we're talking about? Yep, this one:

Gillies -- with an assist from Calgary captain Mark Giordano -- was barely able to fish the puck out of the crease just as the disc was about to cross the goal line. It was a call so close that video replay was rightfully required.

From 180 feet away, Jarry had a pretty good view, too:

"It's one of those you hope it goes in, but you hope it never goes in," Jarry told me in true goaliespeak.

Had it counted, it would have been one of the softest goals in hockey history ... or at least the last 72 hours. Instead, that dubious distinction still belongs to Jarry, who, in case you forgot, allowed a 40-foot backhander to get past him Saturday night against the Islanders when he simply tripped over his own two skates.

Thing is, ever since that Brandon Davidson softy eluded him, and before that the pummeling in Boston, the Penguins' 22-year-old rookie goaltender has been lights out. On Monday, Jarry stopped 35 of 38 Calgary shots to backstop a 4-3 win in overtime.

It was the second straight win in OT and Jarry was again on point when it counted, making two of his 35 saves in the extra session.

And one of the best plays Jarry made didn't even count -- not as an official shot on goal anyway. All Jarry did was stare down Flames star Johnny Gaudreau, the NHL's ninth-leading scorer, on a clear breakaway in OT:

The uninformed will insist that Johnny Hockey simply missed the net, but shots that ring off the post or miss their target are usually due to what the goalie did as much as the shooter.

So, what did Jarry do differently with Gaudreau bearing down on him and the game on his stick?

"Same as it would be anyone else," Jarry explained. "Just get out, get set and try and give myself the best possibility of making the save."

Jarry has certainly given the Penguins a chance to win the last two games after a disastrous start in Florida on Feb. 24 and a shaky showing in relief of Casey DeSmith last Thursday in Boston.

When he's on his game, Jarry plays his angles well and is fundamentally sound, squaring himself to the shooter as he did to stop Mark Jankoski on a 2-on-1 with 10:47 to play in the second period:

"He had a great game again," said defenseman Kris Letang. "He's playing with confidence and he's helping us win big games."

"Confidence" is a word you hear a lot about with Jarry. As I wrote after the Islanders game, the challenge for Jarry is more mental than physical. That's true with a lot of goalies, but especially one so young. That's the part of the game Jarry says he's had to work on most.

"Just forgetting about it, putting it aside and learning from it," he said. "My mindset this year has just been to get better and better."

With a 12-5 record and a fine 2.69 goals-against average, Jarry hasn't quite sealed the deal to be the No. 2 goalie in his competition with DeSmith, but he is close.

Not that Mike Sullivan was about to acknowledge that publicly, of course, even with just 14 games remaining in the regular season.

"Like every position we have, performance is always going to be the dictator and the guys who play well are going to tend to get more of the ice time," the coach said. "And so Tristan's had a couple of pretty strong starts. I thought he was solid tonight. He made some real quality saves at key times that allowed us to get the win."

That faint praise is bit of a carrot dangling in front of Jarry and one he will likely chase again Wednesday night when the Penguins take on the Flyers in South Philadelphia.

With Matt Murray still out -- he's "status quo" and yet to face a puck in practice after sustaining a concussion in practice a week ago -- the net belongs to Jarry.

"Sully is going to go with the hot goalie," Jarry said. "That's a big thing, is just take your opportunity as it comes and I think that's something you have to work for in practice."

1. Letang's game was a microcosm of his season. 

After Monday's morning skate, the veteran defenseman was very candid in discussing his struggles this season in coming back from neck surgery.

Letang's decision-making with the puck hasn't been great at times this season and some of his turnovers have been egregious. We saw a little bit of that on Monday, not as much as his dark days of the fall, but he is, as he said, "a work in progress."

But with Letang you can't overlook the world-class talent, particularly his skating. At 17:01 of the second period Letang turned on the jets to score his sixth of the season:

Certainly Evgeni Malkin made a great play to set things in motion but you just don't see too many defensemen score like that, leading the rush, nowadays. And note the shot selection, Letang beat Gillies under the right arm.

It almost -- almost -- reminds of another Penguins defenseman from about 30 years ago, the one who Letang surpassed over the weekend for most assists by a Pittsburgh blueliner:

With his 93rd career goal, Letang is still 15 goals short of matching Paul Coffey's team record of 108 by a defenseman.

2. Speaking of Malkin, he's the Penguins' MVP.

I think. OK, I'm waffling on this one.

Phil Kessel, an overtime hero yet again for the Penguins, has been their most consistent performer from Game No. 1 through 67. But if Nikita Kucherov isn't the best player in the game, then Malkin is right now.

Look at the gaudy numbers that Malkin has put up in recent weeks:  He has points in 11 of his past 13 games and 46 points (23 goals) since the start of the new year.

How good has he been? He had three points on Monday and it was rather mundane. I mean, who scores three points in a game and doesn't even earn a three-star selection? Malkin, that's who. Since Jan. 2, he's had nine -- nine! -- games with three or more points.

He's been equal parts good and lucky. But his first-period goal Monday when he swooped behind the net to knock down Gillies' clearing attempt and score on a wraparound? That's not luck.

Malkin is now just three points behind Kucherov for the Art Ross lead and three goals behind Alex Ovechkin for the Rocket Richard.

In my book, that trumps even Kessel for team MVP.

3. Chad Ruhwedel is here to stay. 

The Penguins got three of their four goals against the Flames from their defense corps, Ruwhedel being the most unlikely of them.

"We've always encouraged our defensemen to get involved in the offense," Sullivan explained. "We just have to be calculated in how we do it so we don't become a high-risk, chance-for-chance type team. For the most part, when those guys did join (the rush), there were opportune times and they were able to finish."

Ruhwedel's goal just 2:10 into Monday's game may have been a seeing-eye wrister from the point, but that was only gravy on what was another strong performance. He was on the ice -- and the last line of defense -- for Troy Brouwer's tying goal with three seconds remaining in the second period but that was after Malkin failed to pick up the Calgary forward.

Ruhwedel hadn't scored since Dec. 18 against the Avalanche in Denver. That might sound like a long time ago, and it is, but that was only five games ago for Ruhwedel.

Now healthy and back in the lineup after supplanting Matt Hunwick, Ruhwedel has made the most of his opportunity. Sullivan has praised Ruhwedel for his professionalism in handling the sixth/seventh defenseman role, but it's time to drop the seven part.

4. Let's not do this again. 

Just two days earlier the Penguins turned in one of their better -- if not most complete -- efforts, yet still needed 50 shots and overtime to finally solve the New York Islanders.

On Monday, the Penguins were a hot mess. They lost the possession battle (58 to 42 percent at even strength), had just a fraction of the quality scoring chances, they failed to connect on basic passes, gave up way too many odd-man breaks and had a couple defensive meltdowns to boot.

And know what? They still won.

That's either the sign of a good team or perhaps a fortunate one, but wins all count the same in the standings and for that the Penguins can be grateful.

They just can't expect to win many times like this.

"We found a way to win, but I'm not going to sit here and say we played a real good game," Sullivan said. "There were areas where I know we can be a lot better."

Monday's  win over the Flames pushed them ahead of the Flyers into second place in the Metro and just a point behind the first-place Capitals, who still have two games in hand.

5. Not that the Penguins will complain ... 

But after Sunday's game against Dallas, the Penguins won't face another Western Conference opponent until the Stanley Cup Final. That's if they get back there, of course.

With their win over the Flames the Penguins are 13-12-4 against teams from the West. Which is quite good, but games against bigger, stronger western opponents do take a toll.

"They've got some physical guys, they've got a couple bigger guys," said Jarry, whose crease was crashed a few times and even took a Dougie Hamilton shot to the collarbone (he was OK). "We knew it would be a tough game. I just tried to hold my ground as much as I could."

The Flames, who have now lost four straight and saw their already dim playoff hopes take another hit, were in full desperation mode. Much like the Penguins, Glen Gulutzan's team plays a speed game with a lot of skill. Which is fitting considering that Gulutzan and Sullivan are both branches of John Tortorella's coaching tree.

Truth be told, the Flames were the better team but all they have to show for it is a solitary "loser" point. But for the Penguins, Monday was another reminder of what they could expect to see in June.

"Good resiliency of this team making sure that we got a point tonight," Brouwer said. "Obviously, we would have liked to get the second one, but overall I actually thought we played a fairly decent game and well enough to get points."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY