Bradford's five thoughts: DeSmith zeroes in on backup job

Casey DeSmith is the picture of calm. At least, when he’s in the net.

Sure, he’s had his moments when he’s struggled, as goaltenders do, rookies in particular. But the 26-year-old’s demeanor doesn’t change.

For a guy who’s spent the past four years bouncing from ECHL Wheeling, of all places, to AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he’s remarkably confident in himself and his ability. You could say it borders on cockiness but, for one in his line of work, that’s not such a bad thing.

Case in point was his last start, March 21 against the Canadiens. When he stopped Brendan Gallagher on a penalty shot, DeSmith, a “veteran” of all of 13 NHL games, calmly gloved the puck in his catching hand and casually tossed the disc aside. Never once did he show an ounce of emotion, not so much as a fist pump. Then, presumably, he went for a little twirl in the corner to collect his thoughts.

That moment showed why it wasn’t a great surprise that Mike Sullivan turned to his backup goalie on Friday night against the Senators in a game that the Penguins needed to lock up second place in the Metropolitan Division and claim home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

"We believe in Casey," Sullivan said. "He’s done a good job for us. He’s given us a chance to win most nights he’s been in there. I thought he might have been our best player tonight. He was terrific."

No argument here.

All DeSmith did — besides giving Matt Murray a much-needed day off after eight straight starts — was to make 35 saves in the Penguins’ 4-0 win.  Oh, it was also the first shutout of his fledgling career.

And when he stopped this Alexandre Burrows slap shot from the top of the left circle, that first ricocheted off Justin Schultz's stick with 10:27 left in the second period, all he did was  ... well, you look:

Yep, that's the ol' Patrick Roy, Statue of Liberty move. And then, as he did after stopping Gallagher a couple weeks ago, he went for a little skate in the corner.

"We needed him to stand up for us, and for him to get a shutout is awesome," Riley Sheahan said through six stitches to his upper lip courtesy of a Ryan Dzingel high stick. "He's calm back there. Gives us confidence. Definitely a big part in tonight’s win."

DeSmith is definitely not as confident, though, in his post-game interviews. When AT&T Sports Net's Dan Potash went to interview the game's No. 1 star, he forgot to take his mask off. "A heat of the moment" rookie mistake, he said.

"I hit the panic button for sure," DeSmith said. "Hopefully everyone could hear me."

Well, the NHL is certainly starting to hear of DeSmith, but the next time he plays the stakes will be just a little higher. Indeed, his sixth win of the season earned the Penguins home ice in the first round, though their opponent is still to be determined. Regardless, it appears he will be Murray's backup whoever it is against.

DeSmith treated game No. 82 of the regular season as an audition for the playoffs and it appears he's passed it:

Sullivan all but conceded that DeSmith has earned the No. 2 job over Tristan Jarry, saying that he's leaning toward the "status quo." Considering Murray's injury history, that is putting an awful lot of faith in a guy who started the season as the organization's fourth option.

"We’re comfortable with what we have," the coach said. "I think Casey’s performance tonight was an indication of the type of player that he can be for us."

DeSmith's shutout win means that the Penguins can only face the Blue Jackets, Devils or possibly the Flyers in the first round.

• The Blue Jackets -- who sit in third place in the Metro --  are tied with Devils at 97 points each heading into their season finales on Saturday. The Blue Jackets, who have tiebreakers on both both the Devils and Flyers, will face the Predators in Nashville (8 p.m.). The Devils will face the Capitals in Washington (7 p.m.).

• The Flyers (96 points), who will host the Rangers (3 p.m.), and Panthers (92 points) remain in contention for the final playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. The Flyers can clinch the final playoff spot if they earn a single point or the Panthers lose to the Sabres.  If the Flyers and Panthers  finish tied in points at 96, ROW (39-39), points earned head to head (2-2) and goal differential, they would meet in a play-in game on Tuesday.

• If the Blue Jackets and Devils lose in regulation and the Flyers lose in OT or a shootout, the 3-way tiebreaker comes into play because all would have 97 points, 39 ROW. Columbus has the most points head-to-head against other two, so they would finish third. Philadelphia would be the first wildcard and New Jersey the second.

Got all that?

1. Where did this mean Geno come from?

When you think of Penguins who could both score and rack up penalty minutes, you envision Kevin Stevens or maybe Rick Tocchet. At least I do.

Evgeni Malkin? Scoring certainly, but Geno as a big PIMs guy? Not so much.

And yet Malkin became just the second player in the team’s 51-year history to lead the team in both scoring and penalty minutes in the same season. The only other player to do it was Bryan Hextall in 1970-71, who had just 48 points but amassed 133 minutes.

Malkin finished with 98 points -- after his secondary assist on Sidney Crosby’s first-period goal -- and 87 penalty minutes.

The Russian entered the night just one minute behind the now-departed Ryan Reaves, 84-83, for the team lead in PIMs. But Malkin pushed himself over the top by taking a double-minor -- deservedly so, too -- for slashing and crosschecking Zack Smith at 11:43 of the first period. Smith was incensed, chasing Malkin nearly into the Penguins' bench:

The crowd roared its approval with chants of “Geno! Geno!” but, minimally, he should be fined. Obviously, Malkin has always been his best when he plays with emotion, but there has to be a limit to it, especially in the playoffs. Any team will gladly trade to have Malkin in the penalty box because ... 

2. Yes, the Penguins' power play is historically good. 

They made it official Friday by converting on one of their six chances with the man advantage, Crosby's goal at 1:25 of the second.  

The Penguins converted on 26.2 percent of their chances , eclipsing the old mark set by the 1995-96 team. That group included Mario Lemieux, Jaromir Jagr, Ron Francis, Sergei Zubov and Tomas Sandstrom.

The group that the current team can send over the boards is equally impressive and will undoubtedly include a few Hall of Famers. As Kris Letang told me, when you have the collection of talent that the Penguins do, they should score:

Crosby said the power play has been a source of pride all season. In fact, a compelling argument could be made that the Penguins might not even be a playoff team if it weren't for the success of the power play keeping them afloat in the dark days of the fall.

"I remember watching that ('95-96) power play and they scored a lot and they scored a lot of really nice ones, highlight-reel goals," the captain said. "We certainly have a group that can score and we have guys who provide different things. But, yeah, I think that's an important part of us winning, special teams, definitely the power play. We take a lot of pride in it and it was good that we we’re able to create good things throughout the year to help us win." 

It's questionable whether they can convert at the same high rate in the postseason, when fewer penalties are typically called, but they will need to cash in when it counts.

3. Get the ice bags ready. 

The penalty kill went out on a high note, successfully defending four Senators power play chances. It was the PK's second shutout in three games after blanking Washington last Sunday.

For a group that has had a rough go of it of late, including giving up power play goals in five straight games, it was a bit of a confidence boost heading into the playoffs.

The PK was all part of what Sullivan deemed a pretty solid defensive effort all around. It wasn't perfect, but there weren't the all odd-man rushes that have hampered them of late. He said it was a matter of sound positioning or "staying on the right side of people."

"Those are details of our game that we have to be so diligent and so disciplined if we want to be the team we want to be," Sullivan said.

"If we can play that kind of D in the playoff, we'll win a lot of games," DeSmith said. "Hopefully it carries over."

The Penguins also blocked shots, perhaps getting a remedial crash course from Ian Cole a night earlier in Columbus. They blocked 21 shots which, safe to say, is the most they've had in a long while. Jamie Oleksiak, who had two of them, says more are coming. It's just part of the playoffs, he explained:

4. Banks are open on Friday nights, too. 

The Penguins scored two goals through the first 40 minutes on Friday and neither one was scored in the traditional he-shoot-and-scores sense. By that I mean, neither Crosby's goal nor Jake Guentzel's six minutes later at 7:21 of the second were scored from in front of the goal line and neither went directly in the net.

Both shots caromed in off Senators goalie Craig Anderson, who might be considering a new career path after Friday. There's just no great way to defend against own goals. Crosby does it better -- and more -- than anyone. Fellow 82-game man Guentzel said he was just trying to make a play when he blindly, backhanded a pass that went in off Anderson's left pad and in:

"Just kind of a heat of the moment thing, throwing it and hoping it lands on someone's stick," he said. "Pretty lucky, but something I'll take."

At this point, the Penguins will gladly take anything from Guentzel. The NHL's playoff goals leader last spring, with 13, has just 22 this season after scoring 16 goals in just 40 games during the 2016-17 regular season. His "lucky" goal was only his second since March 24, despite routinely receiving top-six minutes.

Yes, even more than home ice in the first round, getting the notoriously streaky Guentzel going could be the biggest development to come from Friday's win.

"I think he’s played a lot better of late," Sullivan said. "The last couple games we think his game is coming. He tends to be a streaky guy when he scores. He’s gotten a number of high-quality chances over the last handful of games. Maybe this one really helps him moving forward."

5. That fourth line gets bang for buck. 

With the outcome never really in doubt against a disinterested Ottawa team that looked like it had its tee times already booked, Friday was a chance to get an extended look at some of the fourth liners.

If so, Zach Aston-Reese certainly made an impression. He played 14:23 -- 2:56 of it short-handed -- easily the most ice time he's seen since returning from an upper body injury that kept him out for a month. The 23-year-old was a beast on the forecheck, throwing nine of the Penguins' 26 hits or three times as many as any of his other teammates. Yes, the fourth-line's possession numbers weren't good -- all in the mid 20 percent range -- but if you can't possess, you've got to hit.

While it's doubtful that Aston-Reese will get top-six minutes unless there's an injury in the playoffs, he shows a willingness to do some of the dirty work.

 MATT SUNDAY GALLERY