Jarry's play cranks up his confidence taken in Cranberry, Pa. (Penguins)

PENGUINS

Tristan Jarry

CRANBERRY, Pa. -- There's been an obvious change in Tristan Jarry's game in his past few starts.

He's stopping a lot more pucks than he had been previously.

"He's been lights-out the past few games," defenseman Marcus Pettersson said after practice Monday.

That's been pretty tough to miss, and is reflected in his record and personal statistics.

There's at least one other difference, however, that might no be so readily apparent.

Jarry has been more assertive, even aggressive, of late, challenging shooters and occasionally physically interacting with them.

What's not so clear is whether Jarry is doing that because his improved performance is making him more confident in his game, or whether he's been more effective because of the tweaks he's made to his style.

Even Jarry isn't certain.

"That's a little bit of both," he said. "You have to recognize what's happening in the game, and it just starts with a little bit of confidence. You're realizing and you're seeing plays a lot quicker."

Jarry is 5-5-1, with a 3.30 goals-against average and .892 save percentage.

He has started three consecutive games, and is expected to be in goal again when the Penguins visit Washington Tuesday at 7:08 p.m. He split a pair of games against the Capitals last week, allowing six goals on 73 shots.

Jarry's puck-handling ability is one of his greatest assets, a trait he shares with Ron Hextall, the Penguins' new general manager.

"The way he played, I always liked," Jarry said. "I thought it was good to see somebody who could handle the puck. That was something I wanted to be good at, growing up. It's something I practiced a lot. Having him as the general manager now is pretty cool."

ALSO AT THE PRACTICE

• Washington is converting power plays like free throws on home ice this season, scoring on 12 of 24 chances with the extra man in 10 games at the Capital One Center. And while trigger-man Alex Ovechkin gets much of the attention on Washington's power play -- and credit for its success -- Sullivan believes he's not the only dangerous presence on that unit. "Washington has a unique power play," he said. "One of the reasons is because they have, arguably, one of the best goal-scorers of his generation, if not all-time, with Ovechkin on that backside flank. He's so dangerous in that area of the rink, and it certainly forces teams to pay attention to him. But what makes that power play unique is that he's not the only threat in that group. They have multiple threats. ... It's hard to key in on any one aspect, and that's what makes it as challenging as it is to defend."

• Defenseman Juuso Riikola participated in practice wearing a regular jersey, not the practice one he had been using. He and injured forward Jared McCann are scheduled to accompany the Penguins on their four-game road trip, while two other injured players -- forward Evan Rodrigues and defenseman Brian Dumoulin -- are scheduled to continue their rehab in Pittsburgh.

Sam Lafferty, on knocking down Zdeno Chara, Washington's hulking defenseman, with a hit last week: "It doesn't really matter who it is. I'm going to try to finish my check."

• Sullivan downplayed the disparity between the Penguins' record at home (7-1) and on the road (2-5-1). "The sample size isn't that large, to draw any conclusions, in my opinion," he said.

• Sullivan said he has spoken with Kasperi Kapanen about his decision to bench Kapanen in the third period Saturday, but declined to elaborate.

• Here are the personnel combinations deployed at practice:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Kasperi Kapanen
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Colton Sceviour-Mark Jankowski-Sam Lafferty

P.O Joseph-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-John Marino

Marcus Pettersson-Cody Ceci
Juuso Riikola-Chad Ruhwedel

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