Jarry bounces back -- and brings Penguins with him taken at PPG Paints Arena (Penguins)

Joe Sargent / Getty

Tristan Jarry makes a save Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.

Two days earlier, his teammates recognized the face.

They knew the number, too.

But the guy who turned up in the Penguins' crease for the opener of their first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders?

Well, he really wasn't very familiar to them at all.

Don't look like anyone they had seen much of, at least not since the early days of the regular season.

That all changed during the Penguins' 2-1 victory against the Islanders in Game 2 Wednesday evening at PPG Paints Arena, however.

That's when the guy working in front of their net reminded the Penguins -- as well as the Islanders, and anyone else who happened to be watching -- that he's capable of lifting his game to  rarefied level.

And keeping it there for 60 minutes.

Or longer, if needed.

"The Tristan Jarry that we all know and love," Mike Matheson said. "It was great to see that. ... That's his old self. That's his game. That's what we expect from him."

It's what Jarry expects from himself, too, which is why his performance during the Penguins' 4-3 overtime loss Sunday -- when the Islanders repeatedly threw shots past him on the glove side -- was so surprising.

For a large segment of the fans base, if not Jarry's teammates and coaches, that was a source of great anxiety for a couple of days.

For Jarry, it simply was motivation to get his game back to where he believed it should be.

"I was just trying to keep it simple," Jarry said. "Just trying to get better than I was last game."

He was.

A lot.

Which is the primary reason the series is tied, 1-1, as it moves to Long Island for Games 3 and 4.

Although the Islanders got the split teams generally hope for when opening a best-of-seven on the road, they could have taken an early chokehold on the series if Jarry hadn't played so well in Game 2.

The only one of New York's 38 shots that eluded him was a screaming backhander by Josh Bailey from the left hash at 14:44 of the second period.

That cost Jarry a chance to earn his first playoff shutout, but it could have been worse: He actually could have gotten in front of Bailey's shot, which might have resulted in some serious pain.

Or worse.

Based on the vapor trail Bailey's shot created, there's no guarantee the puck wouldn't have made it through Jarry's torso if he'd gotten in its path.

Of Jarry's 37 saves, only one came during the final 88 seconds of regulation, which was significant because the Penguins were shorthanded then, as they tried to protect a 2-1 lead.

Bryan Rust, who scored their first goal and contributed enough to the victory to be recognized as the game's No. 2 star, was penalized for closing his hand on the puck at 18:32 of the third after he was caught heaving it out of the defensive zone.

It would have been a good toss to start a double play or convert a third-and-short, but in hockey, it was nothing more than a blatant violation of the rules.

So blatant, in fact, that referees Gord Dwyer and T.J. Luxmore, who'd overlooked more than a few flagrant infractions by both teams over the course of he evening, couldn't ignore it.

"I was just so worried about getting the puck over the blue line, getting it out of the zone, that I made kind of a mental error," Rust said.

Yeah, kind of.

One that allowed the Islanders to have a six-on-four advantage after replacing goalie Semyon Varlamov with an extra attacker, as they pressed to get the game into overtime.

The only Islanders shot that made it to Jarry, though, was a long-range one from Oliver Wahlstrom as the Penguins' penalty-killers, ineffective for much of the regular season, got through the most critical shorthanded situation of 2020-21.

"That was probably our biggest moment of the season, as of yet," Matheson said. "And they came through."

The Penguins had grabbed the only two-goal lead of the series so far during the opening period, as Rust floated a wrist shot over Varlamov's glove from above the right circle at 3:22, and Jeff Carter banked a shot from the slot off the left post and in at 13:07.

"It was the start we were looking for," Mike Sullivan said.

And probably the one they needed.

For although the Penguins twice wiped out one-goal deficits in Game 1 -- and did it pretty quickly both times -- the Islanders' stifling defensive style when they're tied or leading can make it difficult to generate any meaningful offense.

Fact is, a person whose arteries get as clogged as New York can make the neutral zone when it has a lead should consult a cardiologist immediately.

Or perhaps a mortician.

Force the Islanders to play catch-up, though, and their approach isn't nearly as daunting.

And that's without factoring in the psychological benefits of getting on top early.

"It was good for our overall team confidence to get a lead like that against a tough team like the Islanders," Sullivan said. "It gives your team some juice."

So does having a goaltender who performs like Jarry did, stopping everything he sees and possibly a few things that he didn't.

"He was so solid, all game long," Matheson said. "He was making save after big save,"

Jarry will have to continue to do that if the Penguins are to get by the Islanders, who swept them in the opening round in 2019.

That was the fourth time in five playoff meetings that New York was the team to advance, although Rust downplayed any connection between this series and the one two years ago.

"We're just kind of focusing on this year," he said. "This is a different group. We've gone through different things as a group, learned different lessons."

And Tuesday night, they had a very different goalie, even if he didn't have a different name or number.

MORE FROM THE GAME

Brian Dumoulin, hurt when struck by a shot in the opener, left the game briefly early in the third period after New York forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau knocked him back-first into the boards.

Kris Letang played 26 minutes, 17 seconds -- the most of anyone on either team -- and had another strong two-way performance, but was held without a point for the ninth consecutive playoff game, the longest such drought of his career.

• The Penguins failed to score on two power plays, both of which were lackluster, and are 0-for-5 with the extra man in this series.

• The victory was just the Penguins' second in their past 12 playoff games and snapped a streak of four consecutive postseason losses at PPG Paints Arena.

• Islanders winger Kyle Palmieri, who scored twice in Game 1, was one of three Islanders skaters who failed to record a shot in Game 2.

• The Penguins finished with a 26-24 edge on faceoffs, even though Sidney Crosby had a decidedly subpar performance on draws, winning just seven of 22.

• The hits count was down a bit from the opener, but the Islanders still were credited with 46, which was nine more than the Penguins.

• Tickets for Game 5 Monday at PPG Paints Arena will go on sale Wednesday at 10 a.m. at www.ticketmaster.com/penguins. The starting time for that game has not been announced yet.

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
 Video highlights
• 
NHL scoreboard
• 
Standings
• 
Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1.  Tristan Jarry, Penguins
2.  Bryan Rust, Penguins
3.  Josh Bailey, Islanders

THE INJURIES

• Center Evgeni Malkin is "day-to-day" with an unspecified injury.

• Goalie Casey DeSmith is "day-to-day" because of an unspecified lower-body injury that Sullivan said is related to the one that sidelined DeSmith at the end of the regular season.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Jared McCann--Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Jason Zucker-Frederick Gaudreau-Evan Rodrigues

Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mark Friedman-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-John Marino

And for Barry Trotz's Islanders:

Leo Komarov-Mathew Barzal-Jordan Eberle
Anthony Beauvillier-Brock Nelson-Josh Bailey
Kyle Palmieri-Jean-Gabriel Pageau-Oliver Wahlstrom
Matt Martin-Casey Cizikas-Cal Clutterbuck
Adam Pelech-Ryan Pulock
Nick Leddy-Scott Mayfield
Andy Greene-Noah Dobson

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have called off the practice that was scheduled for noon Wednesday and will travel to Long Island for Game 3 Thursday at 7:08 p.m. at Nassau Coliseum.

THE CONTENT

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