Tristan Jarry said in Friday's cleanout day interview that his confidence hasn't been shaken as a result of the Penguins' early exit for the playoffs, a part of the season in which it's probably safe to say that he wasn't at his best.
"I played a lot of good hockey this year," Jarry said. "I played a lot of games and went through a lot of learning and teaching moments. I think that's going to make me a better person and a better player. I think you learn from those experiences. Those experiences are something you hold with you, and take with you. I think it's something that will push you to be better."
Several of Jarry's teammates on Friday acknowledged that they hadn't spoke to Jarry directly about the series since it ended, with Bryan Rust saying that there wasn't much hockey conversation at all amongst the group since the loss because "guys were just bummed."
They expressed their support for and confidence in Jarry in their own interviews, though.
"Tristan's an unbelievable goalie," Rust said. "He's an unbelievable guy. Everyone's got confidence in him. He's been great for us for a while. He's just an awesome goalie and an awesome guy."
"I think myself, I've been probably in those types of situations," Kris Letang said. "At the end of the day, like I said previously, you win as a team and you lose as a team. We were not capable of getting an extra goal. It's part of the learning process. You go through ups and downs and you have to take away whatever you can to learn and be a better player. ... At the end of the day, I truly believe he's a No. 1 goalie that got the job done for us all year long. It's been two years in a row he's been one of the best at his position. I truly believe we have a great goaltender on our hands."
Mike Matheson was asked directly if the players' confidence in Jarry moving forward was impacted as a result of the series.
"It doesn't affect confidence that I have in him," Matheson responded. "No chance. I think he's one of the best goalies in the league. I know that there's been a lot of attention and a lot of blame on him through the series. I think that's unfair. It's a team game. Through each game, we made a lot of mistakes throughout the lineup. To be able to think that you can narrow it down to one person or one position, whatever the case may be, is unfair, I think. It was six games of back-and-forth play. At the end of the day, they got the best of it. There's a lot of reasons for that. Not just one."
Jarry noted that he also had "quite a few" former NHL goaltenders reach out and offer words of support, something Jarry called "uplifting, something that will help me get through it."
This was Jarry's first year as a No. 1 starter, after splitting the starts more evenly with Matt Murray in 2019-20, his first full year in the league. That alone was a learning experience, and one he had to be resilient through throughout the year, a trait he'll look to show once next season begins.
"There's a lot of expectations," Jarry said. "There's a lot of things that you learn. It was a bit of an up-and-down year for me, just playing the games I did. I had a bit of a rut at the beginning of the year and I was able to pick it up and play a lot of good hockey. In the playoffs, I obviously wish it would have gone better. There's some things I wish I could do differently, there's some things I could learn from. Next year, there's a lot of room for improvement for me."
Jarry didn't identify anything specific that caused the series to go poorly for him, only acknowledging that it didn't go the way he would have liked, and that he hopes to grow from the experience.
"It's just learning and getting better," he said. "Just being able to learn from that experience, that was my first time playing postseason games consecutively. Just being able to learn from that, learn from the goals that I let in, learn from the mistakes that I had, I think that will make me a better person and a better goalie. Just taking those experiences, I think those are experiences that you can hold with you for life and just learn from. I think that's something I'll reflect on over the summer and come back better next year from."
Jarry said that his offseason will look the same as any other offseason for him. He'll go back to his home near Vancouver, British Columbia, and take a few days off to rest, then jump right back into training and preparing for next season.
Jarry, who spoke last of all the players who did media availabilities on Friday, closed out the last interview of the season with a simple sentiment that it's safe to say is shared by everyone else in the locker room after the early exit.
"I will be better next year."