Skate report: How much of a workload is too much for Jarry?

TORONTO -- It'll be Tristan Jarry in the Penguins' net tonight.

Again.

And the way things are going, it won't just be this game against the Maple Leafs -- 7:16 p.m. faceoff, Scotiabank Arena -- but the one Monday night in Winnipeg, as well. 

And then after that. 

And after that.

This'll be his ninth start in the past 10 games, and it'll keep him among the NHL's busiest goaltenders, with his 797 minutes currently ranked sixth in the league behind the Ducks' John Gibson, the Maple Leafs' Jack Campbell, the Canucks' Thatcher Demko, the Golden Knights' Robin Lehner and the Lightning's Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Two compelling reasons for it:

1. Everyone's been happy with Jarry to date.

At times very happy.

Plenty of cause for that: His 2.33 goals-against average ranks ninth in the league, his .922 save percentage 10th. That's in line with his top-10 placements in most categories two seasons ago, as well as for the better part of last season. 

More immediately, all concerned on the inside were delighted by his bounceback performance Thursday night in Montreal, shutting out the Canadiens, 6-0, on 23 saves. Management people with whom I spoke at the optional morning skate today also appreciated what they saw as a little extra swagger, both on and off the ice.

I'd mentioned some of that myself in the column from up there.

I'd also asked Jarry after that game, only semi-jokingly, how he felt about handling a load like this.

"Yeah, it's fun. It's been awesome," he came back, with a beaming smile I'm certain was new to me. "I had stretches where I played quite a few games last year, but it's different. You're back to all the travel, you're playing different teams and every night it's something new. So you're not just playing your eight divisional games anymore. I think it's it's exciting when you get to play a new team every night."

2. The same doesn't apply to Casey DeSmith.

In speaking to the same people, no one sounds inclined to bury the backup after three starts, but they were three lousy starts -- 0-2-1, 4.71, .856 -- and the team's precarious place in the standings doesn't afford much flexibility to have anyone shy of Sidney Crosby having some get-right time. Whoever plays has to contribute, and that goes many times over in goal.

Add into that the Maple Leafs having won six in a row and 10 of their past 11, and the urgency's only heightened.

"They've obviously got a lot of talent over there, and they've been getting great goaltending," Mike Sullivan replied when I brought up Toronto's surge since the Penguins annihilated them, 7-1, Oct. 23 at PPG Paints Arena. "We'll have to be at our best."

MORE FROM THE SKATE

• Similarly, the Maple Leafs are riding Campbell. He's 7-1 in November with a .963 save percentage, and the only breaks he's been getting have been from practice.

"Jack's been good with it, and he's managed it really well," Sheldon Keefe, Toronto's coach, said. "If he needs or wants practice reps, he speaks up and communicates that. But we also design practice in a way where he doesn't have to take on certain reps."

Unusually brisk and vocal for an optional. Interesting to see how intensely Ron Hextall and Brian Burke observe these things. No different than a game.

• No lines or pairings were shown -- they never can be in an optional -- but they've stayed steady now through two games and the practice here yesterday:

Guentzel-Crosby-Rust
Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
Simon-Rodrigues-Heinen
Aston-Reese-Blueger-McGinn

Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Matheson-Ruhwedel

The three healthy scratches again are expected to be Brian Boyle, Sam Lafferty and Mark Friedman.

• The Maple Leafs had a full skate, not having practiced yesterday, and aligned this way:

Ritchie-Matthews-Marner
Kerfoot-Tavares-Nylander
Engvall-Kampf-Kase
Bunting-Spezza-Simmonds 

Rielly-Brodie
Muzzin-Holl
Sandin-Liljegren

• Sullivan invariably was going to be asked by Toronto media about Kasperi Kapanen, and so he was. And the response was terrific, so here's the whole thing: "We've always we've always recognized Kappy's ability level on the ice. He has dynamic, explosive speed. He has a great shot. For me, it's been great to get to know him as a person, his motivation to want to be successful, his drive to want to help this team win games, I think is more evident now that I know him on a personal level. Kappy's a real good kid. He's he's hard on himself, and so we try to we try to help him manage his emotions through some of the ebbs and flows of the season, but he's been a very good player for us. His speed fits into the style of play that we're trying to play here. He challenges defenseman with that wide speed, and it opens up a lot of a lot of ice for his linemates because of it. When he's a confident player, I think he's he's at his very best. He tends to be a little bit streaky in that regard. We try to help him just whip through that consistency of bringing that same game or maybe more importantly, just the same mindset regardless of how the game's going for you. But he's a great kid, and he's been a really good player for us."

• Sullivan was even more expansive, believe it or not, on the subject of Chad Ruhwedel playing in his 200th game tonight. That's normally not a milestone, but it's taken Ruhwedel, a seventh-D type his entire career, nearly a decade to achieved it: "Chad's just a great pro. He's a great teammate. I think he's earned the respect of the coaching staff, the management team, but most important, his teammates on how he carries himself around the dressing room on a daily basis. You know, he's a guy that's been a Pittsburgh Penguin now for a while and, as a No. 7 defenseman, if he's out of the lineup for three weeks, he prepares himself and keeps himself ready and does all the right things and is a positive influence on the guys when he's not in the lineup. When he does get the tap on the shoulder to go in the lineup, he has a unique ability to be effective and get the job done. I think he's well aware of of how to play within himself. In the end, he understands what the expectations are for him and how he can help our team have success. Just his whole overall approach ... I can't say enough about him. I just think it speaks volumes for the character of the individual. He's just a high-, high-quality person, and he's earned the respect of everyone inside of our hockey operations."

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, thought that'd be worth sharing.

• Few pics I snapped today:

• Talk to everyone later on the live file.