DeSmith 'locked in,' bounces back in shootout loss to Red Wings

Mike Sullivan acknowledged earlier this week that he had put Casey DeSmith in a difficult position.

DeSmith had been in a slump to start the month of January, allowing five goals on 27 shots in a win over San Jose on Jan. 2 then getting yanked after allowing three goals on 16 shots three days later to St. Louis. 

After going into COVID-19 protocol on Jan. 10, the plan was to allow him to get a few practices under his belt before re-entering the Penguins' lineup. But with Louis Domingue getting injured in a morning skate before the first game in a back-to-back on Jan. 21, circumstances forced Sullivan's hand. Tristan Jarry started the first game, and DeSmith started the following night despite having just been in one practice since exiting the COVID protocol.

“He didn’t have very much practice,” Sullivan said after Wednesday's practice. “I take a lot of responsibility there for putting Casey in a tough spot. We know that he is a capable guy.”

DeSmith struggled in that game in Columbus, allowing two goals on 12 shots, and was pulled after 20 minutes.

After spending the last week working with goaltending coach Andy Chiodo in practice, Friday's game against the Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena presented DeSmith with the opportunity to rebound and prove that he's still capable of handling the Penguins' backup job.

He didn't disappoint.

Though the Penguins fell to Detroit 3-2 in a shootout, DeSmith was solid in net from start to finish. 

When DeSmith was struggling earlier in the month, even some routine saves from DeSmith just looked shaky. 

No moment stood out more in Friday's game as an example of how far DeSmith has turned his game around than the save he made on Dylan Larkin in overtime.

It was early in the extra frame, and Larkin and Lucas Raymond had a two-on-one opportunity with Evgeni Malkin as the only man back. Raymond fed a pass to Larkin, who lifted the puck over Malkin's stick for the shot, which DeSmith was able to glove down:

 "It was Geno who was the D-man," DeSmith recalled of that moment. "And I don't think he has much experience playing 2-on-1. So I just tried to force the guy to make a pass and throw everything I could over there and you know, sometimes goes right in your glove and it looks good."

It was the save of the game.

"He played amazing," Mike Matheson said afterward. "He made so many nice saves, especially that one at the end there. He's a great goalie and it was good to see him feeling it."

DeSmith finished the game with 30 saves on 32 shots, and stopped one of the two shooters he faced in the shootout.

Jake Guentzel said that he thought DeSmith was "tremendous."

"You know, we have a lot of confidence in Casey and we know he's a really good goaltender for us," Guentzel said. "We might not give him the help he has lately. But I think for him to get that and get some confidence from this game, I think it'll be big for us."

DeSmith had mixed feelings after the game. It was a great performance by him, but the Penguins still fell short of earning the extra point.

"It felt good to be in the game 'til the end and make some good saves and hold the team in it," he said. "And obviously, I hate losing. So it hurts, I would have loved to have that one."

Looking back at the rest of the season, DeSmith said that he's had bad games and bad luck. He said that he's focused on working with Chiodo to learn just what works best for him, what he needs to do in practice that may not necessarily be the same things Jarry is doing.

"I think we've done a really good job with the past two weeks and it's paying off," he said.

That's not the only change he made.

DeSmith once said in a postgame interview in October 2019 that "I'm not a superstitious guy, but I'm a little stitious," quoting a line from his favorite show The Office.

Wanting to do anything he could to break out of his slump, he made one "little stitious" change shortly after the game in Columbus.

He dumped his gold pads, trading in the set for a new set that's solid white in the front, with gold on the sides. 

"I needed out of those pads," he said. "Just not very good juju with those. I like the white, I think they look a little bit bigger. And just new pads in general make you feel bigger too."

Though DeSmith didn't ultimately get the win, Sullivan thinks that a performance like this one will give DeSmith a "big boost."

"I thought he played really well," Sullivan said. "He made some timely saves for us throughout the course of the night. I thought he was really locked in tonight. So that's really encouraging for Casey. We're happy for him. That's what he's capable of doing for us. I think this is one he can build on, for sure."

MORE FROM THE GAME

• The Penguins started slow and were outshot 11-4 in the first 20 minutes. Sullivan switched up the bottom three lines in the second period, and it made a huge difference. Evan Rodrigues was elevated to Malkin's wing on the second line, knocking Kasperi Kapanen down to the fourth line, and moving Dominik Simon from the fourth line to the third line. Zach Aston-Reese and Danton Heinen then swapped spots, with the end result being this:

Brock McGinn - Evgeni Malkin - Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese - Jeff Carter - Dominik Simon
Danton Heinen - Brian Boyle - Kasperi Kapanen

"We're trying to find combinations that are going to help us win," Sullivan said. "So if the coaching staff feels as though it's stale, and we're not getting production, and we're not getting any sort of traction from some of the lines, then we're going to be proactive and we're going to move people around, we're going to give guys an opportunity to take advantage of a situation."

• Detroit scored first with this goal from Givani Smith, after Smith picked up a rebound and swept it in:

• Guentzel tied the game 5:54 into the second period with a power play goal off another rebound attempt, the Penguins' eighth power play goal in their last 10 games:

• Zadina made it a 2-1 game later in the period

• Guentzel tied the game again just 27 seconds into the third:

Dave Molinari has more on Guentzel's night here.

• Raymond scored the lone shootout goal, and Larkin was stopped by DeSmith on the Red Wings' other attempt. Guentzel missed the net on his attempt, and Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang were both stopped.

Guentzel hasn't scored in his last five shootout attempts. Letang has missed seven of his last eight.

• Crosby was getting a little chippy on multiple occasions, like this moment with Michael Rasmussen in the second period when he just put Rasmussen on the ground:

... and this one with Moritz Seider in the third:

• The Penguins outshot the Red Wings 38-32. Malkin led with six.

• The Penguins won 58 percent of their faceoffs. Malkin (6-1, 85.71%) and Jeff Carter (15-7, 68.18%) had particularly good nights.

• The Penguins blocked 17 shots to the Red Wings' 10. Matheson blocked the most with five.

• The Penguins outhit the Red Wings, 25-23. Brock McGinn, Aston-Reese, Heinen, Chad Ruhwedel and Letang all tied for the lead with three each.

• The Penguins went 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.

• Matheson drew two of those power plays, drawing a crosschecking call from Rasmussen and a hooking call from Smith

• The Flames, Maple Leafs and Rangers all had pro scouts at the game.

• This was the first loss the Penguins have had all season in the Snoop Dogg jerseys. Those jerseys fall to 4-0-1.

• The Penguins wore green jerseys in warmups to support DICK'S Sporting Goods Foundation's Sports Matter initiative, benefitting youth sports. They are up for auction here.

• When the Penguins announced that Jason Zucker underwent core muscle surgery on Jan. 25, they said that he remained "week-to-week" and would provide an updated timeline when they had one. Sullivan said before the game that there still is no timeframe for Zucker's return, and that he'd categorize him a "longer-term."

• The Rangers raised Henrik Lundqvist's No. 30 into the rafters on Friday night, and as part of the festivities showed video messages throughout the night from former teammates and opponents of Lundqvist. Crosby sent in a nice video:

THE ESSENTIALS

• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics

THE THREE STARS

As selected at PPG Paints Arena:

1. Calvin Pickard, Red Wings
2. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
3. Lucas Raymond, Red Wings

THE HIGHLIGHTS

THE INJURIES

• Forward Drew O'Connor was put on LTIR retroactive to Jan. 15. He's week-to-week with an upper-body injury. Frank Seravalli reported Thursday that it's a collapsed lung, which Sullivan would not confirm or comment on after Thursday's game.

• Forward Jason Zucker underwent surgery to repair a core muscle on Jan. 25 and is week-to-week.

• Goaltender Louis Domingue was put on IR after he was struck in the right foot by a puck in the morning skate on Jan. 20. He is considered week-to-week and is using a scooter and wearing a boot.

• Forward Teddy Blueger underwent surgery to repair a fractured jaw on Jan. 24 and is expected to miss 6-8 weeks.

THE LINEUPS

Sullivan’s lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Evgeni Malkin - Kasperi Kapanem
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Evan Rodrigues
Zach Aston-Reese - Brian Boyle - Dominik Simon

Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - John Marino
Mike Matheson - Chad Ruhwedel

And for Jeff Blashill's Red Wings:

Vladislav Namestnikov - Dylan Larkin - Lucas Raymond
Robby Fabbri - Pius Suter - Tyler Bertuzzi
Adam Erne - Michael Rasmussen - Filip Zadina
Givani Smith - Joe Veleno - Sam Gagner

Jordan Oesterle - Moritz Seider
Marc Staal - Filip Hronek
Nick Leddy - Gustav Lindstrom

THE SCHEDULE

The Penguins have a scheduled day off on Saturday. Their next game is at home against the Kings on Sunday at 1 p.m.

THE CONTENT

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