CRANBERRY, Pa. -- Tristan Jarry was supposed to get the start in goal for the Penguins against the Panthers Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. But as puck drop neared, it was Casey DeSmith who led the Penguins out onto the ice for warmups. Jarry was nowhere to be found.
Jarry participated in the Penguins' morning skate in full without any visible hinderances, but it was announced by Mike Sullivan following the game that Jarry was being evaluated for an upper-body injury. Sullivan found out about Jarry's latest injury when the 27-year-old arrived at the rink Tuesday afternoon.
When the whistle blew for the start of practice here at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Wednesday, Jarry was absent once again. After practice, Sullivan said Jarry will be out until after the All-Star break at the earliest, meaning he'll miss the Penguins' next two games, at least. Sullivan did not share when exactly or how the injury occurred.
"We think that will be productive time to be at his best," Sullivan said of the upcoming gap in the schedule.
The good news is that the injury is unrelated from the lower-body injury Jarry suffered during the Winter Classic in Boston on Jan. 2 that kept him out of the crease for nearly three weeks. In the two games he started between injuries, he went 1-0-1, stopping 67 of 70 shots against. On the season, Jarry is 16-5-5 with a .921 save percentage and 2.65 goals against average.
With Jarry on the shelf, the Penguins recalled goalie Dustin Tokarski from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL on an emergency basis. He, along with Casey DeSmith, will be tasked with filling the void in the Penguins' crease until Jarry is able to return, just as they did in Jarry's most recent absence.
DeSmith, who is 7-9-3 this season with a .900 save percentage and 3.34 goals against average, got the win in just two of his six starts as the team's No. 1 goalie with Jarry out. He allowed six goals on 39 shots against the Panthers Tuesday night after Jarry wasn't able to go.
I'll continue to argue that DeSmith is a perfectly adequate NHL backup, but that's exactly what he is and nothing more: An NHL backup. Few things -- if any -- in hockey are more volatile than goaltending performance. It seems that's especially true for DeSmith, as he's either been rock-solid or rather leaky in any given start this season.
Tokarski, on the other hand, has started one game for the Penguins this season, allowing four goals on 40 shots against in a loss to the Jets. His only other appearance was in relief of DeSmith against the Canucks on Jan. 10. He stopped 18 of 19 shots against as the Penguins mounted a comeback for the victory.
Down in the AHL, Tokarski has some of the league's best numbers this season. Sporting a 9-6-4 record, he rocks a .923 save percentage and 2.27 goals against average.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• To make room on the NHL roster for Tokarski, Ty Smith was re-assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. After spending the first few months of the season down in the AHL, Smith was recalled and thrown into the fire on the Penguins' blue line, as he was used quite a bit during even-strength play in addition to quarterbacking the top power-play unit. He scored a goal and had three assists in nine games.
I'm still not sold on Smith one way or the other, but the Penguins' results with him on the ice at 5-on-5 were pretty impressive considering he was strapped to Brian Dumoulin for much of that time. In 130 minutes with Smith out there at 5-on-5, the Penguins outscored opponents, 6-3, while controlling 54.8% of the expected goals and taking 55.5% of the shot attempts.
• Teddy Blueger was out on the ice for the start of practice and the first few go-rounds during line rushes Wednesday, but then departed for the locker room and did not return for the remainder of the skate.
"It was more maintenance than anything," Sullivan said of Blueger's early departure from practice. "He's got bumps and bruises that he's dealing with. And so, we just made the decision on the ice there early in practice to give him the day off."
• Kasperi Kapanen has missed the previous three games with an undisclosed injury. He practiced with the team (non-contact fashion) Wednesday for the first time since the injury, which Kapanen says occurred on Jan. 18 against the Senators.
"Whenever you don't skate for a little bit and you go back on, it doesn't feel great," Kapanen said. "But other than that, with my injury and everything, I feel better and I'm making progress."
• Here's the Penguins' workflow during line rushes:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Brock McGinn - Teddy Blueger - Jeff Carter (McGinn-Carter-Archibald/Kapanen after Blueger left)
Drew O'Connor - Ryan Poehling - Danton Heinen
Josh Archibald - Jonathan Gruden - Kasperi Kapanen
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Mark Friedman rotated in
• And the power-play personnel ...
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, Malkin, Letang
PP2: Carter, Zucker, Rust, Heinen, Petry
• I spent a couple minutes chatting with Rakell after practice about his impact on the power play. He's really settling into his role on the top unit, as he recently scored four power-play goals over a six-game stretch. That said, it still seems as if his shot and one-timer have been a bit underutilized with the man-advantage. When I brought that up with him, Rakell told me he tries to serve more as a support option and puck-retriever as they look to set Malkin up for one-timers instead. Other than that, he's just trying to establish himself at the front of the net. No surprise that's where each of those four power-play goals came from.
• The Penguins are back in action Thursday against the Capitals at Capital One Arena. Puck drops at 7:08 p.m. Taylor Haase will be there for your coverage.
