Jarry has 30 saves in 2-0 victory
CHICAGO — With Matt Murray likely to miss the beginning of the season due to injury, it’s unclear who is going to start the season as Marc-Andre Fleury’s backup in the Penguins net.
Tristan Jarry did his best to stake a claim to that spot Wednesday night in the Penguins’ 2-0 win against the Chicago Blackhawks at United Center.
Jarry stopped 30 shots, including 13 in a first period controlled by the Blackhawks. In giving the Penguins their first win of the preseason, Jarry, 21, made an effort to remind people Murray might not be the only promising young goaltending prospect in the Penguins pipeline.
“It’s nice, but it’s something I’ve been building towards throughout camp and throughout rookie camp,” Jarry said. “Everyday I just want to get a little bit better and I’ve found that every day, working hard, my game’s improving.”
It took a while for the offense to give Jarry a lead, with Chris Kunitz finally scoring at 2:31 of the third period on a deflection off a Trevor Daley shot from the point.
The goal came on the power play, as the Penguins went 1 for 7 with the man-advantage and held the Blackhawks scoreless on all four of their power-play tries.
Kunitz added an insurance goal at 9:39 of the third, banging home his rebound in front of the net to double the lead.
The Penguins return to action Friday with their preseason home opener against the Blackhawks at Consol Energy Center.
Sheary watching
Conor Sheary has watched the World Cup of Hockey. He has taken notes, too. Sheary, a front-runner to start the season on Sidney Crosby’s left wing, has been paying special attention to the chemistry Crosby has with Team Canada linemates Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
The group unquestionably has been the best trio of the tournament.
“Marchand is more of a pure goal-scorer than I am,” Sheary said. “He’s got that quick release and hard shot. I think there are similarities with our size and our quickness. I think I can take a lot from him.”
The trio ranks one-twothree in World Cup scoring. Crosby has a tournamentbest nine points, Marchand seven and Bergeron six. Marchand leads the way with four goals.
“He’s just dialed in,” Sheary said of Crosby. “When you watch him play, he’s not really making too many bad plays. You see how fast he’s playing. He’s making plays quicker than I’ve seen.”
Injury updates
A day after a skate blade glanced off his neck, MarcAndre Fleury was back at practice. … Nick Bonino returned after missing two days. He was out because he took a hard shot Sunday off of his foot. … Oskar Sundqvist, Matt Cullen and Bryan Rust remained out.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.