Jarry’s return soured
Goaltender fails to reach second period in big loss
NEW YORK — After a week on the shelf with an upper-body injury, Tristan Jarry was back in the net to kick off a two-game series against the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden.
It wouldn’t last long.
The Rangers blitzed the Penguins’ No. 1 netminder, scoring just over a minute-and-a-half into the game to set the tone for a four -goal first period. By the time the Penguins came out to start the second period, Jarry had been replaced in net by Casey DeSmith.
The goalie was different, but the defensive breakdowns were the same. As a result, the Rangers rode the momentum of that lopsided first period, plus three power-play goals to an 8-4 victory.
“It just looks like we’re kind of lost,” said forward Jared McCann, whose power play goal was one of the few bright spots. “We’re giving up chances we’re not normally used to giving up. We’re kind of letting our
goalies down right now and giving teams back-door tapins and shots from highgrade areas. I think we need to tighten it up.
“You’re not going to sit here and whine about it. Let’s learn from it and move forward.”
The Penguins, who have now lost two in a row, set a season-worst Saturday when they allowed seven goals in Boston. They one- upped themselves in the worst way Tuesday, giving up eight.
Then, late in the third period, defenseman John Marino left the game soon after he drew a penalty and fell hard on his chin. He did not return. Coach Mike Sullivan did not have any additional information.
The defensive lapses are startling because of how well the Penguins had been playing in that facet of the game lately. Over the past month, the Penguins transformed themselves into one of the NHL’s better defensive teams with an emphasis on being better in front of the net and defending the scoring area.
But over the previous two games, starting Saturday in Boston, they’ve fallen back into bad defensive habits. The goaltenders, who were arguably the NHL’s best tandem in March, haven’t been there to bail them out. And a penalty kill that looked like it finally found its footing has regressed, allowing three power play goals on Tuesday.
In many ways, Tuesday’s game felt like the early season version of the Penguins. They outshot the Rangers, 4525, and out-chanced them. But catastrophic mistakes and sketchy moments from the goaltenders proved costly. According to Sportlogiq, the Penguins generated 17 shots from the slot, but also gave up 15.
“We’ve got to do a better job defending the net front and the high-scoring areas,” defenseman Marcus Petterson said. “I think teams are getting way too many chances from those spot. In this league, there are too many good players to give up chances from there.”
Soon after Jarry took the net, he was fishing the puck out of it.
New York’s Colin Blackwell entered the offensive zone and split Penguins defensemen Kris Letang and Mike Matheson without much resistance. He attempted a cross-crease pass that deflected off of Matheson’s skate and past Jarry.
It set the tone for a first period full of defensive lapses.
Later in the first, the Rangers took a 2-0 lead. Sidney Crosby, who is arguably the best two-way center in the game and very well could win the Selke Trophy this year, wheeled in the offensive zone and tossed a soft pass to… well, to no one.
New York’s Pavel Buchnevich picked it up and raced ahead, as Crosby assumed a defensive posture to fill in for Kris Letang, who had jumped into play in the offensive zone. Buchnevich walked around Crosby’s poke-check attempt and shot on net. Jarry left a juicy rebound in front for Mika Zibanejad to clean up.
Artemi Panarin, who recorded three points in the first period alone and a season-high four points in total, then proved why he’s a perennial Hart Trophy candidate. He ripped a wrist shot into the top shelf on Jarry’s blocker side.
Just like that, midway through the first period, the Rangers had a 3-0 lead.
Sullivan called a timeout to try to regroup his troops. It worked, albeit briefly. The very next shift, Crosby drew a holding penalty. Seconds into the power play, Jared McCann unleashed that big, deceptive shot that’s earned him a role with the top unit in Evgeni Malkin and Kasperi Kapanen’s absence.
McCann has only been on the power play about as long as it has taken you to read to this point in the story, yet he leads the club with five power-play goals. This one briefly made it a two-goal game at 3-1.
And the Penguins nearly escaped without any more bleeding. But Brian Dumoulin committed an untimely holding penalty in the final minute. Panarin again made his presence felt on the power play. This time, he zipped a seam pass from the top of the left circle to the top of the right. Ryan Strome cranked it through a screen and past Jarry to make it 4-1 Rangers.
With DeSmith in net to start the second period, the Penguins had their chances. But the Rangers were the ones who cracked through. Alexis Lafreniere, the firstoverall pick in the 2020 draft, scored on a flailing DeSmith to make it 5-1 Rangers.
The Rangers only poured it on in the third period. The lone bright spots were a Matheson sniper and Jake Guentzel’s nightly goal.
“These are hard ones,” Sullivan said. “Because they sting. Because we have a proud group. This team has had a lot of success. We’ve had a lot of success this year. We’ve got to find a way to get back to some of the details that are necessary to give ourselves the best chance to win.”