Tristan Jarry returns to Penguins after successful AHL loan: 'Hopefully it translates'

CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Tristan Jarry is back, the Pittsburgh Penguins are carrying three goalies (for now), and it’s anybody’s guess if this can work.

But coach Mike Sullivan made the case for how it might.

“As far as the three-goalie scenario, I think at the end of the day that’ll eventually work itself out,” Sullivan said Sunday after practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, where Jarry joined fellow veteran Alex Nedeljkovic and rookie Joel Blomqvist.

GO DEEPER

Penguins recall Tristan Jarry from AHL after 2-week stint

The practice wasn’t awkward — a testament to each goalie’s professionalism and the session’s organization. All three goalies had time between the pipes, with the odd one out standing to the side either working on his own or speaking with goalie coach Andy Chiodo.

This was practice, though. Monday will provide a different challenge.

Only two goalies will dress for the Penguins against the Dallas Stars at PPG Paints Arena. Sullivan doesn’t tip his hand on who is playing until after morning skates. Blomqvist remained on the ice longest Sunday, with Jarry and Nedeljkovic finishing at about the same time.

There aren’t enough games to go around. That, plus the NHL’s hard-cap system, is why more teams rarely carry three goalies on a 23-player roster.

However, Blomqvist has outperformed his peers this season. And with a lot more cap space (a combined $7.875 million) devoted to Jarry and Blomqvist, and each on multi-season contracts, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Penguins turned to their veteran goalies for the four games in six days this week.

“Obviously, you have to find the rhythm with three goalies — that’s something that’s part of it,” Jarry said Sunday.

Sullivan argued that whoever is selected as the third goalie on game days would see “potential benefits.”

“One of them will have the opportunity to get quality practice time,” Sullivan said. “If that particular goalie isn’t backing up, for example … it will give the goalie who isn’t backing up the opportunity to get quality time with our goalie coach. And I think that’s one of the benefits of having three.

“We’ll manage it. Accordingly, at the end of the day, it’s always going to be the question we always ask: Which guy gives us the best chance to win?”

As of Sunday morning, the Penguins were 12th in points in the Eastern Conference, in large part because they were tied for second to last in goal differential (minus-15) and behind only the Montreal Canadiens in goals allowed (61).

The Penguins have asked a lot of any goalie. To witness them play is to believe odd-man rushes against is the norm — and it’s not, at least not for a Stanley Cup playoff contender. And it’s not helpful that their defensemen haven’t made the right reads when tasked with defending the odd-man rushes.

Natural Stat Trick tracks many team metrics. The Penguins rank among the worst in categories like average scoring chances against (SCA/60), high-danger chances against (HDCA/60) and high-danger goals against (HDGA/60).

So while it’s true Jarry did struggle his way into an AHL loan assignment, Nedeljkovic has not held up under the barrage of quality looks routinely allowed by the Penguins. Blomqvist, who is younger, bigger and at least as athletic as Jarry or Nedeljkovic, has looked stronger.

That is likely a surprise to everybody in the organization. President of hockey operations/general manager Kyle Dubas chose to re-sign Nedeljkovic during the offseason at the expense of going with Blomqvist as the No. 2 to Jarry.

That decision might have said as much about Dubas’ confidence in Jarry, whom he signed to a big extension in July 2022, as it did Blomqvist. That decision made clear that Jarry and Nedeljkvoic were the clear go-to goalies coming into this season.

Jarry said he and Dubas agreed that sending him to the AHL for a couple of weeks made sense. Both wanted him to get game reps and that wasn’t an option with the Penguins as they’re already in desperate need of points.

Jarry said he worked with multiple coaches while with AHL affiliate Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. That includes Chiodo, who visited, but also AHL goalie coach Kain Tisi and director of goaltending Jon Elkin.

The results were promising, as Jarry started five games and finished with a .926 save percentage and 2.16 goals-against average.

The goalie position is generally thought to be more mental than physical. It would explain why even goalies with proven track records — and Jarry has been selected to two All-Star Games — suddenly seem a shell of their former selves.

“It’s up here,” said Eddie Johnston, a former NHL goalie and once the GM and coach in Pittsburgh, pointing to his head.

“You play goal in this league, I don’t care when you played for how long, you’ve got to be right up here. If you’re not, it’s no good.”

On Sunday, Jarry did not sound like he disagreed with the last goalie to play in every game, as Johnston did for the Boston Bruins in the 1970s.

Jarry has endured a humbling calendar year. He lost his starting job at the end of last season and failed to capitalize when Nedeljkovic’s training camp injury thrust him back into the No. 1 spot in October. He acknowledged the challenge “to kind of pick up your family and move to a different place to play some games.”

All goalies say they need short memories to excel at the job. Jarry may benefit from blacking out the entirety of the last 11 months.

How?

“I think it’s just having a strong mind, strong mental game — that’s all you can really do,” he said. “Obviously, the start of the season didn’t go the way I wanted and I went down to Wilkes and was able to play really well. So I think those games will help. They’ll help your confidence. Winning a couple games consecutively helps your game. So just being able to do that and kind of refining your game, I think will help a lot.

“Hopefully it translates up here.”

(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)