Given the fact that he was either injured or awful the past two postseasons — costing the Penguins two great chances to advance — Tristan Jarry's 2022-23 season was always going to be about playoff redemption.
Well, guess what: The playoffs are here.
Jarry doesn't have to wait. If it's going to happen, his redemption tour begins Thursday night against Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers. The Penguins are out of playoff position after Jarry handed the New York Islanders a game Monday night in his first appearance in a month.
You don't need me to tell you the Penguins have serious issues. Mike Sullivan should be embarrassed that he either won't or can't (perhaps because a cap crunch limits his options) hold all three members of his third line to account. Brock McGinn has not recorded a point since sometime in 2022 — Dec. 22 to be precise, or 23 games ago.
Sully just keeps throwing out McGinn, Kasperi Kapanen and Jeff Carter, then gets upset when people ask him about it. He should be taking desperate measures to avoid putting them on the ice. I don't care if he has to dress seven defensemen, play Mark Friedman at wing and reconfigure his bottom six. At least that guy has a pulse. Or put Danton Heinen back in. He has two goals in his past three games, which makes him Pavel Bure compared to McGinn.
So yes, Sullivan should be mortified. But not nearly as mortified as general manager Ron Hextall, whose job could be on the line for re-signing Carter for apparent sentimental reasons and for re-signing Kapanen, among other moves. He better get creative soon. Hey, Ray Shero once sent respected veteran Miroslav Satan to the minors to clear cap space. Maybe Hextall should make a similar move with one of his underachieving vets (Carter could nix such a move because of his no-movement clause).
By the way, whatever happened to the idea, or maybe the promise, that Hextall and president of hockey ops Brian Burke would make this team much nastier? Wasn't that part of the mission when they arrived?
I get the fact that some of the players who add a physical element — Josh "Tiny" Archibald and Jan Rutta — have been injured. But it has been nearly two years since Burke told the Post-Gazette he was not a big fan of "going to a gunfight with a knife." Looks to me like the Penguins still bring knives. Butter knives. That doesn't work against bazookas like the Islanders' Ross Johnston. Teams continue to abuse the Penguins' stars without fear of retribution to their own. There is no price to pay.
Having said all that, a great goalie is like a great quarterback. He can cover blemishes. He can steal games. In the Penguins' case, he can help solve their problem killing penalties and protecting late leads (as long as he avoids passing the puck to the other team) and lower their wretched 3.16 goals-against average, which ranks in the bottom half of the league.
Jarry has greatness in him. A year ago he finished sixth in the league in save percentage. He is fifth this season. The Penguins are 16-6-5 in his decisions. That is a 112-point pace over a full season. Small sample size, sure, but also worth mentioning that the Penguins have exceeded that figure one time in franchise history.
A more reliable number might be Jarry's career record of 109-53-18, which works out to a 108-point pace per full season. The Penguins have exceeded that mark only three times. His career save percentage of .916 is best in franchise history.
So here we are. Playoff time, where legacies are created. The playoffs are starting early in Pittsburgh this season. The Penguins have 26 games left. I'd say Jarry needs to play about 22 of them — I'll exclude the four sets of back-to-back games. And he needs to be the best goalie on the ice most of the time. He wasn't that on Monday.
Jarry needs to prove he can stay on the ice and carry this team at the most significant time of the year. Credit him for playing injured in Game 7 of last year's series against the Rangers, but he did post the lowest save percentage of any Penguins goalie in the playoffs in that game. He also gave up the tying goal late in regulation and the winning goal early in overtime.
It's not Jarry's fault he was injured again this season. He can make everybody forget about that and everything else if he carries his team to some playoff wins.
Game 1 is Thursday night against the Oilers.
