PITTSBURGH — Tristan Jarry’s return to the crease was supposed to stabilize the Penguins. But the poor play of their No. 1 netminder cost them dearly in a pair of losses.
The latest came Thursday at PPG Paints Arena, when Jarry allowed a quartet of questionable goals in the first half of their 7-2 loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
Jarry, who rejoined the lineup Monday after missing nine games with a mysterious injury, let Oilers superstar Connor McDavid score from behind the net. He gave up two more tallies because he couldn’t corral rebounds. And like Monday’s meltdown versus the New York Islanders, the goalie had a costly giveaway.
Jarry surrendered six goals on just 29 shots faced and was pulled for the first time this season as the Penguins stumbled to their fourth consecutive defeat.
To be clear, the loss was hardly all on Jarry, a two-time All-Star whose season has been marred by injury. The Penguins gave the NHL’s top power play three chances in the first period. They had a confounding lack of energy and puck management. Sidney Crosby was silent in his latest showdown with McDavid.
But Jarry was sieve for the Penguins when they hoped he would be their savior. Instead, fans chanted “Fire Hextall” after the Oilers scored their sixth goal.
Hextall, the embattled general manager, has until next Friday’s NHL trade deadline to decide if this maddening Penguins season is worth trying to salvage.
Spoiler alert: It won’t be if their goaltending doesn’t drastically improve quickly.
The Penguins grabbed the lead 1:05 into the first period thanks to a fortuitous break. Stuart Skinner got tripped up by a teammate and Kris Letang, who had just hopped onto the ice, beat the reclining Oilers goalie on the game’s first shot.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, they mustered just two more shots the rest of the period, none from their forwards, as the game spiraled out of their control.
The Oilers are chasing the 1977-78 Montreal Canadiens for the most prolific power play in NHL history. Two power-play goals in the first period moved them ahead for now. Before the game, Mike Sullivan noted they don’t do anything innovative. As the saying goes, it’s about Jimmys and Joes, not Xs and Os.
That was the case in the first, as Edmonton’s former Hart winners, McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, both scored on the power play to put the Oilers up, 2-1.
McDavid fooled Jarry on the first, dipping below the goal line before he banked a shot off the back of Jarry and in. Late in the period, Jarry was unable to squeeze Tyson Barrie’s point shot. It rebounded to Draisaitl for an easy goal.
Pittsburgh’s penalty kill has been one of the league’s worst since Christmas. But those two were on Jarry, still showing rust after sitting out for a month.
The Oilers piled on four more goals during the second period to chase Jarry.
Jarry let another rebound leak out and Kailer Yamamoto banged it in from the blue paint. He then coughed up the puck behind his net and couldn’t scramble back to stop Devin Shore. Warren Foegele’s goal on a 2-on-1 made it 5-1.
Then Letang made a careless pass into the neutral zone that was picked off by McDavid, who spun off a check before setting up Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
At that point, dozens of frustrated fans stomped their way to the concourses. Some of those who stayed in their seats pivoted from booing to heckling Hextall.
Jarry, meanwhile, was mercifully replaced by Casey DeSmith to start the third.
McDavid smoked him on a penalty shot to finish with two goals and four points.
ICE CHIPS
— Trying to spark the Penguins, Sullivan in the second period switched up his top two lines. Jason Zucker and Bryan Rust were bumped up to Crosby’s line. Rickard Rakell and Jake Guentzel finished the night alongside Evgeni Malkin.
— Letang scored on a late power play for his second multi-goal game of 2022-23.
— Marcus Pettersson and Jeff Petry both played after missing practice Wednesday. Petry felt better after needing a sick day. Pettersson was good to go after his wife and he made a big pre-deadline addition — a baby boy named Frans.
— The Penguins shook up their bottom six again. This time it was Drew O’Connor and Josh Archibald who played with Carter on their third line. Brock McGinn and Kasperi Kapanen skated as the fourth-line wingers for Teddy Blueger.
— Jan Rutta, Ryan Poehling and Mark Friedman remained sidelined due to their injuries. Danton Heinen was a healthy scratch for the eighth straight game.
COMING UP
The Penguins will practice Friday in Cranberry before flying to St. Louis. They play the Blues on Saturday then host the Tampa Bay Lightning here Sunday.
