Penguins expected to start goaltender Tristan Jarry against Islanders

The Penguins are scheduled to start goaltender Tristan Jarry in Thursday’s home game against the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

Coach Mike Sullivan announced Jarry’s status following an optional morning skate.

In 33 games this season, Jarry has a 19-7-5 record, a 2.86 goals against average, a .914 save percentage and one shutout.

Jarry is coming off a poor performance on Tuesday. During a 5-4 home overtime win against the Columbus Blue Jackets — one of the worst teams in the NHL — Jarry was pulled after 22:37 of action in which he allowed four goals on only 12 shots. Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith replaced Jarry and stopped all 15 shots he faced to steer the Penguins to a comeback victory.

Following that game, Sullivan suggested Jarry has been inhibited by a lack of sufficient practice time since he returned to the lineup from injuries that hobbled him throughout January and February.

“Goalies in particular, I think it’s important for them to see (repetitions),” Sullivan said. “They need to see the puck, they need to get repetitions. That’s how their game gets sharp and stays sharp. Tristan is a guy, when he gets repetitions in practice, it carries over to his game. It’s a little bit of that as well. Hopefully, we can get him on the ice here a little bit more and get him some repetitions so that he can get into a rhythm.”

This season, Jarry has faced the Islanders in two games and has a 0-2-0 record, a 4.05 goals against average and an .890 save percentage.

Notes:

• Sullivan indicated forwards Mikael Granlund (illness) and Bryan Rust (personal matter) are each available for Thursday’s game after they were scratched from the lineup on Tuesday.

• Those who attended Tuesday’s optional morning skate included:

Forwards - Danton Heinen, Evgeni Malkin, Alex Nylander, Ryan Poehling

Defensemen - P.O Joseph, Dmitry Kulikov, Chad Ruhwedel, Jan Rutta

Goaltender - Casey DeSmith

• Poehling skated in a normal jersey suggesting full contact, albeit through the limited scope of an optional morning skate.

Various injuries have sidelined Poehling for 25 of the past 38 games. He is currently designated to long-term injured reserve and is eligible to return to the active roster on Saturday.

• Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson has 99 career points.

• Sullivan has 399 career victories.

• Entering Thursday’s final (of four) meeting of the regular season, the Islanders are 3-0-0 against the Penguins. They have never swept a regular season series against the Penguins.

(They did sweep a first-round playoff series in 2019.)

• The Islanders are expected to start All-Star goaltender Ilya Sorokin. In 48 games this season, Sorokin has a 22-18-6 record, a 2.33 goals against average, a .926 save percentage and a league-best five shutouts.

This season, Sorokin has faced the Penguins in three games and has a 3-0-0 record, a 2.33 goals against average and a .937 save percentage.

• The Islanders’ lines and pairs during Thursday’s morning skate were:

27 Anders Lee – 14 Bo Horvat – 18 Pierre Engvall

11 Zach Parise – 29 Brock Nelson – 21 Kyle Palmieri

17 Matt Martin – 53 Casey Cizikas – 20 Hudson Fasching

10 Simon Holmstrom – 36 Otto Koivula – 12 Josh Bailey

3 Adam Pelech – 24 Scott Mayfield

28 Alexander Romanov – 6 Ryan Pulock

25 Sebastian Aho – 8 Noah Dobson