Penguins goaltenders fending off concerns about their potential

It took until early December, but Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith finally got his first win of the year Monday night in Seattle.

“It feels great,” DeSmith said after the 6-1 victory over the expansion Kraken. “Mentally that was big for me to go out there and get a solid win … We have been doing a lot of good stuff in practice. Working on some things.”

Up until that game, this season had been a struggle for DeSmith in limited action. Even after stopping 28 of 29 shots en route to victory, DeSmith’s (1-3-1) save percentage is .885 and his goals against average is at 3.65. Following the victory, head coach Mike Sullivan said some of that extra work DeSmith referenced is starting to manifest in positive results.

“I’m really happy for him because he has worked extremely hard to try to get his game where it is at right now,” Sullivan said Monday. “To get rewarded with a game like this tonight, we’re all thrilled for him. It’s a big boost for him.”

DeSmith’s choppy start to 2021 is part of the reason some hockey fans in Pittsburgh are dubious of the Penguins’ chances this year. Another reason is the memory of Tristan Jarry’s playoff performance in the net a year ago during the first-round loss to the New York Islanders.

But Jarry’s numbers have been quite good this season. His goals against average of 1.92 is third in the NHL, and his save percentage of .934 is fifth. Plus, Jarry has three shutouts. Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom (5) is the only goaltender with more at this point in the season.

If it wasn’t for Jarry’s four shootout losses and .524 shootout save percentage, he’d be drawing rave reviews all over Pittsburgh. And he probably should be getting that kind of praise despite his struggles in shootouts.

In fact, ESPN.com just published its “Goalie Confidence Rankings.” Essentially, it’s a list of how all 32 NHL teams should feel about their net-minding situations. And they’ve got the Penguins ranked 10th in the league.

So maybe outside of Pittsburgh there’s a little more faith in the team’s goaltending than what exists locally based on the sting of what happened to Jarry in the playoffs and DeSmith’s slow start this year.

Another much-discussed concern has been how often Jarry is playing to begin the season. He’s started 20 of 25 games so far. And since the postseason performance is a top-of-mind concern for Jarry within the fan base, many are worried about burning him out before the postseason begins.

Or — maybe more true to the point this year — burning him out before the grind of late April so the Penguins can even qualify for the playoffs in the first place.

A few obvious opportunities are looming for DeSmith to perhaps continue the momentum he built off of that win in Seattle. The Penguins have back-to-back games Friday and Saturday. They are in Washington Friday night. Then they host the Anaheim Ducks Saturday. That will be just the second back-to-back set of games for the Pens so far this season.

The Penguins also have a home-and-home set with the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 19 and 21. Then they play three road games in five days between Christmas and New Year’s Day in Boston (Dec. 27), Toronto (Dec. 29) and Ottawa (Dec. 31).

In this week’s “Breakfast with Benz” hockey podcast, Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network joins me to discuss the Pens’ goaltending, Friday’s upcoming showdown with the Metropolitan Division-leading Washington Capitals and the evolution of the Sidney Crosby-Alexander Ovechkin rivalry.