Penguins notes: 1st game vs. Bruins since Brad Marchand attack of Tristan Jarry
A strict adherent to the athlete doctrine of focusing on his own game and not on the opponents’ strengths or other outside factors, Casey DeSmith insists he’s not fazed by facing the Boston Bruins and their aggressive net-front presence.
DeSmith did, though, offer one caveat.
“I guess I have to watch what I have to say around 63,” the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie said Friday.
The Bruins’ No. 63 is Brad Marchand, one of the most petulant, get-under-your-skin pests in the NHL. The most recent time the Penguins played Boston, Marchand earned a six-game suspension for what the NHL officially termed as “roughing and high-sticking” of Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.
In layman’s terms, Marchand attacked Jarry with a sucker punch and a spear of his stick to the head. And the crime that Marchand felt warranted that vigilante punishment?
According to reports of Marchand’s testimony to the NHL during a hearing for his suspension, Jarry said to Marchand, “How about that (expletive) save?”
While DeSmith cheekily vowed to avoid such verbalization to Marchand when the teams meet 12:30 p.m. Saturday in Boston, the Penguins vow nothing else will be done in recognition of their first meeting with Marchand since the incident late in a Feb. 8 Penguins win.
“I am not going to be thinking about that or worrying about that,” said DeSmith, who is expected to start Saturday. “I think both teams are gonna wanna go out there and just play some hockey.”
A Boston native, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said after practice Friday that he’d forgotten about the incident with Marchand.
“To me it’s a non-issue right now,” Sullivan said. “I just think at this time of year, both teams have a certain focus on playing the game a certain way so that they can accomplish ultimately what they are trying to accomplish.”
Brad Marchand gets heated with Tristian Jarry in the final minute of PIT/BOS tonight. pic.twitter.com/UbJghSP8oQ
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 9, 2022
No Matheson
Mike Matheson did not take part in Friday’s practice. Sullivan referred to his absence as “a maintenance day.” For what it’s worth, Sullivan’s explanation of Jarry’s absence went into more detail and confirmed an injury and that he would miss a game. That perhaps is an indication Matheson could play in Boston.
In Matheson’s stead, Marcus Pettersson was taking rushes on the left side of the No. 1 defense pairing in practice, across from Kris Letang.
Matheson (18 minutes, 44 seconds) is sixth among Penguins’ skaters in average ice time this season. He ranks tied for 10th among NHL defensemen in goals with 11, and his 29 points are second to Letang among Penguins defensemen.
Blomqvist gets ATO
Penguins goaltending prospect Joel Blomqvist signed an amateur tryout agreement (ATO) with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for the remainder of this season.
The 20-year-old recently completed the season in the Liiga, the top-tier league in his native Finland. Blomqvist was a second-round pick (No. 52 overall) in the 2020 draft.
Additionally, the Penguins assigned defenseman Niclas Almari to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Also a native of Finland, the 23-year-old Almari was a fifth-round pick in 2016 and is in the third year of a three-year entry-level contract.
Chris Adamski is a TribLive reporter who has covered primarily the Pittsburgh Steelers since 2014 following two seasons on the Penn State football beat. A Western Pennsylvania native, he joined the Trib in 2012 after spending a decade covering Pittsburgh sports for other outlets. He can be reached at cadamski@triblive.com.
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