Penguins to start goaltender Tristan Jarry against Blue Jackets
The Penguins are slated to start goaltender Tristan Jarry for Tuesday’s home game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at PPG Paints Arena.
Appearing in 49 games this season, Jarry has a 31-12-6 record, a 2.28 goals against average, a .922 save percentage and four shutouts.
Jarry has faced the Blue Jackets once this season. During a 5-2 road win Jan. 21, Jarry stepped in relief of backup Casey DeSmith and stopped all 15 shots he faced in 40 minutes of ice time to record the victory.
Notes:
• Newly acquired forward Rickard Rakell is expected to be in the lineup a day after the Penguins acquired him via trade from the Anaheim Ducks. In 51 games this season, Rakell has 28 points (16 goals, 12 assists) as well as an average of 18:21 of ice time per contest.
“He’s a guy that can help us on both sides of the puck,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He can, first and foremost, play the type of game that we’re trying to play. He brings a lot of speed to his game, he has the ability to finish. He’s a good goal-scorer. He has good offensive instincts, but he also has good awareness away from the puck which is an important aspect of winning. We think he can help us in a lot of capacities. Most importantly, we think he’s a real good fit as far as the style of play that we’re trying to play and some of the needs that we felt our team needed in order to become a better team.”
Sullivan stopped short of indicating what line Rakell might be deployed on, but it is suspected he will line up on the second line next to center Evgeni Malkin.
“We believe that he can play with our guys,” Sullivan said. “That was one of the biggest things that we talked about leading up to it was he brings a certain skill set that we think is complementary.”
• Forward Radim Zohorna was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League (AHL) on Tuesday morning. In 12 NHL games this season, Zohorna has three points (one goal, two assists) while averaging 11:10 of ice time per contest.
With bottom-six forwards Zach Aston-Reese and Dominik Simon sent to Anaheim in exchange for Rakell as well as fellow forwards Brock McGinn (suspected right hand or arm) and Jason Zucker (core muscle) still rehabilitating injuries, Zohorna or other young forwards in the mix, such as Drew O’Connor, would appear to be in line to have a prime opportunity to establish a sturdier role with the team in the short-term.
“They have to bring the game that brought them success to this point,” Sullivan said regarding the likes of Zohorna, O’Connor and others. “They’re part of our organization, they’re part of our team for a reason. They bring certain things to the table that we think help us become the team that we’re trying to become. The biggest challenge for young players when they’re trying to establish themselves in the NHL is just consistency of play, night in and night out, shift in and shift out and bringing their very best game.”
• Those who participated in the Penguins’ optional morning skate included forwards Teddy Blueger, Brian Boyle and Zohorna; defensemen Mark Friedman, Marcus Pettersson and Chad Ruhwedel; and DeSmith and Jarry.
• The Blue Jackets are slated to start goaltender Joonas Korpisalo. In 21 games this season, Korpisalo has a 7-10-0 record, a 4.10 goals against average and an .878 save percentage.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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