Penguins’ top 2 goalies injured: Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith won't play in finale
The playoffs are about to begin, and the Pittsburgh Penguins are experiencing a dearth of healthy, experienced goalies.
There is no apparent worry, though, that the relative crisis will carry over into the actual postseason.
“Tristan Jarry did not practice today, nor did Casey DeSmith,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said via video conference call after Friday’s practice in Cranberry. “Tristan is day-to-day with an upper-body injury, and Casey is day-to-day with a lower-body injury. We will have them for the playoffs, but neither will be available for the game (Saturday).”
The Penguins are scheduled to conclude their regular season at home against the Buffalo Sabres at 3 p.m. Saturday.
Sullivan would not commit to who would start in goal for that game, but it is expected to be Maxime Lagace, who has been the backup at times this season when Jarry or DeSmith has not been available.
The 28-year-old Lagace is the only other member of the organization with NHL game experience, albeit he has played in only one such contest over the past three-plus years, allowing four goals on 35 shots in a 5-2 loss to Carolina while playing for the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 1, 2019.
All 16 games of Legace’s other NHL regular-season experience came during the 2017-18 season for Vegas as one of the backups to Marc-Andre Fleury.
Emil Larmi would figure to be the most likely candidate to be the other goalie in uniform because he is on the taxi squad. Signed as an undrafted free agent out of the top pro league in Finland, the 24-year-old Larmi has appeared in 38 games for the Penguins’ AHL and ECHL affiliates over the past two seasons.
The only other option would figure to be Alex D’Orio, a 22-year-old who has also played in the AHL and ECHL the past two seasons. D’Orio has played in 10 games for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and 11 for Wheeling in 2020-21.
“We will expect our goalies to make the timely saves to give this team a chance to win,” Sullivan said. “This adds one more aspect of depth that is being challenged throughout the course of this season, at the goalie position, that, to this point, hasn’t been challenged. So it’s one more challenge for us if we want to end this regular season the right way.”
Jarry made 19 saves during Thursday’s 8-4 win against Buffalo.
The Sabres, meanwhile, again will start Michael Houser in goal Saturday, according to The Buffalo News. The 28-year-old Houser’s first NHL action will end up being starting four games in six days to finish Buffalo’s season.
Houser spent part of his youth in Wexford and played for the then-Pittsburgh Hornets.
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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