Penguins' Tristan Jarry earns high marks for embracing backup role

The blunt synopsis of Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry’s situation over the last several weeks is that he’s been demoted in favor of Alex Nedeljkovic, who’s now started 10 consecutive games dating back to March 24.

Nedeljkovic has led the Penguins to a 7-0-3 record and crucial points over that span, resuscitating the club’s postseason hopes.

Granted, Jarry dealt with illness in early April that played a role in keeping him out, but as a result of the wins piling up with Nedeljkovic in net, coach Mike Sullivan has opted to continue turning to the hot hand.

While the 28-year-old’s late-season relegation to backup duty certainly represents a significant deviation — both personally and in the Penguins’ eyes — Jarry has embraced his new circumstances.

Namely, that’s entailed doing whatever he can to lend a hand to Nedeljkovic.

“Obviously, you’d like to be out there and you’d like to be playing, but right now my job is to support (Nedeljkovic) and do everything I can to help him,” Jarry said. “He’s playing great, so I think we have to keep that going. We have to keep playing well as a whole, as a goalie unit, and I think that’ll help the team.”

Jarry, who signed a five-year, $26.875 million contract this past summer, has not played since March 24 at Colorado, when he briefly relieved Nedeljkovic after the latter collided with the Avalanche’s Casey Mittelstadt.

Jarry’s last start came March 22 in Dallas, when he was pulled after allowing four goals on 20 shots in a 4-2 defeat, which marks the last time the Penguins lost in regulation.

Since then, Jarry has looked to contribute when and where he can in both practice and game settings.

Nedeljkovic in particular has been grateful.

“It’s been great. He’s been really supportive,” Nedeljkovic said. “Even just in-game, having somebody to bounce something off or or say something — they understand where it’s coming from because they know the position I’m in.

“… Just having that positive voice telling me to stay with it, keep going — just hearing that goes a long way. It’s been good. It’s fun coming to the rink, hanging out and doing our thing together. Can’t say enough about how supportive and how great of a teammate he’s been these last couple weeks.”

Through 48 starts, Jarry is 19-24-5 with a 2.90 goals against average and .903 save percentage.

While his campaign could be described as inconsistent, Jarry still is tied for the NHL lead (along with Arizona’s Connor Ingram and Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky) in shutouts with six, despite not playing for three weeks.

Nedlejkovic, now up to 30 starts, has compiled a 17-6-7 record, 2.89 goals against average and .904 save percentage.

If Sullivan again turns to Jarry, he’ll have to weigh the cost of playing a cold goalie in a high-stakes game.

Whether that will be one of the Penguins’ final three regular-season games, all of which carry major playoff implications, or, if the Penguins manage to qualify for the postseason, during their first-round series, remains to be seen.

Following Friday’s practice in Cranberry, Sullivan addressed potential concerns regarding Nedeljkovic’s busy playing schedule of late.

Worry over Nedeljkovic, who’s 28 like Jarry, becoming weary appears to be minimal.

“We’re not as concerned about fatigue,” Sullivan said. “We think he’s got a great motor. He’s in great shape. We had a couple of days in between this past game, for example. It gave him an opportunity to catch his breath, so to speak. We don’t think he’s had an exorbitant workload over the course of the season, where it mounts and builds up over the course of time. So, we feel comfortable with where he’s at.”

For his part, Jarry indicated that he’s prepared for whenever the call to go back in net does come.

“My body feels good, I’m in a good spot mentally and I think we’ve been playing well,” Jarry said. “It’s just a matter of keeping it going and giving our best game every game. I think it’ll put us in a good spot.

“… You just have to have the mindset of being better every day,” Jarry added. “That’s my goal when I go out there to practice and for pregame skates. I want to work on something and I want to get better today.”

Notes: Defenseman Kris Letang missed practice Friday due to planned maintenance. … Forward Lars Eller, who continues to deal with an illness, left practice early. Eller missed practice Wednesday for the same reason but suited up and played 15 minutes, 57 seconds Thursday night in the Penguins’ 6-5 overtime win over Detroit.