Sidney Crosby, Penguins bail out struggling Casey DeSmith to win 4th straight game
Mike Sullivan hasn’t been keen on discussing the Pittsburgh Penguins’ goaltending depth as of late.
Within the past week, the team’s coach has been asked if Casey DeSmith, the incumbent backup, is battling for his job with Louis Domingue, a reserve with ample NHL experience.
Sullivan has offered the same answer, albeit one without much substance.
“There’s competition for every position on our team.”
At the moment, there isn’t a competition between DeSmith and Domingue because Domingue is on injured reserve due of a suspected right foot injury he suffered during a morning skate Thursday.
So DeSmith isn’t losing any battles for his job. But he’s not winning any games.
That trend continued Friday during the Penguins’ 5-2 victory against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It was the Penguins’ fourth consecutive win and was aided by a hat trick by captain Sidney Crosby.
After allowing two leaky goals on 12 shots, DeSmith was pulled after the first period and replaced by increasingly overburdened starter Tristan Jarry, who stopped all 15 shots he faced to improve his record to 21-7-4.
As for DeSmith, his woeful season — and perhaps his future — did not improve. Recently removed from protocols for covid-19, DeSmith now has a 3-3-1 record, a 3.58 goals-against average and a .886 save percentage.
Friday marked the second consecutive contest in which he started and was pulled in favor of Jarry.
On Jan. 5, he was relieved after allowing three goals on 16 shots in 33:49 of ice time during a 5-3 home win against the St. Louis Blues. By Jan. 11, he was placed into the NHL’s covid-19 protocols and did not dress until he served as the backup for Thursday’s 6-4 home win against the Ottawa Senators.
For a perceived Stanley Cup contender with little to no salary cap space, finding a way to relieve itself of some or all of an ineffective backup goaltender’s $1.25 salary cap hit would be prudent in potentially fortifying that position or other spots on the roster in advance of the trade deadline in two months (March 21).
Speaking with media in Columbus following the game, Sullivan tried to absorb the heat directed DeSmith.
“I think we put (DeSmith) in a tough spot tonight,” Sullivan said. “He’s just coming off (the covid-19 protocols). Our intent was to get him a couple of practices to get him more (repetitions). Obviously, when Louis went down in the morning skate (Thursday), it forced our hand there.
“We put (DeSmith) in a difficult circumstance tonight.”
The Penguins created an ideal circumstance pretty early during Firday’s game. Only 32 seconds into regulation, to be specific. Off the right half wall of the offensive zone, Crosby shielded the puck from a handful of Blue Jackets, surveyed the ice and snapped a cross-ice pass to Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin, who was darting across the offensive blue line.
Meandering into the left circle, Dumoulin lasered a far-side wrister that charred goaltender Joonas Korpisalo’s glove for his third goal of the season. Crosby and defenseman Kris Letang, who extended a career-best scoring streak to 10 games, had the assists.
A short-handed score tied the game at 10:40 of the first period. From the high slot of the offensive zone, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin forced an ill-conceived pass broken up by Blue Jackets forward Gustav Nyquist. Rushing the puck up the left wing into the offensive zone, Nyquist fend off Malkin but fanned on his initial shot attempt from the left dot.
With DeSmith overreacting to the missed shot, Nyquist recovered the puck low in the circle and lifted a clever wrister from a straight angle that found an avenue under DeSmith’s blocker and into the cage for Nyquist’s 10th goal. The score was so improbable, Nyquist, by his body language, even seemed to be confused as to how it entered the net. There were no assists.
The Blue Jackets took a 2-1 lead at 18:46 of the first period. After Dumoulin and Malkin failed to connect on a neutral zone pass, Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine claimed the puck and distributed a pass to linemate Boone Jenner, who gained the offensive zone at center point.
Jenner shot a wrister from the high slot only to have it blocked by a poke check from Dumoulin. The rebound caromed off the glass behind the net and bounced to the right of the cage. After Blue Jackets forward Jakub Voracek did a drive-by on the puck but failed to get clean control of it, Jenner followed up on the sequence by chipping a wrister that squeaked between DeSmith’s left arm and torso before sliding across the goal line for Jenner’s 16th goal. Voracek and Laine collected assists.
Crosby tied the game only 45 seconds later. Corralling a loose puck in the Blue Jackets’ right corner, Penguins forward Jake Guentzel slid a pass to above the right circle for linemate Bryan Rust, who lifted a wrister. Blue Jackets forward Alexander Texier blocked the shot with his right skate, causing it to carom to the right of the cage where Crosby was alert enough — despite being harassed by Blue Jackets defenseman Jake Bean — to re-direct with his forehand over Korpisalo’s left skate. Assists went to Rust and Guentzel.
After a scoreless second period, Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson restored a lead for the Penguins, 3-2, at 5:32 of the final frame with his sixth goal and third in two games. After Penguins forward Danton Heinen gained the offensive zone on the left wing, he left a drop pass at the point for Dumoulin, who slid a pass to the high slot. From there, Matheson cranked one-timer that trickled through Korpisalo’s equipment and trickled into the cage. Dumoulin and Heinen tallied assists.
A would-be goal by Blue Jackets forward Max Domi at 10:39 of the third was wiped out after the Penguins issued a successful coach’s challenge citing the sequence as being offside.
Sullivan sang the praises of video coach Andy Saucier and assistant video coach Madison Nikkel with identifying Blue Jackets forward Emil Bemstrom as being offside.
“That was (Saucier and Nikkel),” Sullivan said. “Those guys are all-stars with what they do. They know the criteria is when we’re making those decisions. We’ve talked a lot about that as a coaching staff before the season even starts. I have so much faith in those guys in what they see. There was no hesitation on their part at all. They radioed to the bench that it’s 100% offside. I have so much faith in those guys. They’re great at what they do.”
Crosby isn’t too shabby at his job either. That was evident on his second goal of the contest at 13:32 of the third period on a five-on-three power-play opportunity. From above the left circle, Malkin fed a pass to the left of the cage for Rust. Waiting for the slot to open up, Rust dealt a seam pass to the right of the net for Crosby, who swatted a one-timer past a scrambling Korpisalo’s glove on the near side. Rust and Malkin were credited with assists.
Victory and a hat trick were secured at the 18:02 mark on an empty Blue Jackets net. Controlling a puck in his own right circle, Crosby turned up ice and snapped a pass attempt off the far boards of the Blue Jackets’ zone. The puck missed the intended target — Rust — but ricocheted into the vacant cage for Crosby’s 12th career hat trick and first since Nov. 28, 2018. Matheson and Dumoulin had assists.
The display would have impressed Rudolf Wanderone, even if it was unintentional.
“I was just trying to throw it over there so (Rust) could skate into it,” Crosby said. “I didn’t even expect it to go in. … I was more upset that I (potentially) was going to get an icing out of it. For it to go in was a big bonus.”
The Penguins have won four consecutive games and 15 of their past 17 games (15-2-0). And they’ve done it primarily with Jarry in net.
It would be a nice bonus for them if DeSmith began to offer a greater contribution.
“Casey has played a lot of really good hockey for us,” Sullivan said. “We know the type of goalie that he is and what he’s capable of. We’re going to work extremely hard to help (DeSmith) capture his best game. I thought he was gaining traction there before the (holiday) break. It’s been a little bit of a struggle since.
“But we know he’s a good goaltender. We’ve got to help him get to his very best game.”
Notes: Matheson’s goal was his fifth game-winning score of the season. The single-season franchise record for game-winning goals by defensemen was set by Matt Niskanen who had six in 2013-14. … Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese returned to the lineup after missing five games for reasons related to covid-19. On 10 shifts, he logged 8:57 of ice time. … The Penguins’ scratches were forward Brian Boyle and defenseman Mark Friedman.
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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