Tim Benz: Penguins players throw their weight — and hope — behind Casey DeSmith

Sure. It’s more than a little disingenuous. More than just a bit intellectually dishonest.

But for fans of the Pittsburgh Penguins, what are they to do? Just give up when the playoffs start? Not watch the games?

Yes. In Pittsburgh nowadays, there’s a lot of talking ourselves into believing when it comes to the local hockey team and their playoff chances.

The Eastern Conference’s top eight in the postseason bracket looks extremely strong, and the Pens — having lost nine times in their last 13 outings — appear to be the weakest link.

No, the lack of optimism for the team’s chances of escaping the first round for the first time since 2018 isn’t entirely about the goaltending situation. It’s not even necessarily a belief that backup Casey DeSmith isn’t good enough.

It’s just that … well …

Man, we did spend a lot of time talking ourselves into believing last year’s bad performance by Tristan Jarry in the playoffs against the New York Islanders was only a fluke.

First-time playoff jitters. A learning experience. A growth opportunity all good goalies have to endure at some point in their careers.

To Jarry’s credit, he did just about everything he could to convince Pittsburgh that its daily hockey affirmations were being spoken into existence.

• He made the All-Star team.

• His goals against average is sixth in the NHL (2.42).

• His save percentage is eighth in the NHL (.919).

• He posted four shutouts on the year. Only four NHL goalies have more.

But when Jarry went down with a lower-body injury last Thursday against the New York Islanders and has since been labeled week-to-week by the team, suddenly the “this year will be different because Jarry will be different” logic turned to dust.

Even with no evidence that was going to be the case, many in Pittsburgh convinced themselves it was going to be true. Unfortunately, the logic of “Eh, it’s OK. DeSmith will be just as good if he needs to play” may be a chasm too wide to leap.

That’s not going to stop the Penguins players from trying, though.

“We have full confidence in him,” forward Jeff Carter said of DeSmith. “He has worked extremely hard this year to finetune his game and round his game out. In this last stretch of games, he has been great for us and he has given us a chance to win every night. And that’s all you can ask.”

What else are the Penguins players supposed to do? And it’s not like DeSmith is incapable. In his last eight starts dating back to Feb. 27, DeSmith’s save percentage is .917. Not counting shootout goals, he has only yielded 2.5 goals per start. Stats that are very similar to Jarry’s season numbers.

“We have more than enough confidence in Casey and his ability,” said defenseman Mike Matheson. “He’s such a good, athletic goalie. He makes a lot of saves that he shouldn’t. We’re happy that he’s our option.”

Perhaps the players are convinced. Or at least look at DeSmith as substantially capable.

For the fans, it might just be easier to keep hoping that Jarry’s injury will heal in time for him to play in the first round of the postseason. However, if he’s in a walking boot and needed to be pushed around on the ice in a chair for the team photo Wednesday, that seems like a long shot.

That didn’t stop head coach Mike Sullivan from going down that path, though.

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still have five games left in the regular season. Tristan is going through a rehab process right now. His status is week to week,” Sullivan said. “We are not sure what that picture will look like. We are trying to take each day as it comes. And we will make decisions accordingly. We believe in the people that we have. We have capable people in all the positions. Casey being one of them.”

No. It’s not really a lack of confidence in DeSmith versus Jarry. How many of us were truly assured that Jarry would’ve upset the Metropolitan Division-leading Carolina Hurricanes? Or outdueled Igor Shesterkin of the New York Rangers? Or stoned the Florida Panthers’ high-powered attack?

It’s just that whatever chances you gave of those things happening, they are diluted now that an All-Star goalie is on the shelf. And, after the last two weeks of struggles, this is a team that probably didn’t need any more bad news.

So, what else to do? Jarry or not, the Penguins were going to enter this postseason run throwing pucks against the walls to see which ones could stick.

Now it’s up to DeSmith to keep it going as long as possible and make it hard to put Jarry back in the crease.

That would be a goalie debate Sullivan would actually like to have.