With the postseason right around the corner, this couldn’t have come at a worse time. It’s never easy to see such a key player as Tristan Jarry to the Pittsburgh Penguins suffer an injury. Head coach Mike Sullivan announced Jarry is going to be out week-to-week with a lower-body injury Saturday. This undoubtedly occurred Thursday against the New York Islanders.
Image Courtesy of Joe Sargent/Getty Images
It’s incredibly difficult to tell when this injury occurred in the game. At seemingly every zone rush, there was a player bulldozing Jarry. He was, unintentionally, tripped up by Islanders forwards numerous times. In the waning minutes of the game, Islanders’ captain Anders Lee scored. However, during that goal, Penguins’ defenseman Kris Letang fell on Jarry. With all of these mishaps, it’s hard to say when the injury occurred.
What can be commended is Jarry’s tough mentality. Again, he suffered blows all throughout the game. He could’ve suffered this injury at any given point. What’s astonishing and stands as testament to the organization is the fortitude. Although he was injured, he didn’t show any signs of discomfort, nor did he let it affect his play.
This still doesn’t make it any less heartbreaking. Every Penguins fan knows the story by now. After last year’s playoff performance, his position as starter was called into question. Many fans wanted the organization to trade him. After all, he made numerous mistakes. However, general manager Ron Hextall held all hope for him, and it has paid off. To say that he’s been good this year is definitely an understatement.
With a 2.42 goals against average and a .919 save percentage, Jarry has been the team’s bread and butter. Now, he’s got some mighty big shoes to fill. Casey DeSmith is going to have to fill them for now. He’s struggled this season as he currently has a .907 save percentage and a 2.89 goals against average. Despite this, he has shown some flashes of greatness, so there is still plenty of potential there.
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For the foreseeable future, it looks like Louis Domingue will be the backup to DeSmith. Domingue has only played one game for Pittsburgh, but that game was stellar. He started in Pittsburgh’s game against the San Jose Sharks Jan. 15. He faced a whopping 41 shots and saved all but one, leading the Penguins to a 2-1 overtime victory. Although it was an immaculate performance, it still was only one game. Ideally, if the situation calls for it, he’s going to be able to do that again.
Despite having a fairly reliable backup duo, the loss of Jarry is a serious blow to the Penguins organization. He’s been having what can only be described as an amazing year. Seeing him go down this close to the playoffs is beyond demoralizing. However, the team should have faith in both DeSmith and Domingue to hold down the fort while Jarry is on the mend.
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