After his 5-game winning streak was snapped in Tuesday's 3-1 loss to Boston, Tristan Jarry will try to bounce back tonight in Washington – on his 26th birthday.
A quick check of the record books shows that this will make Jarry's first game on his birthday, at least as a professional.
That's not terribly surprising since April 29 is typically playoff time and a year ago there were no April games and Jarry's Wilkes-Barre teams were either eliminated by this date or didn't qualify for the post-season.
With the Pens trying to overtake the first-place Capitals, Jarry will have a chance to do something special on his birthday.
Another quick check of the records shows that Jarry's coach was born on February 27th which is smack dab in the middle of hockey seasons. So it made me wonder if Mike Sullivan had any memorable moments over the course of his 11-year NHL career.
"It's been a while since I asked you and off the wall question, so here we go," 93.7 The Fan's Jim Colony asked while a smirk developed on Sullivan's face. "Tonight is Tristan's birthday or today is his birthday, the whole day, did you ever do anything have any memorable events, have any big games or anything like that on any of your birthdays?"
Sadly, the answer is no. "I can't recall anything off the top of my head that I've been a part of (on) my birthday," Sullivan says.
Flipping through Sully's page at https://www.hockey-reference.com/ backs that up. He only played 3 NHL games on February 27th and was held off the score sheet in each.
On his 25th birthday, was a minus-2 for San Jose in a 5-4 loss to Calgary and also committed a penalty, although the Flames failed to convert on that power play. When he turned 32, he had zeroes across the board for Phoenix in a 2-1loss to Vancouver. Finally, he celebrated his 33rd birthday in his hometown of Boston, but was a minus-1 as the Coyotes lost to the Bruins, 7-4.
Sullivan did win a couple of games on his birthday while playing at Boston University. The box scores are not readily available but apparently, based on his recollection, there were no hat tricks or game-winners.
I'm sure Sullivan will settle for a memorable outing from Jarry tonight in DC.
