PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pens finished their season series winning 6 of 8 against the Islanders, but did lose goalie Tristan Jarry. Casey DeSmith came in to start the second in a 2-1 win over New York.
"Tristan is being evaluated right now for an upper-body injury,” said head coach Mike Sullivan. “I don't really have a lot of details for you at this point. I can't even pinpoint when it happened. It was something the medical staff felt strongly enough to take him out of the game."
“I found out a couple of minutes after we got in there,” DeSmith said of when he was notified during the first intermission. “First time this year I had to go in cold. I got warm real quick there with a flurry at the beginning of the second.”
DeSmith stopped 19 of 20 shots for his ninth win of the season against three losses.
“I thought Casey did a tremendous job coming in,” Sullivan said. “That’s not an easy position to put a goaltender in. I thought Casey did a terrific job for us.”
“That’s not easy,” said forward Jared McCann. “He battles. That’s the best way to describe him. He’s a battler. Even in practice, you see him out there staying late. He’s always ready. He’s a guy we trust a lot. We are very confident in Casey.”
If Jarry does miss a considerable amount of time, DeSmith is confident in himself.
“I’ve been playing well,” DeSmith said. “I think I can step into that role if the team needs it. I look forward to the challenge if that is indeed the case.”
Fewest minutes, yet goal
So how do you know you are going well, when Pens PA announcer Ryan Mill says ‘Anthony Angello power play goal’. Angello got a pass that shouldn’t have gotten through from John Marino behind the net. The 6’5” forward was able to put it off the far pipe for a 1-0 lead. Angello played the least of anyone, 8 minutes, 23 seconds.
Two more defensive assists
Marino with another solid play after getting a pass from Mike Matheson on the blue line 4 on 4. Marino waited patiently and put a pass right on the stick of a streaking Jared McCann for the chip. 2-0 Pens with Marino and Matheson each tallying a pair of assists on the night.
Zucker return
For the first time in over a month, forward Jason Zucker returned. He was back on the second line, this time with McCann and Evan Rodrigues. Zucker had one shot, a couple of hits and was a plus one in 13:04 of ice time.
“I thought for not having played in quite some time, I thought Zuck did a real good job,” Sullivan said. “He kept his game simple. He was on the puck. He had a great, great scoring opportunity in the third period. I don’t know how it didn’t go in the net.”
On an Island
Past playoff struggles seem to be in the distant past as the Pens finished the season series winning 75% of their games against the Islanders.
“We give them a little bit of their own medicine,” DeSmith said. “I think we keep it simple. We play really hard, a real grinder-type game. I thought we did a really good job of capitalizing on scoring chances early. We’ve gotten really good at defending leads.”
“We’re playing a complete game,” McCann said. “We are doing the simple things to win the game. I know it sounds pretty cliché, but we are working as a team. We are getting pucks in when we need to get pucks in. We’re doing all the right things to help each other. We are taking advantage of their mistakes and capitalizing.”
Point in every home stand game
Pens got 9 of a possible 10 points during their home stand, only an opening overtime loss to New Jersey kept them from a perfect five games.
“It’s huge,” Marino said. “We know we are going to be on the road for a little. We wanted to capitalize at home. It gives us a little bit of an advantage. That was huge that we were able to step up and do as well as we did here.”
“I thought it was a great team effort up and down our lineup,” Sullivan said. “I think there is a certain simplicity to our game right now that makes us difficult to play against.”
Up Next
The start of the longest road trip of the season with a game Thursday night in Boston.