PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Out nearly a month with an upper-body injury, Pens are getting goalie Tristan Jarry back tonight. It's a pivotal game against the New York Islanders, who sit just one point behind them.
"The return to play plan that was put in place was really sound," said Pens head coach Mike Sullivan as Jarry has been out since January 22. "They ramped it up to get it more game-like as his sessions went on. His most recent ones he was dealing with a lot of traffic and things of that nature that he's going to be forced to deal with in a game and he's handled it extremely well."
"His conditioning. His timing. His ability to track the puck, all of that gets better with each session that he has. Everyone feels strongly that he's in a position right now where he can help us."
Jarry is 17th in the NHL in wins with 16 in just 27 games. The 27-year-old's save percentage is sixth at .921 and his goals against average is 2.65, 15th in the NHL.
"He plays the puck extremely well," Sullivan said. "He helps us get out of our end. He helps us beat pressure with that strength. When he's been in the net this year, he's been really solid for us. We are anxious to get him back in the net. He's feeling good, feeling strong. We are excited to get him back."
Line Combinations
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn-Jeff Carter-Kasperi Kapanen
Drew O'Connor-Teddy Blueger-Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson-Jeff Petry
PO Joseph-Chad Ruhwedel
Blueprint
Even without getting the result they ultimately wanted against the Islanders in the 5-4 loss on Friday, most believe it's the style of play the team must play going forward.
"I think that's what we have to believe in and that's what's discouraging sometimes is we play that way and don't get the win," said Pens defenseman Brian Dumoulin. "You start second-guessing yourself and the team and what we are doing. We got to realize if we can play that way, we can get the results."
"We've talked about it in here," said Pens defenseman Jeff Petry. "If we put that effort on the ice, game-in and game-out, we are going to win a lot more than we lose. That was a tough one to swallow in New York."
"I thought we had a lot of pressure in the O-zone," Dumoulin said. "I thought our breakouts were really, really good against them which led to us being in and out of our zone. If we bring that same effort going forward there will be different results for us."
"We were playing on our toes and had a lot of shots on net, generated a lot of traffic," said Pens captain Sidney Crosby noting a good chunk of the game is how they want to play. "You try to learn from that and make sure we do the same thing tonight."
"From the start of the game, we were sharp," Petry said. "That was the most complete game we've played in a long time. We knew we were going to have to work for our offense, but we couldn't let our defensive game slip to create offense. I thought that was our most complete game and probably deserved better in that one."
Big Picture
Tied with the Islanders for the top Wild Card spot, the Pens are a point ahead of both Washington and Florida with Buffalo and Detroit just three points back.
"I think they are all big," Crosby said. "There are a bunch of teams fighting for a couple of spots right now.
Every point is important, especially with a divisional game."
