PITTSBURGH – Tristan Jarry entered this season with a lot to prove as the Pittsburgh Penguins starting goalie, and through 33 games played, he’s certainly stepped up. Not only has Jarry looked like a much-improved netminder, but he recently secured the league lead in shutouts.
In a 23-save effort against the Winnipeg Jets, Jarry picked up his sixth shutout of the season, pushing him into sole possession of the stat. Jarry has been jockeying all season with Arizona Coyotes’ Connor Ingram and Vancouver Canucks’ Thatcher Demko for this position.
The Penguins were impressed with his most recent performance and spoke highly of the way he was able to shut down one of the best offenses in the NHL.
“I thought he had a really good game,” Kris Letang said. “In good position on a lot of quality chances. They have a lot of good shooters.”
Heading into the final frame against the Jets, their offense really turned it on with better and easier opportunities, but Jarry was up to the task all night long. He said after the game that everyone in the room knows they aren’t where they want to be in the standings, but he’s doing what he can to stay in the win column.
“We’re not in the position that we want to be,” Jarry said. “We want to be in a playoff position… We need points and every point that we can get helps us.”
Six shutouts in a single season is already a career high for Jarry with quite a few games remaining to grow the number. The last time a Penguins netminder hit that many was Marc-Andre Fleury who picked up 10 in the 2014-15 season.
In 33 games played this season, Jarry has notched a 14-14-4 record with a .916 save percentage and 2.45 goals against average. These sorts of performances weren’t guaranteed from Jarry heading into this season, but he’s certainly bouncing back nicely into one of the best netminder in the NHL.
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