The Pittsburgh Penguins will need to wait a little longer for their starting goaltender.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told reporters on Wednesday that Tristan Jarry will be out with an upper-body injury until after the 2023 NHL All-Star Game, set to take place in Florida Feb 3-4.
This is the second injury in a month for Jarry, who was set to play Tuesday night against Florida before the team elected to go with Casey DeSmith instead. Jarry has four losses in his past five starts but has been excellent otherwise with a 16-5-5 record and a .921 save percentage. Jarry has been one of the busier goaltenders this year, facing the third most shots per game at 35.3.
Dustin Tokarski was recalled in a corresponding move Wednesday to fill in for Jarry. Tokarski has played two games for the Penguins this month, winning his first game against Vancouver.
The onus is back on DeSmith to help carry some of the load in the coming games. He has struggled with a 6-9-3 record but has shown flashes of brilliance. The Penguins play Washington on Thursday before playing one last game against San Jose on Saturday. They will resume play Feb. 7 after the All-Star Game weekend, in which Jarry could be made available again.
Hopefully, this isn’t a recurring issue for Jarry. Jarry missed time with an upper-body injury earlier this month, so this one is different. He suffered a lower-body injury last April that kept him out of playoff action, only to lose DeSmith in overtime of Game 1 of the first-round series against the New York Rangers. Louis Domingue was forced to steal the crease, with the Penguins ultimately losing out to the Rangers.
The Penguins sit fourth in the Metropolitan Division and should factor in to the wild-card race, assuming the team can remain healthy down the line.
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