Tristan Jarry was booed before the game even began Tuesday.
When the Pittsburgh Penguins’ starting lineup was announced over the public address system at PPG Paints Arena, there was a mix of cheers and jeers as Jarry’s name was read.
And on the occasions he played a puck dumped into the end boards behind him during the early stages of play, the boos continued.
By the end of the night, those detractors weren’t without merit as Jarry and the Penguins fell to the Tampa Bay Lightning, 3-2, in overtime. A goal by Lightning forward Brayden Point at 3:58 of overtime was the difference.
For the second consecutive game (and for far too often this season), the Penguins yielded a multi-goal lead in the third period.
“It’s frustrating,” said dejected Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson. “Certainly don’t want to just give in here. But we’ve got to find solutions to what’s going on out there. Everybody knows two-goal leads aren’t easy. We’ve got to be on the right side more than we are right now. They made plays out there, but we kind of gave them too much room to make plays and get momentum that way.”
“I don’t know what to say right now.”
A lot could be said about Jarry, good and bad, who stopped 32 of 35 shots and saw his record slip to 1-2-1.
He was sharp for the bulk of the contest, and it could be argued he enjoyed his best game of the season (aside from the five games he played in the American Hockey League during a recent conditioning assignment).
But allowing three goals in the final stages of the contest — especially a particularly odious one in overtime — is one heck of a counterargument.
“The first period was strong,” Jarry said. “We had a good first period. We were carrying momentum kind of back and forth. Same with the second. They just kind of got the best of us in the third.”
Why have late leads been so difficult for this team to defend this season?
“Because we have to compete harder,” a furious Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said bluntly. “We need more guys to compete harder and pay more attention to detail. And we need to take more pride in playing defense.”
Jarry was tuned in early Tuesday when he denied Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli on a dead-to-rights opportunity off a sharp pass by Lightning forward Nick Paul at 11:34 of the opening frame.
That led to Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi opening the scoring only 29 seconds later with his third goal of the season (and second in as many games).
Keeping a puck inside the offensive zone on the right point, Penguins rookie forward Sam Poulin fed a pass to the opposite point for Pettersson. Waiting, waiting and waiting for a passing lane to open up, Pettersson slipped the puck to the far side of the crease where Puljujarvi shuffled in, leaned down and lifted a forehand re-direction over goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy’s glove on the near side. Pettersson and Poulin had assists. It was Poulin’s first point of the season and the second of his career.
Penguins forward Rickard Rakell registered his seventh goal during a power-play sequence at 13:05 of the second period.
Accepting a pass on the right half-wall of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk moved it down low to the right of the cage where forward Sidney Crosby one-touched a pass through Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman’s skates to real estate just above the upper right hashmark. From there, Rakell pumped a one-timer past Vasilevskiy’s blocker on the far side. Crosby and Grzelcyk garnered assists.
A determined effort by Point resulted in his ninth goal at 5:41 of the third period.
Pushing the puck up the left wing board of the offensive zone, Point surged past Grzelcyk on the end boards, swooped behind the cage and emerged below the right circle where he floated a backhander between the near post and Jarry’s left arm. Defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Darren Raddysh recorded assists.
Cirelli’s fifth goal tied the contest at 12:49 of the third frame.
Claiming a loose puck off the Penguins’ end boards, Cirelli skated toward the right circle and forced a pass toward the slot intended for linemate Brandon Hagel, but the puck hit off Jarry’s stick and deflected into the cage. Assists went to Hedman and Raddysh.
“I think it’s a fluky bounce, to be honest,” Jarry said. “If I don’t stop that from going through the middle, it goes through to the backdoor. That’s something that (the goaltenders are) supposed to do. We’re supposed to block that seam from the backdoor. And I think it’s just fluky the way it goes off my stick and up in the air, and I couldn’t find it.”
There was only one shot by either team in overtime, and it ended up in the Penguins’ cage.
Surging into the offensive zone on the right wing, Lightning rookie forward Conor Geekie slipped a backhand pass to the high slot for Lightning defenseman J.J. Moser. Veering to the left, Moser attempted a shot but lost possession as Crosby shoved him slightly. Jarry reacted aggressively to the shot attempt and slid well out of his crease. As Jarry tried to get reoriented, the puck slid below the goal line to the left of the cage and was claimed by Point, who was able to tuck in a forehand shot on a vacant net. Moser and Geekie had assists.
“(Moser) was about to shoot it,” Jarry said. “He kind of whiffs on it, rolls off his stick to Point. And Point was able to go around me and put it in the net.”
When Jarry returns to the net is a matter of speculation. The Penguins haven’t been hesitant to turn to other options — namely backup Alex Nedeljkovic or rookie Joel Blomqvist — when they’ve felt Jarry isn’t their best option.
Sullivan didn’t exactly offer a hearty endorsement of Jarry following the game.
“He made some good saves throughout the course of the game,” Sullivan said. “I thought there were a couple there off the side of the net that he’d probably like to have back.”
There’s probably a lot of games the Penguins would like to have back as they get deeper into the season. Tuesday’s contest was their 21st of the season. With just over a quarter of the 2024-25 campaign completed, the Penguins are now 7-10-4, a record that equates to 16 points.
Only the woebegone Blue Jackets — who have played three fewer games — trail them in the Metropolitan Division with a 7-9-2 mark and 14 points.
Beyond the standings, where are these flawed Penguins exactly?
“Not where we want to be,” Pettersson said. “We know we’re better than this, what we’ve displayed. Our play over the last little while has been better, so we can take positives from that. But yeah, it’s frustrating.
“I don’t know what to say really. I don’t have a good answer for the blown leads. It’s frustrating for sure.”
Notes:
• Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was scratched for the third consecutive game due to an undisclosed illness. He participated in an optional morning skate in Cranberry.
• Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves and forward Valtteri Puustinen were healthy scratches for the second consecutive contest.
• With Letang absent once again, Penguins forward Bryan Rust replaced him as an alternate captain for the third consecutive game.
• Penguins forward Anthony Beauvillier had a four-game scoring streak come to a halt.
• Rakell (122 points) surpassed Val Fonteyne (121) for 76th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.
• The Penguins’ last overtime loss to the Lightning was a 2-1 defeat at PPG Paints Arena on Feb. 11, 2020. Forward Yanni Gourde scored the winning goal on goaltender Matt Murray.
• Point returned to the lineup after missing the previous four games due to an undisclosed injury.
