Over his past 21 regular-season games, Tristan Jarry has been on quite a run.
Not that he’s aware of it.
“No idea,” the Pittsburgh Penguins goalie said after practice Monday. “Sorry.”
Fitting, because fans seemingly aren’t aware of Jarry’s stretch of elite regular-season play, either. Or, perhaps more to the point, they don’t care, not in light of last spring’s playoff meltdown.
But if the .888 save percentage and 3.18 goals-against average Jarry put up during a first-round playoff series against the New York Islanders is affecting him, he’s certainly not showing it this season.
Jarry is among the NHL leaders in goals-against average (1.47) and save percentage (.943) through two weeks of the season. The Penguins have earned a point during each of his four starts.
“You guys have seen how ‘Jarrs’ has been playing,” defenseman Mark Friedman said Monday. “The first five games of the year, he’s been quite incredible. We have the most confidence in the world in Jarrs to get the job done. And as you’ve seen, he’s been quite unbelievable.”
That teammates would hold Jarry in such high esteem after last year’s postseason was not assured following an Islanders series in which Jarry made some high-profile gaffes, including an infamous “pass” to New York’s Josh Bailey that directly led to Bailey’s winner during the second overtime of Game 5.
The Penguins lost the series despite significant edges in shots on goal and possession time, and it didn’t take an understanding of advanced metrics to recognize that Jarry getting outplayed by the Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin was a defining factor.
“With what happened in the playoffs, I just wanted to come back and be a better version of myself,” Jarry said Monday. “I wanted to be a better goaltender and a better person, and I think that helped me out coming into camp and then the preseason and then during the season starting out strong.”
Jarry arguably has been the Penguins’ best player through an impressive early-season stretch in which they have been without a who’s who of regulars such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter, Bryan Rust and Kris Letang.
The Penguins made a change with their goaltending coach over the offseason, promoting Andy Chiodo to the role. Though Jarry said Chiodo hasn’t made any mechanical or tactical adjustments to his play, the all-important mental side of the game has been addressed.
“I think it’s just focusing on the puck and having more focus when you’re on the ice and making sure you are taking care of things you can control,” Jarry said of what he and Chiodo have worked on. “It’s been a big help just focusing on what I can control, and working on those key elements, I think it’s helped a lot.”
The postseason showing soured what had been a strong finish to last regular season for Jarry, who was at his best over his final 16 appearances after shaking off a poor first month.
Dating to March 24 and through this season, over his past 21 regular-season appearances (19 starts) Jarry is 16-1-2 with a 2.35 goals-against average and .917 save percentage over that span.
At 5-on-5 this season among goalies who have played at least 120 minutes according to naturalstattrick.com, Jarry has the NHL’s second-best goals-against average (0.86), third-best save percentage (.962) and fifth-best “high-danger” scoring-chance save percentage (.900).
“It’s just trying to get better,” Jarry said. “Every game, I want to be a better goalie.”
Chris Adamski is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chris by email at cadamski@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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October 26, 2021 at 04:34AM
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