Penguins/St. Louis Recap: Jarry red hot against the Blues

Tristan Jarry makes 33 saves, Pens win third straight game

Pregame

Tristan Jarry is in the net for the third straight game. The Penguins flip some bottom-six forwards around but they’re all over the place for utilization in games anyways.

First period

Pittsburgh scores on the first shot of the game and it’s….Ryan Graves?!? Anything can happen in the last month of the season. Graves’ point shot gets through the traffic and Jordan Binnington can’t catch up to it, which makes for the defender’s first goal in the 2024-25 season.

That’s all the scoring for the period, St. Louis gets more of the territorial play and can prove it with a 16-5 shot advantage. But they can’t beat the suddenly Vezina-worthy Jarry, who is playing a confident and excellent game.

Yep, this period the Pens’ best/most notable players were Jarry and Graves. That has to be a first.

Second period

Graves scored 2:17 into the first period and the Pens ran it back by having another defender score 2:20 into the second period. This time it was Conor Timmons, also recording his first goal as a Penguin this season. It’s only his third game though. Timmons pulls the puck off the wall, shows some good patience when realizing he’s got enough time to pick a spot and let ‘er rip and does exactly that. 2-0 Pens.

The Jarry show continues with several more great saves but then the Pens take the first penalty of the evening and the Blues are able to get on the board during the man advantage. It’s Zac Bolduc on a play that starts behind the net and his quick shot finally has a St. Louis player get something past Jarry on their 24th shot.

Pittsburgh keeps at it and the other new Con(n)or from the Toronto trade gets his name on the board too. This time it’s Connor Dewar translating some good old fashioned hard work into his first as a Penguin. Nothing fancy, just go to the net and keep your stick on the ice, and Blake Lizotte makes a great play on the setup.

Jarry makes another great stop late in the period and Kris Letang cross-checks a guy in front of the net too hard trying to help out, giving STL the second power play of the game.

Shots overall are 28-17 STL. Moneypuck has expected goals at 3.06 – 1.02 STL but the real score is reversed to show Pittsburgh up 3-1. When hot goaltending meets opportunistic finishing it’s a beautiful thing that’s been seldom seen for the Pens this season.

Third period

The early goals in the period continue, the Blues claw back within one goal on the carryover time of the power play. Dylan Holloway blasts one from the right side. 3-2 game and there’s still 18:34 to play.

The Penguins get their two-goal cushion back and chase Binnington from the game. Bryan Rust gets a redirect off Rickard Rakell’s shot from the slot and it’s a 4-2 Pittsburgh lead. They go back and forth on the official goal call between Rust and Rakell but either way it’s a goal.

Backup Joel Hofer is in the net.

The game is wide open now, St. Louis strikes on the rush. Alexei Torpochenko gets a head of steam and carries the puck all the way up the ice. The Pens’ defense waves at him as he drives to the net and deftly shoots back against the grain to handcuff Jarry. 4-3 game, 11:04 to go.

The Blues pull the goalie with 2:30 to play. STL puts a push on but can’t find a tying goal. Rakell finds a goal that he definitely scores this time into the empty net with six seconds left. 5-3 win.

Some thoughts

• The Pens might have found something with their current third line. And given that the team has scored only Goals/60 with Noel Acciari on the ice (fifth worst in the NHL for forwards playing 300+ minutes this season), we know it’s not him. Dewar and Blake Lizotte might be a nice little combination to build on. Dewar didn’t get an assist on the Pens’ first goal but his wall play helped contribute to the sequence. Lizotte had two assists on the night. Bottom line players get hot for a bit then fade away, so let’s not get too crazy beyond acknowledging a very nice game for them, nice to see a little chemistry being built between mid-20’s players who conceivably could form part of a fourth line next season.
• NHL goaltending continues to be the wildest and weirdest phenomenon. To make matters more strange, Jarry wasn’t even excelling in his second and most recent stint in the AHL in Jan/Feb (he was very strong the first time in the minors in Oct/Nov). So to see him come back up without any narrative of being “fixed” or demonstrable evidence that he sorted through his rough patch of NHL play and then dominate these past few games is, well what can you say? It’s been one inexplicable turn of events after another with him this season, with each twist in the road becoming more surprising as the journey has gone along. Where does that lead from here? Who the hell can say with any real conviction. It can’t be bad that he’s re-found his game, aside from the obvious and appropriate question to wonder just how long the lightning in the bottle will retain its spark.
• The goal Timmons scored tonight was very similar (transposed to the opposite side of the ice) to the goal he scored just 11 days ago in PPG Paints Arena, albeit back then as a member of the Maple Leafs. Timmons only has three total goals all season between the two teams. No substance to this thought just a fun coincidence on the timing and style of both goals. Surely the Pens won’t be mad if he can continue to score a goal per week at PPG Paints going forward.
• Nice touch by John Kelly the STL television play-by-play broadcaster to give an homage to Mike Lange. Kelly added the classic “buy Sam a drink and get his dog one too” line to his call of the Holloway goal.
• Don’t say it, don’t say it, don’t say it: the Pens are six points out of the final playoff spot at the final buzzer of their game. Of course, they’re also behind seven teams and have played more games than all of them which means six points might as well be 60. They won’t make the playoffs this year but a three-game winning streak has them starting to point up from the absolute depths of the league and gives the home fans something to cheer about. Sure beats where they were at a couple of weeks ago (and still could end up when this momentum runs out).

The Pens keep it moving and host the Devils on Saturday afternoon, can they continue the hot run down the stretch?