Has Tristan Jarry helped solve the Penguins backup goaltender dilemma?

Last night, the Pittsburgh Penguins faced off against the Calgary Flames in yet another of their dreaded back-to-back situations that have plagued them so far this season. Luckily, the result was better than the past instances this season. Unlike the games against the Chicago Blackhawks, Tampa Bay Lightning, and Winnipeg Jets, the Penguins actually were competitive in this one.

A game that was scoreless for nearly the whole duration featuring a goal for each team in the 3rd period, it needed to be decided in overtime, and the Penguins came away with a point. The first reaction is probably to assume that the Penguins actually played a good game on the second leg of a road back-to-back, and this is a fair assumption. Midway through the opening period of the game, the Penguins had 15 shots on goal, just couldn’t find the net.

Goaltending in Road Back-to-Back’s

When you look back at the goaltending results in those previous back-to-back situations, it sure isn’t pretty at all.

Penguins @ Chicago Blackhawks — 10/5/2017: 10-1 Loss

Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning, 10/12/2017: 5-4 Loss

Penguins @ Tampa Bay Lightning, 10/21/2017: 7-1 Loss

Penguins @ Winnipeg Jets, 10/29/2017: 7-1 Loss

As you can see from the 4 games above, it just wasn’t good enough. The primary role of a backup goaltender is to be able to rest the starter. It’s one thing for the backup to play a game and not play well, but still give the team a chance. It’s an entirely different thing when the backup goaltender isn’t even capable of giving the starter the whole night off, forcing him to come in and try and stop the bleeding.

Is Tristan Jarry the Answer?

I don’t know. It’s been one meaningful NHL game (after he played Game 82 against the Rangers at the end of the regular season last year), but the kid looked great last night.

He seemed to be well prepared, especially for a lot of the powerful shots from the point through traffic that he was able to kick out with his pad.

He looked comfortable and relaxed and didn’t seem to be chasing the puck or fighting it to make saves.

I’m guessing the Penguins aren’t thrilled about needing to bring him up right now and would rather have him for another season in the AHL like they did with Matt Murray two years ago, but they can’t afford to burn out the starter early in the season because the existing backup couldn’t stop a beach ball.

It’s way too early to even know how the rest of the season or even his next few starts will project, but is last night’s overtime loss enough to have positive hope that the backup goaltender situation might be solved?