Jarry Robs Calgary for Point, Penguins Lose to Flames in Shootout, 2-1

Tristan Jarry glared at Mathew Tkachuk after Tkachuk tried to go five-hole in the shootout. The Pittsburgh Penguins goalie robbed the Calgary Flames of one point by stopping 29 of 30 shots in regulation and two more in overtime. Calgary won a seven-round shootout and the game 2-1 as the Penguins scored only once on the shootout Monday night at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Calgary smothered the Penguins for most of 60 minutes but notched just one goal.

“I just didn’t think as a team we were very good tonight,” a dour Mike Sullivan said.

The Penguins got a rare power-play goal to force OT and get a point for the Pittsburgh Penguins (10-7-5). Despite being outchanced by a near 3-1 margin (32-12) and seemingly on the wrong end of the puck for most of the game, Jarry was again brilliant and helped the Penguins push the Flames (13-4-5) to overtime, and further to the shootout.

Jake Guentzel (9) scored the power-play goal later in the third period to create a 1-1 tie, which Jarry preserved. Jarry made a few more sparklers late in the game and gloved a point-blank chance by Johnny Gaudreau in overtime.

Guentzel hit the crossbar in the shootout. Letang scored, but that’s all the Penguins got. Mikael Backlund scored in the seventh round for the Calgary win.

Kris Letang led the Penguins with four shots in regulation, as the Penguins managed just 21 shots in the first 60 minutes. Calgary had 30 shots but had 32 scoring chances in regulation. The Penguins had just 12 scoring chances, according to NaturalStatTrick.com, but Jarry was their saving grace.

Flames netminder Jacob Markstrom was not often challenged and stopped 20 of 21 in the first 60.

Jarry set an unbeatable tone in the first period. The NHL’s second star of the week, who stopped 91 of the previous 93 shots, had to make more than a handful of difficult saves. Jarry robbed Mathew Tkachuk in the first 10 minutes.

Jarry took a rebound attempt away from Tkachuk with a reaching blocker save early in the third period, too.

Calgary had only 10 shots in the first period, but traded quality for quantity. Calgary also had 10 scoring chances in the first period, but Jarry kept the game scoreless. The Penguins rallied in the latter minutes of the first period to close the shot gap to 10-8.

However, Calgary similarly controlled the second period, too. Not even Evan Rodrigues had more than one shot on goal through 40 minutes. Calgary scored the first goal of the game, which seemed to count for three.

Oliver Kylington’s spotted Milan Lucic a long stretch pass to the red line. The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Lucic spun away Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel at center ice to create a two-on-one. Trevor Lewis fell into Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson, which cleared a path as Lucic (6) blistered a wrister from the left-wing circle through Jarry’s five-hole.

Calgary did an outstanding job of staying between the Penguins and the net. Or between the Penguins and the puck. Or generally between the Pittsburgh Penguins and anything they wanted. The Penguins had only 15 shots through 40 minutes.

Dominik Simon had the best chances in the second period. He earned a deflection from the crease and slipped behind the defensemen for a tight angle breakaway. Simon left the game later in the third period after being hit by a slapshot in the head area.

Calgary limited Sidney Crosby to zero shots, but Crosby’s third period feistiness added a little energy to a waning Penguins lineup.