Penguins
The Penguins Goalie Battle is On, How Murray or Jarry Will Claim the Net
The Pittsburgh Penguins goalie battle is back on, if it ever existed in the first place. It won’t be a popular sentiment but head coaches who take fan desires into account aren’t usually head coaches much longer and there have been a few words which have been conspicuously absent from head coach Mike Sullivan. That could be a giveaway of what comes next with Matt Murray and Tristan Jarry.
Earlier this week, Sullivan declined to say there is an open competition for the net between Jarry and Murray. Even with some prompting and a reminder that he did so last season when Murray struggled and Casey DeSmith filled in well, Sullivan leaned into the microphone and said, “no.”
Even as Jarry started 14 of 16 games and Murray was relegated to just three starts in December.
Instead, Sullivan has insisted the Penguins have two goalies and they will make decisions based on winning the next game. In other words, the hot hand stays in the net.
Saturday night, Matt Murray stopped 26 of 28 shots and was at worst solid, and at best brilliant as he swiped several point-blank chances and Arturi Lehkonen breakaway chances with the game on the line. Murray raised his record to 12-6-4 but still has a lowly .896 save percentage.
“I thought he made big saves at key times for us throughout the course of the game,” Sullivan said of his goalie. “I think Matt’s game is trending the right way.”
Murray’s last start was a 6-4 win over Nashville on Dec. 28. Murray made 44 saves on 48 shots but also allowed a couple of leaky goals. Murray had a stellar third period to preserve the win.
“I think Matt’s game is trending the right way. I think his last couple of starts have been pretty solid,” Sullivan said. “(Saturday) I think was his best, so we’re pretty pleased right now. We’ve got two goalies that are playing really well for us.”
Jarry has been the red-hot hand for the last six weeks. Since the Penguins decided to let Jarry make a start which wasn’t the second of back-to-back games on Nov. 22, he is 11-2-1 and allowed two goals or less in nine of those games. Overall, Jarry leads the NHL in save percentage (.936) and goals against average (1.94).
The Penguins have a packed January schedule with 11 games in 20 days leading to the NHL All-Star break which begins on Jan. 21. The Penguins will follow this packed schedule and the All-Star break with a bye week. They will have 10 days between games.
But their starting goalie on Jan. 31 against Philadelphia, and presumably the goalie on which the Penguins will rely is not yet decided.
Preemptively to the most cynical, Sullivan is not playing favorites with Murray. Sullivan has proven he will choose bench Murray when the goaltender isn’t performing well. Nor does Murray have photos of Sullivan in compromising a position.
Sullivan also knows Murray is the goalie who lifted two Stanley Cups and has matter-of-factly been at his best in high-stakes situations. Sullivan likes Murray’s stoic demeanor and calm play in those situations. He’s consistently cited those attributed over the past four years.
The Penguins coach clearly likes those qualities and believes if Murray is on his game, he adds those dimensions to the team in important situations.
Jarry is a different guy. In Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, he was popular among teammates and is a loose personality. He didn’t dominate the AHL competition on his way to the NHL as Murray did in 2015-16. Had the Penguins not had a salary-cap crunch and if Jarry and DeSmith were both waiver exempt, it seems to be a good guess DeSmith would have been the backup goalie this season.
But a funny thing has happened.
Jarry has not only played well, but he has also raised the bar for Murray to win back his net. Sullivan refused to open the competition or even give Jarry the public nod and that speaks volumes about the next steps.
Jarry cannot possibly maintain a sub-2.00 goals against average or a save percentage close to .940, no matter how well the Penguins are defending in front of him. Those numbers were once reserved for Hall of Fame goalies and have not been achieved in a long time. Jarry’s numbers will rise.
The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a goalie battle, but Sullivan’s words or lack thereof have set the parameters. It is Murray’s net but he must claim it, but Jarry may have it as long as he continues to earn it.
Jarry has shown nothing in his game to cause doubt that he is an NHL goalie. There are some flaws with his lateral movement which have been exploited, but the Penguins superior team defense has kept Jarry safe. And every goalie has flaws. Murray has not yet been able to take advantage of the Penguins stellar defensive efforts but that may change.
The next few weeks will be crucial. Murray will be given a chance to re-establish his position, while Jarry may keep it if he continues to clearly outplay Murray. It may not be a fight on equal ground, but the Penguins goalie battle is on.
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Once again. LOL. The goalie comments and questions to Sullivan have been coming from you and your counterparts. The fans are thrilled that we can have 2 goalies that both are NHL starters. Two to three years with that could easily lead to another cup. Who pushes a starter and a true back up and trading Jarry or Murray. Once again I heard that from the writers not the fans.
You may be happier frequenting fan blogs, instead.
Why would reading fan blogs make me happy? The writers fan the flames of the fans. You are part of the pre and post game interviews. The questions arose there weeks ago. Just don’t dump it on the fans after the questions come from writers and then the writers fan the flame. Like it is only fans that think irrationally.
Plus go back to September and read your own stuff. You were a proponent of DeSmith over Jarry. That would have been a mistake.
Quite the opposite on Jarry/DeSmith. I did explain the thinking in part of the Penguins org, which was DeSmith over Jarry. But as in this moment, I’m pumping the brakes on Jarry before some get too carried away. It’s a tight rope I have to walk as a reporter/analyst…Here’s what I think, Here’s what they think, this could happen, then that will follow type stuff does obfuscate my opinion pieces sometimes.
That is why we are here. This is pretty much a blog. Most of the writings are HEAVY with opinion.
We take a bit of offense to that. It’s true that my opinion pieces often draw the most attention, but statistically, they account for about 20% of our content (I delineate opinion from my analysis pieces, which are another 20%). Hopefully, you read the exclusive Pettersson news story this morning, the interviews such as Shelly’s chat with Kris Letang on Friday and my locker room chats. When the team is on the road and media availability is limited, we are forced to rely more on opinion, though.
I may have somewhat misinterpreted your reply, Dean. However, I will tell you, the goalie debate is not contained to writers but is much more alive in the fanbase. However, the near one-sided nature of the discussion (which is counter to the organization’s view), does create a somewhat muted “debate”
I agree, however I would still argue that the writers jumped on it weeks ago. Fanning any spark from fans. Which I understand is what gets readers.
Here is your goalie article from September. https://pittsburghhockeynow.com/pittsburgh-penguins-trade-difficulties-goalie-market-flooded/ I do read what you write. It seems really biased that DeSmith was the better choice. I actually commented that Jarry was the right choice because of having the capability of being an NHL starter where DeSmith does not. Plus the salary cap issue.
Thanks for digging that up but it does prove what I said earlier. I explained that the parts of the Penguins org had made their choice. It even included the line about Jarry being a cut above, but there was nothing he could do about it (which was true, until the Penguins’ hand was forced…to their benefit).
Murray made several exceptional saves last night but he still gave up two questionable goals. That has been his pattern of giving up soft ones for the past year. I don’t believe that there should be a goalie controversy in Pittsburgh unless Jarry somehow suddenly goes south. At this point he’s proven to be the most stable and reliable goaltender on the team
Without question
Jack, I disagree. Both goals were due to break downs in front of him. I don’t think anyone would consider those as soft goals. The second goal in particular was another brain fart from Letang. Some writers are now questioning wether he is injured. It appears to be a lack of concentration to me.
The second goal squeezed in after an egregious turnover. Not a great goal, but these things happen. And the first goal was a shot right in the slot. Not much you can do about that. I wouldn’t call them soft goals at all.