Penguins Skate: Full Attendance; Jarry Starting Goalie

The pendulum is swinging back to Tristan Jarry. The Pittsburgh Penguins No. 1 goaltender will start Thursday night against the Nashville Predators at PPG Paints Arena, coach Mike Sullivan confirmed after the team held a full morning skate with all healthy players in attendance.

Backup Casey DeSmith has started three straight games — one with Jarry out because of injury and two with him as the backup — but DeSmith gave up six goals Tuesday in a 7-4 loss at Detroit. Sullivan had said DeSmith “deserved” the start against the Red Wings, an indication that Jarry could have been healthy enough to start.

Jarry is 21-10-6 with a 2.98 goals-against average and a .908 save percentage, but he has been limited to 40 games by three injuries. DeSmith is 14-16-4 with a 3.20 GAA and .904 save percentage.

The Penguins have eight games remaining and hold the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, meaning a spot in the playoffs is far from guaranteed. Jarry would be the presumed go-to goalie if the team makes the postseason.

Before the rest of the team, three injured defensemen skated.

Jan Rutta and Marcus Pettersson worked out together with assistant Ty Hennes, with Pettersson leaving before Rutta. Dmitry Kulikov also skated briefly, and separately from Rutta and Pettersson, but he was in full gear and took a few shots. Injured forward Nick Bonino, who has at least skated briefly without full gear, did not skate.

The lines and pairings:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust

Jason Zucker-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell

Danton Heinen-Ryan Poehling-Mikael Granlund

Drew O’Connor-Jeff Carter-Josh Archibald

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang

P.O Joseph-Jeff Petry

Mark Friedman-Chad Ruhwedel