Latest Pens Buzz: Penguins not afraid to make Goaltending Situation Uncomfortable

Pittsburgh avoided a second straight 1-3 start to the season with a 6-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens Monday Night. This one looked headed in the wrong direction before a great individual goal from Lars Eller late in the second period that opened the flood gates. Was Tristan Jarry’s 24 save performance a step in the right direction?

That’s up for debate.

“I thought he got better as the game went on, for sure. I thought he made some big saves down the stretch,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said.

For the first half of the game, it was a concerning outing for Jarry. After Pittsburgh jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a Rickard Rakell goal @16:49 of the first, Pittsburgh’s two goal lead was surprise, surprise wiped out as Jarry allowed a goal on the next shot he faced (18:16 of 1st period) and following the Rakell goal, overall Jarry allowed 3 goals on the next 10 shots he faced as Pittsburgh fell behind 3-2 with 5:34 remaining in the second period.

Jarry was not sharp in camp, multiple team sources have alluded too, and even dating back to the preseason the coaches are said to be concerned To read this insider news, subscribe to get “Inside Access”!

Rumblings around the team in the past 48 hours is [hide] the coaching staff is not concerned about making Jarry uncomfortable moving forward and they feel Joel Blomqvist right now gives them [hide] the best chance to win. There is a belief Mike Sullivan in particular has pushed for Blomqvist to remain with the team for the next two home games but what’s problematic is just a #’s situation as it’s believed Alex Nedeljkovic is expected to be cleared this week. [/hide]

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DePaoli’s Players’ Buzz

–Possession #’s are not the end all be all, especially for a team that doesn’t have gifted goal scorers and are inconsistent with a net-front game. But, four straight games of driving possession well are another sign of a belief the bottom-6 is not the anchor it was last season.

— Jesse Puljujarvi brings a needed combination of heaviness along the wall with some quickness to the Penguins bottom-6 and continues to show that in the three games he has dressed. How in the world someone saw him as a top-5 talent with those hands is beyond me but he’s playing with some fire and much improved acceleration in his skating to track pucks.

–Maybe more is less for Kevin Hayes and the Penguins are on to something, but Hayes does a great job of being in the right spots inside 35 ft where there’s intrigue of getting him in some more offensive zone starts and a shift here and there with some higher end talent.

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— Through four games — Very, very promising signs thus far for Rickard Rakell and Erik Karlsson who have to have great seasons for their standards for the Penguins to exceed expectations. —

— Eastern Conference Scout last night on Erik Karlsson: The David Quinn Effect? ‘Both sides have finally figured out how to unleash him [hide] and make it work.’ They’re letting him be the Erik Karlsson I love. Pittsburgh was holding him back [last season] and Erik was overthinking everything. [/hide]

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Top Line Chatter: Bryan Rust 6 Shots on Goal and 8 Attempts in Monday’s win. That’s what you want to see out of him. Anthony Beauvillier/Sidney Crosby continue to be on the positive side of zone possession together, but everything looks a shot slow with Crosby through four games where maybe a tweak to the left winger on the line should be on the table to get Crosby going……….