COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It comes as no surprise that the Penguins have found themselves battling for standings points beyond regulation time in the absence of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, among others, but they've managed to come away with a victory in just one of five such contests to this point of the season.
After Jeff Carter powered the Penguins back from a two-goal deficit against Chicago on Tuesday night, they found themselves in a shootout for the second consecutive game and for the third time this season.
It didn't turn out in their favor, dropping them to 0-3 in the skills competition.
The reality is that they've been a handful of shootout saves and a late-game penalty shot save away from having at least a few more points in the standings, but every team could spin themselves in circles anecdotally describing their close but no cigar moments throughout the season.
Tristan Jarry, who was between the pipes for all three shootout losses, now has a career 3-5 record in the shootout, and has stopped just 17 of the 30 attempts against him. He has turned aside two of four career penalty shots against.
Of 126 NHL goaltenders to appear in at least eight shootouts since the format was introduced in the 2005-06 season, Jarry ranks 116th with a .567 save percentage:
NHL.com
After Wednesday's practice, Jarry acknowledged he needs to be better, but what exactly is it that has led to his poor shootout results to this point?
TOO DEEP IN THE CREASE
Over Jarry's first few NHL seasons, his biggest flaw by far was the tendency to play too deep in the crease. Many of his goals against stemmed from a failure to come to the top of the blue paint and take the net away from shooters.
He has since improved on this during five-on-five play, but it does creep back into his game from time to time.
As for the shootout, well, I'd say that issue has consumed him.
Take a look Alex Debrincat taking advantage of this:
Debrincat came in with speed, and though Jarry initially came out to cut the angle down, he sank back toward the net too soon as Debrincat accelerated toward the middle.
Jarry presumably sank back because he thought Debrincat would try and score in tight on a deke rather than a wrist shot, but in doing so he exposed the top of the net, leaving plenty of room for Debrincat to bury it upstairs.
If Jarry had stood his ground and took away more of the net, he should have been able to make a glove save or even force a miss from Debrincat.
Jonathan Toews took advantage of this in the same shootout:
Toews came in hot as well, and by the time he approached the net, Jarry had already sank halfway back in his crease.
On top of that, Jarry had dropped his blocker hand far too low. This caused his stick to be angled at an odd position, ultimately leaving his five-hole wide open when Toews moved the puck to the backhand and slipped it home.
If you haven't picked up on it, this especially tends to be an issue when Jarry is attacked with speed:
Alexander Radulov came right down the pipe and wasn't pressed by Jarry in the slightest. He made a sick move to score, but it was made possible by the amount of net Jarry surrendered by sinking into his crease much earlier than he should have.
Jarry should be going out and challenging shooters, but instead he's letting them pick him apart:
By the time Kevin Fiala reached the heart of the slot, not only had Jarry slipped too deep, he had nearly dropped into butterfly position before the puck ever left Fiala's stick.
There's no denying the beautiful shot by Fiala, but again, this was a result of Jarry leaving far too much net to shoot at.
There were a couple of attempts where Jarry properly challenged the shooter, but he failed to read the move and was subsequently dangled out of his goalie gear, evidenced by Joe Pavelski:
Jarry completely sold out for a wrist shot, leaving himself flat-footed as Pavelski worked the puck to his backhand and hit the twine.
Jesper Bratt scored in very similar fashion on the lone penalty shot Jarry has faced this season:
Just like Pavelski's successful attempt, Jarry came out to challenge further than usual, but sold out for the wrist shot from the slot and wasn't able to recover as Bratt's filthy mitts were on full display.
I find it interesting that Jarry has had trouble reading what shooters are going to do, mainly because he has been solid on breakaways during normal game action this season.
Combine that with his tendency to sink backward in the crease too early, or even too quickly as shooters approach the slot, it's abundantly clear why shooters are having so much success in shootout or penalty shot situations.
The cold, hard truth that Penguins fans will have to live with is that they are stuck with Jarry in the shootout, for better or worse.
Even if backup netminder Casey DeSmith is better suited for shootout duty, you simply can't bring him in for a breakaway contest after spending two and a half hours chewing gum on the bench.
The good news is that there are no shootouts in the playoffs. On the other hand, shootouts might end up being the difference between a team making the dance or not.
I've been very candid about this portion of Jarry's game, but it shouldn't detract from his strong performance in non-shootout situations this season.
He hasn't been lighting the world on fire, but Jarry has posted a respectable 1.1 goals saved above expected through nine games, per Evolving-Hockey.com.
That mark puts him outside the top 10 of league starters, but the Penguins don't need him to be Andrei Vasilevskiy or Connor Hellebuyck (assuming they ever find some semblance of health).
It's not a secret that Jarry was the sole reason for the Penguins' first-round departure against New York this past spring, but if he can continue to simply stop what's expected of him, it would provide the Penguins with the stability to not only get back to the playoffs, but potentially make some noise.
