Injured goaltender Tristan Jarry returned to the ice before the Penguins' optional skate at PPG Paints Arena this morning.
Jarry, who suffered a broken foot against the Islanders on April 14, was briefly on the ice Friday morning ahead of practice, but he seemed to be out there testing the waters to see how he felt in his skates rather than getting a workout in.
That wasn't the case this morning, as Jarry was in the crease working on his movement and getting more comfortable with his healing foot.
While it's great to see him back out there, don't expect him to suit up for a game in the immediate future.
"I think it's significant that he's on the ice," Mike Sullivan said after the skate. "It always is when a player takes that jump from the rehab process. I'm not gonna speculate on where he goes moving from here, but we're certainly real encouraged with this day that he got on the ice and we'll take it from there."
There's no question that the Penguins have missed Jarry, who had the best regular-season of his career to date, especially after Casey DeSmith went down in Game 1 with an injury that required core muscle surgery.
However, third-string goaltender Louis Domingue has stepped in and performed about as well as you could ask of a journeyman that spent almost the entire season in the AHL. He's rocking a respectable .912 save percentage this postseason and has given up only half a goal more than expected of him based on the quality of shots he has faced.
All things considered, the Penguins will take that all day long.
Still, it would obviously help to have their true No. 1 between the pipes when the man in goal for the opposition is coming off one of the greatest seasons for a goaltender in recent memory.
The Penguins are scheduled to have a day off on Sunday, so Jarry's next opportunity to get back on the ice would be Monday morning.
Assuming he needs at least one more solo session and a couple practices with the team, the earliest we'd likely see Jarry suit up for a game would be a potential Game 6 next Friday night.
That's a best-case scenario. In the event he can't go by then, would the Penguins feel comfortable throwing him into a potential Game 7 for his first game back? That might depend on Domingue's performance in the meantime, but I'm skeptical of that situation playing out.
Regardless of who's in goal for the Penguins, their mindset hasn't changed.
"Everybody in that dressing room believes in each other," Brock McGinn said. "It just comes down to working as a full-unit and going out there and playing our game."
MORE FROM THE SKATE:
• The entire lineup, including Jason Zucker, is a game-time decision for Game 3, per Sullivan.
• Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Carter, Drew O'Connor, Chad Ruhwedel, Mark Friedman, Marcus Pettersson, Nathan Beaulieu and Alex D'Orio were the optional skate participants. All healthy skaters that weren't on the ice today skated yesterday morning.
• Rickard Rakell skated for the second day in a row ahead of the skate. Sullivan dubbed him, along with the rest of the Penguins' injured skaters, as status-quo.
• McGinn told reporters that the Penguins' struggling penalty kill can get back on track with more attention to detail. Through the first two games of the postseason, they have successfully killed just 2 of 5 short-handed situations.
"We just gotta do a better job bearing down and focusing on getting the puck down 200-feet and not give them as much time in-zone," McGinn said.
• The Rangers are a lethal team in transition, but the Penguins have done a good job of limiting those opportunities thus far.
Here's McGinn on how they've been able to do that: "We're doing a good job of putting pucks behind them and putting them in the right spot to give us the opportunity to go get them back. Just not giving them the time to execute a clean breakout and get on those rushes."
• Sullivan was pleased with what he saw from Friedman and O'Connor, who both made their Stanley Cup Playoffs debuts in Game 2.
"They brought what we expect them to bring," Sullivan said. "They're both mobile guys. They can skate. I thought Drew (O'Connor) got in on the forecheck. I thought he was good along the wall. He hits the crossbar on that one play off the rush. He's got a real deceptive shot.
"Frieds (Friedman) is a guy that competes hard ... He's a mobile skater, so he gets back to pucks. He helped us on the breakout. He joined the rush that one time and ended up with a real good chance at the offensive-end."
• There's not a whole lot that goes on at optional skates. Penguins' skills coach Ty Hennes led practice again, and it's clear that these skates are tailored to get the players moving, along with getting them a ton of puck touches.
• According to Mollie Walker of the New York Post, Rangers' injured defenseman Ryan Lindgren is still a game-time decision for Game 3. He did not take part in the Rangers' optional skate this morning.
