Tristan Jarry has been hot lately.
He extended his personal win streak to seven games and his personal game point streak to 13 games (11-0-2) with the Penguins' 3-2 win over the Rangers at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night, a game in which he stopped 26 of 28 shots.
There have only been three such point streaks in franchise history that were any longer: Tom Barrasso went 15 games in the 1992-93 season with earning the team a point, and Marc Andre-Fleury went 14 games in both 2006-07 and 2010-11.
Jarry's run is part of an overall pretty strong season that has seen him post a 15-3 record, 2.60 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.
Within those numbers is the start of a pretty interesting trend that might show some growth within one specific part of Jarry's game.
Looking at past seasons, Jarry's just never fared well in games when he's allowed an early goal, with "early" being within the first two minutes of a game for this purpose. That's a pretty rare occurrence, so we're working with small sample sizes. But it's still enough to take some notice.
Before this season Jarry had eight career games in which he allowed a goal in the first two minutes of a game. Five of those games ended with Jarry being yanked before the game was even over. His goals-against average in those games was 5.67.
Those early goals happened twice last season. The first time was on Feb. 17 in Toronto. Auston Matthews scored 21 seconds into the game, and Jarry and the Penguins went on to lose 4-1. The other happened a week later against the Devils -- Jesper Bratt scored 1:16 into the game, and Jarry got pulled in the second period after allowing 5 goals on 19 shots.
When Chris Kreider opened the scoring for the Rangers just 22 seconds into Tuesday's game, it was the fourth time this season alone that Jarry had allowed a goal in the first two minutes of a game, and the third time it had happened in the first minute. That's obviously a trend the Penguins and Jarry would like to avoid, but what's been encouraging is the way that Jarry has been able to respond to those early goals.
The first goal Jarry allowed within the first two minutes this season came back on Nov. 12 in Montreal and was just part of an overall rough game for the Penguins. Josh Anderson scored 1:48 into the game, and Jarry did stay perfect for the rest of the first and second periods, but a third-period push saw the Canadiens score three goals to force overtime before scoring the game-winner. Jarry was hardly at fault that game, though, after the Penguins were outshot 42-24.
The three goals that Jarry allowed in the first minute of a game all happened within the month of December. Johnny Gaudreau scored 60 seconds into a meeting between the Penguins and Blue Jackets on Dec. 6. That was the first shot on goal of the game, and that would be the only goal Jarry allowed all night. He stopped the next 38, and the Penguins won 4-1.
Roope Hintz opened the scoring for the Stars just 19 seconds into the Penguins' game on Dec. 12. That was the second shot Jarry faced that night, but that would again be the only goal Jarry allowed all night. He stopped the next 25, and the Penguins won 2-1.
Kreider's goal Tuesday was the first shot the Rangers registered in the game. Jarry conceded another goal to Kreider midway through the third period, but he was otherwise locked in for the game and didn't seem to be thrown off or rattled by that early goal allowed. He regrouped, recovered, and wasn't affected.
Jarry was asked after Tuesday's game if allowing an early goal like that can get him locked into the game more in a way.
"Yeah," Jarry said. "Obviously, you want to concentrate a little more and try to -- not necessarily get it back, from my standpoint -- but just try and make the next save. I think that's the best thing I can do is make sure I'm engaged and make sure I'm doing everything I can to put myself in a successful spot to continue the game."
Getting into a good place to continue the game was obviously something Jarry would have liked to do when this happened in past seasons, too. It just rarely happened, and Jarry's game would sometimes continue to slide after getting scored on that early into a game.
This season Jarry has been able to remain calm, and that demeanor is contagious.
"He has a calming influence on the group," Mike Sullivan said of Jarry. "He's a real competitive guy. But when he's at his best, he's got a calm demeanor, it's a calming emotion. A lot of that I think is just his hockey intellect, he reads the plays really well. He knows where the threats are, he can anticipate where the puck is going and he gets to his spots. He's seeing it really well right now."
