Ty Smith said that there's "just this feeling that he's going to get the job done" when it comes to goaltender Dustin Tokarski.
If anyone on this Penguins team knows that, it's Smith, after the amount of time they spent together in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton this season. Tokarski, 33, is the Penguins' No. 3 goaltender, recently recalled from Wilkes-Barre after Tristan Jarry was injured in the Winter Classic. Tokarski is one of the top goaltenders in the AHL this season, with his .926 save percentage and 2.22 goals-against average both ranking in the top five in the league.
It's been Casey DeSmith's net ever since Jarry went down in Boston. But when DeSmith allowed three goals on the first five shots in the first 7:05 of the Penguins' game against the Canucks Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena, Mike Sullivan didn't even hesitate a full second before pointing to Tokarski down at the other end of the bench to let him know that he was taking over.
Those first three goals weren't all on DeSmith -- the team as a whole looked flat to start, and a change in goal can often provide the spark the rest of the team needs. But DeSmith is allowed to make a save, too, and he just didn't have it in this one.
Tokarski was near-perfect in relief, stopping 14 of 15 shots as the Penguins rallied and stormed back for a 5-4 win over the Canucks.
"A little nervous," Tokarski said with a smile on the feeling of getting into his first NHL game since April. "But it was a good nervous, it was fun to get into a game and help out."
Tokarski is in his second stint in the Penguins' organization. He was first in the system during the 2019-20 season on an AHL contract, following over then-Wilkes-Barre head coach Mike Vellucci from the AHL's Charlotte Checkers after the two had won a Calder Cup there the year prior. Tokarski had NHL contract offers at the time, but turned them down in order to sign with the Penguins. The thinking at the time was that with Matt Murray and Jarry in Pittsburgh, and DeSmith in his first year of waivers eligibility, DeSmith would surely be lost to waivers, and then Tokarski would have his AHL contract turned into an NHL one. DeSmith ended up clearing waivers, relegating Tokarski to an AHL backup role that season. In the summer Tokarski got his NHL deal with the Sabres, and he spent two years in Buffalo with a combined 42 NHL games.
With the Penguins needing a new No. 3 goaltender this year, Tokarski came back on the NHL contract he deserved the first time.
Current Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest was an assistant in Wilkes-Barre during Tokarski's first stint. He's noticed a change in Tokarski compared to where he was three seasons ago.
"He's got a great way of preparation," Forrest said back in November. "He just gets so dialed in for these games, mentally. But he seems a little more at ease and relaxed in between, and I mean that in a good way."
Players in Wilkes-Barre this season have spoken about how Tokarski just breeds confidence and calmness throughout the rest of the lineup.
Tokarski didn't have to make too many saves in relief -- the Penguins tightened up in front of him after Sullivan made the change in goal. But he certainly had a few highlight-reel worthy stops.
One was this toe save on Elias Pettersson on a breakaway:
Canucks head coach Bruce Boudreau pointed to that save after the game as a potential turning point.
“They made it 3-1, then Petey has a breakaway," Boudreau said. "If you make it, it’s 4-1. That stops the momentum and I think it kills a little bit."
There was also this toe-save, also on Pettersson:
"That was nuts, honestly," Smith said of Tokarski's performance. "He made big save after big save."
Another one came early in the third period. It wasn't the toughest of saves, but it definitely showed how committed and dialed in Tokarski was. He lost not only his stick, but his glove in a scramble in his crease. Canucks forward Andrei Kuzmenko took a shot through some traffic that ended up going right into Tokarski's chest. But if you look at that ungloved left hand, it's clear that Tokarski was fully prepared to bare-hand that puck if he needed to:
"If it was a helmet it might have been a different story," Tokarski quipped. "But if he hit me in the hand and I made a save, then so be it. It's my job, and I should have had my glove on. If it's not on, then make the save."
Mike Sullivan said Tokarski was "really solid" in his relief appearance.
"He made some big saves," Sullivan said. "I think it had a huge impact on our ability to win the game. It was a great first win for him as a Penguin. I give our team a lot of credit, I'm proud of the group. It's not easy to dig yourself out of a three-goal deficit, especially given the circumstances. We've had a couple of real emotional days from a team standpoint. I couldn't be more proud of this group."
Jarry remains sidelined for the foreseeable future with his lower-body injury. He was back on the ice on his own before Tuesday's morning skate, but he wasn't at the point yet where he was using his body to push off of a post and was mostly just moving about the crease, back-and-forth. Sullivan said that Jarry was considered "day-to-day" at this point, but cautioned that that doesn't mean his return is "imminent."
As long as Jarry is out, the Penguins should ride the hot hand in net. Right now, that's Tokarski's hand, and it should be his net next game.
Hopefully for his sake that hand just remains gloved this time.
