RALEIGH, N.C. -- At 6 feet tall, Casey DeSmith is among the shortest goaltenders in the entire NHL.
Of the 83 goaltenders to appear in at least one NHL game this season, only three are shorter, and only by an inch -- Predators starter Juuse Saros, Rangers backup Jaroslav Halak, and Blackhawks backup Alex Stalock.
Obviously, it's less than ideal to be undersized when the whole job revolves around filling the net.
It sure seems like the Hurricanes got the message to shoot high on DeSmith in the pre-scout meetings leading up to the Penguins' 2-1 loss Saturday night at PNC Arena. And they were able to exploit that weakness.
It was most evident, perhaps, in the first period when the Hurricanes made a whopping 33 shot attempts, 15 of them making it to the goal, and five others blocked. The other 13 missed the net entirely, often because they were clearly aiming high and their shots went just over the net instead.
Until one didn't.
It was just after the 17-minute mark of the first period, and Brady Skjei beat DeSmith with a shot from the top of the left circle that went high-glove, with DeSmith just barely getting a piece of the puck:
"I definitely would have liked to have that one," DeSmith said. "It hit the top of my glove, bent it in, and it just trickled over. I definitely would have liked to have that one."
No doubt that that's exactly where Skjei was aiming for, after all the Hurricanes' shots in that area leading up to that point.
The Hurricanes' second goal was another result of aiming high, with Jalen Chatfield's shot from the slot going bar-down over DeSmith.
I asked DeSmith afterward if he felt as if the Hurricanes were making a concerted effort to shoot high on him.
"Yeah," he said. "That's the best place to beat any goalie in this league. Guys who have time and space are usually looking to shoot high."
DeSmith had an otherwise strong game, too. Those were the only two goals he let in on 36 shots, a strong response game from him after the tough outing he had in his last start against the Canucks at home earlier this week that ended with him getting yanked after allowing three goals in seven minutes.
"I thought he battled hard," Mike Sullivan said of DeSmith's night. "He gave us a chance to win."
DeSmith was just a few inches shy of being able to give the Penguins a better chance.
