LOS ANGELES -- The Penguins need Tristan Jarry back in the crease in a big way. Out with an upper-body injury since Jan. 22, all signs point to the 27-year-old doing just that when the Penguins visit the Sharks Tuesday night at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
It's been a tough go for Jarry since the flip of the calendar, as he's missed 13 of 15 games since leaving the Winter Classic in Boston on Jan. 2 with a lower-body injury. But after consecutive practices with the team in which he didn't appear to be limited, including Monday here at the Toyota Sports Performance Center in Los Angeles, the stars are aligning for Jarry's return on Tuesday.
"I think there's a possibility," Mike Sullivan said after practice Monday when asked if Jarry could return for the team's next matchup. "Right now, his status is day-to-day. When he gets in more of the game-real practices like he did today, it just prepares him that much more. We'll see how he responds, and we'll make decisions accordingly."
All three goalies on the roster (Jarry, Casey DeSmith, Dustin Tokarski) were on the ice for Monday's practice, but it was DeSmith and Tokarski splitting reps at the east end of the rink while Jarry took wave after wave of shots during drills.
Here's 40 seconds of his work:
Sullivan made a bit of an interesting decision to start DeSmith in both games of a back-to-back on Friday and Saturday night. It was the first time a Penguins goalie started both games of a back-to-back since Matt Murray did so during the 2018-19 season. It's hard not to think that decision was at least partially due to a loose plan to start Jarry for the final game of the trip all along.
The Penguins have the maximum of 23 players on their roster, but can activate Jarry from injured reserve by re-assigning Tokarski to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Jarry is 16-5-5 this season with a .921 save percentage, 2.65 goals against average and 9.2 goals saved above expected based on the quality of chances he's faced, per Evolving-Hockey.
MORE FROM PRACTICE
• Jan Rutta (upper-body injury) is eligible to be activated from long-term injured reserve prior to the Penguins' Tuesday night matchup with the Sharks in San Jose, but it appears his return to the lineup will have to wait. The relief from Rutta's $2.75 million cap hit is what is allowing the Penguins to afford to keep Tokarski and two skaters recalled. Tokarski and Drew O'Connor are the only players currently exempt from waivers, so one skater (like Mark Friedman) would have needed to go on waivers on Monday at 2 p.m. in order for Rutta to be activated in time for Tuesday's game. The Penguins didn't put anybody on waivers, meaning Rutta won't be coming off of injured reserve before Tuesday's game.
"He's been out for a little while here," Sullivan said of Rutta. "We're trying to make sure we get him in enough game-real environments to set him up for success when he does come back."
Rutta skated on a fourth defense pairing during line rushes at practice Monday.
• Friedman was the only absence at practice. Again, that's not because he was waived for purpose of re-assignment to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Sullivan said Friedman's being evaluated for an upper-body injury and doesn't anticipate him being available Tuesday night.
• It was a rather fast-paced practice with lots of end-to-end skating and shooting. Doesn't come as much of a surprise after the day off on Sunday.
• The only change to the Penguins' workflow was Chad Ruhwedel sliding back into the right side of the third defense pairing with Friedman absent:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Rickard Rakell
Jason Zucker - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Brock McGinn - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Ryan Poehling - Teddy Blueger - Josh Archibald
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Jeff Petry
P.O Joseph - Chad Ruhwedel
Drew O'Connor - Jan Rutta
• The power-play personnel remained unchanged ...
PP1: Crosby, Guentzel, Rakell, Malkin, Letang
PP2: Carter, Rust, Zucker, Kapanen, Petry
• Danton Heinen's still around, but it's not looking like he's on his way back into the lineup anytime soon. It's been a disappointing season for him after scoring 18 goals in 76 games last season despite averaging the least ice time among regular Penguins skaters. He last played on Jan. 28 against the Sharks, the Penguins' last game before their bye week.
• After practice, Rust said the entire team got together on Sunday to watch the Super Bowl. According to Rust, Guentzel was quite animated throughout the game. Rust suspects he had some money on the line.
• Taylor Haase put together a trade deadline primer on which Penguins might be movable in a potential trade. Mandatory reading.
• Dejan Kovacevic and I are on our way to San Jose for the final leg of the Penguins' three-game road trip. Puck drops against the Sharks Tuesday night at 10:38 p.m. Eastern.
