Casey DeSmith didn't have any excuses for the lone goal he let get past him in the Penguins' 5-1 win over the Flyers at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
It was as soft as soft gets.
Flyers' fourth-line forward Kieffer Bellows carried the puck into the Penguins' end midway through the first period, then unleashed a harmless-looking wrister from well above the top of the right circle. He just missed what should have been an easy save:
"That was a horrible goal I let in," DeSmith said of the goal with a little chuckle. "One of the worst I've let in in this league, probably. Would've loved to get it back."
DeSmith couldn't go back in time and get that one back, but he sure as heck made up for it with the play that followed -- including one of his best saves of the year.
That softie to Bellows would be the only goal DeSmith let in all night. He stopped the next 25 shots he faced to finish with 31 saves on the 32 shots he faced that night.
DeSmith was asked if it's maybe easier to get "dialed in" to the game after letting in a goal like that.
"No," he said before pausing. "It's harder."
The goal was as bad as his third-period stick-save on Flyers first-line winger Owen Tippett was good:
"It hit something in front, that was just pure reaction trying to get something over there," DeSmith said. "Got a little bit lucky, right place at the right time."
We don't often see this type of in-game turnaround from DeSmith. A lot of his starts are either the type of game where he stands on his head with 30-plus saves, or games where it's pretty clear from the start that he doesn't have it that night. There's been very little middle ground, though he's leveled off somewhat as the season as progressed. But the word Mike Sullivan used earlier this season to describe DeSmith's overall play was "volatile" for a reason.
A couple months ago, that first goal from Bellows would probably have been a sign of more things to come. But it wasn't this time, and that's an encouraging sign -- even if the opponent was this awful Flyers team.
"I was just happy that I could answer and play the rest of the game solid," DeSmith said of his recovery from the Bellows goal. "Obviously, the team picked me up there and I thought we played a heck of a game. It's a big two points."
