TAMPA, Fla. -- "It's pretty neat, honestly," Tristan Jarry would say Thursday night of becoming the Penguins' first goaltender to score a goal, this in the fading minutes of a 4-2 win over the Lightning at Amalie Arena.
He was as even-keel as ever afterward, seemingly unfazed at having accomplished something that had never been done in a 56-season franchise history that encompasses 4,754 games, including Stanley Cup playoffs.
With Tampa Bay goaltender Andrei Vasilevskiy on the bench in favor of the extra attacker, Jarry fired the puck almost the length of the ice into the vacated net:
— DK Pittsburgh Sports (@DKPSmedia) December 1, 2023
The goal gave Jarry a pretty prominent place in the NHL's history books, too. He became the 14th goaltender to score a goal, and his goal was the 17th goalie goal in league history. Important distinction: He's just the ninth goaltender to score a goal by shooting the puck himself, rather than lucking into credit for a goal after an opponent's own-goal.
He had done this previously as a professional goal, having scored Nov. 14, 2018 for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in the AHL, making hime one of only three goaltenders to score in both the NHL and AHL, joining Damian Rhodes (NHL goal in 1999) and Chris Mason (NHL goal in 2006). Unlike Rhodes and Mason, Jarry shot the puck himself for both goals.
"I just think it was the perfect scenario," Jarry said of the sequence. "They dumped it right on net, and I didn't even have to stop it. I just shot it right on the fly and it ended up going in. ... I was able to get it high enough and try not to land it too far closer to us. It was pretty lucky."
Maybe you can attribute the puck coming to Jarry to luck. But that shot was an example of how good Jarry is (and always has been) at handling the puck, and it had a lot of power behind it, too. That puck sailed over the heads of everyone on the ice. (Yes, even Victor Hedman's.) It didn't even land on the ice until it was between the hash marks in the Lightning's end, then it came pretty close to splitting the net dead-center.
Jarry raised a single arm in celebration, and was quickly mobbed by his teammates on the ice, with a joyous Erik Karlsson first on the scene. Alex Nedeljkovic -- who scored in Wilkes-Barre earlier in the month -- was trying from the bench to encourage Jarry to go through the skaters' usual fist-bump line at the bench, but Jarry shook his head, choosing to stay in his crease and ready himself for the final 68 seconds still on the clock.
“Our bench certainly loved it when it happened," Mike Sullivan said of the moment. "They were all fired up. It's something that you don't see that often. Those types of events, they're fun.”
While Jarry downplayed his own accomplishment in his interview session, his teammates weren't so reserved. The energy in the locker room was unlike that of any other regular-season win I can recall covering.
"That's crazy," said Ryan Graves, who was on the ice for the goal and was one of the first players to reach Jarry. "That's hard to do! I have a player's stick and I find that hard to do. It's impressive. It's cool. You don't see that often, and there's a reason for that."
Lars Eller, who was also on the ice, told me what Jarry did was "unbelievable."
"The first in franchise history," Eller noted. "He had a lot of time, just because of the way they executed their breakout. The dump-in went right to him. He was confident to go for it, and I'm glad he got rewarded. It was awesome to see, awesome to experience."
Kris Letang was still shaking his head in amazement while sitting in his stall.
"I was pretty happy for him," Letang told me. "He's one of those goalies that's really good at handling the puck. These guys want to score a goal eventually in their career, so I was really happy for him."
Jeff Carter called the goal "pretty impressive," but added that it wasn't at all surprising to anyone who has practiced with Jarry and seen him take those shots before.
The sentiment from a lot of players was that it was special to share that experience.
"It's cool to be a part of that," Sidney Crosby said. "You know, you see it happen, but I've never seen it live and been a part of it. So I'm really happy for him."
As significant as the goal was, it might not have even been the most impressive thing Jarry did that game.
The Penguins had a disastrous first period. At one point they were being outshot, 17-2, and finished those first 20 minutes down, 17-5. The Lightning capitalized twice, first off a Steven Stamkos deflection and then off a Tanner Jeannot rebound putback on the power play, but the only reason the game wasn't completely out of hand by the first intermission was Jarry.
The Penguins regrouped at the first intermission and flipped the script in the second period. They outshot the Lightning 19-7, and tied the game with Crosby's team-leading 14th goal on a partial break down the left side, and Drew O'Connor's finish of a beautiful pass from Evgeni Malkin on a clean two-on-one.
The Lightning pushed hard in the third period, and equaled the first-period shot totals by again outshooting the Penguins, 17-5. Jarry was perfect down the stretch, and Carter's first goal of the season -- a give-and-go off a three-on-two for the fourth line -- stood to be the game-winner and set the stage for Jarry.
Jon Cooper, Tampa Bay's coach, lamented from the home team's perspective, "Those were the only three odd-man rushes they had all night, and they scored on all three of them.
Jarry finished the night with 39 saves on 41 shots for a .951 save percentage. He stopped 9 of 11 high-danger shots faced, and finished with 1.60 goals saved above expected, given the quality and quantity of shot attempts faced. In such a tight game, those goals saved above expected made him the difference-maker.
So he first stole the game, then sealed it himself.
“He was solid," Crosby said of Jarry's night beyond the goal. "I mean, they had the one tip in there (on the Stamkos goal), and then the other one was some traffic (on the Jeannot goal). He had to battle rebounds and traffic all night. To keep it at two and give us a chance to get our feet under us and get back in it was really important. He shut the door the rest of the way.”
The win was the continuation of an overall strong season for Jarry. His .919 save percentage ranks sixth among goaltenders with at least 10 games played, and his 2.45 goals-against average ranks sixth in the same group. His three shutouts lead the entire league, and that's not including the fourth team shutout the Penguins got in Anaheim, Calif. that Jarry left late in the second period of due to injury. Jarry's 7.33 goals saved above average ranks fifth among all goaltenders.
"I think just being able to put a good game forward and just consistently do it," Jarry said of his feeling of his performance in this win. "I think just being able to do it night in and night out, just being able to get a couple of games consecutively, it just builds my game. Every game gets better."
Sullivan said that over the course of the season, there are moments that can "galvanize" a team. He thinks that Jarry's goal could be one of them, and something that could help bring the team together moving forward.
"You know, we're trying to build a team here," Sullivan said. "We've got a lot of new guys on the team this year. We're trying to come together as a group as quickly as we can. Those types of moments, sometimes they help."
Jarry's historic goal will certainly be something he and his teammates remember for a long time. It could be that galvanizing force that helps the team come together, like Sullivan suggested. But what will help the team even more going forward is more of what Jarry did in the first 59 minutes of the game -- playing like the All-Star goaltender he's capable of being, bailing out his teammates and stealing them some wins down the stretch.
Jarry would much rather make the big saves than score the goals, anyway.
"It's something that doesn't happen very often," he said of scoring. "There's very few that have done it, so it's something that's definitely pretty cool. But honestly, the win means more."
GETTY
Erik Karlsson congratulates Tristan Jarry after his goal Thursday night in Tampa, Fla.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at Amalie Arena:
1. Tristan Jarry, Penguins G
2. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
3. Steven Stamkos, Lightning LW
THE INJURIES
• Defenseman Chad Ruhwedel is week-to-week with a lower-body injury sustained Nov. 19. He's on injured reserve.
• Forward Rickard Rakell is out "longer-term" with an upper-body injury sustained Nov. 19. He's on long-term injured reserve.
• Defenseman P.O Joseph is on injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He last played on Nov 4. He took part in the Penguins' practice on Wednesday in a full capacity, but he is not yet cleared to play.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Reilly Smith - Evgeni Malkin - Drew O'Connor
Jansen Harkins - Lars Eller - Radim Zohorna
Matt Nieto - Noel Acciari - Jeff Carter
Ryan Graves - Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson - Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea - John Ludvig
And for Jon Cooper's Lightning:
Steven Stamkos - Brayden Point - Nikita Kucherov
Brandon Hagel - Anthony Cirelli - Michael Eyssimont
Tanner Jeannot - Nick Paul - Alex Barre-Boulet
Cole Koepke - Luke Glendening - Tyler Motte
Victor Hedman - Nick Perbix
Mikhail Sergachev - Erik Cernak
Calvin de Haan - Darren Raddysh
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins flew back home after the game. They have a scheduled day off on Friday. They'll be back to work Saturday at home for a 7:08 p.m. game against the Flyers.
THE CONTENT
Bookmark our Penguins Feed for much more on this game and all the latest on the team around the clock.
