With his 39-save shutout Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes, Casey DeSmith climbed into the NHL’s top five in both save percentage and goals against average.
“As the backup, that’s my job, just to show up when I get the chance,” he said Monday. “I think so far I’ve given the team a chance to win when I’ve played. And I take pride in that.”
While Mike Sullivan — as is usually the case — would not say Monday whether DeSmith will get a third straight start Wednesday when the Penguins visit the New Jerseys Devils, it is hard to imagine the coach sitting down one of the hottest goalies in the league.
But Sullivan, while candidly addressing the recent struggles of Matt Murray, calmly but passionately said the Penguins still believe in the 24-year-old who backstopped them to two Stanley Cups, and said they are helping Murray rediscover his confidence and his game.
“When you think about pro sports, it's a hard business,” he said after an afternoon practice. “Every player goes through ups and downs. And Matt is no different than any other player that’s come before him and will come after him. It’s about how you handle those ebbs and flows throughout the course of your career that helps you to have success.
“And I think Matt’s mental toughness and the experience [of winning two Cups], he can certainly draw on them in helping him get to where we all know he's capable of being.”
Sullivan is in a delicate situation.
The Penguins, who snapped a five-game losing streak with DeSmith’s shutout the other night, haven’t exactly played well in front of Murray. And while his talented squad has made the playoffs 12 seasons in a row, Sullivan hasn’t taken these early-season games for granted and thus couldn’t afford to keep letting Murray try to play through his struggles.
Plus, it would be difficult for Sullivan to continue to preach accountability if he parked DeSmith and his .942 save percentage and 1.89 goals against average on the bench.
So, at the risk of further rattling his young franchise goalie, he gave the last two starts to DeSmith and told Murray, who has a 3.87 goals against average and an .886 save percentage, to focus on practice work with goalie coach Mike Buckley.
The hope is that Murray, who declined an interview request before ducking out of the locker room Monday, will clean up some aspects of his game and regain his resolve.
“This by no means diminishes our faith and our trust in Matt Murray,” Sullivan said. “We know he’s a real good goalie. He’s an accomplished goalie. I think sometimes we forget how young he is because he’s as accomplished as he is. So we’re going to work with Matt and help him through this process. It’s no different than any other player.”
Message received?
The Penguins have gone 3-for-24 on the power play over their past seven games, which last week led to Sullivan splitting his top power-play unit into two groups. That meant that Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel started the majority of their power plays on the bench.
It looks like Sullivan might be getting the band back together, though.
During Monday’s practice, the top power-play unit was Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Patric Hornqvist and Kris Letang. That quintet clicked during the first eight games of this season and has a history of success over the past few years.
So, what was the biggest takeaway from Sullivan shaking up that group?
“It’s a privilege to play on the power play. It’s not something that’s just given to you,” Crosby said. “Our group has been together for a long time. And I think it’s a way of the coach giving a subtle message that if you want to be together, you’ve got to work together as a unit.”
Brassard injury update
Derick Brassard did not practice with the team Monday. But Sullivan said that the forward, who has missed the last seven games with a lower-body injury, is nearing a return.
“Derick skated this morning again, so he’s had a number of skates now on his own with Ty [Hennes, skating and skills development coach],” Sullivan said. “And he’s making significant progress. The next step is obviously joining the team. I don’t think that’s far away.”
‘No secrets out there’
The Penguins are looking forward to getting another crack at the Devils on Tuesday, eight days after they were dominated by the Devils in a 5-1 loss at PPG Paints Arena.
“It wasn’t one of our better games, so it is hard to assess,” Sullivan said of that loss. “But what I will tell you is that we know the type of game that we’re in for. New Jersey always plays us hard. They’ve got a combination of skill and grit. They bring a lot of speed to their game. They play a straight-ahead game. There’s no secrets out there.”
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: November 12, 2018, 7:51 p.m.
Updated: November 12, 2018, 8:04 p.m.