COLUMBUS, Ohio — The backup goalie situation has now reached DEFCON 1.
It took only two cannon blasts at Nationwide Arena on Friday night for Penguins coach Mike Sullivan to yank Casey DeSmith. It was the second time this month he had to turn to Tristan Jarry during DeSmith’s start in a back-to-back.
DeSmith’s game has unraveled again and he appears to have lost the confidence of Sullivan. Making matters worse, there is no obvious alternative in the organization right now, not with Louis Domingue spotted on crutches on Thursday.
The Penguins did beat the Columbus Blue Jackets, 5-2. Sidney Crosby had a hat trick plus an assist as they extended their latest winning streak to four games.
But questions about their backup goalie overshadowed the final outcome.
Friday was DeSmith’s first start in 16 days. He allowed only one goal over his two starts in December, giving hope he had rediscovered his form. But he got shelled in his first two starts of 2022, getting pulled in the latter of the two losses.
DeSmith wasn’t supposed to start on Friday. He got in just one practice after he returned from COVID-19. But plans changed after Domingue suffered a fluke injury Thursday, denying him another chance to make a case for the No. 2 gig.
“We put Casey in a tough spot tonight,” Sullivan said. “He’s just coming off COVID. Our intent was to get him a couple of practices to get him more reps. Obviously, when Louis went down in the morning skate, it forced our hand there.”
The Penguins spotted DeSmith a 1-0 lead before he even had to make a save. Brian Dumoulin got the scoring started just 32 seconds into the first period. With an assist on the goal, Kris Letang pushed his career-best point streak to 10 games.
The Blue Jackets would jump ahead after two pucks leaked through DeSmith.
Their first goal came short-handed, after a giveaway by Evgeni Malkin. He lost a race against Gustav Nyquist. Nyquist whiffed on his initial shot but regathered the puck and put it under DeSmith’s arm to score from an improbable angle.
Then Boone Jenner’s shot from in tight sneaked between DeSmith’s left arm and leg pad and just barely trickled over the goal line. The kneeling DeSmith, thinking he had squeezed it, was frozen like his controller had been disconnected.
When the second period began, Jarry stood in the Pittsburgh crease. DeSmith sat on the bench in a baseball cap. A similar scenario unfolded Jan. 5 in the wild comeback win over St. Louis. And once again, Jarry pitched a shutout in relief.
“In the second, they had some good looks,” Crosby said. “He had to make some big saves. That’s not easy to do. He was huge, just kind of settling things down.”
Jarry entered a 2-2 game because Crosby had scored with 31 seconds left in the first period. That made it three straight games with a goal for the captain.
The Penguins pulled away in the third with goals from Mike Matheson and Crosby then Crosby again. He hit an empty net for his first hat trick of 2021-22.
“He’s playing a great game right now,” Dumoulin said of Crosby. “And even before that, when pucks weren’t going in, he was getting a lot of chances and driving play for us. So it’s good to see him get rewarded with a hat trick tonight.”
OK, so what can the Penguins do with DeSmith? Besides turning to prayer or having Ron Hextall hop on the phone to talk trades with rival general managers?
Domingue is on injured reserve, so he is out for at least two more games. He was still being evaluated Friday – probably not a good sign. Plus, zoom out and he has a .889 save percentage in the NHL the past three years. Hardly a sure thing.
Filip Lindberg, an intriguing first-year pro who led UMass to a NCAA championship last spring, is also on the shelf. He hasn’t played since getting hurt Nov. 12.
The only other goalie on an NHL contract is Alex D’Orio, the young righty. But he has underwhelming numbers at both the AHL and ECHL levels this season.
Among the theoretical options on the trade market are Vancouver’s Jaroslav Halak, Semyon Varlamov of the New York Islanders and Dallas’ Anton Khudobin.
The guy in the other net Friday could be up for grabs as well. Joonas Korpisalo made several sparkling saves against the Penguins, shutting down a pair of breakaways during the second period and Crosby’s point-blank one-timer in the third.
Hextall, patient in Philadelphia and throughout his first year in Pittsburgh, won’t do something shortsighted. The Penguins have now won 15 of their last 17 games, so maybe he feels no urgency to act. But something’s got to give eventually.
After stopping just 10 of 12 shots Friday, DeSmith’s save percentage dipped to .886 and his 3.58 goals-against average puts him among the NHL’s worst goalies. He has allowed three or more goals or gotten the hook in seven of nine starts.
As he had at other times this season, Sullivan stuck up for DeSmith after a rough night. He expressed faith, at least publicly, that they can get him back on track.
“Casey has played a lot of really good hockey for us and we know the type of goalie that he is and what he’s capable of,” Sullivan said. “We’re going to work extremely hard to help Casey capture his best game. But I thought he was gaining traction there before the break. And it’s been a little bit of a struggle since.”
The Penguins will be back on the ice Sunday when they host the Winnipeg Jets at PPG Paints Arena at 1 p.m. That’s the first of six straight games at home.
Matt Vensel: mvensel@post-gazette.com and Twitter @mattvensel.
First Published: January 22, 2022, 2:59 a.m.
Updated: January 22, 2022, 4:02 a.m.