Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry 'ready to play,' but Casey DeSmith's status is uncertain

There’s good news and bad news with regards to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ goaltenders.

First, the good news. Starter Tristan Jarry appears to be a sure bet to be in net for Game 1 of his team’s first-round series against the New York Islanders at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.

Jarry missed the regular-season finale, a 1-0 home win against the Buffalo Sabres on May 8, because of an undisclosed injury.

He provided a curt but upbeat assessment of his faculties following practice Friday at PPG Paints Arena.

“I feel good,” Jarry said via video conference. “I feel like I’m ready. I’m ready to go, ready to play.”

As for his backup, the news isn’t necessarily bad. But it’s highly uncertain.

After he departed practice prematurely, coach Mike Sullivan indicated DeSmith was being evaluated for an undisclosed ailment he termed as “lower body.”

It is not known, publicly at least, if DeSmith is laboring with the same lower-body malady that forced him to miss the final three games of the regular season.

Should DeSmith be forced to miss any time going into the postseason, Sullivan professed full confidence in reserve goaltender Maxime Lagace to fill DeSmith’s role.

With DeSmith and Jarry unavailable in the regular-season finale, Lagace played his first NHL game in more than two years and recorded his first career shutout by making 29 saves versus the Sabres.

“Max is a good goalie,” Sullivan said. “He did a great job for us against Buffalo last week. My hope is that will give him a big boost of confidence, playing in an NHL game this year. So if we are called upon to put him in the net, I think that should help him moving forward. But he’s a good goalie. We know he can make a timely save for us that can give our team a chance to win.”

As for Jarry, he will be opening a postseason for the first time as the unquestioned top goaltender. After largely platooning with Matt Murray throughout the 2019-20 postseason, he replaced Murray for a single game during the NHL’s postseason.

Game 1 on Sunday will be his first true game as the “starter.”

“Very excited,” Jarry said. “It’s something that I’ve worked for for a very long time. Just coming up through (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) and playing those games really benefited me. Just having to play the pro schedule and being able to be at the pro level and then playing some games in Pittsburgh then going back to (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton) has really prepared me for this.”

On Friday, the team assigned reserve goaltender Alex D’Orio to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

Malkin a full participant

Sullivan was asked about the well-being of forward Evgeni Malkin, who recently missed 23 games because of a presumed right knee injury and appeared to incur some additional wear and tear on that appendage when he was checked late in regulation against the Sabres.

“He’s working through the process,” Sullivan said. “He’s trying to capture his very best game. He’s working through it every day, He’s working extremely hard at it. He’s extremely excited about the opportunity in front of us. (Malkin), he works very hard at getting back. He’s an important player for us. He understands that he wants to be a part of it. He’s worked extremely hard to get to this point.”

After being held out of an intrasquad scrimmage Wednesday in Cranberry for what was termed as a “coach’s decision,” Malkin was a full participant in practice Friday.