The Pittsburgh Penguins head to Montreal for their first road game of the year, and Casey DeSmith is getting his first start of 2022-23.
As the Pittsburgh Penguins hit the road for the first time in the 2022-23 season, they will do so with their backup in net.
Mike Sullivan confirmed following the morning skate that Casey DeSmith will be the starting goalie for the Penguins, his first of the season.
While Tristan Jarry has had a great start to the 2022-23 campaign, DeSmith had an impressive preseason and is looking to have a hotter start than he did last year.
DeSmith appeared in 26 games in 2021-22 and picked up a record of 11-6-5 with three shutouts.
Splitting those 26 games in half you can see how DeSmith improved as the season went on.
Through his first 13 appearances, DeSmith notched five wins and a pair of shutouts but had a save percentage under .900.
The latter half of his year though saw six wins and a much better save percentage that reached .927.
It’s good for DeSmith to get an early test in the regular season and give Jarry a break and let him rest.
In the first two games of the year, Jarry has had a couple of collisions with opponents.
While Jarry did look in distress after such collisions, Jarry didn’t leave either game and has looked healthy otherwise.
Sullivan has said that Jarry is “fine” despite the rough plays.
The Penguins aren’t along in starting their backup; the Canadiens are already down future Hall of Famer Carey Price, but will now be missing Jake Allen for the contest against Pittsburgh.
The Canadiens called up goalie Cayden Primeau to back up Sam Montembeault while Allen will miss time for parental leave.
It’ll be matchup of backup goalies in Montreal tonight as DeSmith will get his first taste of game action with the Penguins this season.
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