Between their two missing stars, the Pittsburgh Penguins desperately need their goalie.
Six games weren’t enough to decide a winner between the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. Despite being up 3-1 in the series, the Penguins have fumbled as of late and allowed the Rangers to crawl back in, forcing a Game 7.
Fans want to point fingers and place blame anywhere they can, but there could be huge reinforcements just in time for the deciding game.
All three of Sidney Crosby, Rickard Rakell, and Tristan Jarry practiced during an optional skate the afternoon following a heartbreaking Game 6 loss.
And while it’s ideal that the Penguins get all three men back on the ice for Game 7, they should be comfortable and confident if they only get a certain one.
Jarry needs to be the starting goalie for the Penguins and stop the bleeding in net.
There is no doubt that getting Crosby back would be a huge boost, after all he had nine points in five games before leaving Game 6 early.
But the Penguins can cover for Crosby in the short term.
All eyes turned to Evgeni Malkin to have a standout performance in Game 6, which he did successfully.
Only a goal to show on the score sheet, but it was a timely one and he was driving play the whole game.
Malkin had a team leading seven shots on goal and more importantly, didn’t take any egregious penalties.
You can’t ask for much more than that, especially with his line mates Bryan Rust and Jake Guentzel linking up for a goal.
The center depth below Malkin continues to be a factor in the series, as well.
Jeff Carter continued to rebuild his game after a sloppy end to the regular season with the opening goal in Game 6, his fourth of the series.
It’s these types of moments that the Penguins built such a deep core of players for; When injuries arise, others can step up.
Mike Sullivan’s “next man up mentality” has been Pittsburgh’s bread and butter for years and it won’t stop now.
The forward core can survive one more game without Crosby, it’s the goaltending that needs to be fixed.
It isn’t clear exactly where Jarry is in the process of returning from a broken foot, but if he is even 75-80% he should be in the net.
Louis Domingue is struggling to maintain puck control and is showing signs of his inability to play heavy minutes.
Soft goals continue to get let in and no multi-goal lead feels safe with Domingue in net.
The Penguins know they can score on Igor Shesterkin, they’ve done it 22 times in six games.
The team needs to know they have a goalie in net who is going to bring them a win, that’s not certain with Domingue.
In a perfect setting the Penguins get both plus Rakell, but the need for Jarry outweighs the need for Crosby.
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