Tristan Jarry's historic night caps off a pivotal month for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Tristan Jarry ended a tremendous month of hockey in style, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-2 last night. Jarry was on point from the opening puck drop, saving 15 of the Lightning's 17 shots in the first period.

The Penguins may have trailed 2-0 after the opening frame, but Jarry's performance prevented them from being down much more. His stellar play continued throughout the night, finishing with 39 saves on 41 shots and a piece of Penguins history.

With just over a minute remaining in the game, Jarry stepped in front of a Lightning dump attempt and wired the puck 200 feet into the opposing net to make it 4-2 Penguins. He became the first Penguins goaltender to score a goal in the franchise's history.

Jarry's historic performance capped off a stellar month. The Penguins netminder finished November with a 6-3-1 record, stopping 93.2 percent of the shots he faced and allowing just 2.10 goals per game.

The good news for the Penguins is that Jarry now enters what is, historically, his best month. In December hockey, Jarry holds a 23-7-1 record and a .928 save percentage. The bad news is that Jarry also historically suffers a sharp decline once the New Year begins.

Fortunately, the Penguins have a different variable in net this season in backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic. Nedeljkovic hasn't seen much playing time this season but has excelled when given the opportunity. He is 2-2-0 with a .937 save percentage and 2.26 goals against average.

The Penguins would be wise to utilize him more often moving forward. Jarry has started eight of the Penguins' previous ten games. That would put him on an 82-game pace to start 64 games, which is too much in today's NHL.

Nedeljkovic has performed well enough that the split between him and Jarry should be more even than it has been, keeping Jarry fresh and hopefully extending his performance from this past month throughout the remainder of the season.

The Penguins enter a pivotal month on the NHL calendar, and their goaltender is clicking on all cylinders. 

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