The latest Hump Day follows the Penguins getting thumped by their spiritual heirs, the Colorado Avalanche.
I suspect a certain quote by Sidney Crosby will have people talking today — I’ll touch on that later — but Tristan Jarry is a much bigger issue. His performance didn’t please coach Mike Sullivan, but I’d like to focus on two things Jarry said to reporters last night:
• On the goal scored by Valeri Nichuskin, Jarry said: “He’s a big guy. He’s got a long reach. I think I was just trying to be a little too aggressive and poke the puck as he was pulling it from backhand to forehand — and he was able to get around me with just his long reach.”
• On the Penguins’ performance compared to their five wins in the previous six games: “I think it was just they were able to cash in on their opportunities. They had some good shots. They were obviously well-placed. I think that’s the hardest part about it; when they’re getting behind us, behind me, I think it’s hard to see what’s behind me when I’m looking out in front.”
Many of Jarry’s critics say he’s rarely accountable after losses. They whispered the same thing about Matt Murray. In both cases, the goalies played in the shadow of Marc-André Fleury, who took the blame for everything.
If Fleury allowed one goal in a Game 7 loss on home ice, which happened, he said he needed to make that save. He didn’t attempt to explain what happened before allowing the goal. He just owned it without any qualifiers.
Murray didn’t, Jarry doesn’t, and because Fleury did (and was beloved by teammates), people assume Murray and Jarry’s quotes after tough losses didn’t sit well with teammates.
The thing is that I’ve never had one of their teammates say they care one way or the other about what either goalie said to reporters. Most players roll their eyes when pressed about teammates’ postgame comments. They usually retort with something along the lines of: “How would you like it if you had a bad day at work and someone came into your office and asked questions about what happened?”
I’d probably dig it, but I lean combative.
Anyway, those two Jarry quotes are instructive.
He takes accountability in the first one. In the second one, a classic Jarry postgame quote, he discusses the team and himself. If you focus only on what he said at the end, it looks really bad. Taken as a whole, the quote is totally acceptable.
Jarry’s inconsistency frustrates everyone. Teammates love him. Two things can be true at the same time.
He said it
“It did a little bit. I think there’s been some times this season when we deserved it. I don’t think tonight was one of them.” — Crosby, on whether fans booing the Penguins’ power play in the third period surprised him.
A generally accepted rule is to never criticize fans’ behavior at games because they pay for tickets and can do whatever they want. I don’t subscribe to that rule. I’ve been critical of fans for shouting during the national anthem and for chanting “Fire Hextall” during former GM Ron Hextall’s later days.
I’ll say this, too: Booing when Crosby is on the ice isn’t a good look for Pittsburgh as a hockey market — not after everything he’s done for the Penguins and city, and certainly not when roughly 12,000 people bothered to show up to PPG Paints Arena. (Paid attendance was 15,632, but there appeared to be a couple thousand no-shows.)
History n’at
Mario Lemieux announced his return to the NHL on this date in 2000.
The news broke a few days prior, so the Penguins had time to prepare for the news conference. Media interest was so intense that the team chose a local hotel for the event rather than Mellon Arena. Reporters from Europe came to Pittsburgh to hear what Lemieux had to say — and our city was the epicenter of the sporting universe for the day. ESPN broke into “SportsCenter” to carry the event live, a rarity for hockey at the time.
Lemieux is by far the most popular athlete in Pittsburgh’s rich sporting history and probably the most influential.
But this date, almost a quarter-century ago, proved that Lemieux’s larger-than-life status reached across the globe. He remains the rare NHL player who was a mainstream household name in the United States and beyond.
His comeback performance — 35 goals and 76 points in 43 games after three-plus seasons away — is the bar for every professional athlete. Good luck besting that one.
Don’t miss
• The Athletic’s third NHL staff predictions are out. Sullivan dramatically dropped out of the top spot for the coach most likely to be fired. The Penguins were on a winning run when votes were cast, but I suspect my colleagues are also beginning to listen when I tell them Sullivan isn’t going anywhere this season. As they should, by the way. 😏
• There are a couple of Penguins-centric photos highlighted in this excellent profile of longtime hockey photographer Bruce Bennett by Peter Baugh. I don’t want to spoil which ones, so do yourselves a favor and read the story. It’s well worth your time.
• It’s been a few days since the last Penguins Today due to some migraines on my end. So I’m reaching back to call attention to this Sean Gentille story from yesterday. Sean examines which storylines at the 4 Nations tournament could predict ones that emerge at the 2026 Winter Olympics. Erik Karlsson is mentioned, and aside from whoever takes the blue-painted crease for Team Canada, I’m not sure anybody is under a more intense spotlight at 4 Nations than Karlsson.
(Photo of Sidney Crosby and Tristan Jarry: Emilee Chinn / Getty Images)
