Penguins' Tristan Jarry vocal after crushing Blue Jackets loss
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The Pittsburgh Penguins traded Lars Eller to potentially kick off a rebuild in 2024-25. That trade came on the heels of a blowout loss against the Dallas Stars on Monday. Head coach Mike Sullivan remained positive after a loss to the Detroit Red Wings their last time out. However, the team suffered a massive loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets during Tristan Jarry’s return to the team.
Jarry stopped 33 of the 38 shots he faced on Friday night. By the end of the night, the Blue Jackets defeated the Penguins by a score of 6-2. Jarry did not look great in his return to the ice, unfortunately. And he spoke about what happened after the game in Columbus.
"Obviously, their game plan was to get a lot of pucks to the net, get a lot of bodies to the net, and just battle," Jarry said, via the team’s official website. "I think they got to a lot of pucks before we did, and it was tough to recover. I think they kept the pressure on throughout most of the game. We got some momentum back in the second, but they just kept pressing, and it was hard for us to defend."
Penguins stumble again as brutal slump continues
The Penguins received a bad omen when Tristan Jarry allowed the Blue Jackets’ first shot to go in. It wasn’t entirely his fault, to be fair. It deflected off former Pittsburgh forward Zach-Aston Reese and into the net. However, the Penguins never truly recovered.
The game was still rather close through two periods. Columbus took leads of 2-1 and 3-2 into the locker room in the first and second intermissions. But they took over in the third period. The Blue Jackets scored three goals to put the game out of reach for the Penguins.
Pittsburgh won three of its first five games to begin the season. However, it has gone well downhill from there. The Penguins have won just three of their last 14 games. After Friday’s loss to the Blue Jackets, the Penguins are one point clear of last place in the Metropolitan Division.
It’s a brutal run of form for a team that entered the season with playoff aspirations. And it’s the sort of stretch that could lead to wholesale changes beyond trades or roster moves. Some have already speculated Mike Sullivan could be out as head coach sooner rather than later.
The Penguins wanted to avoid bottoming out as long as they could. However, it seems as if a rebuild is something they can no longer put off. It will certainly be interesting to see if Pittsburgh can find some sort of positive consistency on the ice before they reach a point of no return. If they haven’t already reached said point, that is.
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