Jarry Plays "Unbelievable" in Game 7 Overtime Loss

After the way last year ended
, Tristan Jarry's approach has been all about just trying to put his best foot forward.
And even though that foot was injured, he played through the pain to make his postseason debut in Pittsburgh's 4-3 overtime loss in Game 7 to the New York Rangers on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.

His teammates truly couldn't say enough about the way Jarry stepped into such a high-stakes environment and did what he could to give them a chance to win.
"It's just unbelievable," Jake Guentzel said. "The guy's been through a lot. He's been our rock all year long. Just to see him out there in Game 7 fighting the way he does, it's just unbelievable what that guy does for our team. It's just tough when you can't get the win for him with how hard he battled. He made a lot of good saves for us."
Sidney Crosby also used the word "unbelievable" to describe Jarry's play.
"It's not easy coming in with that much pressure, playing that position, knowing the circumstances," the captain said. "He did a great job. That's not easy to come into. And he was great."
Jarry, 27, had put together an All-Star regular season that was tremendous - not just from a numbers perspective, but from his approach as well. Head coach Mike Sullivan described it best when he said Jarry had a certain look in his eye where he was determined to prove people wrong and show that he's a legit No. 1 goaltender in this league, which is exactly what he did.
But as bad luck would have it, just two weeks before the postseason was set to begin, Jarry suffered a lower-body injury that sidelined him for first six games of this series. Backup goaltender Casey DeSmith got the nod for Game 1 before exiting in double overtime with a core muscle injury that required surgery.
No. 3 netminder Louis Domingue then took over until it was determined that Jarry would be able to go tonight, though clearly not at 100%, as he limped into the media availability room following the game with an ice bag strapped to his foot. But that physical pain paled in comparison to the mental side of it.
"I was just trying to work back as quick as I could," Jarry said. "It was obviously tough watching. Casey and Louis did a great job, but obviously you want to be in there and battling with them every night. I think that's something that hurt the most, is just not being able to be out there and just go to battle with the guys."

Jarry finally got that opportunity when his team needed him the most, and the guys were thrilled to have their No. 1 netminder back. "TRIS-TAN… JAR-EEEE!!!" Guentzel cried as he made the long trek from the visiting locker room to the ice at Madison Square Garden prior to puck drop.
Jarry was greeted with high fives and stick taps from the group as he prepared to lead his team onto the ice for the first time in just over a month, and said he felt comfortable right away despite all of the layers of pressure surrounding the situation.
"I think just being calm and collected, just to stand tall in there for tonight, I think that's something that the guys needed," Jarry said. "Just someone that could backstop them and someone that could make some saves when they needed. I think that we played a pretty good game tonight."
The Rangers did manage to strike first with 12:24 left in the opening frame when Chris Kreider, who scored 52 goals during the regular season, got his fifth of the playoffs with a blistering one-timer. But Jarry wasn't rattled in the slightest.
He skated to the bench during the TV timeout that happened shortly after presumably to discuss the play with teammate Marcus Pettersson, who was the lone D-man back on the 2-on-1, then went right back to his crease and back to work.
Jarry only got better as the game went on, with some of his best sequences coming during special teams play, starting with New York's first power play of the night early in the second period with the teams tied 1-1. First, he came up with a left pad stop through traffic before following that up with a dazzling glove save. Jarry then made a stop with the right pad towards the end of that man-advantage to keep things knotted up.
Then in the third period, with the Penguins up 3-2 and on a power play of their own, Rangers forward Tyler Motte got a shorthanded breakaway - but Jarry turned him aside.
Unfortunately, after New York got the tying goal late in the final frame when Pittsburgh's D-zone coverage broke down after Pettersson was required to head to the bench when his helmet came off per the NHL rule, the Rangers did convert a power play in overtime to get the win.
"It deflected off one of our guys," Jarry said. "I saw (Artemi Panarin) release it and then I saw it go through our D-men's shin pads, and that just caught the corner of the net."
It was a devastating loss for so many reasons, most notably because the Penguins had put themselves in a position to close this series out. After getting out to a 3-1 series lead, the Penguins had 2-0 leads in Games 5 and 6 before the Rangers battled back to stave off elimination. Pittsburgh also bounced back from going down early tonight to take that 3-2 lead, but they just weren't able to get themselves a comfortable cushion.
"We played some good hockey throughout the series. We didn't get that next one tonight that probably was a difference, but I think even when we had those leads, we still played the right way," Crosby said. "But tonight, I think was an example of one game anything can happen, and we didn't get that extra goal there late in the game. A terrible rule ends up probably being the difference in the game."
Regardless of what the outcome was, Jarry wanted to be in there. And all of the hard work that he put in all of last summer, and throughout the year, to be as prepared as possible for this time of year paid off with a noteworthy performance that put to rest any question marks surrounding his abilty.
"I think that just being able to play, I was grateful for that," Jarry said. "I was grateful that they trusted to put me in for that and if anything happened, I want to be in for that. I wanted to give it my best shot."
And he did.
"He played a hell of a game," Sullivan said.