There is a handful of athletes from Surrey and North Delta who are playing in the NHL at the moment.
Arguably none of them have a bigger role right now than North Delta’s Tristan Jarry.
The 22-year-old netminder just became the Pittsburgh Penguins de facto number one in goal after Matt Murray went down with a leg injury against the Philadelphia Flyers on Monday.
Jakub Voracek crashed into Murray during the second period of action, and Murray was forced to leave the game. Jarry came in for his fifth career NHL appearance, holding on for the 5-4 overtime win.
Reports suggest that Murray will be out for two-to-four weeks.
After losing Marc-Andre Fleury to the Vegas Golden Knights in the expansion draft, Murray became the full-time starter for the Penguins. Antti Niemi started the season as his backup, but he was swiftly waived by the organization after three dreadful appearances in net.
SEE ALSO: North Delta’s Tristan Jarry recalled by NHL Penguins as team motors west toward Vancouver
Casey DeSmith, Jarry’s partner down with their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, was originally called up by the organization to replace Niemi. After he didn’t look good in a brief appearance, the Penguins called up Jarry to be the full-time backup.
After both goalies started the season in the AHL, DeSmith was called up on Tuesday to act as Jarry’s temporary backup.
Jarry lost his first two starts of the season, with one loss coming in the shootout and the other coming in overtime.
On Saturday, Nov. 25th, Jarry earned his first career victory against the best team in the NHL. He stopped 33 of 35 shots in a 5-2 win over the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan believes Jarry is ready for the opportunity.
“We believe he is a solid goalie,” Sullivan said in an interview on NHL.com. “I think the game he played against Tampa is a perfect example of what he’s capable of. Tristan is going to have to make timely saves for us game in and game out. We believe he can do that.”
In the same article, Jarry talks about how 83 games in the AHL have prepared him for this opportunity.
“I think it’s great, the opportunities that I had in the American Hockey League,” Jarry said. “It showed over and over again what I could do for myself and then what I’m able to do up here, so I think that’s one of the biggest things for me, was being able to develop and being able to have my time down there.”
trevor.beggs@surreynowleader.com
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