Goaltender Tristan Jarry, playing in his 200th career game, stopped all 28 shots he faced Thursday to lead the Pittsburgh Penguins past the visiting Nashville Predators 2-0.
It was the 13th career shutout for Jarry, his first against Nashville and his second of the season. He had not started the previous three games because of an injury and a coach’s decision.
The win allowed the Penguins (37-28-10, 84 points) to maintain their hold on the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, one point ahead of Florida, which beat Montreal.
The loss kept the Predators (37-29-8, 82 points) from leapfrogging Calgary in the Western Conference wild-card chase. They remain three points out of a playoff spot.
Jason Zucker and Jake Guentzel scored for the Penguins, who were 2-6-0 in their previous eight.
The Predators have lost three of their past four games.
Nashville goaltender Juuse Saros also was stellar, making 43 saves.
The Penguins were playing without three defensemen — still light compared to the Nashville injury ward.
The Predators are fielding a young lineup because of the absence of a group of veterans: forwards Filip Forsberg, Ryan Johansen, Matt Duchene and Juuso Parssinen, and defensemen Roman Josi and Alexandre Carrier.
It was a goaltending duel until 14:15 of the second, when Zucker gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead.
From the right point, Evgeni Malkin faked a shot and passed to Brian Dumoulin at the top of the slot. Dumoulin moved down the slot and around defenseman Kevin Gravel, who had slid to his stomach. Dumoulin tapped a pass to his left to Zucker, who steered the puck inside the left post.
Among Jarry’s critical saves was a left pad stop on Philip Tomasino point blank about nine minutes into the third.
On a power play, the Penguins made it 2-0 at 13:03 of the third. Guentzel, at the right post, tapped in a feed from Rickard Rakell, who was in the left circle and threaded the puck through the crease.
–Field Level Media
