If the Pittsburgh Penguins accomplish anything worthy of celebrating this season, it will happen with Tristan Jarry in net.

The extraordinarily binary demands of his position — and the five-year, $26.875 million contract he signed in July — dictate that.

“When Tristan’s on his game, I think he’s as good as there is,” coach Mike Sullivan boasted Saturday morning following a morning skate at PPG Paints Arena. “He anticipates plays really well because he has a high hockey IQ. He reads plays and he can get to spots. When he’s at his best, a lot of times, he makes a lot of positional saves because he’s in the right spot even though he might not be able to see it through traffic. He tends to be aggressive at the top of the blue paint.

“That’s when he’s at his best.”

Jarry might not have been at his best, but he was perfect as he stopped all 35 shots he faced from the Buffalo Sabres and recorded his third individual shutout of the season less than 48 hours after being sidelined as a result of a facial injury.

The result evened his record to 5-5-0 and extended the team’s winning streak to a season-best four games.

It was the third consecutive win for Jarry, who has engineered a shutout sequence of 108:55 over that span.

It might have been longer had he not suffered a cut to his face earlier in the week.

Jarry was injured as a result of being struck in the face — after losing his mask — by a puck during a 2-0 road win against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday. Swelling around his right eye limited his vision and led to him being scratched during a 4-3 overtime road win against the Los Angeles Kings on Thursday.

“I got stitches,” Jarry said following Saturday’s victory. “It was something that I didn’t really expect. I guess my eye closed up so I couldn’t see anything for the last couple of days. It was nice that swelling finally went down and I was able to play tonight.”

The opening goal of Saturday’s contest was a strange sight when it occurred at 19:01 of the first period.

Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin collected his eighth goal through some strange (i.e. lucky as H-E-double hockey sticks) circumstances.

From the center point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves golfed a one-timer that had all the accuracy of a 40-something’s social media dating profile and clunked off the glass behind the cage. Malkin chased down the rebound in the right corner and chipped a backhander that glanced off the stick of Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson and struck the back of goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen before deflecting into the cage. Graves and forward Radim Zohorna registered assists and, along with Malkin, appeared to celebrate in disbelief.

“It is an odd play,” Penguins forward Bryan Rust said. “I find it hard-pressed to believe he wasn’t trying to at least do that to an extent. The goalie was out of position, but it’s always fun to see plays like that go in. We had a whole lot of chances tonight, and it seemed like the ones that weren’t the best went in.”

That theme was evident when Penguins forward Drew O’Connor scored his first goal of 2023-24 through a more conventional, but still fortunate, bounce at 16:24 of the second frame.

After getting the puck out of the defensive zone near the visiting penalty box, Penguins forward Lars Eller dished a centering pass to O’Connor, who gained the offensive blue line on the right wing. With Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju offering passive resistance, O’Connor chucked a pedestrian wrister from the top of the right circle to the far side that burrowed between Luukkonen’s right ribs and his blocker before trickling into the cage. The score snapped a 31-game skid without a goal for O’Connor dating to last season. Eller and Graves netted assists.

“It’s always a bit of a relief when you score a goal,” O’Connor said. “I try not to let it affect the other parts of my game. Just try to play the same game every night. You go a little while without scoring, you start gripping the stick a little tighter.”

More fortuitous luck — and a Sabres stick — led to the Penguins’ third goal during a power-play sequence only 27 seconds into the third period.

Working on smooth ice, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson took a pass at the center point of the offensive zone and snapped a shot-pass to the left of the crease intended for forward Sidney Crosby. Sabres defenseman Erik Johnson, stationed in the right circle, intervened and broke up the sequence, only to deflect the puck over Luukonen’s blocker on the near side. Karlsson was credited with his third goal with forward Reilly Smith and Malkin logging assists.

Karlsson indicated his attempted pass to Crosby was a point of emphasis recently.

“It was nice that we got one because we were talking about making a play like that, and it worked out,” Karlsson said. “That’s all that matters. A big goal for us to get going for the third and play it off. I think we had a solid third all the way through and that power-play goal definitely gave us that extra confidence boost, I think, to finish it off.”

Karlsson finished off the scoring at 18:11 of the third frame with an empty net goal. Forward Jake Guentzel and Crosby had assists, allowing Crosby to extend a scoring streak to eight games.

The Penguins have recorded shutouts in four games this season, a league-best figure.

Beyond the obvious contributions of their goaltenders, sturdy defense as of late has made them a stout impediment to opponents’ offensive aspirations.

What have been the key components to that success?

“Making sure we’ve got numbers back and making smart decisions with the puck when we need to, whether it’s at the end of a shift or we’ve got nothing at the blue line,” Rust said. “For the most part, we’ve been making really good decisions. Forwards are working hard to get back. (Defensemen) are able to play their gaps well. We’re able to squash some things. In the (defensive) zone, guys are willing to block shots, give the sight lines to the goalies.”

Jarry’s vision appeared to be crystal clear on Saturday, less than two weeks after he harshly criticized his own play following a 4-3 home loss to the Anaheim Ducks on Oct. 30.

In the aftermath of that setback, Jarry bluntly stated, “I don’t think I’ve been giving the guys enough of a chance to win every night.”

Since then, the Penguins are 4-0-0 while Jarry has a 3-0-0 record during that span along with a 0.76 goals-against average, a .975 save percentage and one shutout (and a share of another shutout along with reserve goaltender Magnus Hellberg).

His formula for success hasn’t been hard to see.

“Just working hard,” Jarry said. “Hard work was going to get me out of it. That was honestly what I’ve done the last two weeks, not stop working hard. That’s the best thing you could do. Show the guys that you’re working, you’re committed.”

His guys have witnessed that commitment.

“(Jarry) has been around for a long time,” Rust said. “There’s ups and downs through the season for everybody. I don’t think goalies are excluded. Sometimes, when it’s a goalie, it gets magnified a little bit.

“He’s a guy who’s a really proud guy. Took control of his own game. He’s been working at it and he’s been great as of late.”

Notes:

• Maxime Lagace had the Penguins’ most recent shutout of the Sabres. In the regular season finale of the 2020-21 campaign, he made 29 saves in a 1-0 home victory.

• O’Connor’s previous goal came during a 5-4 overtime road win against the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 2.

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter and defenseman P.O Joseph were each healthy scratches.

• With forwards Peyton Krebs and Alex Tuch each sidelined due to undisclosed injuries, the Sabres dressed an irregular lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen with Ryan Johnson serving as the spare blueliner.

Follow the Penguins all season long.

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