Many are debating which goalie should start for the Pittsburgh Penguins when the NHL’s postseason begins next week. But another consequential competition is at the bottom of the depth chart.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Wednesday that the team will bring four goalies with it when it travels to Toronto for the Stanley Cup Qualifiers that begin for the Penguins on Aug. 1.
Five goalies — Matt Murray, Tristan Jarry, Casey DeSmith, Alex D’Orio and Emil Larmi — are on the camp roster. Murray and Jarry are the only ones regularly practicing with the main group of skaters. DeSmith is a lock as the organization’s No. 3 goalie.
“We are not going to take five (goalies to Toronto). We are going to take four,” Sullivan said.
Being two years older and with a successful track record pro experience in Finland, Larmi is the favorite to be the fourth goalie who heads north. Larmi played nine games for the Penguins’ American Hockey League affiliate this past season. All of D’Oio’s action was at the ECHL level for Wheeling.
Penguins A to Z: Goaltender Emil Larmi has had a rough year in his transition to North American hockey, writes @SethRorabaugh https://t.co/JI6MSZQdqc
— Tribune-ReviewSports (@TribSports) May 18, 2020
The Penguins have three more days of practices/intrasquad scrimmages at their facility in Cranberry this week before they leave for the “bubble” in Canada. An exhibition game against the Philadelphia Flyers is scheduled for Tuesday before a best-of-five series against the Montreal Canadiens gets underway four days later.
The Nos. 3-5 goalies haven’t been getting the amount of game-simulated work as Murray and Jarry, and that figures to continue for the third and fourth goalies in Toronto. During a pandemic, of course, odds are slightly greater Murray or Jarry might be forced out of action.
Is Sullivan worried, should the need arise, his depth goalies will not be ready enough for NHL playoff hockey?
“We are going to work with them,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got our whole coaching staff going to Toronto. Ty Hennes is coming with us, our (skating and skills development) coach who does a terrific job to get these guys ready. We are going to do our very best to keep them all game ready.”
