SALT LAKE CITY — Try being Tristan Jarry these past few months, a struggling goalie in a high-profile Canadian market.
Your name is on every tongue across the hockey world, and not in a positive way.
You’re part of the worst trade made in the National Hockey League this season, they say. And not the good part, but instead just another failed attempt at finding a guy who can backstop a Stanley Cup win for Edmonton.
You’ve been in town for five minutes, and suddenly they’re hanging the “Connor McDavid era” around your neck, like you’ve been part of this thing forever.
And on top of all of that, your game has been, well, kind of a mess.
And so it was that, on a night where the Edmonton Oilers rolled out a style of hockey that wins playoff games, Jarry found enough of his own game to make it all stand up in an impressive 5-2 win at Utah.
“The guys, they were doing everything in their power to help me, whether it’s practice or games. They support me,” said Jarry, who surrendered seven in Dallas on the last road trip and hadn’t played in the five games since. “They were there with me, and they pushed me. And I think that’s all you could ask for from them.
“They played great in front of me tonight. They were blocking shots. They were getting pucks out, clearing rebounds, and it made it really easy for me tonight.”
It’s been a trek here in Edmonton for Jarry, who arrived as a saviour then couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw the kind of team defence his new team played. After a 7-3 loss to Minnesota — a game in which he let in a few questionable ones — he snapped.
“The chances we are giving up, some of the shots, they’re tough,” he said that night in January. “It’s a lot of Grade A’s, a lot of breakdowns. So I think it’s tough (for him) to really think about your game at this point. It’s a whole team game.”
That’s the last time Jarry has sounded even remotely selfish. There was a meeting, some conversations, whatever.
From the next day on, he’s taken responsibility for his game publicly, even though there was a large dose of truth to his review of the Minny game.
Jarry hasn’t been good enough in Edmonton. Full stop.
But the team hasn’t given him a night like they gave him Tuesday in Salt Lake City either, where they limited the Mammoth to 18 shots on goal and six high danger chances.
“It goes both ways. I could have played better for them,” said Jarry, who had started just two of 12 Oilers games coming into Utah. “This last couple weeks has allowed me to work on my game, practice well, and just kind of come in with a clear mind today. And they played a great game today in front of me. They did everything.”
It was a night for round numbers at the Delta Center, a basketball arena that looks a little more like a hockey rink every time we visit.
Connor McDavid (two goals) scored career goal No. 400, while Ryan Nugent-Hopkins collected his 800th career point with an assist on a nice line rush goal by Jack Roslovic (two goals). Behind the Utah bench, Andre Tourigny coached his 400th career NHL game, but the most impressive player to post a round number was Evan Bouchard — whose first of three assists gave him 80 points on the season.
He finished the night with 82, tying a career-high with 10 games left in the season.
It was one of those nights where Bouchard laid down a game for the rest of the D corps to follow. Smart, subtle passes that led to zone exits. Perfect pucks that hit forwards’ tape in stride. Eight shot attempts and a defensive game that reminded of playoff Bouchard — quiet, clean and deadly effective.
His game was the tip of the spear for an Edmonton team that’s been trying to find, then replicate this level of game all season long.
“That’s a pretty good example of it,” head coach Kris Knoblauch admitted. “The past two games, five-on-five, we played the way we needed to: a lot more attention to the defensive details, a lot more grit, a lot more just simplicity.
“Going forward, especially without Leon (Draisaitl), we definitely need to be playing like that. And even when Leon comes back, we need to still play like that. That’s a playoff-hockey type game that we just played.”
“It was a good one,” said McDavid. “One that we hope we can replicate on Thursday.”
As he gets older, and the numbers get bigger and more historic, the 29-year-old McDavid is allowing himself to smell the roses a little bit more.
He has exactly 1,200 points — 401 goals, 799 assists — in 784 games. That makes McDavid the third fastest to 1,200 in NHL history, behind only Wayne Gretzky (504 games) and Mario Lemieux (593).
“When you’re getting up to some of these bigger numbers, it’s a reflection of time past,” McDavid said. “It’s my 11th year in this league, and you don’t get those back.
“I’m very grateful to play in this league. I’ve played with some great players.”
