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WILKES-BARRE — Tristan Jarry made his 10th consecutive start on Sunday as the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hosted the Toronto Marlies.
During that span, Jarry won five times and made back-to-back starts on three occasions, including Sunday.
But while Jarry has been a workhorse for the Penguins, fatigue may have crept into his game against the Marlies.
For the second straight night, Jarry faced 30-plus shots, and on Sunday he allowed two goals in a 19-second span that sealed a 4-2 win for the Marlies. The loss wraps up a weekend that saw the Penguins enter with an opportunity to move to two points of Providence for the final playoff spot in the Atlantic Division. Instead, the Penguins (30-24-6-3) are five points out with 13 games remaining.
Penguins coach Clark Donatelli said he thought Jarry played well en route to 33-save effort on Sunday and stopped short of blaming the netminder for the collapse at the end of the second period that put Toronto up 4-1.
“I thought he looked OK. We talked to him after the second period,” Donatelli said.
Penalties doomed the Penguins in the first half of the game, as the Marlies scored twice on the power play. The first tally came just as a two-man advantage expired in the opening period, and the latter came midway through the second period to put Toronto up 2-0.
The Penguins got back into it when Jarry sent a clearing pass to Jimmy Hayes, who skated down and roofed a shot to make it 2-1. The assist was Jarry’s fourth point on the season and the goal marked Hayes’ 10th tally in his last 14 games.
Aside from a Ryan Haggerty shot hitting the post, however, the Penguins offense was non-existent in the period.
While the Penguins struggled, the Marlies turned it up with a pair of goals 19 seconds apart in the final minute of the period to take a 4-1 lead. The fourth Toronto goal came after Jarry allowed a rebound in front.
“That’s unacceptable,” Hayes said of the Penguins play at the end of the period. “Every game is big, and to give up two goals like that in the last minute, it’s almost like a cardinal sin in hockey.”
Jarrett Burton cut the lead to two when he fired a one-timer from the slot with four minutes to play, but that was all the offense the Penguins could muster.
Donatelli said Sunday’s loss boiled down to the 20-second hiccup at the end of the second period.
“They score to make it 3-1, we have to have some urgency out there. Then we come out and give them the fourth goal,” Donatelli said. “It’s self-inflicted. It’s aggravating.”
With a heavy schedule in March during which the Penguins play 14 games, they end the weekend with a 4-2-1-1 record in the month.
With six games remaining in March alone, Hayes isn’t giving up hope on his team’s chance to make the postseason.
“We’re a team that’s pushing for the playoffs and I think we’re going to be a team that gets in there,” he said. “We just have to continue to push and find a way to win games.”
