Jarry and Hellberg Combine for Shutout Against Anaheim

As Sidney Crosby stood up to hand out the postgame helmet following Pittsburgh’s second victory in a row – a 2-0 win over the Ducks on Tuesday in Anaheim – he gave a couple of shoutouts. One to the penalty kill, who went 3-for-3, and one to Radim Zohorna, who got the Penguins going with the game’s first goal.

“But Chopper coming in like that tonight, it’s not easy,” the captain said. The guys clapped and cheered for Magnus Hellberg, with the genial netminder performing admirably after replacing an injured Tristan Jarry – who is currently being evaluated – late in the second period.

“He’s such a great guy, and he works hard. He brings so much positive energy to our team,” Head Coach Mike Sullivan said. “When he comes in like that, makes a couple of timely saves for us, everybody gets pumped up for him. So, I know his teammates were excited. We're certainly excited for him. It's great for a guy like that.”

Jarry (21 saves) and Hellberg (11 saves) earned the fifth combined shutout by two goaltenders in Penguins history, and the first since Marc-Andre Fleury and Tomas Vokoun did so on March 26, 2013.

“It’s really difficult. Jars was doing a great job. Kind of a weird thing that happens,” Crosby said. “(Hellberg) comes in in a tight game with a lot of pressure. He handled it well and made some key saves to keep us in the game.”

Jarry had left the game after enduring a tough sequence. First, there was a collision with Adam Henrique, as the Ducks forward caught the Penguins netminder in the helmet while establishing a netfront presence. Then, as Jarry went down, a puck appeared to catch him up high, causing him to bleed. He skated to the bench on his own and headed to the locker room, where he did not return.

“Obviously you're worried about him, first off,” Hellberg said. “He's a great friend, he had a really good game as well.”

When the backup goaltender takes over, it’s typically for performance-related reasons. That wasn’t the case in this instance, as the Penguins were up 1-0 when Hellberg took over thanks in large part to Jarry's strong early play, but the 32-year-old netminder said his mindset didn’t change.

“There's always pressure on this level, whether you go in when your team is down a couple of goals or if it goes like this. I just have to try to come up big for the team,” said Hellberg, who signed a one-year deal with Pittsburgh in the offseason after playing in parts of five seasons in the NHL with Ottawa, Seattle, Detroit, the New York Rangers and Nashville Predators. “I thought they did a really good job in front of me communicating, letting me see the puck.”

Anaheim had won six in a row entering this game, with that streak including a 4-3 win in Pittsburgh on Oct. 30 that had left the Penguins feeling discouraged. And the Ducks certainly pushed for the tying goal in that final frame, creating some extended offensive-zone shifts.

But the 6-foot-6 Hellberg stood tall, both literally and figuratively. Hellberg knows he is a big guy back there, and used it to his advantage by just trying to be in the right position and not overworking. It helped that Hellberg has been feeling good in practice since his first game action of the season, a relief appearance in a 5-2 loss to Ottawa on Oct. 28.

He stopped all 11 shots he faced in the final frame, and the patient Penguins - who defended well, had numbers back and stayed above the puck - padded their lead with an empty-netter from Crosby that counted after Noel Acciari’s got overturned, as the play was offside.

“I'm just really happy we got the win, because of the game we had against them when I think they stole two points off us in Pittsburgh,” Hellberg said. “So of course, they had a little heat going. So, it was nice to end that one for them, for sure.”

“It's a good win for our team in a low-scoring game like that, to be able to close it out against a team that's beat a lot of good teams lately,” Sullivan said. “We dug in."

Pittsburgh’s goaltending depth is certainly being tested right now, as Alex Nedeljkovic – the backup to start the season – was placed on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. While Nedeljkovic is skating, he’s not eligible to return until at least Nov. 19. We’ll see what happens ahead of Pittsburgh’s final game of this three-game California trip on Thursday in Los Angeles.

“I think just depth at that position is critical to having success in this league,” Sullivan said. “We already have one guy that we left at home that's injured right now, and then when Tristan goes down and Magnus has to go in, we're confident that he can go in and get the job done, as he showed tonight.”