The latter half of Casey DeSmith’s 2021 has not gone well.
After all, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ backup goaltender suffered a groin injury in May that ended his 2020-21 season, then underwent surgery in June to correct the problem.
Additionally, he didn’t win a game for the first two months of the current season.
With a handful of weeks remaining in the calendar year, DeSmith is doing quite a bit to ensure old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind.
That’s to say he’s had an outstanding December so far.
His latest effort, a hard-fought 1-0 home win against the Anaheim Ducks on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena, was his best performance of the season. Making 33 saves, he recorded his first shutout of the season and the seventh of his career.
Saturday’s victory came less than a week after his first win of the campaign, a 6-1 road triumph against the expansion Seattle Kraken on Monday. He made 28 saves on 29 shots in that contest.
“Obviously, having played recently helps a lot,” DeSmith said. “The more I get in the net, the more comfortable I become. It’s pretty standard that the more you play, the more comfortable you feel out there. That was one thing. Then, just been working on kind of getting back to playing my game, playing a little bit more on my toes, a little bit more athletic. Not playing as stiff and boring of a game as I was playing earlier I think.”
Saturday’s contest wasn’t the most entertaining affair. One-goal games rarely are. But it was a fiercely vied affair the Penguins claimed less than 24 hours after a hard-fought 4-2 road win against the Washington Capitals on Friday.
“Back to back, coming off an emotional win against the (Capitals), we kind of talked about that before the game,” Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese said. “Reinvesting your emotions in tonight’s game. We knew it was going to be a battle. All the guys took pride in that. It was a good team win.”
Penguins forward Brock McGinn opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season 5 minutes, 12 seconds into regulation.
After a strong effort by Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel to skate the puck out of danger from his own crease, Aston-Reese gained the offensive zone on the left wing. Shielding the puck from Ducks defenseman Josh Mahura, Aston-Reese backhanded a pass to the right circle, where McGinn leaned down and chopped a one-timer past the glove of goaltender John Gibson on the near side. Aston-Reese and Ruhwedel had assists.
It was McGinn’s second goal in as many games. A free-agent signing this past summer, McGinn was added more for his abrasive — not his offensive — qualities
“I always believed in my offense,” said McGinn, who spent the first six seasons of his career with the Carolina Hurricanes. “Just coming out here in Pittsburgh, I feel like I have a lot more confidence in my game and a lot more confidence with the puck. Hopefully, it continues to grow and hopefully, we can continue to have success.”
Success wasn’t rare for DeSmith in October or November. It was non-existent.
Appearing in only four games in those two months, he was 0-3-1 with a 4.32 goals against average and an .867 save percentage.
So far this month, he is 2-0-0 with a 0.50 goals against average and .983 save percentage.
Why has he been so much better as of late?
“To be honest, it was a skate issue,” DeSmith said. “I was in these skates and they were just different than the ones I was used to. It was kind of throwing me back on my heels. My weight was always on my heels so I didn’t feel explosive. It’s really hard to make saves when your weight is back. So I just started lacing my skates different and went back to normal. I felt a lot better after I started doing that. That was a big part of it.”
For the Penguins, who extended a winning streak to four games, DeSmith has been a big part of their strong play late in 2021.
“His whole mindset, he’s in a much better headspace,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He’s confident. A lot of it just boils down to the preparation process and the details of how he makes his save and gets to his spots. The way he reads plays, we felt like he’s just been just trending the right way all along.”
Notes: Penguins forward Jake Guentzel was scratched for the second consecutive game because of a suspected right hand injury while defensemen Mark Friedman and forward Sam Lafferty were healthy scratches. … Gibson, a native of Whitehall, left the game after the second period with an undisclosed injury. He stopped 15 of 16 shots before being replaced by Anthony Stolarz. … This was only the second-ever shutout by the Penguins against the Ducks/Mighty Ducks franchise. The first came nearly 24 years to the day as goaltender Tom Barrasso made 28 saves in a 3-0 road win on Dec. 10, 1997.
Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at srorabaugh@triblive.com or via Twitter .
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