It appears the Pittsburgh Penguins will be down to their third-choice goaltender until further notice.
As ESPN explained Friday afternoon, Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed to reporters that fill-in starter Casey DeSmith will miss the rest of the Stanley Cup Playoffs after undergoing core muscle surgery. DeSmith unexpectedly exited Tuesday's Game 1 triple-overtime win at the New York Rangers during the second extra frame with what was eventually called a lower-body injury, but it's now known he had a procedure on Friday morning and won't play again this spring.
Backup Louis Domingue, who logged just two NHL regular-season starts for Pittsburgh in 2021-22, made 17 saves in relief of DeSmith on Tuesday but crashed back to earth in Game 2 on Thursday. Domingue surrendered five goals on 40 shots in the 5-2 defeat at Madison Square Garden that evened the series ahead of Saturday evening's matchup in Pittsburgh.
All-Star starting goalie Tristan Jarry hasn't played since April 14 due to a reported right foot injury and is officially considered "day-to-day," but there's currently no indication he's close to returning to the lineup:
Tristan Jarry didn’t skate today, he’s continuing to go through his rehab process.
— Taylor Haase (@TaylorHaasePGH) May 6, 2022
Ahead of Game 2 in New York, Pittsburgh recalled Alex D'Orio from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League. D'Orio is on track to remain Domingue's backup through at least the first-round series.
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