Being in the building yesterday for the Penguins' 4-1 loss to the Bruins gave me a perspective I don't have the luxury of getting as a Penguins fan that doesn't live in Pittsburgh.
I was able to take in conversations and interactions from fellow fans around me, hearing their discourse on what was happening on the ice, gathering general opinions on the team, and assuming the same heartbeat of likeminded people wearing black and gold jerseys.
And one of the conclusions I came to is that being in the building - being in PPG Paints Arena - and being online are two completely different animals.
The War Between Twitter/X and Reality
Twitter/X is a cesspool of ignorance and incompetence. Spend twelve seconds on the app and it doesn't take long to realize that.
Finger warriors with no spine love to type, type, type away without any repercussions. They'd never say these things to their objects in person, but they hide behind a guise - the mask of anonymity.
Tristan Jarry, amongst plenty of other professional athletes, seems to be a victim of these finger warriors. Here's a truth: Pittsburgh sports are under a microscope due to the immense passion the city has for its teams, and the passion ferments into pressure.
After the game I was taking in the final moments of The Masters, watching as Rory McIlroy finally shed his demons to win the green jacket.
Legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus was on the phone with the television crew talking about how much adversity Rory had overcome in the last decade and even within the final round of the golf tournament to win it.
Then, an acquaintance of mine insightfully said, "You know when Nicklaus was playing, he didn't have the same pressure Rory's had. There was no 24-hour coverage of these tournaments. They played, then when it was over the Andy Griffith Show came on, and that was it."
He went on to say, "Now, with social media, criticism has been left unchecked, and it's creating pressure for these golfers that builds and builds until it's almost insurmountable. Rory just happened to beat it - although he almost did cave a few times."
I was at the Penguins game while the final round of The Masters was happening, and during breaks I would check the feed to see where the field was. Meanwhile I'm watching Tristan Jarry make incredible save after incredible save and the home fans cheering him on each time he did.
Jarry let in a goal with one second left in the first period. Then he let in two more in the second to go down 3-0.
And yet, not a soul around me was blowing up about it. They weren't yelling in all caps at the goals he was letting in because they were seeing that he was the only Penguin on the ice doing anything positive in the game. Jarry was not the reason they were losing.
The three goals he let in were hardly his fault, and everyone in the building knew that. Yet when I check my phone to see what's happening in The Masters, I see angry tweets talking about how awful Tristan Jarry is.
I swear half of the finger warriors on sports Twitter don't even watch the games. They just look at box scores and go back to type, type, typing.
You want some box scores? Here's a box score.
Tristan Jarry in his 14 games since returning to the NHL after he was put on waivers is 8-4-2 with a .904 SV% while facing over 26 shots per game.
Tristan Jarry was Pittsburgh's best player tonight.
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) April 13, 2025
"I think since he's come back, he looks different," Mike Sullivan said. "He's the semblance of the goaltender that's played here for quite some time now and played really good hockey."
But you won't find that on Twitter because it doesn't fit people's agenda - the agenda of criticism and complaining at any juncture.
Unreasonable Pressure, and Overcoming It
Tristan Jarry's future hangs in the balance this offseason, but I'm going to make the brash assertion that the Tristan Jarry we've seen in the last month and a half is the same goalie that will lead the Penguins out of the playoff drought.
Walk across the Clemente Bridge with me for a moment. David Bednar, the Pittsburgh Pirates closer, was once an All-Star pitcher who was nearly unhittable for two years. Then, a slight blip in his confidence sent him spiraling out of control to where he could do no right.
Now he's in the minor leagues trying to regain his confidence that the microscopic Pittsburgh media analysis stripped from him.
Sound familiar?
These athletes are as much human as you and I. Rory had a three footer to win The Masters and missed it. I'm sure all the finger warriors were out in droves after that moment.
But then he hit one of the greatest shots in Masters history, and he sank the putt to reach the mountaintop. Never again will anyone label him a choker. The finger warriors have no ammunition anymore, and a ceasefire has been declared on Rory McIlroy.
Tristan Jarry has social media. Whether or not he's still on it, I'm not sure. If I was him, I wouldn't be. Not when low-lifers try to criticize someone who is far more talented than they will ever be at anything.
Kyle Dubas' grandma demanded finger warrior Penguins fans be more positive, and I loved that. So much I wrote a piece on it, which you can read HERE if you'd like.
At some point, Penguins fans are going to have to embrace Tristan Jarry. His contract isn't movable. He's not going anywhere.
So why not make him feel like he belongs? Why not build him up instead of tear him down? In tearing him down, you sabotage your own ability to enjoy this team, so why do it?
The lady who sat beside me yesterday didn't say much during the game, but of the few things she said was, "I want Jarry to keep doing well."
Don't we all? So instead of shunning Jarry as this reprobate child, embrace him as the Vezina candidate goalie of recent memory.
He is capable. He just needs a cheering section...in the arena and on the interweb.