Penguins

Drive to the Net: Murray comes up doubly big

[get_snippet]

To continue reading, log into your account:

[theme-my-login show_title=0]
Tyler Seguin reacts to Matt Murray's second-period save. -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Matt Murray wasn't named one of the three stars of the Penguins' 4-2 win over the Stars on Friday night, but he made some crucial timely saves in the game.

Two moments stand out.

The first came with 4:35 remaining in the second period, with the Penguins trailing 1-0.

Murray stopped an initial shot by Denis Gurianov, and the rebound bounced right to a wide-open Tyler Seguin. Murray then slid to his left to made back-to-back pad saves on Seguin:

... leading to this reaction from Tristan Jarry on the bench:

"It was a little two-on-one," Murray recalled after the game. "The guy shot it, I got a piece of it off the post behind me and just tried to get something over there."

"In that second period (the Stars) got a couple of (chances) in flurries," Mike Sullivan said. "Matt came up big for us. That's what he does. He makes key saves at key times during games that give us a chance to win. He did it again for us tonight."

The Penguins would tie the game two minutes later.

The second standout moment came with just over a minute remaining in the game.

The Penguins were clinging to a one-goal lead, and the Stars pulled Anton Khudobin for the extra attacker. Stars defenseman Andrej Sekera fired a shot from the blue line, and Joe Pavelski redirected it in front of the net. Murray was sliding in the direction of Sekera's initial shot, but extended his foot at the last moment just enough to catch Pavelski's redirect and knock it into the post:

Kris Letang put the puck into the Stars' empty net 30 seconds later to seal the win. Murray finished the night with 22 saves on 24 shots.

"That's all I try to do is make every save that I can, no matter what time of the game," Murray said of his performance. "I feel like that's what my job is."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

[caption id="attachment_903934" align="aligncenter" width="1000"] Penguins vs. Stars, PPG Paints Arena, Oct. 18, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS[/caption]

To continue reading, log into your account: