NEW YORK – When anticipation finally gave way to reality for Matt Murray, it was almost as if time folded on itself.
Who knew that he would think back to his childhood home in Thunder Bay, Ont., while standing under the famous roof at Madison Square Garden? The Pittsburgh Penguins goalie was on edge before his playoff debut.
But that was nothing new.
“I would get nervous watching on the couch when I was a kid and now I’m involved in the game, and starting my first playoff game,” Murray said Tuesday. “It was a pretty crazy moment. The butterflies were definitely going before the game, I was pretty nervous.”
He wouldn’t totally shake free of those feelings until a couple hours later, when Kris Letang fired a puck into the empty net with 13 seconds to play.
That sealed a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers and gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead in the series. It’s an advantage built on the first career playoff victories for two different goalies: Murray and Jeff Zatkoff.
It wasn’t until the afternoon of Game 3 that Murray got full clearance to start – a decision that came after internal debate about the merits of sending him in with only one full practice under his belt since having his head slammed into by Brayden Schenn’s hip 10 days ago.
“We were kind of on the fence whether or not I’d be able to go tonight just because I’ve had so little practice time,” Murray explained.
That the Penguins turned to him now says an awful lot about how they feel about the 21-year-old goaltender – not to mention how they felt about a swing game in this building with Henrik Lundqvist at the other end of the ice.
Those close to the team feel that Murray is the netminder of the future in Pittsburgh.
As long as Marc-Andre Fleury remains sidelined with a concussion he is also the organization’s goalie of the moment.
His teammates gave him an excellent chance at success on Tuesday, limiting the Rangers to just 17 shots on goal – not one of them coming in the final seven minutes of play. It was a stifling, complete performance.
“We didn’t get a lot done, and we have to get back to work,” said Rangers coach Alain Vigneault.
The game featured so much speed that it could have been played on the Autobahn, rather than at the world’s most famous arena, and Murray experienced the highs and lows typical of playoff hockey.
He displayed a calm demeanour in the crease, but there was a lot running through his mind.
“I was a little fired up there at the start of the game and got a little down at the start of the second period – I thought I could have had a lot better effort on (the Rick Nash) goal that went in – but I was able to shut it down after that,” said Murray. “So it was cool.”
Despite a paucity of NHL experience, his return to this series might tip the scales back in Pittsburgh’s direction. Murray was the best goaltender in the American Hockey League the last two years and has been on fire since supplanting Zatkoff last month – winning the last eight games he’s started and finished.
The Penguins weren’t the least bit surprised to see him shut the door after falling behind 1-0, giving them enough time to get goals from Sidney Crosby, Matt Cullen and Letang.
“He’s been good since the first day that he stepped into the net,” Cullen said of Murray. “It’s been impressive to watch him work.”
With the uncertainty surrounding this particular start, not to mention Pittsburgh’s desire to keep it quiet, he didn’t have time to tip off many family and friends that it was coming. There were no familiar faces among the sellout crowd as a result.
But there were plenty of folks watching back in Thunder Bay, and some will no doubt have an opportunity to come down now that he’s seized control of the crease.
There is no clear timetable on Fleury’s return, but the Penguins have to exercise extreme caution since he’s recovering from his second concussion this season. He didn’t even take part in Tuesday’s morning optional skate.
Instead they’ve passed the torch to a guy who appeared in playoff games for the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds two years ago and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last spring. It’s been quite a climb.
No wonder he had so much running through his mind after stepping on the ice here.
“That’s a pretty cool moment, a pretty cool thing to go through,” said Murray. “So I just wanted to soak it in and enjoy the moment. I was kind of looking around at all the blue lights out there (in the crowd) during the anthem.
“I just had to kind of say to myself: ‘This is it. You’re in the playoffs in the NHL.’ ”
It’s his time.