Who is Matt Murray going to be, anyhow?
Will he be Ken Dryden, destined for a long career as an elite National Hockey League netminder after taking the Pittsburgh Penguins to a Stanley Cup last spring with only 13 regular season games under his belt?
Or will he land on the Jim Carey, Steve Penney (and possibly) Andrew Hammond scrap heap, that metaphorical pile of goalies who shone for a brief moment in hockey history, then plummeted back to earth shortly thereafter?
Where the No. 1 job for Team North America is concerned, the Pittsburgh Penguins netminder may just have one 60-minute (or less) opportunity to answer that question Thursday night in Quebec City.
He’ll get the start in Team North America’s first pre-tournament game, and with that comes the chance to prove he’s the best of the three goalies here (including John Gibson and Connor Hellebuyck).
If he leaves the door open even a crack however, and Gibson shines in Game 2, there is a legitimate chance that Murray won’t see the nets again the rest of the tournament.
“It’s such a short tournament. It’s about who’s hot right now, not about who has more experience,” he said Tuesday after this team’s second practice at the Bell Centre.
Head coach Todd McLellan laid out his goaltending plan Tuesday. He wasn’t naming any names, but we read the tea leaves this way:
The presumed No. 1 (Murray) gets the first pre-tournament start. The next guy (Gibson) in line gets the second start. Whoever McLellan decides is going to be his No. 1 gets the third start next Wednesday in Pittsburgh versus the Czech Republic. Play well again and the crease will be his.
So if Murray shuts ‘em down in Quebec City Thursday, we believe he’ll own the nets for Team North America. It’s that kind of pressure that he handled just a few months ago, when the Penguins rode Murray to a Stanley Cup victory after he took an injured Marc-Andre Fleury’s job and never gave it back.
“To an extent I feel like a rookie. I’m definitely nowhere near where I want to be as a goalie, or as a person for that matter,” Murray began. “The biggest similarity (from now to last spring) is that every game is so important. When you lose a game in the playoffs you have to win the next one, if you want to win the series. Same thing here: You lose one, you’ve got to win every one you have left, basically. This is even more short-term.”
If we were to predict, I would say that Murray meets all the qualifications of a kid who will hang on to his level of play. He is thoughtful, intelligent, and clearly not big-headed about how he worked his way from an American League starter to a Conn Smythe Trophy finalist last season.
By the way, Matt. How exactly did that happen anyway?
“I don’t know how to answer that question, and I’ve been asked it one thousand times,” he said, shaking his head. “You know, I never look at results as a way to (assess) how well I am playing. Yes, we won the Stanley Cup, but the last two series I thought I was pretty mediocre. I was really good in the Washington series (Round 2), but after that I was good, but I didn’t do anything special.
“Just because we won the Cup it doesn’t mean I played as well as I think I should have.”
The Thunder Bay native and former Soo Greyhound started six of the seven Round 3 games against Tampa — collecting all four series wins — and played the entire Final against San Jose. In the end Murray’s NHL experience reads: 13 regular season games, 21 playoff games.
The kid who was cut twice from Canada’s National Junior team will still be eligible for the Calder Trophy this coming season.
“That was a team I always wanted to be a part of,” he said of a memory that still stings. “Yeah, that one hurt — being cut from two teams back to back.
“It wasn’t a good feeling. After that, I just don’t want to feel it again.”
He can’t get cut from this team, but after watching a Stanley Cup victory from the Penguins goal crease, Murray firmly wants to be The Man for Team North America.
“You make the team, but if you’re on the bench or in the stands, you’re not where you want to be.”
