Is Matt Murray struggling in net during Penguins training camp?
Our TribLIVE colleague Mark Madden had an interesting Penguins nugget about the goaltenders on his radio show on 105.9 The X Wednesday.
Madden said that he has been getting Twitter direct messages and reports from some colleagues in the media who have been attending Penguins “Phase 3” training camp practices in Cranberry.
“It’s only three days but, by most accounts, (Tristan) Jarry has been outplaying (Matt) Murray. And, furthermore, Murray hasn’t been looking great,” Madden said during the 5 p.m. hour of his show.
I’d love to add my own opinion on that bit of news. But media presence is limited to one person per outlet. Thankfully, our Penguins beat guy Seth Rorabaugh is the Trib’s man on the scene. So he can to be our eyes.
I brought him onboard for the “Breakfast With Benz” podcast Thursday to get his assessment.
“I can’t say that I’ve really noticed any sort of difference between the two goaltenders based on what we have,” Rorabaugh said. “What we have watched so far is a lot of drills.
“I can’t sit there and say one goalie is doing all that much better than the other when it’s really such an artificial environment in the confines of practice. If someone is watching it a little more intently than I am, I wouldn’t dispute it. But I can’t say that one goalie has stood out negatively or positively as opposed to the other one.”
One thing Rorabaugh did point out is that he has noticed Murray more often between the pipes when facing some of the Penguins top-line players during those drills. So maybe that is skewing the perception that he is struggling.
“I’d say that’s by design,” Rorabaugh added. “I don’t think that’s something you want to chisel in stone that Murray is going to be the starter in Game 1 against the Montreal Canadiens at 8 p.m. on Aug.1 based off that. But it would suggest how things are stacked in terms of the hierarchy.”
However, Rorabaugh said he does expect a 50-50 split of time between Murray and Jarry when the Penguins play the Philadelphia Flyers on July 28 in Toronto for a warmup game.
The two of us also discuss how the team plans to keep both goalies safe from the coronavirus and emergency policies if they both get sick. Plus, we dive into some of the brimming optimism surrounding the team, the media coverage restrictions, and the absence of those nine players who are being cordoned off in case of covid-19 infection.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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