Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray returns to Pittsburgh

Tuesday’s game at PPG Paints Arena was significant for Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray.

After all, it was only his second game of the season.

Hobbled since suffering a groin injury — an adductor tendon — during a morning skate Oct. 15 in Toronto, Murray was activated from long-term injured reserve Tuesday after rehabilitating back into game shape.

So the gravity of this contest was clear.

Also, there was the matter of playing his first game as a visitor in the venue where he spent the best years of his career, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships in 2016 and 2017.

Murray, 28, largely downplayed the significance of his first game in Pittsburgh since leaving the Penguins in 2020 when speaking with media in Toronto on Monday.

“It’s always nice to get back there and see a lot of people that I obviously spent a lot of time with,” Murray said. “Even some of the security guys in the building and people like that. Guys that took care of me when I was there. Really cool to see those kinds of people.”

His former teammates with the Penguins were a bit more expressive over his return.

“It’s always good to see him,” said Penguins forward Bryan Rust, also a member of each of those championship squads. “He’s a good friend of mine. We came into the (American Hockey League) together, came up to the NHL together. It’s always fun to see him.

“But hopefully not too much fun for him.”

It has been two-plus years since the fun in Pittsburgh came to an end for Murray. In October 2020, the Penguins traded their would-be franchise goaltender because of financial interests as well as Murray’s stagnant level of play.

With the pandemic wreaking havoc on the NHL’s finances (including the salary cap), the Penguins opted to retain the restricted free agent rights of goaltender Tristan Jarry and dealt Murray, also as a restricted free agent at the time, to the Ottawa Senators for a handful of future assets.

Essentially, Jarry was a rising and cheaper asset while Murray was bound to merit a more lucrative contract despite having largely failed to match the success he enjoyed as a rookie in winning a championship.

Murray’s last game at PPG Paints Arena with the Penguins was a 5-2 loss to the rival Washington Capitals on March 7, 2020. A few days later, the NHL (and, to a larger degree, the world) was shut down by the pandemic. Roughly seven months after that, Murray was jettisoned to the Senators.

Because of border restrictions implemented in response to covid-19, Canadian teams did not play American teams during the 2020-21 regular season. Then, during the 2021-22 campaign, Murray was sidelined with an injury for the Senators’ only road game against the Penguins on Jan. 20.

Despite his absence, the Penguins still offered their customary recognition of returning Stanley Cup champions to Murray during the contest.

“His play and his body of work that he built here in Pittsburgh, I think, speaks for itself as far as the impact that he had in helping us win back-to-back (championships),” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “He was a significant part of it. He’s a really good goaltender and showing an ability to play in a high-stakes environment like that a young age, I think, just speaks volumes for his character and the competitive athlete that he is.”

Murray recuperated in time for the final meeting of the 2021-22 season between the Penguins and Senators at Canadian Tire Centre on Feb. 10. He was brilliant in that contest as he allowed only one goal on 43 shots in a 2-0 loss (the second goal was on an empty net).

“He was pretty good,” Rust said of that game. “We’d like to hopefully change the script on that one.”

Moments of success were far too infrequent for Murray in his two seasons with the Senators, however. Much like his final years with the Penguins, injuries largely derailed his existence in Ottawa.

Appearing in only 47 games over two seasons with the Senators, Murray had a 15-25-3 record, along with a 3.23 goals against average, an. 899 save percentage and three shutouts.

The Senators, a franchise in a seemingly never-ending rebuilding project, opted to part ways with Murray and dealt him in July to the Maple Leafs, a franchise 55 years removed from a Stanley Cup title.

Any ambitions the two-time Stanley Cup champion would bring similar success to Toronto got off to a rocky start as Murray allowed four goals on 23 shots to the Montreal Canadiens in a 4-3 road loss in his Maple Leafs debut on Oct. 12.

Three days later, Murray was, once again, injured.

One month later, he was back in net and back in Pittsburgh trying to get his season — and perhaps his career — back on track.

“Matt Murray is a big part of our team,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “To have him back healthy and get him an opportunity to get back in the net and get rolling, that’s important for us. It’s really good to see that he’s come back here on the early side of his timeline. It was kind of that four- to six-week type of deal. He put in a lot of hard work. The medical team took care of him and pushed him hard. He looks very much ready.

“We’ve given him a few extra days here and the addition of (Monday’s) practice to add to his workload so that he’s all the more prepared and making sure that he’s 100%. When I say 100%, there’s the physical part of it with the actual injury then there’s getting in the net and stopping pucks and getting into your routine and feeling confident that you can go and perform at your best.”

Murray, who always seems to guard his true feelings, acknowledges Tuesday’s game would be unique for him.

“I always enjoy going back to Pittsburgh and seeing people that I haven’t seen in quite some time,” Murray said. “I’ll be looking forward to that. Other than that, just keep going forward one day at a time.”

His former teammates knew what to expect from Murray.

“Just a great competitor and great teammate,” Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson said. “You can see his fire when he’s in the net. He wants to do so well all the time.”

Follow the Penguins all season long.