Matt Murray's return 'a great experience' as he beats Penguins for 1st win with Toronto

Matt Murray has seen that kind of push from the Penguins in that building many times.

He knows what it looks like — and what it sounds like — when Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and company decide it’s time to put the pedal down.

It’s just that when Murray witnessed it, he had always been viewing the assault on the opposing team’s net — way down the ice in his own crease while wearing black and gold.

Not when he was trying to stem the tide himself.

Fortunately for the former Penguins goalie, he and his new team had enough fortitude to withstand the rally and get a win.

On what used to be Murray’s home ice.

Murray, a two-time Stanley Cup winner in Pittsburgh, made his first start as a member of a visiting team at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night. He and the Toronto Maple Leafs grabbed a 5-2 victory. Murray stopped 35 of 37 shots in the process.

“Tonight felt great,” Murray said. “It was great to be back. … I had a great time tonight. A great experience.”

For Murray, it was just his second appearance as a Maple Leaf. Acquired before the season via trade from Ottawa, Murray was Toronto’s opening night goalie. The club lost that game to the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3. Thanks to an adductor injury that followed three days later, Murray hadn’t played in a game since.

So his return to Pittsburgh was an emotionally heightened situation in many ways.

“A lot of the circumstances around the game were a little strange. My first game coming back from injury after four weeks. First time playing in this building (as a visitor). But it was a great experience and a great road win for our team,” Murray said.

For a while, it looked like Murray and the Leafs may romp to victory. A goal by Michael Bunting 11 seconds into the second period gave Toronto a 3-0 lead. But a goal by Rickard Rakell 43 seconds later and another by Crosby at the 2:38 mark suddenly got the Penguins back within one.

Maintaining the momentum, the Penguins nearly tied the game multiple times thereafter with good scoring chances, shots off the posts and loose pucks sitting behind Murray, waiting to be scored.

But it never happened.

“When they came with their storm in the second period, we weathered it,” Murray said. “They got two quick ones, but we shut it down after that. Kudos to everyone on this team. I thought we played our hearts out tonight.”

On one play, defenseman Jordie Benn twice stuffed Crosby’s attempts to poke in a puck that was wobbling in the blue paint.

His name is Jordie Benn and he robbed Sidney Crosby pic.twitter.com/dtNlDLYClx

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 16, 2022

“That’s just a great desperation play by him. He pulls one off the goal line at a time when they had all the momentum. To make a play like that, at that time, was a game-saver,” Murray said of Benn’s effort.

It’s not been an easy road for Murray since leaving Pittsburgh. The injuries and slipping play he endured in his last year here followed him to Ottawa, where he went 15-25-3 with a save percentage of just .899 and a goals against average of 3.23.

Then, after being traded to Toronto, he got hurt right away after losing his first game. So, given all that swirled around his start Tuesday night, it was a point of emphasis from Murray’s teammates to perform well for him as much as possible in hopes of getting him a victory in his former city.

“That was one of our main talks (Tuesday), trying to get that to happen,” Toronto forward Mitch Marner said. “He made a couple of unbelievable stops to keep us in this game. It’s always a big win when it is your first one for a team, especially when it is against an old team.”

It was that kind of support that gave Murray the offensive cushion he needed. And he provided plenty on the back end so that the Leafs could go hunting for an empty-netter and a multi-goal win. It was a formula that worked many times on that same sheet of ice in the past for Murray.

Just with a significantly different view.