Penguins notebook: History indicates Matt Murray primed for bounceback

UNIONDALE, N.Y. — Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Matt Murray has a mantra about the mental side of the game that he repeats all season long.

His focus is on stopping the next shot and nothing else.

Ask him about his mindset during any stretch of a game — from the moment after he allowed an important goal to the moment after his team gave him a multigoal lead and everything in between — and his answer always will be the same.

It’s about stopping the next shot.

This sometimes makes postgame interviews difficult.

It also is a perfect attitude for the playoffs.

It might be a coincidence Murray is 11-3 in the games immediately after a postseason loss in his career, but probably not.

“I think that’s what makes it so powerful,” Murray said. “If you can approach every single shot, every single game the same way, every single read, it’s just going to give you that base and that sort of consistency that you hope for and you’re looking for, and then you just kind of compete from there.”

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Going the wrong way

The Penguins opened practice Thursday afternoon at Nassau Coliseum with an unusual drill. Left-handed players switched sticks with teammates who shoot right-handed, and vice versa, then they played four-on-four for a while.

Coach Mike Sullivan said the drill wasn’t designed to work on anything in particular. It was just a fun icebreaker for the day after a tough playoff loss.

“It was more about just to boost the morale, have some fun, give the guys a chance to get a little bit of a sweat, then we get into the guts of the practice,” Sullivan said.

Murray said the most dangerous wrong-handed shooter on the team was Patric Hornqvist, who was flattered by the goalie’s compliment. He said his left-handed shot wasn’t bad, but his puck-handling was a disaster.

Bryan Rust was proud of his left-handed work, as well.

“Above average compared to the rest of the team,” he said.

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Five-man effort

While much of the onus for dealing with the New York Islanders’ pesky forecheck in Game 1 fell on the defensemen, Sullivan said he thinks there’s plenty of blame to go around.

“They play a straight-ahead game. They put pucks in, and they try to establish a forecheck and impose their physical presence and try to force turnovers,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to do a better job as a group trying to handle it. I don’t think the onus is just on defensemen. It’s a five-man collective effort.

“It starts in the neutral zone. We’ve got to do a better job with trying to impede their progress a little bit and give our defensemen a little bit more time. We need closer support. We need to communicate a little better. There’s a lot of things that we can be a little bit better at.”

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Tuning in

The broadcast of Game 1 between the Penguins and Islanders drew comparatively strong ratings for NBC Sports Network.

The station reported the game’s overnight rating of 0.52 tied the 2016 matchup between the Penguins and New York Rangers for the best opening-night rating in the last five years. It was up 12 percent on last year’s Penguins-Flyers opener.

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Prospect honored

Wilkes-Barre/Scranton defenseman Ethan Prow was named a second-team AHL All-Star.

Prow, a 26-year-old third-year pro out of St. Cloud State, led Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in scoring with 49 points in 72 games, including 18 goals.