Penguins to start Matt Murray against Bruins
The Penguins will start goaltender Matt Murray against the Boston Bruins Sunday at PPG Paints Arena according to coach Mike Sullivan.
Murray has appeared in 26 games this season and has a 14-6-4 record along with a 2.84 goals against average, an .899 save percentage and one shutout.
Murray is in the midst of a four-game winning streak and has won five of his past six games.
During Thursday’s 4-1 road loss to the Bruins in TD Garden, Tristan Jarry was in net and allowed three goals on 29 shots.
“There are times during the season when some goaltenders get hot and they help their teams win,” Sullivan said. “We’re fortunate to have two quality goaltenders like we have, two guys that we think give us a chance to win each and every night. We’re going to try to make the best decisions for the team that can help us win games. One of the benefits is that their workloads are very reasonable. We think that’s a huge benefit to our team, especially when you look at the schedule that we’re going through right now where the games are so condensed.”
The Penguins have split their goaltending duties fairly evenly this season as Jarry, who was named to the NHL’s All-Star Game event later this month, has played in 24 games this season.
A division of labor among goaltenders is nothing unique to the Penguins.
“When you look at how the league has gone, there’s not a lot of guys that go wire to wire in goal,” Sullivan said. “There’s a lot of teams that are using two goaltenders. And I think it’s out of necessity based on the way the game is being played, the schedule. There’s a lot teams that have done it. We’ve done it in the last few seasons. Since I’ve been here, we’ve done it. We’ve used to guys. If you have the capability to do it and you have quality guys, then it can be a competitive advantage for your team.”
Notes:
• The Bruins are expected to start long-time Penguins nemesis Jaroslav Halak in net. Appearing in 22 games this season, Halak has an 11-5-6 record along with a 2.42 goals against average, a .921 save percentage and three shutouts.
During Thursday’s victory against the Penguins, Halak made 29 saves on 30 shots.
• Bruins forward David Krejci is expected to miss his second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury.
Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.
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