Penguins to start Matt Murray in Game 1 against Canadiens
The Penguins will start goaltender Matt Murray in Game 1 of their qualifying round game against the Montreal Canadiens tonight at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, according to coach Mike Sullivan.
A vital member of the Penguins’ last two Stanley Cup championship teams in 2016 and 2017, Murray has considerably more playoff experience than fellow goaltender Tristan Jarry.
In 48 career playoff games, Murray has a 28-19 record along with a 2.16 goals-against average, a .921 save percentage and six shutouts.
Jarry’s NHL postseason resume has been limited to dressing as a backup for a handful of games.
“We believe we have two great goalies,” Sullivan said via video conference from Toronto. “And both of these guys are going to give us a chance to win. Matt has obviously shown an ability to be at his best when the stakes are high. That certainly should provide some confidence for him going into a playoff environment like this. But we’re fortunate to have the guys that we have. Matt has certainly shown an ability to be at his best this time of year. We’ll take each game as it comes, but we feel good about the goaltending tandem we have.”
In 38 games during the regular season, Murray had a 20-11-5 record along with a 2.87 goals-against average, an .899 save percentage and one shutout.
Jarry, who was selected to January’s All-Star Game event, appeared in 33 games during the regular season and had a 20-12-1 record along with a 2.43 goals-against average, a .921 save percentage and three shutouts.
Notes:
• The Penguins did not hold a morning skate. According to the team, the Penguins’ lines and pairings in practice on Friday were:
59 Jake Guentzel - 87 Sidney Crosby - 43 Conor Sheary
16 Jason Zucker - 71 Evgeni Malkin - 17 Bryan Bryan
12 Patrick Marleau - 19 Jared McCann - 72 Patric Hornqvist
46 Zach Aston-Reese - 53 Teddy Blueger - 13 Brandon Tanev
8 Brian Dumoulin - 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson - 6 John Marino
3 Jack Johnson - 4 Justin Schultz
• The Canadiens’ expected lines and pairs are:
90 Tomas Tatar - 24 Philip Danault - 11 Brendan Gallagher
92 Jonathan Drouin - 14 Nick Suzuki - 40 Joel Armia
41 Paul Byron - 15 Jesperi Kotkaniemi - 62 Artturi Lehkonen
22 Dale Weise - 13 Maxi Domi - 43 Jordan Weal
8 Ben Chiarot - 6 Shea Weber
17 Brett Kulak - 26 Jeff Petry
61 Xavier Ouellet - 53 Victor Mete
• Goaltender Carey Price is scheduled to start in net for the Canadiens. In 58 games during the regular season, Price had a 27-25-6 record along with a 2.79 goals against average, a .909 save percentage and four shutouts.
• As the fifth seed in this tournament, the Penguins will be designated as the home team for Games 1, 2 and 5 (if necessary) against the Canadiens. As such, they will have the final changes before faceoffs in those games.
• This will be the Penguins first postseason game in Scotiabank Arena since they played the Maple Leafs in the 1999 Eastern Conference semifinal round.
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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