PHILADELPHIA — Scoring on Penguins goaltender Matt Murray has been a mostly futile task for the Philadelphia Flyers through four games of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
It has been especially difficult at the start of games.
The Penguins beat the Flyers, 5-0, in Game 4 at Wells Fargo Center on Wednesday, and a big reason why was another strong first period delivered by Murray, who has made a habit of doing that in the games the Penguins have won.
Murray stopped all 10 shots the Flyers threw his way, including three in a push the Flyers made with about seven minutes left.
“Just trying to stop the puck,” Murray said of his mindset during the Flyers’ flurry. “Any time you have extended periods like that in your end zone, you have to get the job done and get a whistle and get a change. That was our mentality — to get the job done.”
Murray has gotten the job done in a big way in four first periods thus far, stopping 35 of 36 shots for a save percentage of .972.
“The guy’s playing unbelievable,” Jamie Oleksiak said. “You can’t say enough about him. It’s definitely fun to watch.”
What Murray did to the Flyers on Wednesday was especially demoralizing because Phil Kessel followed Murray’s strong showing with his first goal of the series, a key turn of events that quieted the Wells Fargo Center crowd.
Although, to be fair, it wasn’t as if the Flyers enjoyed a boatload of Grade-A chances. The shots they took were mostly from distance, as the Penguins did a good job of keeping the puck out of their scoring area.
“They had that one extended shift,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we defended pretty hard. For the most part, we kept the puck to the outside. We were in the shot lanes. I thought we stayed with it there.
“That’s an important aspect of our overall team game. We have to have the ability to defend. I think when our team defends hard, we can create offense off of our defense, but we become a much more difficult team to play against. I thought that was an example of it.”
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The biggest save Murray made came on Travis Konecny, who enjoyed a breakaway after he got out of the penalty box. Murray denied Konecny with his right pad.
In Game 1, Murray made a terrific lunging stop on Scott Laughton early on that Murray’s teammates lauded after the game. In Game 3, Murray thwarted a breakaway chance from rookie Nolan Patrick.
“Those are big points in the game,” Sullivan said. “You have to get that save if you’re going to win at this time of the year.”
Getting terrific goaltending has been an important trend dating to last year’s Stanley Cup final. In his past six playoff games, Murray is 5-1 with a 0.84 goals-against average with a .935 save percentage and four shutouts.
Murray’s game has gone completely quiet … in a good way.
He’s playing even bigger than his 6-4 frame. Rebounds are almost nonexistent. And he’s using his ability to anticipate to take away angles and make everything look easy.
Such tremendous play has been evident throughout games, but especially early. When the Flyers have had an opportunity to get a lead, Murray has been even better.
“He was solid again,” Kris Letang said. “That’s what Matt brings us. He’s so calm out there. When you’re getting bombed from every angle, he’s just so calm in his net and makes the key saves for us.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: April 19, 2018, 11:00 a.m.
