Goalie Murray looks on bright side
Senators goaltender wants to help lead turnaround, but he's off to a rough start
As the ugly numbers keep growing for Matt Murray, his teammates and the organization, the Ottawa Senators goaltender is putting up a brave face.
“It's a tough situation for sure, but I've been through stretches like this and I think most hockey players have,” Murray said in a Zoom call following the club's practice Monday in Edmonton, on the heels of Sunday's 8-5 loss to the Oilers.
“You've got to try to take the positives where you can find them. This is a really tough stretch, but the only way out is through. We're going to get through it together.”
Murray, who was pulled after allowing three goals on nine shots in the opening 7:20 against the Oilers, is the face of the eightgame losing streak, where the Senators have been outscored 41-17.
After being acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, the Senators signed him to a four-year, US$24 million contract in the belief he could paint over the cracks of the rebuilding team in front of him. So far, not so good.
Of course it's not all on Murray. In the blink of a knuckle puck — a Dominik Kahun shot deflected off Josh Norris' stick and floated over Murray's head into the net eight seconds into Sunday's contest — the Senators were chasing the game.
The defence around him also had no answers in trying to slow down Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid, who combined for 11 points. By the first minute of the second period, the Oilers had six goals, four of them on the power play.
Add up that and a few other long nights, though, and Murray owns a 4.82 goals-against average and an .849 save percentage, the worst numbers of all NHL No. 1 goaltenders. Backup Marcus Hogberg, who allowed five goals on 21 shots in relief against the Oilers, is in the same ballpark, with a 4.71 GAA and .845 save percentage.
In a world where a save percentage below .900 is usually cause for concern, the Senators are drowning, desperately looking for a life raft in the form of big saves at big times.
Immediately after the Sunday loss, coach D.J. Smith didn't completely discount the possibility of taking Joey Daccord off the taxi squad for Tuesday's rematch against the Oilers.
Smith was giving nothing away following the latest workout.
“We haven't decided yet as to what we're doing,” he said. “At this point, we just need a win to stop the bleeding. Whoever we're going to use has got to give us a game.”
At the same time, the coach was supporting Murray.
“He's out there fighting like everyone else,” said Smith. “He's a guy that's proud and he wants to be the guy that helps us get this going. He's going to do everything in his power to help us.”
As impossible as it might seem at this point — the Senators have been outscored 30-11 in the first five games of the current road trip — the team is preaching the power of positive thinking.
“We have such a young group, of course there are going to be growing pains,” Murray said. “I see the talent that is in this room, too. Even in a stretch like this, there are a lot of things to be positive about. You watch Timmy (Stuetzle) play (Sunday). You watch Brady (Tkachuk). You watch all these young guys play. We're still developing right now. We're still learning what it takes to win on a night to night basis, but there's a lot to be excited about, too.”
When Murray went to the bench after being hooked early, he says he was trying to be motivational.
“I just said, `Let's keep going boys and show some resilience,'” he said. “It's not a fun situation to be in, but to cave is not something you want to do.”
The early theme of the season is that the veterans brought in to insulate the prospects have struggled.
There are limited short-term options available. The only taxi squad members who have yet to play are Daccord, defenceman Jonathan Aspirot and winger Matthew Peca.
For players such as Logan Brown, Alex Formenton and/or Erik Brannstrom to be recalled from Belleville of the AHL, an existing roster player would have to be put on waivers.
With the roster at his disposal, Smith was talking Monday about the importance of cleaning up details, including better work on faceoffs, neutral zone play and penalty killing assignments. The days of yelling and throwing garbage cans around the dressing room to demand improvement are long gone.
“Everyone is fragile at this point,” he said. “You go into a season with expectations to be competitive every night and things haven't turned our way, but one thing in the world is that not everything is easy and when it's not, that's when you learn the most about yourself and your team and as a coach, as well.”
He says the Senators' best and brightest young players need to improve the fine details of their games to become dominant players, but that “negativity” isn't going to help them develop.
“They've got enough self pride and pressure they put on themselves. My job is to take pressure off them and let them play hockey and let them get better.”
Timely saves also have a way of taking pressure off fragile teams.
We're still learning what it takes to win on a night to night basis, but there's a lot to be excited about, too.