Pens goalie Murray put on IR
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, PA. The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to try to shake out of their early season funk without goalie Matt Murray.
The two-time defending Stanley Cup champions placed Murray on injured reserve Tuesday with a lower-body injury.
Coach Mike Sullivan called Murray “week to week” after the 23-year-old left Monday night’s 5-4 overtime win over Philadelphia in the second period following a collision with Flyers forward Jakub Voracek.
Voracek lost his edge while finishing off a breakaway attempt and crashed into Murray, forcing the back of the goaltender’s right leg into the goalpost.
Murray was on the ice for several minutes before making his way to the bench and limping down the runway to the locker-room while favouring his right leg.
Tristan Jarry came in and stopped 8 of 10 shots as the Penguins rallied from a two-goal deficit to win. Jarry, a 22-year-old rookie, is 2-0-2 with a 2.83 goalsagainst average in limited play this season. He is expected to take over the bulk of the workload during Murray’s absence. Pittsburgh begins a home-and-home series with Buffalo on Friday. The Penguins called up Casey DeSmith from their American Hockey League affiliate in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to serve as Jarry’s backup.
Murray is 11-7-1 with a 2.95 GAA this season. He helped the Penguins become the first franchise in nearly 20 years to win consecutive Stanley Cups in June and became the No. 1 goaltender when Pittsburgh lost Marc-Andre Fleury to Vegas in the expansion draft.
Pittsburgh acquired veteran Antti Niemi to serve as Murray’s backup, but the experiment lasted less than a month before Niemi was waived due to poor play.
Sullivan downplayed questions about the slim six-foot-four, 178-pound Murray’s durability. Murray missed time last season with a hand injury and a concussion. His 21 appearances this season are tops in the NHL.
The Penguins are tied with Washington for fourth in the Metropolitan Division more than a quarter of the way through the season.