Murray stops 19 in 4-1 win
“My game’s been there, but I just haven’t been making those timely saves in the last couple of weeks. … It was a really good bounceback game for everybody.”
A timely one, too, because the victory was the Penguins’ second in a row, snapped a three-game losing streak on the road and raised their record to 28-115.
That’s good for third place in the Metropolitan Division, three points behind Columbus and Washington.
Solid as he was, Murray rarely had to be spectacular because of the way the Penguins performed in front of him.
They gave up few highquality scoring chances, and actually blocked as many shots — 20 — as the Canadiens got on net.
“That was a good, strong team effort, in every facet of the game,” Murray said. “We were blocking shots. Guys were sacrificing themselves to block shots.
“We didn’t take too many penalties, which was awesome, and we played on the right side of the puck.”
That required an 18-man effort in front of Murray, and the Penguins came through with one.
Not always entertaining, necessarily, but certainly effective.
“I thought the [defense] had great sticks, great gaps,” defenseman Ian Cole said. “I loved to say Chad [Ruhwedel] and Cam [Gaunce] step in and played strong hockey, and I thought our forwards were great.
“They transitioned well, and came back and helped us out. … The stronger we can play defensively, the better off we’re going to be in the long run.”
Cole put the Penguins in front to stay, 1-0, when he beat Montreal goalie Carey Price from inside the left circle for his third of the season at 14:52 of the opening period.
Eric Fehr (5:19) and Jake Guentzel (17:38) ran their lead to 3-0 in the second before Artturi Lehkonen beat Murray from in front of the net at 18:11 to spoil his shutout bid.
That’s all Lehkonen’s goal accomplished, though, and Olli Maatta gave the Penguins their final margin of victory by scoring at 15:36 of the third.
Canadiens coach Michel Therrien praised the Penguins as a quality opponent and the defending Stanley Cup champions, but didn’t try to hide his frustration with the Canadiens’ showing.
“We didn’t compete,” Therrien said. “Our focus was not quite there. A disappointing night.”
Fehr, whose goal was the game-winner, allowed that “it’s nice to score,” but took more satisfaction out of the strong two-way game he and linemates Chris Kunitz and Scott Wilson turned in.
“I liked the way our line played,” Fehr said. “We had good energy. We recovered pucks well. I just liked the way we played, as a line.”
And, yeah, he liked the way Matt Murray played as a goalie, too.
Dave Molinari: Dmolinari@Post-Gazette.com and Twitter @MolinariPG.