Murray finally back in net

Replaces Fleury early; Sullivan yet to think about Game 4 starter

OTTAWA, Ontario — Given their goalie split throughout the season, it might be a bit of a surprise the Penguins made it this far into the playoffs without any sort of goaltending controversy.

But now, 15 games in, Mike Sullivan has a decision on his hands.

Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled in favor of Matt Murray midway through the first period of Game 3 Wednesday night, after giving up four goals in the first 12:52 of the Penguins’ 5-1 loss to Ottawa.

After the game, Sullivan said he hasn’t given any consideration to who his starter will be in Game 4 Friday.

“Quite honestly, I haven’t even gotten there yet,” he said. “We’re still trying to digest this game that we just played. We’ll sleep on it and we’ll make decisions moving forward.”

Sullivan has avoided having to make this decision so far in these playoffs mostly because Murray hasn’t been available until recently.

He was hurt during pregame warmups of Game 1 in the first round against Columbus. Fleury stepped in and, generally, has excelled.

He gave up at least four goals four times — twice against the Blue Jackets and twice against Washington — but, at the time, the Penguins’ only other option would have been 22-year-old rookie Tristan Jarry, who has just one career start to his name.

Wednesday night could hardly have gone worse for Fleury, though, as he stopped just five of nine shots he faced as Ottawa surged to a 4-0 lead to put the game away early.

“They came hard, like we expected,” Fleury said. “They’re back home. They had a couple of weird bounces, lucky bounces.”

And now, Murray is available as an option to start Game 4 Friday. He was the Penguins starter for most of the season, starting 47 games to Fleury’s 34. Murray also put up better numbers than Fleury in the regular season. He posted a 2.41 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage, while Fleury put up a 3.02 goalsagainst average and a .909 save percentage.

Murray was also outstanding in the Penguins’ run to the Stanley Cup last year, going 15-6 in 21 playoff starts with a 2.08 goalsagainst average and a .923 save percentage.

Fleury, though, does have his postseason performance thus far — Wednesday night excepted — in his column. Coming into Wednesday night, he had posted a .931 save percentage in these playoffs, the second best of his career. He also came up big with shutouts in the Penguins’ Game 7 win against Washington, as well as their Game 2 win against Ottawa Monday night to even the series heading into Game 3.

While it certainly wasn’t Fleury’s fault alone for the Penguins’ disastrous start, Murray stepped in and gave up just one goal on 20 shots the rest of the way.

“It felt good,” Murray said. “Not the ideal circumstances by any means, but it felt good to try and shake some rust off a little bit. I definitely felt like I hadn’t played in about four weeks. It was good to get that out of the way, and it felt good to get back out there.”

Fleury said if his number is called again in Game 4, he’ll be ready to go.

“I think it’s important to learn from the mistakes and just put it behind you,” he said. “Forget about it, get ready for practice tomorrow, have some fun and get back at it.” Marc-Andre Fleury watched the final 47:08 of Game 3 from the bench.