Murray ready for the workload
Matt Murray is feeling right at home in his new home.
Now, it's time to get down to business.
The Senators will get their first look at their biggest acquisition in the off-season when Murray faces the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday night in the first round of the Battle of Ontario at the Canadian Tire Centre to open the long-awaited campaign.
Murray, 26, a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Pittsburgh Penguins who was acquired in the NHL draft in October, was brought in by general manager Pierre Dorion, coach D.J. Smith and goalie coach Pierre Groulx to give the club a presence in the net.
He spent seven seasons with the Penguins and this will be the first time he's pulled on the jersey of another team. At this point, Murray hasn't sat down with Ottawa staff and mapped out a schedule of how much he's going to play.
In a normal season with the Penguins, he played about 50 games. But this season is only a 56-game schedule compressed into 113 days, so there will be lots of backto-backs or three games in four nights. That means backup Marcus Hogberg, who had 5-8-8 record in 24 games last season with Ottawa, will see some action as well.
“This year is a strange season. My job is to be ready to play whenever my name is called,” Murray said. “I don't make the decision who plays. That's up to (the coaching staff ). I'm just going to do what I can control, and that's to try to be ready whenever my name gets called.
“I've played back-to-back in the past. This year, with a little bit less travel, it might help a little in that regard because most of the time when you play back-to-back, it's probably going to be in the same city.”
Murray has a 3-3-1 lifetime record in eight career games against the Leafs, with a .926 save percentage and a 2.51 goals-against average. Part of the tune-up didn't include exhibition games, but you're not about to find Murray complaining because everybody's in the same boat.
“I'm good, either way,” he said. “We've been playing a lot of scrimmages here. Even before our camp started, we were scrimmaging quite a bit and just trying to get back into that game timing. It's difficult to do, but it's a strange year with no exhibition games, and that's just how it's going to be.”
OFF THE GLASS
Former Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson signed a one-year deal with the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. The 39-year-old Anderson was placed on waivers after he agreed to the one-year, US$700,000 deal with the Caps, and if he clears, he'll be on the club's taxi squad to start the season. … The Vegas Golden Knights named former Senators winger Mark Stone as their first captain Wednesday. “I'm extremely happy for Mark. We're proud of him and think he's going to do a tremendous job for our team. He's a very respected player,” Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon said. “He's had nine full years as pro, he plays at an extremely high level every night. You see the passion and commitment he has to being the best he can be..”