MURRAY READY FOR “CHRISTMAS” AS PENGUINS BEGIN BID FOR THREE-PEAT

Matt Murray doesn’t keep track of the numbers, which makes it easier for the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender to not get caught up in them.

His goals-against average? No clue. Save percentage? Nope. Pittsburgh’s record during an occasionally uneven regular season for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions? Give Murray a phone, and he’ll probably be able to look it up, but otherwise he’s just guessing.

“For a goalie, it’s not based on how many goals you let in or how many goals get past you or don’t or how many saves you make,” Murray said. “It’s not about that. It’s about how you feel.”

And despite a physically and personally draining six months that included multiple extended absences because of injuries and the loss of his father Jim in January, the 23-year-old insists he will be ready when the Penguins open the first round of the playoffs against Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

“I still pinch myself every day I get to be a part of something like this,” Murray said. “It’s so exciting. It’s like Christmas.”

Even if Murray’s first full season as Pittsburgh’s firmly established No. 1 goalie hardly felt like a holiday at times. He missed two weeks in November with a lower-body injury.

A concussion suffered after taking a shot off the mask in practice in February cost him another three weeks. He took a leave to be with his family following his father’s death, but returned eager to get back to the rink that he’s long considered a sanctuary.

Murray started 45 games and appeared in 49, the fewest by the Penguins’ top goaltender in a decade.

Michigan State student files lawsuit.

A female student said Michigan State subjected her to a “hostile educational environment,” failed to advise her of her rights and did not offer adequate resources for help after she told counselors in 2015 that three Spartans men’s basketball players had raped her.

The allegations were made in a lawsuit filed Monday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan that also states the woman suffered severe emotional distress and had to temporarily withdraw from classes, change her major, seek psychiatric help and constantly fear running into the three men on campus as a result of the incident and the school’s failure to properly respond.

Neither the woman, who is a current student, nor the three players, who are no longer at the Big Ten school, were named in the lawsuit. Her attorney said the players are not being named because the focus of the lawsuit is “with the way she was treated by the university.”

Air Force loses AD to California.

Air Force athletic director Jim Knowlton accepted the same position at the University of California.

Knowlton spent three years at Air Force and is credited with leading fundraising efforts for ongoing renovations at Falcon Stadium.

Mayweather bodyguard shot.

One of Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s bodyguards was shot early Monday as a group of three cars that included the boxing great was traveling to a hotel in Atlanta, according to the Atlanta Police Department.

The APD said police believe Mayweather was with the vehicles but was not in the car that was shot at and was not injured.

Olsen returns to mound for UCLA.

Jon Olsen was back on the mound less than a month after he was hit in the face by a line drive. Wearing a protective face mask, he started against Stanford on Sunday and allowed a home run and a single, struck out five and picked off a runner in three innings. UCLA won 7-2.

In the major polls, Florida (28-6) remains the consensus No. 1 team.