SUNRISE, Fla. — “Two fifty-one?!?” Matt Murray asked. “How!?!”
The Penguins’ goaltender was astonished when a reporter informed him on Friday that Tom Barrasso holds the franchise mark for penalty minutes by a goaltender with the 251 he collected in 12 seasons with the Penguins.
Considering Barrasso was a fairly cantankerous soul who played in an much more combative era of hockey, it’s doubtful that mark will be falling anytime soon.
Especially considering Murray has all of eight penalty minutes in five seasons with the Penguins.
He recorded his first penalty in over a year on Thursday when he tripped Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli at 12:05 of the second period of Thursday’s 4-2 loss at Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla.
It turned out to be the proverbial “good” penalty as it denied Cirelli from potentially scoring on a goalmouth scramble.
(Video courtesy NHL)
Murray even appeared to have a bit of pride in the rare infraction.
“That was my only chance to keep it out of the net,” Murray said. “In that scenario, I’d do it again. That was the only chance I had. Thankfully, the guys did an unbelievable job and we killed off the penalty. It ended up saving a goal. It is what it is.”
