Penguins goalies in midst of massive turnaround
ST. PAUL, Minn. – In the span of 19 days, the Pittsburgh Penguins goaltending situation has gone from a big problem to the backbone of the team.
When the Penguins woke up the morning of Dec. 13, they had nothing but question marks in net.
Casey DeSmith had done some good things in the first two months of his first full NHL season, but the night before, he had given up four goals on 27 shots in a 6-3 loss to the last-place Chicago Blackhawks. Matt Murray, meanwhile, hadn’t played in a month due to a lower-body injury, and before the layoff, he had lost his last five starts.
Within days, everything changed.
On Dec. 15, Murray returned to the lineup and made 38 saves in a 4-3 overtime win over the Los Angeles Kings that included a handful of acrobatic stops in overtime.
Since then, the Penguins have the best goaltending tandem in the league.
Murray is 5-0 and his .959 save percentage during the span is third-best in the NHL. DeSmith is 2-1 with a .945 save percentage that ranks 10th best in the league.
The Penguins will carry a season-best six-game winning streak into Madison Square Garden to face the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. They haven’t been perfect during the streak. Far from it. But when the team has sagged, the goaltenders have topped each other in saving the day.
“It’s unspoken, but when I see him playing really well, I want to go out there and play well too,” DeSmith said. “Obviously I always want to play well, but it’s easier to kind of step in there and pick up where he left off rather than going in for a goalie who might be struggling.”
Having started five of the last seven games, Murray seems to have reestablished himself as the team’s No.1 goaltender. DeSmith is playing so well that coach Mike Sullivan is going out of his way to make sure he gets his time in net, too.
“They’ve got a nice, healthy competition amongst themselves right now and they’re both at their very best,” Sullivan said. “They’re making timely saves for us. They’re making saves at key times in the game that give us a chance to either maintain a lead or get momentum back.”
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Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Jonathan at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter @BombulieTrib.
Jonathan Bombulie is the TribLive assistant sports editor. A Greensburg native, he was a hockey reporter for two decades, covering the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins for 17 seasons before joining the Trib in 2015 and covering the Penguins for four seasons, including Stanley Cup championships in 2016-17. He can be reached at jbombulie@triblive.com.
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