Matt Murray (ice hockey)
Matthew Murray is a Canadian professional ice hockey goaltender who plays with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the National Hockey League.
Murray was selected by the Penguins in the third round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. In 2016, Murray won his first Stanley Cup championship as the starting goalie for the Penguins during the playoffs after having replaced then-starter Marc-Andre Fleury. Murray holds the NHL record for postseason wins by a rookie, with 22; he previously held the single postseason record for wins, tied with Patrick Roy and Cam Ward, but was surpassed by Jordan Binnington in 2019. In addition, he is the only goaltender in NHL history with two Stanley Cup wins as a rookie.
Playing career
Early career
Murray was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario and played his minor hockey with the Thunder Bay Minor Hockey Association. He spent his younger years playing AA before moving up to the Thunder Bay Kings AAA program.In his minor midget season, Murray led his Kings to a 3–2–0 record at the OHL Cup. That season with the Kings, Murray appeared in 40 games with a 2.28 GAA and 6 shutouts. He was subsequently selected in the 2nd round of the 2010 OHL Priority Selection by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
Murray played major junior hockey in the Ontario Hockey League with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds. On September 4, 2013, Murray was signed to a three-year entry-level contract with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh Penguins
During his first full professional season with the Penguins AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2014–15, on March 8, 2015, Murray set an AHL record for the longest shutout streak by not allowing any goals for 304 minutes and 11 seconds. The previous record of 268:17 was held by Barry Brust.On March 22, Murray recorded his tenth shutout of the season, breaking a record for rookie AHL goaltenders set by Gordie Bell in 1942–43. He would finish the regular season with 12 shutouts. Murray capped his standout rookie season by sweeping the AHL awards, he was selected to the AHL First All-Star Team and Rookie Team, while winning the Baz Bastien Memorial Award as the League's best goaltender and the Dudley "Red" Garrett Memorial Award as best rookie.
In the 2015–16 season, Murray was recalled from the AHL for the first time to the Pittsburgh Penguins on December 15, 2015 and made his NHL debut on December 19, 2015 in a 2–1 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes. Murray was recalled again by the Pittsburgh Penguins on February 21, 2016 and started nine games to finish the season.
On April 19, 2016 the 21-year old Murray made his NHL playoff debut, allowing just 1 goal as the Penguins defeated the New York Rangers 3–1. Two days later, on April 21, Murray recorded his first NHL playoff shutout in a 5–0 win over the Rangers.
Murray remained the starting goaltender throughout the playoffs upon replacing Jeff Zatkoff in game 3 of the first round. He was replaced by Marc-André Fleury just once after returning as the starter. He started all but one game of the remainder of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs, including every game of the 2016 Stanley Cup Finals. He became only the sixth starting rookie goaltender in the Cup Finals since 1976.
Murray was then re-signed by the Penguins to a three year contract with an annual average salary of $3.75 million.
To start the 2016–17 season, Murray was injured due to a broken hand sustained during international play. Following his return, he supplanted the veteran Fleury as the Penguins starter, and retained his elite form from his first year. During the season, he recorded 32 wins, a.923 save percentage, 2.41 GAA, and 4 shutouts. He finished within the top 10 of the NHL amongst qualifying goaltenders in wins, save percentage, and shutouts, while finishing 11th in GAA. This elite play allowed Murray to finish 4th in Calder Trophy voting for Rookie of the Year, and earned Murray a spot on the 2016–17 All-Rookie Team and the 2017 NHL All-Playoff Team.
He recorded his first NHL point on December 8, 2016, an assist on an empty net goal.
During warm-ups of Game 1 of the Penguins' first-round matchup versus the Columbus Blue Jackets in the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs, Murray was injured and Fleury took starting position. He saw his first action of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Ottawa Senators after Fleury was pulled. He recorded a shutout two games later, stopping all 25 shots he faced in a 7–0 win. A thrilling Game 7 OT win helped Murray and the Penguins reach the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row. Murray was the starter during Game 1 and 2, becoming the youngest goalie in franchise history to start a post-season game. Despite two solid starts in Game 1 and 2 against the Nashville Predators, Murray's game faltered in Games 3 and 4. As a result, there were speculations on who would start in Game 5. Murray was announced as the starter and stopped all 24 shots the Nashville Predators threw at him in a 6–0 win. Murray made 27 saves in Game 6, shutting out the Predators 2–0 and winning the Stanley Cup for the second consecutive season.
During the 2017–18 NHL season Murray sustained his second concussion during practice. On February 26, 2018, during practice, Murray was struck in the head with a puck shot by teammate and defenseman Olli Maatta and was forced to leave the session early. Murray had previously sustained a concussion in the 2015–16 season causing him to miss the first 2 games of the playoffs. Matt Murray returned from his February 2018 concussion, as the Penguins' starting goaltender, on March 20, 2018, against the New York Islanders. Murray allowed 4 goals in the Penguins' 4–1 loss during that game.
Murray recorded the longest playoff shutout streak in Penguins franchise history at 225:49. It started during Game 4 of the 2017 Stanley Cup Finals and ended in Game 2 of the Penguins' 2018 first round series against the Philadelphia Flyers, when Shayne Gostisbehere scored late in the first period. On April 18, 2018, Murray became the fastest goaltender to record 25 playoff wins in the NHL. On April 23, 2018, Murray was nominated for the King Clancy Memorial Trophy as a player who best exemplifies leadership qualities and gives back to in his community. Despite Murrays efforts, Pittsburgh ended up losing to the Washington Capitals in 6 games in the second round of the playoffs.
Murray was the starting goaltender for the Penguins to begin the 2018–19 season. After starting two games, Murray was diagnosed with a concussion following practice on October 8 and was ruled out indefinitely. He returned to the line-up on October 13 as a backup to Casey DeSmith only to be placed on injured reserve again in November due to a lower body injury.
Murray and the Penguins were swept by the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs; Murray recorded a 3.01 goals against average for the series.
On October 12, 2019, Murray recorded his 100th NHL win, a 7–4 victory over the Minnesota Wild; he accomplished the feat in only 166 games, tying Pete Peeters for seventh fastest since the 1967 expansion.
International play
Murray represented Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, as starting goalie. On September 19, he broke his hand playing against Russia but went undiagnosed for several days before getting an MRI and confirmed with a broken ligament.On April 29, 2019, Murray was named as the first choice goaltender to backstop Canada at the 2019 IIHF World Championship held in Slovakia. Recording 5 wins in 7 games, Murrary helped Canada progress through to the playoff rounds before losing the final to Finland to finish with the Silver Medal on May 26, 2019.
Personal life
Murray's father, who died in January 2018, was from Scotland and his mother is from the Netherlands.He married his high school sweetheart Christina Sirignano on June 20, 2019