Murray's superb start silences Flyers, critics

PHILADELPHIA —  There’s an old saying around these parts of South Philly: “It ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard ya can get hit and keep moving forward.”

Or something like that.

To be sure, the Penguins have certainly taken some hits along the way over the two previous springs. They have gotten knocked down a few times, even had a few bouts that have gone the distance.

No one, however, has landed a knockout blow on the two-time defending champions to date.

There are myriad reasons, of course, for the Penguins’ ability to absorb — and dole out — punishment. But is there anyone more resilient than Matt Murray?

Ask the Flyers.

There were two inevitabilities to Sunday’s Game 3 between the Penguins and their cross-state rivals in their first-round series.

The first was the Flyers, buoyed by an impressive performance in Game 2 and back home before their rabid faithful, would try to feed off the energy of their crowd.

Oh, and they did.

The second was, no matter how loud the crowd, intimidating the environment or the quality of opponent, there was no way Murray was going to lose this game. No way. He made 26 saves to backstop the Penguins, 5-1, and give his team a 2-1 series advantage.

Yeah, probably should have seen this one coming since, like, Friday. After his 10 career playoff losses, Murray has responded by going 9-1 in the following game with a 1.57 goals-against average and .938 save percentage. 

"Yeah, they're obviously a good team and they're going to have their chances," Murray said. "We just keep going with our game and stick to our game plan."

OK, maybe it wasn’t inevitable Murray would win Sunday afternoon, but it shouldn’t have been a surprise. It wasn’t to his coach when I asked about his goalie.

“Just his makeup, he’s such a battle-tested guy, he has a real quiet conviction about him,” Mike Sullivan said. “He knows he’s good. When a game doesn’t go the way he wants it to go, he always responds the right way. He’s shown that ability and it’s such a great attribute to have as a young athlete, especially a goaltender.”

As good as the Penguins goalie is at making himself look large in net or cutting down angles and tracking pucks, Murray’s greatest strength is between the ears. Goalies need short memories and thick skin, but Murray’s is made of rawhide.  Those traits are remarkable for a veteran, but rare in a 23-year-old.

It had been widely held the Penguins had two vulnerabilities in their quest for a threepeat: One was their goaltending, the other their penalty kill. The latter is still a bit of a concern, even after the Flyers went 0-for-6 in Game 3, but when your best penalty killer is also your goalie? Kind of kills two birds with one stone.

The question with Murray was would he be able to get back to his pre-concussion form? His latest injury sidelined him for much of March and his final eight regular-season starts were as inconsistent as his glove hand and the team around him.

Murray's Game 2 performance did little to counter that perception. In the third period of Friday night's game, Travis Konecny got a step on Chad Ruhwedel and did this:

So what happened just 90 seconds into Game 3? Nolan Patrick blew past Olli Maatta for a partial breakaway. The Flyers rookie, streaking down the right side, just as Konecny had, tried the same move, testing Murray's glove hand.  This time, a much different result:

That save, more than the 20-plus that followed, set the tone for Game 3. I asked Murray about this save in particular. The answer was, well, typical ...

Ho-hum. Yawn. Nothing to see here.

Clearly, Murray treasured this performance, silencing his doubters.

But there was more from Murray, particularly in that 10-minute opening salvo from the Flyers. Philadelphia dominated in shots and possession. This might have been a very different game if not for Murray, Justin Schultz was telling me:

As Schultz was saying, it wasn't just one save Murray had to make. Though the Flyers didn't have many shots early, each one was a Grade-A opportunity like this one from Travis Sanheim just 2 1/2 minutes in:

And then, 4:54 into the period, Jori Lehtera nearly connected with Scott Laughton in front, but again Murray flashed the right pad:

"I thought the Flyers came out with a lot of energy and we got a couple big saves from Matt at key times which gave us a chance to get in the game," Sullivan said. 

Yes, Crosby and Co. took it from there, but without Murray early on, the Penguins could have been down 3-0 or 4-0.

"That’s my job as a goalie is to stop the puck," Murray said matter of factly. "That’s what I try to do."

And that, as they say, "is how winning is done."

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY