Matt Murray had one of the best performances of his career in Philadelphia on Monday night stopping 50 of 51 shots.
He followed that up with another gem on Wednesday in a 3-1 win over the Oilers, stopping 38 of 39.
To top that, he was able to neutralize the Oilers' top line of Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl, and Zach Kassian, who contributed 16 shots, their lone goal coming when McDavid and Draisaitl connected on this two-on-one:
But, Murray's brightest moment came with 2:35 remaining in the second period: With the Penguins clinging to a one-goal lead, McDavid was awarded a penalty shot.
McDavid had yet to attempt a penalty shot this season, but was 2-for-3 in shootout attempts. He had attempted penalty shots twice before in his career -- the first, in Oct. 2016, against Calgary. He scored on that one. In his second attempt, against the Islanders in March 2018, he was stopped.
Regardless of McDavid's relative inexperience in penalty shots, the second-best player in the world all alone on a breakaway is a huge threat.
Murray easily made the save:
"Just try to stay aggressive, stay patient like always," Murray said of his mindset.
To be fair, McDavid came in awfully slow. As fast as he is, he could have pulled off that move at a much higher speed and may have been successful. He aimed for Murray's glove side, and probably didn't elevate the puck as much as he would have liked:
Straight into Murray's glove.
McDavid didn't use his speed, but the way he carried the puck made his shot unpredictable.
"He's really good at that move that he did there, where he comes in and drags it to the middle," Murray said of the shot. "He's carrying the puck behind him, he can pretty much do anything from there. It's tough. He can switch his angle, he can do a lot."
In the Oilers' film study prior to the game, it was probably pointed out that Murray's glove hand can be his weak side at times. Maybe that's why McDavid chose to go glove-side. Murray was asked afterward if he gained any extra satisfaction from the save being made on that side.
"I don't care, man," Murray said. "I don't care. I just try to make saves."
Fair enough.
The Penguins did their own film study on McDavid prior to the game, but Murray didn't let that affect his own move too much.
"You can pre-scout all you want, but he's not necessarily going to do what he does in the pre-scout," said Murray. "He's got 100 different moves in his arsenal. He's the best player in the world."
“It was a move I’ve been trying to do,” McDavid said when asked about his shot selection. “I think maybe he knew I was going to do it. So, have to find something new. ... Goalies are smart guys.”
After back-to-back stellar performances in which he's made a combined 88 saves on 90 shots, Murray feels the team has more confidence in these close games moving forward.
"It's good to close them out, for sure," he said. "... We can play good defensively and get our chances, and win 2-1 and that's important, especially going into this time of the year heading down the stretch. The game tends to tighten up. Teams aren't opening up much and don't give you too many chances. We need to be comfortable playing in games like that."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Matt Murray
Penguins goaltender
38 saves on 39 shots, 88 on 90 over the last two. That's good.
2. Teddy Blueger
Penguins forward
Never scratch the kid again. More in The Call section below.
3. Connor McDavid
Oilers center
He was held to just one assist, but his pure skill was evident. He was flying all game. Now, if he only had a full supporting cast.
THE INJURIES
• Olli Maatta, defenseman, was placed on injured reserve with a separated shoulder and is out indefinitely. He watched this game from the press box with his arm in a sling.
• Justin Schultz, defenseman, has been a full participant in practices lately and is working towards a return. He’s been out since Oct. 13 after suffering a fractured ankle.
THE GOOD
After each game, the Penguins' player of the game is awarded the team gladiator helmet. The previous winner chooses the next winner, and it gets passed on.
After this win, the gladiator helmet was sitting in the locker stall of Chad Ruhwedel.
With Maatta injured, Ruhwedel appeared in his first NHL game since Nov. 19, and his first game of any kind since his three-game AHL conditioning stint over a month ago. He was slotted into the third pairing with Marcus Pettersson, but ended up earning the fourth-most time on ice of any defenseman with 19:45, including 1:42 on the penalty-kill.
If he felt rusty from all that time off, he didn't show it on the ice, registering three shots on goal, four hits and four blocked shots.
"He played great," Brian Dumoulin said of Ruhwedel. "It's not easy. He hasn't played in a long time. He stepped up and played really solid for us. He's such a good-skating defenseman. It's good to see him step in and play huge for us tonight."
THE BAD
Is there a rule somewhere that says this section has to be about the Penguins?
No? OK, cool. The Oilers are bad. That's it.
In all seriousness, it's a shame to see McDavid's greatness wasted on this team. He's a generational talent, his linemate Leon Draisaitl is pretty incredible himself, and then it's a massive dropoff from there.
Hell, toward the end of the game, Ken Hitchcock was essentially just running his top two lines. The likes of Tobias Rieder, Colby Cave and Ty Rattie only saw about eight minutes each. McDavid played 25 minutes and some change. That's more like the time-on-ice of a top defenseman. He's not out there pacing himself either, he's flying all game:
With all the high draft picks the Oilers have had over the years, this team should be outstanding. At some point the league should have stepped in and saved Peter Chiarelli from himself. He's gone now, but it's going to take some time for the Oilers to get out of this hole.
At least we get all-too-real memes like this in the meantime:
— i miss dougie hamilton (@RaminaShlah) January 20, 2019
THE PLAY
The Penguins went on the penalty-kill early in the second period after Tanner Pearson closed his hand on the puck.
Thirty-five seconds into the Oilers' power play, Bryan Rust did this:
Rust drove to the net for the initial chance, and Matt Cullen circled around before feeding the puck back to Rust, who finished it off with a backhand chance to tie the game.
"The first shot was kind of embarrassing," Rust chuckled. "But I stayed with it, Cully made a nice play, and I was able to sneak it in there."
It was Rust's 16th goal, setting a career high. It was also his second short-handed goal, and the Penguins' third short-handed goal in four games. The Penguins now have nine short-handed goals this season. third-most in the league.
"You've just got to work hard and pay attention to those details on the kill," Rust said of his and the team's success shorthanded.
THE CALL
With Zach Aston-Reese returning to the lineup, Sullivan made the call to scratch Dominik Simon and put Teddy Blueger back in the lineup, playing left wing on the third line.
The decision paid off, with Blueger scoring his third career goal in just his seventh game, that off an unusual, elevated flick from Kris Letang below the goal line:
"Obviously it's big," Blueger said of his goal. "It probably helps a bit to fit in a little more, to feel like you're contributing and helping the team win. Scoring at any level is huge, but especially here, goals are so hard to come by. Every one is special, I try to enjoy them and make the most of it."
Sullivan didn't want to explain why Blueger sat out in Philadelphia, only saying that there were "a number of reasons."
Moving forward, it sounds like Blueger won't be seeing much of the press box.
"Teddy's made a strong case for himself, he's played extremely well," Sullivan said after this game. "I told him that when we took him out of the lineup in the last game. That was a real tough decision by the coaching staff. I spoke to Teddy about that, and I told him just to control what he can and trust us, and he's going to be a part of this thing. He's a real good player."
The coaching staff will have to make more of those tough decisions once Evgeni Malkin returns from his one-game suspension on Saturday. Sullivan also heavily praised the work of the fourth line of Aston-Reese, Matt Cullen and Garrett Wilson following the game. He could break up that line, or potentially scratch Pearson.
That'll be a tough call.
THE OTHER SIDE
Four minutes. To hear the Oilers tell it, that's what cost them a desperately needed victory. The second-period goals from Rust and Blueger ruined what Hitchcock felt was otherwise a strong effort.
"That's the first time since I've been here that we played an 'A' game and haven't gotten points," said Hitchcock, interim coach since late November. "We did a lot of things awfully well tonight."
The one thing the Oilers did not do very well was protect the puck on the power play. The Penguins can certainly relate to that. They've given up a dozen short-handed goals. Rust's goal at the 2:30 mark, was the fifth that Edmonton has surrendered.
"I can't be happy for that goal," said Mikko Koskinen, who gave up three goals on 34 shots. "Makes it really hard when you lose a game 2-1 when you allow a goal like that by. Can't take it back. You have to move on and try to find a way to win."
The Oilers are 1-6-2 in their last nine to fall six points out of the final wild card spot in the West. Wednesday's game was the first in a three-game road trip that will take them to Raleigh on Friday, Brooklyn on Saturday. -- Chris Bradford
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice Thursday at noon in Cranberry. I'll take that. They have a Friday practice scheduled in Cranberry at 11 a.m. The Penguins have back-to-back home matinees this weekend at PPG Paints Arena, facing the Flames on Saturday at 1 p.m., then the Rangers on Sunday at 12:30 p.m. Bradford and Dejan will take those.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our Penguins team page for everything.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Oilers, PPG Paints Arena, Feb. 13, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS____________________
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