Two hours before the puck dropped between the Penguins and Canucks at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday evening, Mike Sullivan announced that Matt Murray would be the starting goaltender.
"We try to make the most informed decisions that we can," Sullivan said of the decision. "We try to consider everything, then we figure out what is important and what isn’t. ... This is a week where we have four games in six nights and both guys are going to get work.”
Tristan Jarry had the hot hand prior to Wednesday. In his three starts over the previous 11 days, Jarry had posted a 3-0 record and a .962 save percentage, making a combined 100 saves on 104 shots in those games. In Murray's last three starts, he earned an 0-1-2 record, stopping a combined 76 of 87 shots for an .874 save percentage.
In the final minute of the second period, Jarry entered the game after Murray allowed four goals on 14 shots.
Let's break those down:
The Canucks' first goal of the game came on just their third shot at 16:42 of the first period. Murray wasn't anticipating J.T. Miller lifting the puck, and was a half second late with the glove:
Elias Pettersson tied the game 7:17 into the second period with a beautiful shot. It looked like Murray thought it was going glove side:
The Canucks got two quick goals to end the period. Jake Virtanen tucked the puck under Murray's pad with 1:40 remaining in the middle frame:
Adam Gaudette ended Murray's night with 58.5 to go in the second:
"It just seemed like the way the game was going, sometimes that's a unique challenge for a goalie where we felt like we carried a lot of the play," Sullivan said. "Then they go down and get a flurry, and pretty high quality chances and they finished on them. Sometimes, just my experience of coaching in those situations, that can get frustrating for goalies because they're not seeing a lot of action. All of the sudden it comes down and it ends up in the net. When they got the two quick goals at the end of the second period, I just felt like (pulling Murray) would be the right thing for him and for our team at the same time."
Jarry stopped six of eight shots faced in relief.
With back-to-back games next on the schedule, in Columbus on Friday and in St. Louis in Saturday, each goaltender will likely get a start. But beyond that, Jarry needs to be starting more.
Murray has started in 19 of the Penguins' 25 games this season, three starts shy of the most in the league. The goaltenders at the top of the games played rankings primarily come from teams who don't have a strong backup, as is the case with David Rittich and his 22 starts for the Flames. The Penguins have a capable second goaltender in Jarry. Hot hand or not, Jarry should be seeing more of a workload than he currently is.
Murray is on pace to start 62 games this year. That's slightly above average, as the average starting goaltender will start in 58 regular season games. Looking back at past Stanley Cup winning teams, the last team to win the Stanley Cup with a goaltender who made more than 60 starts was when Marc-Andre Fleury made 61 for the Penguins in 2009.
Albeit a small sample size, Jarry currently has the best stats of any goaltender in the league, with a 2.01 goals against average and a .938 save percentage. That's a tough pace to keep up, and those numbers will probably regress more toward the mean as Jarry sees more time. Regardless, he's more than earned the chance for more playing time.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins vs. Canucks, PPG Paints Arena, Nov. 27, 2019 -- MATT SUNDAY / DKPS