Sergei Murashov was laying in bed after practice on Tuesday -- only a couple of hours after winning the AHL's Goaltender of the Month award -- when he got the call that he was being recalled to Pittsburgh following an injury to Tristan Jarry in Monday's loss in Toronto.

It was a couple of well-earned recognitions for the young netminder, who was 5-2 to start the season a 1.73 goals-against average, .931 save percentage and one shutout.

The record, the award nor the recall served as a boost to Murashov's confidence as he prepares for his NHL debut. That's not where he looks for motivation.

"My confidence always comes from what I'm doing, from the process," Murashov explained after practice on Wednesday. "Not from results. I think it was a really good process. First of all, I would like to say thank you to my team. They were battling, and the efforts were really, really high, and I truly appreciate that. I think it was really good to work with all the coaches in the organization. It's just all about the process and what I'm doing and enjoying my time."

Murashov's "process" is something that has caught the eye of his teammates. His work ethic is something that draws frequent praise. Unsurprisingly, he was one of the last players on the ice for practice on Wednesday.

Sidney Crosby called Murashov "a guy that's got a real passion for the game. He'll be out there all day if he could. That stood out right away. But I think he's eager to learn and competes really hard in practice. It's a good opportunity for him.”

"Not just on the ice, but off the ice, he's a very driven kid," said Danton Heinen, who spent time with Murashov in Wilkes-Barre. "You can tell. He works hard at his craft and he's very focused. That's something you can tell why he's as good as he is. He puts the work in."

"He works really hard, he takes his craft seriously," Ryan Graves added. "He works really hard in practice. He's a really good guy. He takes care of himself, he genuinely enjoys the game. He's a really good goalie."

Murashov will surely make his NHL debut within the week -- if not tomorrow against the Capitals, then this weekend as part of a back-to-back against the Devils and Kings. Even with the debut being that imminent, Murashov isn't even really thinking about it just yet.

"Right now, you just have time to prepare for it," he said. "I'm doing everything I can do for right now. When that day will come, we'll see. It's definitely something that you dream about from your childhood. But no rush to the time. Always, I say just stay in the moment."

The Penguins, to date, have gone back-and-forth between Jarry and Arturs Silovs in each game so far, a plan that will of course change while Jarry is sidelined for at least three weeks with a lower-body injury. Whether that rotation pattern sticks with Silovs and Murashov moving forward isn't yet clear. Dan Muse made a point to clarify on Wednesday that just because that's what they had done to this point, it doesn't mean that they were ever "locked in" to a perpetual 50-50 split in the first place. They were "constantly evaluating" the goaltending setup, and that will still be the case with Murashov now in the fold.

"We're having conversations with coaching staff, conversations with Andy Chiodo and the rest of the staff," Muse said. "We're going to continue to have those conversations and make decisions based on what we think is best, and those conversations will continue to go from from game to game."

With Jarry out for at least the foreseeable future, Murashov will have quite the runway to prove that he deserves to stay in that conversation long-term. If he fares well over the next few weeks, he could force the Penguins to make some interesting decisions.