PHILADELPHIA -- "Most of that was on me," Matt Murray would muse at his football stall, chin down, barely audible, as if he'd just fumbled at the goal line.
Which, actually, he did.
Again.
"I feel like s---," he'd add.
Which, actually, he should.
Again.
If we're fair about breaking down the Penguins stomach-turning 4-3 overtime loss to the Flyers at Lincoln Financial Field, then we're blowing right by the garbage head shot that hurt one of the NHL's best defensemen, we're blowing right by the garbage maneuver that hurt the NHL's very best defenseman, we're blowing right by the garbage officiating on that sequence and so much more, we're blowing right by the garbage ice surface for this overwrought gimmicky event ... and we're glaring hard at the garbage goaltending.
Hey, if that comes across as harsh, so be it. Maybe that's the tone in which those running the team need to be talking right now.
Here, this is harsher: Jim Rutherford would be wise to seek help at the sport's most important position by the NHL's Monday 3 p.m. trade deadline.
And harshest of all: I can't envision any scenario in which these Penguins, with this goaltending, no matter what else goes well, no matter how hard they fight, are about to go on the kind of run needed to compete for the Stanley Cup in little more than a month.
Remember how Braden Holtby performed for the Capitals last spring?
The man was stealing games, stealing series.
Remember how Marc-Andre Fleury performed for the Penguins a couple years ago through the first two rounds?
He stole games, stole both series against the Blue Jackets and Capitals.
Murray obviously had his moments, of course. I was there. I recall them vividly, praised accordingly. But that was then, and this is since then. And since then, he's ranged from mediocre to below mediocre, best evidenced by this singular stone-cold stat: His first two seasons in the NHL, including playoffs, his save percentage was .926. Since then, combining last season with this one, it's .909.
And delving deeper into just last season vs. just the current season, his save percentage on high-danger scoring chances went from .856 last season, fourth-best in the NHL, to .788, which ranks 40th of the 46 goaltenders with a minimum 1,200 minutes played.
Translation: He isn't making the big saves. He isn't bailing anyone out.
And on a night like this, when both Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin get injured early, when the four surviving defensemen log a half-hour each, when the exterior elements are as much of an obstacle as the opponent, when the freaking Flyers are that opponent in front of 69,620 Philadelphians behaving like Philadelphians ... maybe make a big save. Maybe bail someone out.
Or maybe just match their focus:
I'm not dissecting those individually. That'd be insulting to anyone reading. The first and second are forgivable, the third and fourth aren't.
Of the tying goal with 20 ticks left, Jakub Voracek's harmless little flick from the far boards that went through both Jack Johnson's wickets and his own, Murray would say, "Yeah, I just didn't see it. But I need to do a better job finding it. It is what it is. They throw a lot of traffic at the net, but I've got to do a better job of finding it."
Yep. He could have looked to Johnson's right to find the puck, the way he does when he's fired up. Also, you know, he could have simply "squared up in that general direction," as one veteran hockey man caustically observed for me afterward.
But look, this isn't about one goal or one game, even one on a huge stage like this. Please don't misinterpret this sentiment that way. That wouldn't be fair to Murray, and I've been anything but some Murray basher, even through his lowest lows.
No, it's more about his maddening, mind-numbing inconsistency over the past few months, if not the past two years. He'll overwhelm the Lightning, Maple Leafs or Jets, he'll stop 50 of 51 shots right across the parking lot here just last week. But then, as if all that occurred in some mythical vacuum, he'll get yanked against the Flames, he'll need to get dragged to the finish line in Newark, and now this.
As Mike Sullivan cautiously worded it afterward when asked about Murray, "Obviously, we'd like to see him bring a little more consistency to his game. It's going to help us down the stretch. Matt's a very good goalie, and we believe in him."
Something's wrong. I don't know what. I don't care to guess. But when the athleticism is still there, as we all witnessed to open the third period against Voracek ...
... then something else is wrong.
Really, if he were to show up suddenly spectacular Tuesday night in Columbus, who'd take it seriously? Wouldn't we just be awaiting the next implosion in Buffalo? Or Montreal?
An answer is needed, and it's hard to see it from within. Casey DeSmith ... it's been beyond impressive, how he's risen from Wheeling to bona fide NHL backup. Sullivan's on the money when lauding DeSmith for "giving us a chance to win games," even if that's some side-poke at Murray. He's completely engaged. He's scrambling, sprawling, whatever it takes to fend off every puck. But he's not carrying anyone to a Cup, either. Tristan Jarry sure isn't.
Time's ticking, for this imminent trade deadline and for this core of stars. I firmly believe this team will make the playoffs, even if Letang and/or Dumoulin is out for an extended stretch. I firmly believe Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have another big run in them. I firmly believe Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel will reemerge as big-time contributors. I firmly believe that everyone on the inside was right to be ecstatic over Rutherford's additions of Jared McCann and Nick Bjugstad.
But none of that matters if there's a mess in the back. None of it.
Who wants to wait to see if it mops itself up?
• "We battled hard," Murray continued about his teammates. "Tough conditions. Two D go down, and our D did an unbelievable job all night. It sucks. It sucks not to get that extra point. But we played really well and we should feel really good about ourselves."
Everyone else, he presumably meant. And he's right: Johnson logged an obscene 31:08 that included being the only defenseman the staff trusted when reduced to three skaters short-handed, Justin Schultz logged 30:02 that included his first goal of the season, Chad Ruhwedel was at 24:38, Marcus Pettersson at 22:41.
Ruhwedel appeared fatigued in that fateful final minute, icing the puck twice, then slow on the pursuit of Voracek, but ... well, see above about making a save.
"I'm proud of the way all of our guys battled," Johnson told me. "It wasn't easy, but guys rose up."
"It stinks right now," Pettersson said. "We’re all frustrated in here. We all wanted to win that game, I think we did the job and deserved to win that game."
In almost every way.
The forwards were backchecking with uncommon vigor, as exemplified by this Tanner Pearson pressure in the third:
I asked Pearson specifically about that play: "We want to be more committed as a team to doing that, but especially in a game where you're missing two great defensemen. I thought we did that."
They hung tough, too, in the face of the Flyers' heightened aggressiveness, as exemplified by Zach Aston-Reese roaring in to shake Robert Hagg off Malkin:
I asked Aston-Reese about that: "You've got to stand up for your star players."
• No Letang, no Dumoulin ... no idea for how long. The former might have hurt his neck, which would be awful given his surgery a little more than a year ago. Dumoulin has a concussion, and there's never a good read on those.
If it comes down to reinforcements, Juuso Riikola's the obvious choice, but I dare say Ethan Prow should be just as obvious: He's 26, he's right-handed, he was Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's lone AHL All-Star, he's having a breakout offensive season with 39 points in 53 games, and his game's built on mobility. He's probably been overdue for a promotion.
• This might put a defenseman right back in play for Rutherford. That was not the case before this game.
• Same goes for goaltender. I can attest, unequivocally, that this front office had zero interest in adding at that position through trade as recently as a week ago. One never knows, given the additional inconsistency in the interim.
• Wayne Simmonds' check on Dumoulin will earn him an NHL suspension. His follow-through, his target and the result were virtually identical to what Connor McDavid did earlier this week in Edmonton that earned him two games.
But here's what bugs me most about this sort of thing: It doesn't need to be a judgment call.
The league makes players responsible for their high sticks. It's the best rule in the game because it eliminates all gray area. Doesn't matter if it's intentional. Doesn't matter if it's an accident. Doesn't matter if the head was the 'principal point of contact,' their new favorite phrase. Doesn't matter if another body part might have been grazed along the way. All that matters is that the stick did damage to someone else's head.
So why limit that thinking to the stick?
• Oh, also, Simmonds left his skates. That's charging.
• Nice of Simmonds' teammates to award him their player-of-the-game helmet in the locker room. I actually mean that. He's almost certain to be traded by the deadline -- the Predators and his former coach, Peter Laviolette, are the reported favorites -- and he's put in eight heart-and-soul seasons here:
"Keep making this push and keep our hopes alive and our dreams alive."
After a thrilling #StadiumSeries win on Saturday night, the #Flyers locker room had an emotional Helmet hand-off. pic.twitter.com/ZT9kOTwinh
— Philadelphia Flyers (@NHLFlyers) February 24, 2019
• Simmonds might not be the only one facing supplemental discipline. The Flyers' Shayne Gostisbehere slammed Letang to the ice from behind on a maneuver befitting pro wrestling:
• The Penguins were angry about Simmonds' check, with references around the room to it being “straight to the head," as Hornqvist put it. That was the common theme, though no one took it too far.
The same couldn't be spoken for referee Dan O'Halloran's ridiculous slashing call against Matt Cullen that led to the Flyers' second goal with 3:04 left, by James van Riemsdyk.
"I was very, very, very stressed," Cullen replied when asked about his barking back at O'Halloran on the way to the box. "It's a nothing play. Whatever."
The Flyers had both of the game's power plays.
• How about playing the All-Star Game outdoors? Or anything that doesn't count in the standings, beyond the Winter Classic and Heritage Classic?
Both these teams needed these points a whole lot more than the pageantry or, worse, the very real risk of injury and other unpredictability.
Too much is too much.
• DeSmith will start Tuesday night. Take it to the bank. The Blue Jackets will be hyper-motivated after adding both Matt Duchene and now Ryan Dzingel from the Senators, and they'd love nothing more than to invest all that energy into beating their favorite manufactured rivals.
Might want to make sure the goaltender of choice is up to it.
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins at Flyers, Stadium Series at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Feb. 23, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
