MONTREAL -- "He didn't shoot it," one of the Penguins' veterans observed for me. "He passed it. You see that? He passed it."
He did. Shea Weber passed it.
To fully appreciate how authoritative, how aggressive Matt Murray was in the critical 5-1 crushing of the Canadiens on this Saturday night at Bell Centre, how badly he outperformed Carey Price, the greatest counterpart any current goaltender can encounter, it's first necessary to know the following two things:
1. Mike Sullivan challenged Murray.
He didn't just choose Murray to start on back-to-back nights. He bucked his own written-out script for March, one that had originally called for Murray and Casey DeSmith to split these games in Buffalo and here. And he did so, from what I was told afterward, because the team needed the points, because the opponent is also on the periphery of the East's playoff picture -- they're now clinging to both wild card spots at 77 points each -- and because the counterpart, as everyone in this province knew, would be called upon to start on back-to-back nights himself.
So the coaching staff met late Friday night following the latest softy in the overtime loss in Buffalo -- on the charter flight to Quebec, to be precise -- and made the call. Murray was informed shortly thereafter. Of the assignment and the challenge.
"I went out there and tried to make a difference for this team," Murray would tell me much later. "It feels good that they had the confidence to come right back to me. I just tried to be ready to do my best."
It's about damned time. But more on that in a bit.
2. Weber didn't shoot. He passed it.
A goaltender's going well when he's making saves, and Murray made 36 of those. A goaltender's going really well when he's stuffing breakaways, and Murray quashed two of those, by Max Domi and Paul Byron. And a goaltender's going great when he's fighting through traffic to find pucks or even charging out to swat them away:
But a goaltender's going out of his flipping mind when he's discouraging the game's most feared shooter from shooting, and that happened here.
Oh, Weber would register 13 shot attempts, an amazing figure, but that doesn't tell the tale.
This was late in the second period, Murray moving smoothly left-to-right and standing tall on a patented Weber blast that he'd whack away with his shoulder:
This was 22 seconds later, with Murray moving no less fluidly and Weber misfiring:
After that one, big No. 6 skated slowly back to the Montreal bench, head hanging, and slammed the door behind him.
Which undoubtedly explained why, three minutes later, the man who routinely fires 105-mph bullets instead opted for a cheesy wrister:
And why, in the third period, he did ... whatever the hell this was:
Suffice it to say that, for all else that occurred on this night, not least of which was Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel each putting up four points, this still drew notice on the visitors' side.
"He got tired of shooting on Muzz," the aforementioned veteran continued observing of Weber. "That's what happens. When a goalie is hot, he gets in your head. You stop shooting. You start to pass."
I brought this up with Murray, of course, and he came back with characteristic shrugs and a more politically correct assessment.
"Maybe he was going for tips or redirects after a while," Murray told me. "All I know is that guy can bring it. You really notice when he's out there."
Except when the goaltender is that much more noticeable. Which Murray was on this night. Look again at those Weber sequences above. Look where his skates are in relation to his crease. Look at his shoulders, upright and square to the shooter. Look at ... man, how he's actually playing like the 6-foot-4 goaltender that he is.
"You always want to be aggressive when you can be," Murray would reply to my question on that, still downplaying. "Sometimes you've got to be back a little bit, if there's a pass option. You don't want to just throw caution to the wind. You've got to make a read."
So this wasn't something that came from an extra emphasis on this day, maybe some words of wisdom from Mike Buckley?
"Yeah, but it's also one of the fundamentals of goaltending: Be aggressive. When you can be. So yeah, we talked about it."
Listen to Sullivan when I raised this:
Catch that line about the "challenge?"
Sullivan would elaborate a little on that.
"There was a little more to it," he recalled of the decision. "I've thought this through for a while here, just looking at the schedule and the big picture. We don't ever etch it in stone. The coaching staff, we just discuss the situation, and part of it's just based on our own feeling, where our team is at, where Matt is at. There was a lot more that went into it. But I think it was an important decision for us, and he certainly answered the challenge."
Important?
Wow, no, it's critical.
I'll be as blunt as I've been about Murray for weeks now: His peak participation isn't optional. These Penguins won't even qualify for the playoffs, much less do damage, without him. DeSmith's been a fun find as a backup, but he's not winning anyone a Cup. The forwards and even the banged-up defense corps have been faring mostly better of late, but they aren't winning a Cup on their own, either.
This is probably a good place to stop. Murray's had other false alarms over the winter. Maybe this was another.
But if it wasn't, then there's an entirely new dynamic in play.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Sidney Crosby
Penguins center
One goal, three primary assists and so much more for the player Sullivan yet again described as "the best 200-foot player in the game." Much more on his night in Drive to the Net.
2. Jake Guentzel
Penguins right winger
Two goals, both sniper's finishes, plus two assists. He's got 31 goals now, with at least a shot at 40. And yet, all he had to say on that was this: "It's a big two points for us. That's all that matters. We were disappointed with how Buffalo ended, had a sour taste coming in here."
3. Justin Schultz
Penguins defenseman
Barely registered on the sheet -- no points, one shot, even plus-minus -- but he was smart, steady, sprung Evgeni Malkin for a breakaway and logged a game-high 24:29 of ice time. Don't forget, he's replacing the entire top pairing these days. Or that this was his return to the rink where his ankle was severely injured just a few months back, to which he remarked, "It's hockey. It happens. I haven't really thought about it. Once the game started, it was another game."
THE GOOD
The Penguins were dreadfully dull in the third period.
"Yeah, I know, right?" Marcus Pettersson came back with a grin when I shared that thought with him. "But that's the way we've got to play the rest of the season. We need to be in playoff mode. I think we defended like a playoff team today."
That might sound silly on the surface, as the Canadiens did put those 37 pucks on Murray. But dig deeper into the metrics, and they totaled only five total high-danger scoring chances the entire night. That was the two breakaways, plus two other point-blank attempts and one rebound attempt.
That's correct, one rebound attempt.
"Pittsburgh did a good job in the third period shutting us down," Claude Julien, Montreal's coach, said.
Much of that's to the credit of the patchwork defense without Kris Letang, Brian Dumoulin and Olli Maatta, but the forwards were back in full force, as well.
"The D's been playing great, " Murray said. "Especially since we've lost some players, guys have stepped up, blocking shots, clearing pucks ... they've been huge for us."
Speaking of huge: Erik Gudbranson, branded a failure by many in Vancouver and even by some in Pittsburgh sight unseen, has been solid in all facets through two games. He and Pettersson, who've comprised the second pairing, had the best advanced metrics of any defensemen in Buffalo, and they weren't on the rink for a single Montreal high-danger chance in this one.
THE BAD
Malkin's power-play point shot was part of the Penguins' three-goal storm in the opening 8:51 ...
... but the second line remained a five-on-five dud. Precious little zone time, lax defense -- they pretty much watched Brendan Gallagher score the Canadiens' lone goal -- and one collective shot between them. Malkin and Kessel are the usual culprits on this count, but no one on the Penguins' side was more out of sorts in this game than Zach Aston-Reese.
How will they snap out of it?
Simple: Kessel's got to score. His goal-less streak extended to 15 games, matching a career high. He took two shots in this one, one at even-strength.
THE PLAY
Crosby and Guentzel combined for a faceoff goal that ate up two whole seconds of the clock. Officially, anyway. It felt even faster.
It's detailed in Drive to the Net.
THE CALL
Sullivan's choice of Murray stands out, obviously, but his other lineup call also paid dividends: Jared McCann was bumped to the top line alongside Crosby and Guentzel.
"Fun," he called the experience when I asked, but he put in the work, too: It was his keep along the left boards that set up Crosby's icebreaker 21 seconds after the opening faceoff, he put up two shots, a plus-4 rating and, hey, this empty-netter:
McCann's move meant that Patric Hornqvist, who'd just scored in Buffalo for the first time in a dozen games, was dropped right back to the third line, so it couldn't have been a snap for Sullivan.
Heck, it might even be temporary.
"We just thought playing against a team that was a speed team like Montreal, it would give Sid a little bit of speed on the line," Sullivan explained. "That was one of the reasons why we made that tweak."
The Panthers are next, Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena. They're fast, too. Stay tuned.
THE OTHER SIDE
The Canadiens aren't exactly toast, still tied in points with the Penguins, but they sure made life a lot harder for themselves by spotting the visitors an instant three-goal lead. I've got a separate file on my thoughts on Price and the Habs after this.
THE DATA
• Crosby’s goal was his 440th, surpassing Jaromir Jagr for second on the franchise’s all-time list. Mario Lemieux had 690.
• Malkin’s goal moved him within four points of 1,000. He’d become the 88th player in NHL history to reach that milestone.
• The four-goal margin of victory matched the Penguins’ greatest ever in this city, along with two others: 6-2 on Feb. 25, 1998, and 4-0 on Nov. 18, 2014.
• Guentzel’s 30-goal season is the first of his career. Since the 2005-06 season, the only Penguins to achieve it are Crosby, Malkin, Kessel, Chris Kunitz and James Neal.
• Matt Cullen’s next game will be his 1,500th in the NHL That will put him one ahead of Mike Modano for second among Americans, trailing only Chris Chelios at 1,651.
THE INJURIES
None of the following five accompanied the Penguins on this two-game trip:
• Kris Letang, defenseman, has an upper-body injury and is day-to-day. I asked Sullivan before this game if Letang had resumed skating, but Sullivan hadn't yet been informed.
• Brian Dumoulin, defenseman, has a concussion and is day-to-day. Dumoulin resumed skating late last week.
• Bryan Rust, right winger, has a lower-body injury and is out longer-term.
• Chad Ruhwedel, defenseman, has an upper-body injury and is out longer-term.
• Olli Maatta, defenseman, has a separated left shoulder and is expected to miss a month. He's on IR.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines/pairings for this game:
McCann—Crosby—Guentzel
Aston-Reese—Malkin—Kessel
Simon–Bjugstad–Hornqvist
Blueger–Cullen–Wilson
Johnson–Schultz
Pettersson–Gudbranson
Riikola—Trotman
• And for Claude Julien's Canadiens:
Tatar—Danault—Gallagher
Drouin--Domi—Shaw
Byron—Kotkaniemi—Armia
Lehkonen—Thompson—Weise
Mete—Weber
Benn—Petry
Kulak—Folin
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins are off Sunday, flying back from Quebec. Their next practice is Monday, 11 a.m., at PPG Paints Arena. The next game is Tuesday, same place, 7:08 p.m., against the Panthers.
THE COVERAGE
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