Categories: PenguinPoop

Penguins Update: Fleury or Murray Revisited

At the time it seemed like the ultimate no-brainer. On the eve of the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, it was a foregone conclusion our Penguins would be far better served to protect budding star Matt Murray over franchise icon and former No. 1 overall pick Marc-Andre Fleury.

After all, the then 23-year-old wonder boy was fresh off backstopping the black and gold to consecutive Stanley Cups…technically while still a rookie.

Murray represented the future…Fleury the past. The kid was way cheaper, too, earning $628K per season at the time (soon to be $3.75 million) to “Flower’s” whopping $5.7 million.

Yet while hindsight is always 20/20, I’ve decided to pose the question.

Did we make the right choice?

It’s based mostly on my perception that, solid numbers aside, Murray hasn’t been the same ice-water cool goaltender he was early in his career, at least in terms of making the key saves. A perception that would seem to be shared, at least to a degree, by none other than Pens GM Jim Rutherford.

When asked about his club’s present progress in a recent interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Matt Vensel, JR didn’t mince words.

“Our goaltending has been good at times,” he said. “We’re giving up some goals at key times that are stoppable that I think would have changed our record. We just have to get that consistency level. We have goalies who are capable.”

It’s been my gut feeling that over the past couple of seasons, Murray has developed a disturbing penchant for allowing the goal you don’t want to give up, precisely when you don’t want to give it up. I honestly can’t remember the last time I felt as if the rangy Thunder Bay native stole us a win.

I’ll back up my negative views with a few examples.

During a Stadium Series match-up on February 23, 2019, the Pens battled heroically with four defensemen only to watch Murray allow two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to enable Philly to rally from a 3-1 deficit. Claude Giroux scored at 1:59 of overtime to cap the collapse.

A week later, in a near-instant replay, Murray surrendered a softy from the blue line to allow Buffalo to tie with 152 tics left on the clock before yielding the overtime-winner to ex-teammate Conor Sheary.

On March 17, the embattled goalie lost a lead…and a shutout bid…with 19 seconds remaining against the Flyers. Then he leaked for the overtime winner to Sean Couturier with four seconds left in the extra stanza.

Need more proof? During the ill-fated playoff series against the Islanders last spring, the Pens grabbed a lead in Game 2, only to watch Murray yield the game-tying goal less than three minutes later. A similar scenario played out in Game 3, but this time it took the Islanders all of 28 seconds to notch the equalizer. In Game 4…94 seconds.

Granted, Murray wasn’t entirely to blame, especially in the playoffs. The Pens were, to be kind, atrocious and defensive support was at times nonexistent.

Still, the goalie is the last line of defense. A big save can serve as a turning point and rallying cry for a team, especially one down on its luck. I just don’t see Murray doing that all that often. At least not at critical junctures.

As for Fleury? He’s enjoyed a marvelous resurgence out west. In 2017-18 “Flower” led the expansion Vegas Golden Knights all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, where he experienced a meltdown against the Cup-winning Capitals.

For that matter, so did Murray, who yielded two critical third-period goals in a pivotal Game 5 loss to the Caps a month earlier, followed by the overtime and series winner in Game 6, ending the Pens’ two-year reign as Cup champions.

Back to Fleury. Last season he finished second in the league with eight shutouts. This season he leads the league in wins. At age 34, the Gumby-esque goalie is still cat-quick and going strong.

Would we have been better off keeping Flower? I’ll let you decide. As a send-off, here are Murray and Fleury’s numbers since the start of the 2017-18 season.